No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Arista Networks Platform vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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 Networks Platform
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (4th), Data Center Networking (4th)
Dell PowerConnect Switches ...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Dibyendu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech company with 11-50 employees
Ultra-low latency networking has delivered reliable video workflows and critical operations
The support of Arista Networks Platform is quite complex; it is not very easy to configure. It needs a lot of network expertise for token sheddings and different kinds of configurations. It is very difficult to configure because Arista Networks Platform does not have a flexible GUI like Huawei or Netgear; everything is a very CLI kind of mainframe architecture. Scalability at every single step has a huge upgrade cost which is required for port mapping, connectivity, and transceivers certified by Arista Networks Platform, then the fabric upgrades from a software firmware level. Arista Networks Platform should improve commercial aspects to be affordable. There is no path for growth with a perfect score because the focus is more on reducing costs globally.
LarsEvans - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer / Chief Information Security Officer at Lorton Data, Inc.
Reliable and useful for network segmentation
The solution's most valuable feature stands up well. The tool is reliable, and it stands up well. The solution works fine and lasts a long time. I think if you speak about the features that have a flow and you can measure, it is hard to say. I don't spend a lot of my time with the tool, but I know that Dell APEX is the solution's cloud. I would say the VLAN features are important. The VLAN features are really useful because network segmentation is important. I would say the tool is easy to program. I don't know if the tool has any security features that I am aware of other than the fact that the solution is for networking. The VLAN and the ability to segment your networks are easy, which is its security feature.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"They support open standard features."
"Arista Networks offers similar features to Cisco."
"The most valuable features of Arista include low latency, scalability, and sustainability of the products."
"Arista Networks Platform is comfortable, easy to deploy, and easy to manage, with non-blocking technology. Additionally, it has a useful CloudVision platform and automation capabilities."
"The solution is scalable."
"Arista Networks Platform offers a clean dashboard page with only useful options that do not include unnecessary tabs or features that customers mostly don't want to use."
"The solution is very stable."
"The solution has good load latency. They're the market leader in this aspect right now."
"The technology is good and the interface is simple. We haven't had any bugs, disconnections or delays."
"The solution’s technical support is good."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its good integration with solutions from other vendors."
"For me, excellent, never had any issue."
"This solution comes with a lifetime warranty."
"The most valuable feature of this product is its reliability."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerConnect Switches for me is the throughput. I also like that the product has more compatibility with Dell infrastructure, especially with EMC and new generation Dell servers. Dell PowerConnect Switches can also easily integrate with Dell servers, and this is another pro."
"The tool is reliable, and it stands up well. The solution works fine and lasts a long time."
 

Cons

"A smoother transition between ISPs during failover would improve the user experience by reducing unnecessary notifications and interruptions."
"For my particular use, the only potential improvement I see is in power consumption."
"A weakness would be that in our company, we don't have many people within our team who support the product because there are different vendors, and most of them are not tier-one vendors, so the skills required sometimes are just not there."
"They should have a more stable code."
"From VMware, I think the cost of the tools is very high."
"I know that Arista is more expensive than the Catalyst or Nexus."
"The solution’s pricing could be better."
"The solution needs to accommodate new features."
"I would rate it a seven out of ten. Not a ten because I have to do a lot of testing on it."
"There should be more port options in this switch. Currently, it has 24 or 48 ports. However, some of our customers require only 8 ports, but I have to put a switch with 24 ports. They should provide smaller solutions and complimentary access point for companies like ours with a low quantity of work. The main issue with this product is branding. They should improve their branding and promote their brand more in Mexico. Customers are more aware of brands like Cisco as compared to Dell."
"When it comes to the configuration, there should be documentation and interactive help available to assist people who have experience with products from other vendors."
"More stable firmware releases would be an improvement because we have had them randomly power on and off."
"What's lacking in Dell PowerConnect Switches is SD-WAN integration, and this is what needs to be improved in it. All enterprises now move towards SD-WAN infrastructure, and because Dell PowerConnect Switches don't currently support SD-WAN, the product would be replaced, considered a secondary switch, or linked up to a different switch. Integration or support for SD-WAN is what I'd like to see in the next version of Dell PowerConnect Switches."
"I think accessibility and management could be improved."
"Because of the stackings, you lose some boards and the two switches."
"If I were to rate the support for Dell PowerConnect Switches, I'd give a rating of two out of five."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as seven out of ten."
"Specific tools definitely require a license for the subscription. But we are not using these tools in our environment. In terms of licensing, you need to spend approximately $10,000 per month."
"Network devices are generally expensive. However, during the evaluation, Arista was the most inexpensive vendor."
"Cost wise, Arista Networks Platform is more expensive than other networking solutions."
"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."
"I remember that when our customers were offered the Arista Networks Platform, they used a checklist to compare the prices between Arista and Cisco for their requirements, and found that the prices were almost the same."
"It is pretty pricey for a networking platform. It is on par with Cisco."
"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."
"Cheaper than its competitors"
"This solution is much cheaper than comparable products by Cisco."
"Inexpensive"
"Its price is okay. Sometimes, it is lower than a Cisco solution."
"In my opinion, it is a product that is priced somewhere in the middle, making it a well-priced solution in the middle. It is not a very cheap product."
"The solution is less expensive and more cost-efficient."
"I would rate the pricing as a seven or eight."
"The initial cost was high but since they have lasted for over ten or twenty years they are worth it."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Center Networking solutions are best for your needs.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
25%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?
The initial setup cost is high compared to others, and I find the initial setup cost to be very high.
What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?
Arista Networks Platform could improve its command line management. Coming from a Cisco background, the adjustment period was challenging. While similar in some areas, the AOS concept, especially a...
What is your primary use case for Arista Networks Platform?
I have worked with deploying Arista Networks Platform in data center environments, particularly for spine and leaf architectures. The configurations involved Zero Touch Provisioning, which went ver...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

7000 Series
PowerConnect Switches
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Internet Services
Amerijet Holdings Inc., CGD Securities, MavenWire, Tulane University
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Dell Technologies, Arista and others in Data Center Networking. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.