Cisco FabricPath vs Juniper QFabric comparison

Cisco and Juniper are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Cisco is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.2, while Juniper is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.5. Cisco holds a 1.9% mindshare in LS, compared to Juniper’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Juniper users who would recommend it.

Cisco FabricPath

Read 29 Cisco FabricPath reviews

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147 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Juniper QFabric

Read 10 Juniper QFabric reviews

253 Views
165 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco FabricPath

Juniper QFabric

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Juniper QFabric and Cisco FabricPath compete in the data center networking category, offering scalable and high-performance solutions. Juniper QFabric seems to have the upper hand in pricing and support, while Cisco FabricPath has an edge with its feature-rich offerings that justify its higher price point.

Features: Juniper QFabric is known for its 40 gig backbone InterConneX, spine-leaf topology for single-hop connections, and scalability. It is agile, flexible, and cost-effective, integrating well with tools like Chef and Puppet. Cisco FabricPath offers reliable network performance, cloud management, and robust security features. It enhances Ethernet performance and is stable and scalable with minimal errors, flexible protocols, and traffic prioritization capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Juniper QFabric could benefit from enhanced feature flexibility and more comprehensive documentation. An expanded support network and more intuitive user interfaces would be advantageous. For Cisco FabricPath, simplifying deployment processes and reducing the need for advanced expertise would be beneficial. Enhanced cost efficiency and an improved primary client service might also add value.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Juniper QFabric offers an intuitive deployment process and excellent customer service, which facilitates quicker adoption and issue resolution. Cisco FabricPath, despite offering extensive documentation and support resources, has a challenging deployment process that often requires additional expertise. However, Cisco's support infrastructure is more robust, providing assistance through complex scenarios.

Pricing and ROI: Juniper QFabric typically has a lower initial setup cost, making it appealing for organizations mindful of budgets and seeking faster ROI. Although Cisco FabricPath entails higher deployment costs, it delivers higher long-term returns due to its advanced features and scalability, optimizing network performance and contributing significantly to ROI. The pricing strategies highlight their focus, with Cisco offering increased operational value over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco FabricPath vs. Juniper QFabric Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco FabricPath vs. Juniper QFabric

April 2025

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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

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Juniper QFabric

Ranking in LAN Switching

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco FabricPath is 1.9%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper QFabric is 1.5%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

OusaidAbaz

Security Network Architect at Inmac

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.

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Suresh Pathipatti

Senior Information Technology Administrator at Aighospital

Performs well, is easy to set up, and the vendor maintains the product well

QFabric is the core switch. We also have two Brocade switches for the Fibre level The product works fine. It is an excellent product. There are different element systems and different options for each generation of the tool. We maintain the data center and analyze issues. I have no negative…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most beneficial feature of Cisco FabricPath for network performance is its reliability."

"It's a reliable product and you know that it will work in the enterprise environment."

"The setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable features are the lead time and the high quality of the product."

"Cisco FabricPath operates with minimal errors."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to migrate VMs between data centers."

"It's very stable."

"I like the 10G ports and the modular uplink port."

More Cisco FabricPath pros

"The 40 gig backbone InterConneX was valuable for our use case. It is even faster now. QFabric has spine-leaf technology or topology, which basically makes every single hop only one hop away in terms of connecting from one device to another. It is a pretty good and robust solution. It works pretty well in terms of scalability, and their technical support is amazing."

"Juniper QFabric has various advantages including scalability, simplicity, performance, and flexibility."

"The solution is easy to use and has good performance."

"The vendor maintains the product well."

"It's user-friendly."

"The solution is stable."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the fabric backplane having upwards of 160 GB of communication. It is a top-of-the-rack solution where you have your directors sitting in the main area and then you have your nodes expanded out to your multiple cabinets. It has a very good design and could be your server backbone."

"It is known for being agile, flexible, and cost-effective when working with various vendors."

More Juniper QFabric pros

Cons

"The solution is costly."

"The solution should offer better reporting."

"Currently, there are no issues or suggestions for improvement as everything is working smoothly."

"Layer 3 does not have higher availability."

"Improvements could be made on specific technical issues such as implementation."

"The main issue I face is the cost."

"The cloud version of Cisco Fabric Path could be improved."

