Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus
Ranking in LAN Switching
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (3rd)
 

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 - PeerSpot reviewer
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,…
Joe Benítez - PeerSpot reviewer
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 And they were running outdated software.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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The feature sets are pretty cool. They've got almost everything that the competition offers."
"The technology is scalable as much as you want."
"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."
"I like the fact that they are a well-supported product."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its speed."
"The solution has introduced VPC, Virtual Port Channel, which allows for more redundancy and flexibility."
"The interface is as user-friendly as you can make it."
"Current flexibility and the opportunities for future planning and scaling make this product line an ultimate opportunity."
"We leverage Cisco DCNM a lot, which allows us to automate."
"We've found their tech support to be excellent, especially in their willingness to resolve issues promptly."
"It provides a very flexible connection to a server. When you go into history and the VPC, it provides a very flexible connection from it. Once a server goes down I can instruct it easily. So the network actually keeps quality even if onsite it is down."
 

Cons

"It would be ideal if the solution was less expensive."
"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 would like to see a version available with eight or sixteen ports."
"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."
"The complex setup phase is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"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 GUI interface could be improved to make it more user friendly."
"In my company, we encountered some challenges since the network was not stable. The network is unstable, making it an area where improvements are required."
"There is always room for improvement."
"I would like to see more granularity."
"The additional features I would like to see included in the next release is the ability to integrate routing and switching features."
"With some of the products we had before, we had a little more downtime than we would like."
"One of the biggest challenges, which I see is that there's a constant evolution in the product. For example, our configuration is based on what is known as traditional data center implementation. Today there is the ACI deployment and to implement, to migrate from one technology to another, that's challenging both from a configuration perspective and also from a cost perspective."
"There is no feature parity between the 9K and the 5K or 7K, which means that it is harder to position the 9K to future proof them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is not that good, but our clients value the solution despite the price."
"The only licensing costs are for CloudVision, although the upfront price of the device is not cheap."
"It's worth the money we're paying for Nexus."
"We use a local distributor for support, which is very expensive."
"This solution should be made more affordable."
"We have three hundred to four hundred data centers of Nexus. So the coverage associated with Smart Net is 27 by 4, is basically what we spend each year. If the incentives get better, which I know they're working on, it would be great but right now we're buying year to year."
"This is a very expensive product."
"We only have a yearly support contract, as we do not use any of the subscription-based functions at this time."
"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."
"The price of the product is reasonable."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which LAN Switching solutions are best for your needs.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
5%
 

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...
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,...
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.
What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.