We performed a comparison between Cisco Ethernet Switches vs D-link Ethernet Switches based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Cisco Ethernet Switches has better ratings because it has better stability and technical support than D-Link Ethernet Switches. D-Link does come out on top in the pricing category, however.
"I like that it's easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Ethernet Switches is their capacity."
"What we love about the Cisco switches is that they are very reliable. You can deploy them and go to sleep, and you can be sure that nothing is going to go wrong. Our initial equipment was installed by a Chinese manufacturer named Fiberhome a couple of years ago. Their switches were called S engines. They worked, but some days, you just wake up, and the switch has popped up. It was a lot of crisis. Therefore, we are in the process of trying to take out all their switches and replace them with Cisco switches. We are getting good results in terms of reliability and even technical support."
"Cisco's support is number one in the world."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are great devices."
"DNA Center is very interesting in automating the setup and monitoring as with each occurrence it gets easier to troubleshoot and provides an impression about what could be the problem."
"We can expect Cisco Ethernet Switches to last for years without issue."
"What I like the most is the performance and the latency that Cisco provides."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"I can't find anything wrong with our D-Link Ethernet Switches."
"It is very stable and reliable."
"D-Link has a good VPN feature and quality of service."
"It's plug-and-play. There is no configuration necessary."
"The main selling point for me was the pricing. Moreover, the performance is good. I haven't had any issues so far."
"These switches are simple and easy to configure."
"The tool's fault frequency is very less."
"It would be nice if they had higher wattage for PoE+."
"Cisco could definitely work on delivering improved pricing to its customers."
"The user interface, the UI, could be better."
"Could use additional programmability for the switches."
"Up to a certain network size, it is easy to scale, but after that, it becomes difficult."
"Cisco needs to include new features to attract new customers."
"If Cisco Ethernet Switches can work both on-prem and in the cloud, it would be an advantage."
"We've had hardware problems like SSDs, ports, networking, things like that."
"The solution could be cheaper."
"It could be easier to scale on managed devices."
"There is room for improvement in terms of stability."
"The solution's web filtering feature could be improved."
"I would like an option to create different networks within the switch."
"The availability could be improved."
"The D-Link Ethernet Switches have to be replaced because they are difficult to manage and security is poor. They should add centralized manageability to make the solution better, it will allow administrators to better know what is happening on the network."
"We have issues with the stability."
Cisco Ethernet Switches is ranked 1st in Ethernet Switches with 128 reviews while D-Link Ethernet Switches is ranked 11th in Ethernet Switches with 24 reviews. Cisco Ethernet Switches is rated 8.6, while D-Link Ethernet Switches is rated 7.8. 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 D-Link Ethernet Switches writes "Plug-and-play, zero maintenance, and reasonably priced". Cisco Ethernet Switches is most compared with Aruba Switches, Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, NETGEAR Switches and Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches, whereas D-Link Ethernet Switches is most compared with NETGEAR Switches, Aruba Switches, MikroTik Routers and Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches and Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches. See our Cisco Ethernet Switches vs. D-Link Ethernet Switches report.
See our list of best Ethernet Switches vendors.
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I wholeheartedly agreee with everything Luis Apodaca has said. My additional comments are as follows:
What is the size of your network, and are you using any features of the Cisco switches?
How many switches are you trying to use and what is the total price difference between the two brands?
Most of the time, people are using cheap switches as plug-n-play equipment without any configuration and without any management. If that is also your case, you may use the cheapest alternative. After all, switch is a switch. And every brand will work with same performance values. Any switch will have most of the configurable/managerial features expected by a small to mid size network project.
However, Cisco support and Cisco durability is outstanding. Cisco didn't earn its reputation without these. Ofcourse, it comes with a slight price tag.
Hard to make a recommendation with zero details about your use case. But assuming your use case originally justified Cisco Catalyst switches (implying enterprise to medium-size business) I don’t recommend changing. The Cisco solution provides a greater feature set that can be very useful in larger environments. However, if the use case is a smaller/simple network there are more cost-effective options.
D-Link would not be at the top of my list though (Aruba, Netgear, Ubiquiti to name a few). I haven’t used a D-Link device in a long time though so I really can’t speak about their current product line which is why I wasn’t going to answer you until Evgeny Belenky called me out.
Hello Mesfin,
Luis has given good directions already.
Without much details, I could say that generally, I wouldn't recommend replacing a Cisco Switch with D-Link.
Thanks.