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Cisco Nexus vs Juniper QFX Series Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 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

Cisco Nexus
Ranking in Data Center Networking
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (3rd)
Juniper QFX Series Switches
Ranking in Data Center Networking
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 19.4%, up from 15.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper QFX Series Switches is 15.1%, up from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

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 And they were running outdated software.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.
RafaelTorres - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers automation capabilities and good customer support
Juniper QFX Series Switches offer several features that contribute to improved efficiency. One key advantage is the automation capabilities. This allows us to automate network configuration and management tasks using scripting languages. In our case, at the bank, we use a script for automation to confirm the switch's scalability in the local data center. We expanded the environment to utilize the environment feature with AWS, creating connections between both data centers. This setup allowed us to extend our operations to another data center in Latin America, using AWS and Juniper together.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have found that logical tenant segregation to be the most useful feature."
"This solution has saved us both time and money because we now have the ability to control all of these telephony devices that are deployed nationwide."
"The ability to tenant-out the traffic and segment it, without having to get into separate physical hardware or trying to figure out VDCs manually, has been really powerful and extremely useful for us."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it scales well. It supports a lot of servers. We don't have to come up with different designs for anything. That's the best part about it."
"We have continuity with Cisco, which provides a very high-end solution."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is to segregate the network."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the power."
"The QFX series is a good choice for large data centers, particularly for Spine-Leaf architectures."
"It's a stable solution."
"EVPN-VXLAN feature offers the most benefits."
"It's really easy to replicate rules. It's the one that I've used; it was CLI-based. You can implement a large set of rules with CLI. You can just copy a script and add additional changes to the source and destination on the part. And so it's easy to do large zone-based rules."
"The most valuable features are the VxLAN and the EVPN."
"Support is good and customer-friendly"
"Juniper QFX Series Switches provide a good platform for all of our hardware and are easy to use."
 

Cons

"It would be nice if the solution offered multiple types of port support."
"The software is not as mature as it could be and needs some integration improvements with other orchestrators."
"They need to understand that when we call them and have an issue, it's our production and sometimes they want us to do repairs that would cause other issues. That's the biggest problem."
"They need to offer fibre switches in the 9K series."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see a focus on backplane deployment, so you can stack more."
"The scalability can be improved."
"We lag on the configuration. The changes make a difference in troubleshooting."
"The only issue that I have with this product is finding help on different commands when I'm trying to make a change."
"It is very costly."
"There have been some issues sometimes. When you upgrade the device, it doesn't come up. It gets stuck."
"Integrating QFX switches was the first point of challenge."
"The price could be cheaper."
"I faced issues with the deployment and upgrade. In the QFX5110 series, features like ISSU and DSSQ should be improved. Upgrades should be smoother."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model. It is too high."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Costs more than most, but the reliability pays for the difference."
"The subscription model and price could be better."
"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."
"This solution should be made more affordable."
"The license on a yearly basis is $200,000."
"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."
"We only have a yearly support contract, as we do not use any of the subscription-based functions at this time."
"It's around $160K a year for our license."
"The solution is cheap, especially compared to competitors like Cisco."
"The cost is expensive."
"The price of Juniper QFX Series Switches is expensive because we are running some enterprise hardware. However, they are less expensive than Cisco or HPE hardware."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Linode, VPRO, West Chester University
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFX Series Switches and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.