Meraki MX Reviews

Name: Meraki MX
Brand: Cisco
Rating: 4.1 (62 reviews)

Vendor: Cisco

4.1 out of 5

62 reviews
93% willing to recommend

3,298 followers

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What is Meraki MX?

Cisco Meraki MX appliances are next-generation firewalls with all the advanced security services needed for today’s IT security. The appliances are ideal for organizations considering a unified threat management (UTM) solution for branch offices, data centers, distributed sites, or campuses. Since Meraki MX is 100% cloud-managed, installation and remote management are simple and zero-touch.

Get the Meraki MX Buyer's Guide and find out what your peers are saying about Meraki MX, Check Point NGFW, WatchGuard Firebox and more!

Meraki MX is the #3 ranked solution in top Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions. PeerSpot users give Meraki MX an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 62 most recent Meraki MX reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 7.4. (Among the highest in the category). Meraki MX is most commonly compared to Check Point NGFW: Meraki MX vs Check Point NGFW. Meraki MX is popular among the midsize enterprise segment, accounting for 37% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 27% of all views.

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Featured reviews

Mike Cote

Managing Partner/Founder at Netverta, LLC

The solution's most valuable feature is the Meraki dashboard, which is a single pane of glass. The dashboard allows us to see and manage all our Meraki customers. Since it's cloud-based management, we can remotely support Meraki, which makes it easy for us. We like to sell and deploy Meraki MX because of the ease of management.

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Spencer Malmad

Owner at Tech Exchange

The Cisco supply chain is problematic although that may not be all their fault. What I really want is to be able to sell the solution and deploy it for my clients. They are very cagey about the availability of their product and they definitely take better care of their larger clients, pricing out mid-sized organizations. I'd like their policy rules to be closer to those of some of the other vendors. They're very complacent and I find the rule set to be a little arcane. There's no company ou there that does the combination of hardware quality, reliability of service, and most importantly, the quality of the interface.

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Subha Mishra

Executive at Accenture

The solution is not scalable. I rate the scalability a four out of ten. The hardware has certain limitations in memory. If we need a higher memory, we must change the box. If we need LTE as a backup element within the box and have already deployed one flavor, we cannot use it. We have to replace the box. The hardware is the limitation.

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Meraki MX mindshare

As of December 2024, the mindshare of Meraki MX in the Unified Threat Management (UTM) category stands at 18.7%, down from 19.4% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Unified Threat Management (UTM)

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Unified Threat Management (UTM)	Dec 28, 2024	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Dec 28, 2024	Download
Comparison	Meraki MX vs Check Point NGFW	Dec 28, 2024	Download
Comparison	Meraki MX vs Sophos UTM	Dec 28, 2024	Download
Comparison	Meraki MX vs WatchGuard Firebox	Dec 28, 2024	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Check Point NGFW	4.4	N/A	96%	306 interviews Add to research
WatchGuard Firebox	4.2	19.4%	95%	85 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Meraki MX offers easy deployment, cloud management, and advanced security features. Users highlight its auto VPN, SD-WAN, and dual WAN capabilities. The intuitive dashboard allows remote management and configuration. It provides bandwidth control, content filtering, and intrusion detection. Its robust firewall and VPN access are praised, as well as seamless integration with other Cisco solutions. Features like zero-touch provisioning and application visibility enhance its usability, making it a reliable choice for various IT needs.

"The solution's most valuable feature is the ease of management of the dashboard."
"Features are straightforward to use as you switch them on or off, which can be advantageous from a simplicity point of view."
"Meraki MX has been a stable solution so far, and I haven't faced any issues with it."

Room for Improvement

Meraki MX users highlight several areas needing enhancement. Improved load balancing, event logging, and alerting are desired. Compatibility with other firewalls and real-time monitoring are limitations. The client VPN and Active Directory integration face challenges. Pricing, licensing, and lack of advanced features like SSL decryption are concerns. Users request better configurability for firewall rules and notifications, alongside expanded WAN ports. They express a need for more streamlined management and local control capabilities. Lastly, the limited integration with third-party tools is noted.

"Improvements are required more on the side of troubleshooting."
"Sometimes you want a little bit more control, and you don't have that control with Meraki MX."
"With Meraki MX's integration capabilities, users may face challenges since it does not integrate well with other systems."

ROI

Meraki MX offers significant ROI through time and cost efficiency in managing multiple locations, reducing training needs due to an intuitive dashboard, and speeding up tasks like VPN setup. Cost savings come from replacing traditional phone systems and minimizing equipment replacement thanks to a robust warranty. Though initial costs are high, organizations find value in long-term use, especially for extensive networks, aiding in reducing downtime and enabling remote management.

Pricing

Meraki MX is perceived as relatively expensive compared to other vendors, but its cloud-managed solution and support justify the cost for many enterprises. Costs depend on hardware and annual licenses, with three options: enterprise, security, and SD-WAN. Despite higher initial costs, some users find long-term savings through cloud functionality and reduced management resources. Licenses can be costly but offer flexibility, with substantial discounts available. Users appreciate that support and a lifetime warranty are included.

"The tool's prices are okay compared to the traditional solutions. We find Meraki MX platform to be cheaper compared to the regular tools, like SD-Access."
"I rate the tool's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"The product is a little expensive."