"Cisco FabricPath can be integrated into data centers and remote sites. For example, in a bank, we can extend the architecture to remote branches by implementing switches connected to the first and second spine for redundancy. This setup allows for VXLAN, VLAN, and SGT for user authentication. We can also use wireless technology through the data plane and route it on L3. This setup provides scalability and visibility. This technology is deployed in the USA, France, and Europe. For instance, BNP Paribas in France uses this technology."

More Cisco FabricPath cons

"The pricing structure could be more budget-friendly."

"It would be nice if Juniper provided the system integrator with training, similar to that of Cisco."

"It works too much on rebooting and there is some memory leakage."

"Improvements could be made to QFabric's life cycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support."

"The disruptive upgrade was an issue for us."

"They are working on the virtualization of the actual fabric layer. They are moving away from the original spine-leaf design to a different infrastructure. Instead of having three tiers, which was the director of the interconnected nodes, they cut them back, and they still have that kind of structure."

"Having support for all OpenFlow versions would be beneficial."

"I do not use GUI's very much for switch stacks. I am always in the CLI. However, I do know that Juniper in the past has lacked on their GUI's, but they have been working on it."

More Juniper QFabric cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 of Cisco FabricPath can be quite high depending on the architecture, but it's justified by the stability it offers."

"Cisco is expensive but offers good-quality features, so I would rate it high on the pricing scale."

"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."

"FabricPath is very reasonably priced."

"It is very expensive."

"The solution falls under the pricier category, but it provides value for the price charged."

"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."

More Cisco FabricPath pricing and cost advice

"The price is relatively high, but it offers an advantage over its competitors by providing better performance and functionality."

"The pricing is high and it is possible to find better pricing option solutions on the market, but the licensing model is quite flexible."

"In terms of price, the QFabric solution is going to be probably in the middle of the road for a fabric solution."

"Juniper QFabric is a high-level solution but it could be less expensive."

"The price for Juniper QFabric could improve. There are subscription, maintenance, and add-on feature fees."

"The pricing is high."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

30%

Government

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

No data available

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.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco FabricPath?

Cisco solutions are expensive, and because of that, moving to new upgrades is challenging due to cost considerations. For licensing, I budget approximately $100 per user annually and project future...

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What needs improvement with Cisco FabricPath?

We are phasing off Cisco FabricPath due to outdated protocols. The fault isolation mechanism in FabricPath is not as effective as the newer technology, Cisco ACI ( /products/cisco-aci-reviews ). He...

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What do you like most about Juniper QFabric?

The most valuable feature of QFabric for network performance is its stability.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper QFabric?

Juniper QFabric is not overly expensive. Licensing is required for certain features like vRRP, but setting up a virtual chassis does not necessitate a separate license.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Juniper QFabric?

Improvements could be made to QFabric's lifecycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support. The rapid release cycle and short life span compared to comp...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 50% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco FabricPath

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

March 2025

Download Juniper QFabric product report

Also Known As

FabricPath

QFabric

Overview

Cisco FabricPath is a Cisco NX-OS software innovation combining the plug-and-play simplicity of Ethernet with the reliability and scalability of Layer 3 routing. Using FabricPath, you can build highly scalable Layer 2 multipath networks without the Spanning Tree Protocol. Such networks are particularly suitable for large virtualization deployments, private clouds, and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. The benefits of Cisco FabricPath include: Minimal commands per switch ease configuration and operation, Autodiscovery simplifies addition of new links and switches, Provision additional network bandwidth without impacting network, Supports one-, two-, or three-tier architectures, VLAN extensibility across the data center.

Cisco

Juniper QFabric System is composed of multiple components working together as a single switch to provide high-performance, any-to-any connectivity and management simplicity in the data center. The QFabric System flattens the entire data center network to a single tier where all access points are equal, eliminating the effects of network locality and making it the ideal network foundation for cloud-ready, virtualized data centers.The highly scalable QFabric System improves application performance with low latency and converged services in a nonblocking, lossless architecture that supports Layer 2, Layer 3, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) capabilities.

Juniper

Sample Customers

Bellevue, Calligaris, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Management Science Associates, Multi-Customer, Oediv, Roper St. Francis, SNAM

MCB Bank

Buyer's Guide

Cisco FabricPath vs. Juniper QFabric

April 2025

Free Report: Cisco FabricPath vs. Juniper QFabric

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