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

Aruba Switches vs Cisco Ethernet Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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

Aruba Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
134
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Aruba Switches is 11.3%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Ethernet Switches is 15.6%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Eunice Thirikwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Stable hotel networking enhances return on investment with valuable modular features
There are issues with the distribution side of Aruba Switches. For instance, the distributor in our country cannot sell to neighboring countries, creating complications in project execution. Improving the distribution network across regions would be beneficial. Also, the SFP modules are significantly more expensive than industry peers, which affects cost-effectiveness.
Pradeep Adhav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network security enhancement with sturdy switches despite high costs
The Cisco Ethernet switches are primarily used as regular core switches for networking, distribution, and access levels. We also utilize Cisco Wi-Fi, VPN, and Wi-Fi controllers The Cisco Ethernet switches have improved our network's security, ensuring it is 100% secure by not allowing any…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"With Aruba, I like its stability and lifetime warranty."
"We use this solution for small and middle sized offices across different locations. The switches connect to the remote sites for distribution to the end user."
"When it comes to basic L2 switching, we've found that Aruba switches are very user-friendly in terms of configuration and management. I haven't had the opportunity to utilize Aruba Central for managing the switches yet, so I can't speak to that aspect. However, overall, we've found the deployment process for Aruba switches to be very straightforward."
"The most valuable features are the stability and compatibility with other products."
"I find the most valuable feature is it is part of the Aruba family."
"We have not had any issues with the product and its functions. It has been stable."
"Aruba has a good switching solution. It has some basic security features and full switching features for the company. It’s not used as a security device, but it has some basic features like configuring ACL. However, it cannot be used as a complete security solution. The primary thing our clients look for in Aruba, or HPE now since HP acquired Aruba, is cost-effectiveness. Aruba is a good choice if the customer has budget limitations. We recommend Aruba switches because they are less expensive than Cisco but provide the same features."
"All of the networking products that we use are Aruba, so we use Aruba Central to manage them."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The quality of service is one of the main reasons we use Cisco in our organization. It's quite high and very reliable. The switches also end up working for a long time, so there's less need to replace them as often as others. We have some switches in our company that has been running since 2006, for example. They are quite old, but they still work."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are pretty reliable, and I have rarely seen one of them break."
"One main feature of this solution is the POE switches."
"The layer-2 switching is very fast."
"What I like the most is the performance and the latency that Cisco provides."
"When it comes to switching routing, we have no doubts about Cisco."
"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."
 

Cons

"The dashboard could be improved, especially for the CX Switches. It would help to push scripts and configurations via an easy to use dashboard, one which would give us complete visibility of all of our switches in one place. Right now, we have more than one dashboard for Aruba. It would be nice if it was centralized."
"We've had issues with availability."
"The migration from older to newer products could be improved."
"It would be good if I could get a 24-port, 10 gig module."
"I think that the performance is getting better but they need to have more powerful switches on the market so that they can capture medium and large businesses."
"I would say that the customization of the switches could be easier to configure."
"The delivery time for this product is slow and is something that needs to be improved."
"Aruba Switches could improve the monitoring and increase the scope of their online portal to cover cloud and on-premise deployments."
"Cisco has a licensing procedure that is very complicated and it changes every six months."
"The solution's pricing could be improved."
"The price could be better."
"I haven't heard from my engineers that they said it's excellent."
"The typical areas of concern for Cisco Ethernet Switches are not technical but cost including support costs. I’ve never liked the fact that end users cannot download security patches without a support contract. I’ve had trouble getting approval to renew Cisco support contracts due to the cost."
"The technical support could improve, they are about average quality."
"The price of the solution has room for improvement."
"There is a need for improvement on the ordering and delivery side for Cisco Ethernet switches."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for Aruba Switches is definitely expensive."
"It is a little bit expensive. It can be cheaper."
"Typically it is a $500 to $600 difference in price."
"The price of these switches is high."
"I am paying for the hardware and Aruba Central licenses, but I would like a version of Aruba Central to come out with a light version with a few features turned off. Ubiquiti and other vendors have free tools. I believe they're looking at that, but it's not out yet. I hope they will release that to make it competitive because I'm using an enterprise-class switch for small businesses. We're looking for some of those capabilities, but not all of them."
"Comparing with Cisco, and some other solutions, it's a cheap product."
"There is a license to use the solution."
"I don't know the exact cost of the licensing, but based on what I have heard from my sales team, Aruba is affordable. Aruba switches are cheaper than the switches from Cisco and other vendors."
"The price is a bit on the high side."
"The price of this solution is good."
"It is an expensive product."
"The cost of Cisco Ethernet Switches is expensive."
"We get the SMARTnet and one of the switches has that Cisco ONE licensing. It's probably running about $12,000 a year right now."
"The solution can be comparatively cheaper."
"The price is very high though it is priced right for the level of quality."
"The cost of the solution is by unit."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Ethernet Switches solutions are best for your needs.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user82779 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 29, 2014
Benefits of Juniper vs Cisco
Both are decent products. I prefer Juniper for the following reasons: 1) Cleaner separation of data plane from control plane. Higher end Cisco devices are better at this but most of the lower end products still seem to be more integrated than I like. 2) The Hierarchical config design means I can…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Switches?
Aruba lives up to the expectations of the tech giant hewlett packard enterprise providing excellent networking capabilities at a very affordable price compared to the equivalent from another tech g...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Switches?
I find it to be middle to high. It's not always affordable, but they're losing the pricing market against Huawei, let's just put it like that.
What needs improvement with Aruba Switches?
There isn't much room for improvement. A more granular breakdown in debugging would be beneficial. Apart from that, not much is needed.
Would you recommend replacing a Cisco Catalyst Switch by a D-link one?
Hello Mesfin It depends on the real scenario, the cisco 2960 is a very good device and they usually have routing functions but there are many different models within the same 2960 line, and on the ...
Which would you choose - Fortinet Fortiswitch secure access or Cisco Ethernet Switches?
We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price. Fortinet FortiSwitch is an ethernet switch solution that provides security and performance...
In terms of ethernet switches, would you go with Cisco or Juniper?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Cisco or Juniper Ethernet switches were the better fit for us. We decided to go with Juniper. Juniper ethernet switches are a lesser-known...
 

Also Known As

8400 Series, 8320 Series, 5400R Series, 3810 Series, 2930M Series, 2930F Series, 2920 Series, 2540 Series, 2530 Series
Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Purdue University
Linz AG
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Switches vs. Cisco Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.