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Cisco Ethernet Switches vs Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 22, 2024

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

Cisco Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
133
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Juniper EX Series Ethernet ...
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Cisco Ethernet Switches is 16.8%, down from 18.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is 3.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

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…
Bona Chhith - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides campus switches and access switches that are simple to deploy, but the code isn't stable enough for a leaf and spine design
If we're building a data center and have Juniper, we have hundreds of Juniper switches in a leaf and spine design architecture, and it's horrible. Sometimes after an upgrade, half of the even port can't be detected. They don't recognize third-party SFPs, and now they claim that they don't support that anymore. There are a lot of issues with the hardware and software. Juniper needs to get their code up to par because it isn't stable enough for a leaf and spine design. If you have over 10,000 VMs or Mac addresses, it doesn't scale. I would love Juniper to have more stable features, hardware, and code. We have so many tickets open with Juniper. The switch reboot doesn't detect the port. About 80% of my problems aren't engineering problems, but are Juniper's problems. In comparison, Arista gives me 10% of the problems that Juniper gives me when it comes to hardware and software. It's falling behind compared to Palo Alto because of its features. Juniper's campus switches and data center switches for the leaf and spine design for the overlay and underlay is horrible. I wouldn't recommend that anyone use Juniper fabric, because there are so many problems, issues, and features that aren't supported.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the ability to manage the switches and the ability to have a certain level of familiarity with setting up and configuring the switches."
"One valuable feature is that you can string a number of switches together, and the fact that there are various methods to connect them, such as by stacking."
"The quality, like all Cisco solutions, is very high. The fact that it's Cisco is one of the reasons we chose to use it."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are stable."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"We can expect Cisco Ethernet Switches to last for years without issue."
"I have found the solution to have good scalability. Cisco is the pioneers on switching technology, they are very good."
"The most valuable feature is the performance."
"The solution is certainly scalable."
"The solution has a high level of network functionality."
"The scalability is excellent. It's one of the aspects of the solution that is quite good."
"You willuse almost every feature on every switch to some degree because the utility is valuable."
"The most valuable feature is that Juniper is multiple kernels, so there's isolation, which means you won't get a process that runs away, creating problems across the whole platform."
"It's easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)."
"The Juniper Ethernet switch feature I find the most valuable is reliability."
 

Cons

"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."
"We've had hardware problems like SSDs, ports, networking, things like that."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches is a very expensive solution."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"There are some GUI configuration improvements that they can implement in the future for the product models."
"The NX-API REST is not very good and should be improved."
"The dashboard needs some minor improvements."
"The cost is very prohibitive both for us as well as other organizations. It's very expensive to buy Cisco switches. Among our colleagues, we find that we're not alone in thinking it's too high. Everyone's complaining about this."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches could improve in the EX 2300 model because it does not support IPsec VPN. Only the models at 3400 or higher support it. Additionally, there is a need for support for Mac which is lacking. Some of their competitors, such as Cisco, support Mac."
"They should integrate VPN functionality with the solution."
"Juniper's support could be much better and faster."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches' tech support is hard to reach and slow."
"Juniper needs to get their code up to par because it isn't stable enough for a leaf and spine design."
"The price could be a bit lower."
"The only issue that we have with Juniper Ethernet Switches is the firmware because it is not stable."
"The operating system, Junos OS, often has bugs which forces rollbacks or additional upgrades to resolve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While Cisco's pricing can be a concern, particularly with support fees, its overall features and support community make it a solid choice."
"The solution has different prices depending on the features that you want to have."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"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."
"In addition to the fees being high, you pay for support which is also on the higher side."
"It is very expensive."
"When you compare with other products, they are more or less the same price."
"Cisco offers annual and three-year license options."
"The pricing for the support is very high."
"For the QFX5000 Juniper switches, the price is about $10,000, but they would probably sell it for $1,000. Nobody can beat Juniper's pricing when it comes to switches. Juniper out-prices everybody, but they get you on the back end, maintenance, service port, and service contract."
"Relatively affordable per switch."
"We purchased the box for a one-time charge, and we are paying a yearly support fee of several hundred Euros."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"Juniper costs less than the competition. As a comparison, Cisco is 33% more."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches' pricing is high, but that's reflected across the market."
"The price of the Juniper EX Series is reasonable. Cisco is a lot more expensive."
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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
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Ethernet Switches?
Juniper EX model is ok for the campus network as the ex4300 is EOL in a few years and the new ex4400 is the standard. Now for the QFX model, 5k/10k in CRB mode IP fabric Ethernet switching is horri...
What is your primary use case for Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches?
I use the solution in my company for our customers in the retail and financial companies. We are using the switches in data center operations for our customer environment. We are using Juniper for ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches
Juniper Ethernet Switches
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Linz AG
BlackLotus, Staminus, Community Bank, BAS Group, Cloud Dynamics, Privalia, Fluidata, and Tesla Motors.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Ethernet Switches vs. Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.