We performed a comparison between Cisco Enterprise Routers and MikroTik Routers and Switches based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below
Comparison Results: MikroTik Routers and Switches comes out on top in this comparison. It is robust and easy to use. In addition, MikroTik Routers and Switches are considered significantly less expensive compared to Cisco Enterprise Routers. One area where Cisco Enterprise Routers did come out on top was in the Support category.
"It's an ideal gateway solution for small and medium businesses, i.e., around 300 devices can be easily handled."
"The solution has good performance."
"Cisco is a good product that is stable."
"The product can scale."
"The solution is flexible."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Routers are the routing tables, and backup solutions available for local sites, and you can use it as a router gateway or simple IPS. They have simple firewalls, that we can use rules to filter traffic."
"The commands are easy to understand."
"The performance is good."
"This product is easy to use."
"They are the most stable, have the highest availability, and are the most reliable on the market."
"The most valuable feature is controlling the bandwidth."
"The best part about MikroTik Routers is the price."
"The solution offers very good multi-routing."
"I have found one of the most valuable features to be the hotspot network."
"It's great for small businesses or home offices."
"I like the routing features."
"We have found this solution is quite robust and there are a lot of features in a small device."
"MikroTik offers full enterprise capabilities at a very reasonable price."
"There must be a more easy-to-use GUI."
"The lead times are extremely high. Normally, it's six to eight months initially, and they prolong it to up to one year for new device delivery by Cisco."
"The product's pricing is an area that is too fuzzy to deal with, in my opinion, making it an area where improvements are required."
"The price could be better"
"The security could improve for Cisco Enterprise Routers. I understand there's a security appliance that is separate, but in terms of the router, there can be improvements made to prevent unwanted users from accessing the router or trying to manipulate the traffic that is passing through it."
"The product would be more scalable if it could operate with other brands."
"Cisco could provide more information about their routers to allow customers a better understanding of their solutions. Cisco Enterprise Routers could improve by having some more advanced features."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required to be made by making it cheaper."
"The solution could improve by having multiple features inclusive of the router, such as a free firewall and VPN. Additionally, it should be a generic box that can act as a router, firewall, and switch."
"Wireless throughput has not kept up with the competition."
"The solution needs to improve its security firewalls and mirror that of, for example, Sophos, or FortiGate."
"I would like to see a cluster feature added, where multiple devices can be configured and managed as one. One is in a standby state while the other is active, and if one fails then the other takes over."
"Troubleshooting can be complex."
"It could be more scalable. Product awareness could also be better. There's a lack of awareness when it comes to MikroTik. People only know about Cisco and others, and they won't rely on MikroTik. This is primarily because of hardware limitations. While this product is good economically, it's unsuitable for high-end projects. In the next release, I want this product to be more compatible."
"The CPU load is too high. This causes the Internet to lag."
"I would like to see some content filtering with MikroTik Routers and Switches."
"They can improve the way the user interface is laid out. Their user interface is slightly geeky. There is more than one way to do the same thing in the user interface, and they need to work on that."
More MikroTik Routers and Switches Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco Enterprise Routers is ranked 2nd in Routers with 101 reviews while MikroTik Routers and Switches is ranked 1st in Routers with 62 reviews. Cisco Enterprise Routers is rated 8.6, while MikroTik Routers and Switches is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Cisco Enterprise Routers writes "Allows us to configure NAS through Cisco activities and to create GRE channels with different sites". On the other hand, the top reviewer of MikroTik Routers and Switches writes "A cost-effective networking solutions with a robust feature set, but its interface may have a steeper learning curve". Cisco Enterprise Routers is most compared with Huawei Enterprise Routers, Juniper MX Series Routers, HPE Enterprise Routers, OneAccess Enterprise Routers and MikroTik Cloud Router Switch, whereas MikroTik Routers and Switches is most compared with Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, MikroTik Cloud Router Switch, Aruba Switches, Huawei Enterprise Routers and Juniper MX Series Routers. See our Cisco Enterprise Routers vs. MikroTik Routers and Switches report.
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Mikrotik, as Cisco is not for everyone ... While this popular OS-based router, is simple, it is not for all applications.
When one wants complex results, MK is useful. it is an assistant to ADMs who do not have much knowledge.
But not everything is simple or can be solved with a single team. The particularity of its Agile and intuitive interface makes MK lose in the middle to high segment.
Cisco has years of experience, one may or may not agree with its pricing and especially licensing policy, but its products are made to last, its IOS, is powerful in many areas.
One turns on a Cisco and if the initial configuration is optimal, it does not turn off that router anymore.
MK is a team that must be seen, controlling and above all optimizing. The reasons for choosing one and the other are simple, money, knowledge and, above all, projection.
Cisco can be planned and completed, but it is not for everyone. MK plans to buy and update the HW sooner or later. His continuous releases are tedious but necessary. Cisco in the Enterprise range is clearly superior, as is Juniper or Huawei.