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Cisco FabricPath 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

Cisco FabricPath
Ranking in LAN Switching
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
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 February 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco FabricPath is 1.7%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.7%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

OusaidAbaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Extendable and has beneficial spin and leaf architecture
Cisco FabricPath is very fast, stable, extendable, and scalable. It doesn't have issues with patches or problems because it's built on the stable NXOS operating system. In a scenario using FabricPath, the spin and leaf architecture is beneficial. For example, we can use two separate spine switches like 9980s and multiple leaf switches as access switches. These leaf switches are connected using VPC between them, with each switch separated and not directly connected to the spine. This setup improves data center architecture by allowing two ways to arrange destinations, connecting the first connection to the first spine and the second to the second spine. The spines are configured as a virtual chassis. In FabricPath, we can enhance VXLANs, VPNs, and integrate with Cisco ISE for user authentication. It can also be configured with WLC to manage wireless technology, depending on the client's architecture.
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 And they were running outdated software.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

"Cisco FabricPath operates with minimal errors."
"I like the 10G ports and the modular uplink port."
"The technical assistance is good."
"The most valuable features are the lead time and the high quality of the product."
"Additional bandwidth is available when needed."
"FabricPath's best features are routing, OSPS, ethernet, and performance."
"We have found the solution to be stable."
"It's very stable."
"Cisco is refining the features all the time and you can see this in all the different vendors."
"The most valuable features are the great performance, high availability and easy administration."
"The setup is straightforward. I'd like to see the firmware and code upgradability to be slightly more intuitive."
"From a data center implementation, with respect to competition from your data, there isn't really a product recovery for the different tests other than Cisco Nexus. For example, if you take Multi-tenancy for the data center, it's something which, I think, only Cisco has. There are some implementation from HP, but I think it's limited there."
"Solid product, communications and support from a well-known dependable company."
"The solution has introduced VPC, Virtual Port Channel, which allows for more redundancy and flexibility."
"The redundancy and the vPC are the most valuable features. We can integrate two switches together for file transfers; that is, we can operate two switches as one. This is because the network can be shared via a vPC trunk, particularly for devices that are not critical for redundancy."
"Nexus provides inner redundancy. It allows us to perform updates on individual switches, while still maintaining reliability and uptime on the server."
 

Cons

"The pricing could be adjusted to make it easier to sell to clients."
"Layer 3 does not have higher availability."
"Improvements could be made on specific technical issues such as implementation."
"The cloud version of Cisco Fabric Path could be improved."
"The initial setup is a little complex."
"Lack of security features for which we need to use another solution."
"The management features are in need of improvement."
"Cisco FabricPath has room for improvement in areas like technical support and design."
"The technical support for this solution needs to be improved."
"One improvement needed is support for Multi-CAD scale that we were concerned about. We're not hitting any limits at this point."
"The initial setup wasn't simple or user-friendly."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see a focus on backplane deployment, so you can stack more."
"Stability is not really up to the mark."
"They need to offer fibre switches in the 9K series."
"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."
"Nexus switches should be able to support network function virtualization (NFV)."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FabricPath is very reasonably priced."
"It is very expensive."
"I rate the product's pricing a ten out of ten. Cisco switches cost around 15,000 dollars, and DNS licenses cost around 25,000 dollars. The total amount is 45,000 dollars, which is too expensive."
"Cisco is expensive but offers good-quality features, so I would rate it high on the pricing scale."
"I rate it seven out of ten on pricing as it's a bit expensive. It would be better if the price were lower, but we prioritize quality over cost."
"The pricing for this product is good."
"The pricing of Cisco FabricPath can be quite high depending on the architecture, but it's justified by the stability it offers."
"The price of Cisco FabricPath could be reduced, it is expensive in the market here in Sri Lanka. The solution is subscriptions based, if the customer wants any future integrations, or if there are any future enhancements they will have to pay. There are different license options available, such as one or three years purchases."
"It's around $160K a year for our license."
"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."
"The solution should be more cost-effective in general."
"Cisco Nexus is not cheap compared to Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Check Point."
"The license on a yearly basis is $200,000."
"It is very expensive. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"It's worth the money we're paying for Nexus."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
32%
Government
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
26%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco FabricPath?
The tool makes it easy to manage multi-layer networking and increases network efficiency. I haven't faced any challenges in integrating it into our existing infrastructure.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco FabricPath?
Pricing and related discussions are handled by the sales team, not my team.
What needs improvement with Cisco FabricPath?
Currently, there are no issues or suggestions for improvement as everything is working smoothly.
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?
Cisco pricing is at the same level as many competitors, however, due to competition, they sometimes lower prices and offer large discounts.
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.
 

Also Known As

FabricPath
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bellevue, Calligaris, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Management Science Associates, Multi-Customer, Oediv, Roper St. Francis, SNAM
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 Cisco FabricPath vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.