Meraki MS Switches and Ubiquiti UniFi Switches compete in the network switch category. Meraki MS Switches seem to have the upper hand due to their advanced cloud management and comprehensive feature set.
Features: Meraki MS Switches offer advanced cloud management with a single dashboard, remote troubleshooting, and granular visibility. They are designed for easy deployment with minimal setup time. Ubiquiti UniFi Switches are known for affordability and an intuitive interface, providing central management suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. They offer seamless deployment with simple management through their console and controller integration.
Room for Improvement: Meraki MS Switches can improve their pricing and licensing flexibility, as costs can be high. There are also concerns about dependency on cloud connectivity. Ubiquiti UniFi Switches need enhanced customer support, as they lack live support, and they face issues like configuration bugs and supply challenges.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Meraki MS Switches excel in deployment simplicity with both on-premises and cloud options, though reaching customer support can be tricky. Ubiquiti UniFi Switches also allow quick deployment, mainly on-premises, but their customer service is less comprehensive, better suited for tech-savvy users.
Pricing and ROI: Meraki MS Switches are priced higher with significant licensing fees, offering extensive support and features. Despite higher costs, users often find good ROI through reduced maintenance. Ubiquiti UniFi Switches present a straightforward, affordable pricing model with no ongoing fees, appealing to smaller budgets but with ROI depending on organizational needs.
Another solution offered to us was more than double the price, making UniFi a cost-effective choice.
If the devices are licensed, the support team will assist you depending on the severity level of the case.
Cisco's tech support is pretty good, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.
the manuals, installation videos, and resources on the website are very good and straightforward.
I rate the scalability as nine out of ten.
While we are satisfied with its use in small environments, other products may be needed in very large companies with more than 30 users.
If something happens to the device or hardware, Cisco will automatically change the device by the next business day.
We faced issues following firmware updates, which we now handle by performing updates outside of working hours.
I did not experience any problems the whole year.
If the system is installed, it runs well, with no issues.
The switches are stable and there have been no outages.
Meraki should also consider improvements in stacking features, particularly in the lower-end models like NS130, where stacking isn't supported, unlike with Cisco traditional switching.
Most people are familiar with the Cisco commands, and it would be beneficial if the switch could be accessed by GUI configuration and by normally accessing the console.
There are compatibility issues with certain Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices, which we would like to see resolved.
The current setup is closed and does not allow for integration with non-Ubiquiti VoIP devices or providers outside their ecosystem.
Controlling and reducing network traffic directly from the controller would be beneficial.
Meraki MS Switches, including their licensing, are somewhat expensive, particularly when compared with competitor solutions like HP.
Pricing is affordable, and licenses for the cloud need to be purchased every three to five years.
Meraki pricing is a little premium compared to other vendor products.
Pricing is very favorable, with minimal licensing involved.
Many vendors mark up prices significantly.
The setup cost is reasonable, but there are companies in the business pushing more expensive solutions.
The control plane is in the cloud, and the data plane is local, allowing manageability from anywhere.
The most valuable feature is the ability to access devices from anywhere in the world through the cloud.
One of the most valuable features of Meraki MS Switches is its precise traffic analytics capabilities, allowing us to query the system for any place at any time.
I can manage user connectivity, limit bandwidth, apply MAC address filtering, and it offers POE capabilities.
One of the most valuable features of Ubiquiti UniFi switches is their graphical interface and plug-and-play capability.
The most valuable feature of UniFi Switches is the simple management via the UniFi console.
Meraki MS Switches are first-line cloud-managed access and aggregation switches that combine the benefits of cloud-based centralized management with a reliable access platform. With cloud management, thousands of switch ports can be configured and monitored instantly over the web.
Meraki MS Switches Features
Meraki MS Switches have many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Meraki MS Switches Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Meraki MS Switches. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Meraki MS Switches is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are its accessibility, application visibility, and flexibility features.
Jóhann T., IT Manager at Sund Upper Secondary School, says, “Accessibility is what I find most valuable in Meraki MS Switches, because I'm able to check things and see if they're working, without being on-site at all times.”
A Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company mentions, "The top feature of Meraki MS switches for me is Layer 7 application visibility. Another positive in general is that you don't need to set up a console to the switch itself; it dials into a single dashboard where you can completely manage all your network devices."
John M., user at Baseline Consulting, LLC, comments, "I like the flexibility of the Meraki firewall. It gives you the ability to lock things down. Having multiple VLANs is helpful for the switching infrastructure and firewall. It's crucial when you have a public-facing VLAN, a private-facing VLAN, and a secure VLAN."
PeerSpot user William M., Consulting Engineer at IV4, expresses, "It is easy to deploy, maintain, and update. It has been trouble-free so far. I am still a Cisco command-line bigot, but the web interface makes it a lot easier for our help desk to interact with a client. When the clients call in and say that they aren't able to connect, it takes the help desk 10 minutes or less to look at everything in the enterprise or location. They can look at the firewall, switches, or access points in the dashboard. That's why I like the dashboard."
Ubiquiti UniFi Switches are managed Gigabit switches (Available with 24 or 48 RJ45 Gigabit ports) designed to meet all your network needs while delivering excellent performance. The switches’ excellent network performance is combined with fiber connectivity that includes two SFP ports and the ability to process traffic without putting packet loss at risk.
Ubiquiti UniFi Switches Are:
Ubiquiti UniFi Switches Support These Three Output Modes:
Ubiquiti UniFi Switches Support These Three Input Modes:
Ubiquiti UniFi Switches Features:
Benefits of Ubiquiti UniFi Switches:
Reviews from Real Users
A PeerSpot user who is a Director of Technical Operations/CTO at a consultancy says "The ability to deploy quickly and then having one central location for all the settings are its most valuable aspects."
"The integration with the controller is one of the most valuable features of these switches. They are also very stable. For example, we have some equipment that we haven't touched for four years that is still reliable," says Doru I., Senior solutions architect at Aplix Technologies
Murali S., Management Consultant at a consultancy, explains that “For the world where you have to balance traffic and traffic loads and bandwidth, their GUI makes it really easy because the switches, though they are enterprise grade level two or level three switches, the GUI is designed so that it's easy to set up VLANs where you need to control your traffic so that your phones don't break up and get choppy because of other people loading the network down too heavily."
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