Popular Use Cases

Meraki MX is primarily used as a firewall and SD-WAN device for managing network security, VPN connectivity, and cloud-based networking across various organizations. Users deploy it in offices, for site-to-site VPN connections, and as a gateway router. Its cloud-managed dashboard provides insights into network activity, allowing ease of management. Meraki MX supports scalability, making it suitable for small businesses and enterprises. Its features include traffic shaping, content filtering, and integration with Cisco products.

Service and Support

Meraki MX provides excellent customer service and technical support. Many users report satisfaction, rating it 8 to 10 out of 10. Customers appreciate the responsive technical assistance and the option to contact support via phone or email. The 24/7 availability is noted as a key benefit. Some users mention waiting times and rare issues with inexperienced agents. Most find Meraki's support knowledgeable. However, some advanced users express frustration with limited dashboard visibility.

Deployment

Users found Meraki MX's initial setup to be intuitive and quick, requiring minimal technical knowledge. Deployment is often completed within a few hours to a day, utilizing the cloud portal and graphical user interface for easy configuration. While generally straightforward, some users noted the need for expertise in special setups. Training on advanced features like VLAN and client VPN is beneficial. Deployment scales well across different locations, and support is typically minimal once implemented.

Scalability

Meraki MX offers wide-ranging scalability with various models to suit different user numbers. Users experience smooth transitions when upgrading hardware using the dashboard and report no significant issues with scaling. However, some note limitations with bandwidth and hardware memory, necessitating physical upgrades. Meraki MX handles small to medium businesses efficiently, with potential challenges for larger enterprises. Many users rate its scalability highly, appreciating its adaptability across different branches and locations.

Stability

Many users report Meraki MX as stable, citing durability in challenging environments and minimal downtime. There are isolated incidents, mainly hardware failures or configuration issues. Users appreciate swift replacements from support. Some highlight minor issues with content filtering or client VPN, requiring occasional reboots. Others rate stability highly, giving scores around eight to nine out of ten. Regular updates proceed smoothly, with Meraki MX being described as reliable and consistent over extended periods.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Meraki MX Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Government

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

Real Estate/Law Firm

University

Non Profit

Wholesaler/Distributor

Media Company

Outsourcing Company

Insurance Company

Performing Arts

Legal Firm

Energy/Utilities Company

Hospitality Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Consumer Goods Company

Transportation Company

Engineering Company

Compare Meraki MX with alternative products

Learn more about Meraki MX

Meraki MX’s hardware and virtual appliances are configurable in Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, and private cloud support is offered through Cisco NFVIS and Alibaba Cloud.

Organizations of all sizes and across all industries rely on Meraki MX to deliver secure connectivity to hub locations or multi-cloud environments, as well as application quality of experience (QoE) through advanced analytics with machine learning.

Cisco Meraki’s advanced QoE analytics offers:

End-to-end health of web applications at a glance across the LAN, WAN, and application server.

Autonomous machine-learned smart application thresholds applied to identify true anomalies that are based on past behavioral patterns.

Ability to monitor the health of all MX WAN links across an entire organization.

Ability to detail hop-by-hop VoIP performance analysis across all uplinks.

Cisco Meraki’s SD-WAN offers:

The Meraki MX’s SD-WAN is unique in that it can be easily extended to deliver optimized access to resources in public and private cloud environments with virtual MX appliances. Its SD-WAN lowers operational costs and improves the performance of remotely-accessed resources. Users can ensure the availability of the apps and services their employees use most through dynamic path selection, policy-based routing, support for application-layer profiles, and VPN.

Meraki MX offers industry-leading cloud management that has template-based settings which can scale easily from small deployments to tens of thousands of devices. It features an intuitive web-based dashboard for managing mobile devices, united firewalls, switching, and wireless LAN. Users can also benefit from role-based administration, configurable email alerts for a variety of important events, and easily auditable change logs. Meraki MX is capable of producing summary reports with device, user, and application details archived in the cloud.

Meraki MX Key Features

MX has a robust suite of network services in an all-in-one device, which saves you money by eliminating the need for multiple appliances. These services include:

SD-WAN capabilities
SNORT®-based intrusion detection and prevention
Layer 7 fingerprinting
Web caching
Application-based firewalling
Anti-malware
Geo-based firewalling
Content filtering
Site-to-site auto VPN and client VPN
Web search filtering
Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP)
4G cellular failover
Dynamic path selection
Web application health and VoIP health

Reviews from Real Users

Meraki MX stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its easy management and its ability to be accessed remotely. Below is some feedback from PeerSpot users who are currently using Meraki MX as their firewall security solution.

Craig B., a central services engineer at Liberty Technology, writes, “The web console for managing everything keeps everything on Meraki and keeps us from going somewhere else. It is why I think a lot of people like Meraki. Comparing it to SonicWall or even a different Cisco firewall, like traditional ASAs, managing Meraki is a thousand times easier because of fluidity. You don't have to rebuild a table just to change one rule. It's much more readable for a human.”

Edgardo C., an IT director, notes,”By using the VPN, we can connect remotely. We have two offices, and we could connect them through the VPN. We could establish a network between two sites, and that has improved and increased communication and productivity. Our remote site is able to access the server remotely.”

Meraki MX was previously known as MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600.