Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

Arista and Cisco are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Arista is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3, while Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. Arista holds a 1.8% mindshare in LS, compared to Cisco’s 8.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Arista users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Arista Campus LAN Switches

Read 7 Arista Campus LAN Switches reviews

199 Views
137 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Read 104 Cisco Nexus reviews

1,813 Views
1,282 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Arista Campus LAN Switches

Cisco Nexus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Arista Campus LAN Switches and Cisco Nexus based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two LAN Switching solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

January 2025

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Helped 839,164 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Arista Campus LAN Switches

Ranking in LAN Switching

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Nexus

Ranking in LAN Switching

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

Data Center Networking (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Arista Campus LAN Switches is 1.8%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.5%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

MarekSzafrański

Senior Core Network Engineer at Eurofins

Functions efficiently and is cheaper than what its competitors offer

In general, the product works fine and is efficient. It was mainly used by someone else in my company, and I just used to operate it The solution's most valuable feature is its stability because Arista falls in an industry that is very similar to Cisco. If the engineer knows Cisco's solution,…

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Joe Benítez

Systems Engineer at GAD Municipal de Guayaquil

Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing

Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The solution's most valuable feature is its stability because Arista falls in an industry that is very similar to Cisco."

"I use the solution for connectivity in data centers and LANs, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity based on network needs."

"QoS is the most valuable feature because our clients work with VOIP and Critical applications."

"The CloudVision Portal allows us to centrally manage all of our Arista products."

"The technology is scalable as much as you want."

"The feature sets are pretty cool. They've got almost everything that the competition offers."

"The implementation was straightforward and the product is stable."

"The scalability of Cisco Nexus is good. We've had them for the entire lifetime. We've never had to upgrade them yet."

"The integrations are valuable."

"This solution streamlines how we have to configure things because we can do everything from one device, whereas if we had individual devices we would have to go to each one and configure them manually."

"This solution has allowed us to better prepare our network for 10-gigabit."

"The flexibility, how accurately the VPCs operate as well as the redundancy built into it with the VPCs are the most valuable features."

"The consolidation of all of the layer two ports into one rack is very valuable."

"The most valuable features are the access layer security, OpenConfig, and OpenFlow."

More Cisco Nexus pros

Cons

"I would like to see a version available with eight or sixteen ports."

"One of the issues that we have been faced with here in Brazil is that we don't have any list times for delivery."

"I think there's still room for improvement. Arista Campus LAN Switches are not highly scalable as they are hardware-based. If hardware requirements exceed capacity, the product needs to be changed, which can impact service."

"We have to renew the license every three years, which can be a challenge for customers. Arista, like other vendors, now follows a license-based system."

"The complex setup phase is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"It would be ideal if the solution was less expensive."

"The software is not as mature as it could be and needs some integration improvements with other orchestrators."

"There is an ongoing problem with the limitation of the TCAM table, which is that it doesn't have enough memory to allow you to be really granular with your policy."

"It would be nice if the solution offered multiple types of port support."

"I would like to see better monitoring actions supported in the next release of this solution."

"For a very small subset, Cisco Nexus caused port flapping within the applications."

"The flexibility and configuration could be better."

"Cisco's security features are in line with other OEMs, however, for data center security in terms of layer seven security, we prefer to have different OEMs rather than relying solely on Cisco."

"Cisco Nexus still needs more stability."

More Cisco Nexus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The only licensing costs are for CloudVision, although the upfront price of the device is not cheap."

"The price is not that good, but our clients value the solution despite the price."

"The price of the product is reasonable."

"This is a very expensive product."

"It's around $160K a year for our license."

"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."

"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."

"It is very expensive. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."

"Every Cisco product is more expensive than competitors on the market, which is just a fact, but from my perspective, it is worth it."

"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

25%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Campus LAN Switches?

I have cross-checked because this network is a ten-gig network. We are using the multigig switches, which Cisco also has. We found that Cisco's cost is 100%, while the cost of the multi-gig switche...

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What needs improvement with Arista Campus LAN Switches?

I think there's still room for improvement. Arista Campus LAN Switches are not highly scalable as they are hardware-based. If hardware requirements exceed capacity, the product needs to be changed,...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Arista Campus LAN Switches?

I use the solution for connectivity in data centers and LANs, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity based on network needs.

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?

Cisco pricing is at the same level as many competitors, however, due to competition, they sometimes lower prices and offer large discounts.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

Cisco's security features are in line with other OEMs, however, for data center security in terms of layer seven security, we prefer to have different OEMs rather than relying solely on Cisco.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Arista Campus LAN Switches

Compared 100% of the time

More Arista Campus LAN Switches Competitors

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 46% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 21% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 13% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 5% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

February 2025

Download Arista Campus LAN Switches product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

February 2025

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Overview

Arista Campus LAN Switches are the perfect network solution for your most demanding workloads.With native support for VMware Virtualization and hundreds of Linux applications integrated into hardware platforms designed to meet the stringent power and cooling requirements of today's most demanding data centers, Arista delivers the most efficient and best performing 10Gb Ethernet platforms.

Arista

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.

Cisco

Sample Customers

University of Winchester, AWE, picturemaxx, Medical Mutual, Leonix, CloudEra, National Physical Laboratory, Tri-State G&T, AIS, Morph, SingTel, SDSC, BBC

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Buyer's Guide

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

January 2025

Free Report: Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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