We performed a comparison between Cisco Ethernet Switches and NETGEAR Switches based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: NETGEAR Switches come out ahead in this comparison. They are easy to set up, flexible, and have excellent customer support. In addition, They are cheaper than Cisco Ethernet Switches.
"The solution effectively provides a stable connection for users."
"Multicast is an advanced feature that helps alleviate some of our work challenges."
"The hardware is rugged. We use it for the basic configuration."
"You get good support for Cisco Ethernet Switches versus other products in the market."
"The most valuable feature is the simplicity of the central management system(CMS)."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the ability to manage the switches and the ability to have a certain level of familiarity with setting up and configuring the switches."
"Tech support has always been good."
"This switch is Layer 3, so it is a totally managed system."
"Since it has a web interface, it is easy to set up. You don't have to take three years of training somewhere for a lot of money."
"Remote management is the most important thing for us. And monitoring, of course, allows us to see when something is wrong with a client. We get notified that an access point is down, for instance, or that there are too many clients on one access point, so that we can log into the portal and manage the solution with the client instantly, from either a laptop or a cell phone, with the Insight app."
"The ability to manage them is the big valuable feature. The ease of use is great."
"Technical support is helpful and quick to respond."
"The High Bandwidth AV-over-IP functionality of these switches has been fantastic, especially in leaf-and-spine. We've been able to build redundancy and they seem to outperform even the Cisco Catalyst, which is about twice as expensive as the M-series switches are."
"We have one client that has three Insight switches and when we make a change to their network... we can make the configuration change and push it down to all three switches at once. We don't have to individually log on to each switch to make the change."
"The cloud management has just been huge for us. We have 80 clients and they all have switches... With the cloud-managed Insight ones... we know more information without having to do complicated SNMP traps. We get nice emails, we get a web interface, and we're not having to wait for our RMM tools to get SNMP traffic to notify us. We don't have to do complicated configurations."
"The initial setup for on-prem versions is complex and requires a trained, certified engineer."
"To keep up with the market, the solution should have better evolution and innovation."
"Very highly priced in comparison to other similar products."
"You do have to buy into the Cisco architecture to be able to use them."
"Technical support could be better. Firmware upgrades should be better. We have an issue with upgrading the firmware. It's not upgradable. I think it should be easy to improve and upgrade the firmware."
"The quality of Cisco Ethernet Switches could be better."
"The enterprise-level switches should have a simpler deployment. They should make it possible for lower-skilled workers to be able to deploy the product."
"The price of the solution has room for improvement."
"The ‘how-to’ guides could do with some improvements. We got in trouble following the stacking and Dante set-up guides. If these would have been accurate, we would not have lost three days."
"The web interface has been a little sketchy on occasion. Sometimes I have to reload the page to get things to show up properly, but the switch itself seems fine. The web user interface is a little wonky at times."
"The product could be more robust."
"There's a lack of chips and, consequently, a lack of deliveries. They're out of stock at their European warehouse."
"One area that has room for improvement, and I know NETGEAR is working on it, is adding more features to the products lines in terms of what we can manage through the Insight portal... not all Layer 2 or Layer 3 settings are there yet."
"There is a lack of documentation, and the documentation I have is unclear, so I have to rely on Google for information."
"They need to continue moving forward with their consulting in the AV realm to find out what is needed. They are some differences in the M4300 line and the larger M4500 line right now. They could produce a 1 Gigabit variety that could be a bit cheaper that might fit into that, since the majority of the projects that we see are still in that 1 Gigabit bandwidth threshold. Along with that, a great option would be if it would provide the same modular ability on a lower level."
"Perhaps in the future, we will have even more different types of switches and be able to fulfill more collections."
Cisco Ethernet Switches is ranked 1st in Ethernet Switches with 128 reviews while NETGEAR Switches is ranked 4th in Ethernet Switches with 51 reviews. Cisco Ethernet Switches is rated 8.6, while NETGEAR Switches is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco Ethernet Switches writes "It's a solidly stable product from a leader in the field". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NETGEAR Switches writes "You can stack different models of switches which makes the scalability great". Cisco Ethernet Switches is most compared with Aruba Switches, Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access, D-Link Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches and Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches, whereas NETGEAR Switches is most compared with D-Link Ethernet Switches, Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, MikroTik Routers and Switches and Aruba Switches. See our Cisco Ethernet Switches vs. NETGEAR Switches report.
See our list of best Ethernet Switches vendors.
We monitor all Ethernet Switches reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.