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.
"The solution has good performance."
"It's an ideal gateway solution for small and medium businesses, i.e., around 300 devices can be easily handled."
"The main reason for using Cisco Routers is for the proprietor routing protocol that it has."
"I think Cisco Enterprise Routers are excellent."
"The solution is very stable. I have not seen any downtime due to the product freezing or anything like that. It performs well and hasn't required reboots unless it's to troubleshoot with a support service provider needing configuration. It doesn't overheat and it's on 24/7."
"The performance is quite good."
"The solution is strong. Cisco's support cannot be compared to any other solution's support. The tool gives you more bandwidth within your network."
"The product can help teach valuable life lessons about what not to do when building a network."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers are simple. Everything is in a proper manner. You don't need to upgrade or do other things on a daily basis. Cisco sends you the updates, and they are automatically updated. They are good."
"It's easy to use, and there is a lot of information available on the internet."
"The features of the equipment fit all the needs of the customers."
"The setup is easy."
"They have amazing speed and reliability, and they also provide value for money. They are pretty powerful."
"One of the primary advantages is its competitive pricing in the market."
"The initial setup is very straightforward. You can typically set them up in about 30 minutes."
"We have not had any downtime with it. It has been a solid performer that way."
"I like the routing features."
"They are very good at providing the bandwidth for multi-tenants and multi-dwelling units. We're managing WiFi hotspots for hundreds of locations, and the speed and performance are quite there. They also have very cheap 10G products that come with really good and flexible software. They are way cheaper than the top brands, and they're able to deliver the same performance and capabilities."
"There must be a more easy-to-use GUI."
"They are pretty expensive devices."
"Recently, there seems to be a lot of people who are leaning towards Juniper CLI, which is easier to pick up."
"It can be very expensive, sometimes, to do the jump to the next router for your needs."
"I would like it if Cisco Routers had a longer lifecycle. That's what we need. We don't want to renew or implement a new model. One model should be available for at least five years. This seems impossible nowadays."
"We'd like to see some better UI."
"Cisco has a lot of problems with the graphical interfaces used for management."
"The only other thing we struggled with from time to time is when we were configuring access points through a controller."
"The solution is not easy to manage for people that do not have the experience."
"The solution needs to offer better documentation."
"The solution's website isn't that good. When I go to it, I can't find what I'm looking for. However, if I go to a third party's website, I can easily find the information."
"It would be very good if these products are accessible via different kinds of shells and GUI. It will make these solutions very usable."
"The solution should improve the features of Wi-Fi 6 a little bit."
"The user interface allows you to do a lot of things, but it is not user-friendly."
"If the client wants bigger capacity, there may be some issues. That is, there may be issues with scalability."
"The biggest thing that needs improvement is the support."
"This product could offer better integration with VPNs."
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 61 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, Huawei Enterprise Routers, Aruba Switches 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.