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MikroTik Cloud Router Switch vs NETGEAR Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 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

MikroTik Cloud Router Switch
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
18th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Routers (5th)
NETGEAR Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (4th), AV Over IP Switching (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of MikroTik Cloud Router Switch is 1.3%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Switches is 9.0%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Josephat Magesa - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up, user-friendly, and reliable
I'm also familiar with Cisco which I used at another company. Cisco is a little bit expensive to acquire. With MikroTik, came with the same solution and you can use so many features. In MikroTik, you can use maybe two routers or one router to cover all your requirements, which you can also do on Cisco. This product is also cheaper than Cisco. Cisco has a lot of complications even with the configurations. On the price issues or even support issues, you may need to have so many routers when using Cisco for a simple solution. If you can use only one switch to clear your solution, why don't you use MikroTik? You don't have to use Cisco to have more than one switch to solve your problem.
Doug Meuross - PeerSpot reviewer
Can easily integrate with the networks and infrastructures
No maintenance is required for the solution. It is very easy to integrate the product with the other systems in our company's infrastructure since you only need to consider plugging a cable. My company does not integrate the product with any product specifically since we only consider integrations with the networks and infrastructures. As the product needs to be plugged in and it starts working, I can say that it is a reliable solution that works. The tool also offers quality, especially if you consider how you would not know whether an unknown product that you choose would work for you or not. I recommend the product to others. I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the most valuable features are the simplicity, cost, usability, and power. As a package, it's extremely effective."
"There are a lot of features to control permitting or stopping packets in the network."
"The interface management and the user access management is pretty good."
"It is user-friendly, reliable, and cheap."
"The GUI is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is that it has better throughput than its competitors."
"I like that it's quite flexible and addresses different issues. It's quite easy to use, and the pricing is great. We find them to be very capable switches."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"The tool is stable."
"It's nice, if there is an issue, to be able to go in through the remote. The fact that the remote doesn't require a static IP... is nice. They initiate the contact to the outside world, without requiring a static to get in."
"The solution is simple to use. I am also impressed with the tool's GUI and CLI."
"The ability to mix and match is invaluable. So, we didn't have to run massive super extensive switches in the data closets where it wasn't necessary. Being able to manage it all from one place, as all your network configuration settings went live across your entire building from one management console was really handy."
"You are not limited in terms of stacking ports, and especially, if you're using the 96X as a core switch, the scalability, I could see this being very large. If you're using a type of a hybrid topology with a core switch going out to multiple switch stacks, or something like that, I could see the scalability of this being very good, especially considering the kind of backplane switching capacity on the 96X."
"The most valuable feature is definitely the fully functional IGMP snooping and querier, out-of-the-box, that the switch provides. With most if not all switches that we've worked with previously, at a minimum you have to enable a couple of different options... It's really a good feature to have that stuff enabled and fully functional out-of-the-box so that [AV techs] don't have to worry about configuring any of that stuff."
"NETGEAR Switches have increased the throughput and speed of internal communication, and have improved our network efficiency."
"Since it has a web interface, it is easy to set up. You don't have to take three years of training somewhere for a lot of money."
 

Cons

"Simplifying the documentation would be a good idea."
"Stuff that I'd like to be improved is really just training and documentation because I think the feature set is full. Another improvement I'd suggest is that their new, bigger releases should be a bit more stable."
"Technical support could be better."
"It happens that you may find your network is down, if you reboot the switch, they come up. However, sometimes, they reset themselves. That's a big issue."
"The initial setup is complex."
"MikroTik is mostly used by medium and small businesses, so the security is not as robust as Cisco."
"MikroTik Cloud Router Switch needs improvement in the area of security, although the recent models are addressing this."
"The RAM capacity offered by the product needs to be increased, as it is one area where the tool currently has some shortcomings."
"Lacks switches with additional ports that provide room for new protocols of communications."
"They can improve on the commercial part, specifically the cost, as it is higher than other brands."
"The tool's price could be better."
"Netgear switches could be cheaper."
"Though the tool's useability is good, it has certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"It's worked for the most part, but we've had to power cycle a few devices. We've had to ask customers to manually power cycle them with the power cord, after some of the firmware updates. Their updating needs a little improvement."
"Support could be improved."
"NETGEAR Switches could provide local technical support services."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is fair and there is a one-time license purchase only."
"In Pakistan, if you buy this cloud router, it's approximately $700 for the device."
"The price is competitive."
"I consider it to be a cost-effective solution."
"This product has a one-time cost and there is no licensing fee."
"The licensing for MikroTik is great. It's easy to enter, especially for small businesses. Their model is great."
"MikroTik is really cheap compared to the competitors."
"They came with the licensing when we purchased them."
"Licensing is always a hassle and a pain point."
"The price-to-performance of the solution is very good. You get very performance for a low cost per port. Compared to standard AV switching, NETGEAR is probably the best value out there."
"They are on par with other AV switch manufacturers, e.g., Pakedge, Cisco Small Business Series, and Extreme Networks. Though, they are closer in cost to Extreme Networks. They are more in the mid-range from an AV product price, maybe a bit higher. You can't beat their features compared to other vendors in that product range and capacity. AV specific only, they are mid-range price-wise."
"The price to performance of this solution is very good. When it comes to pricing, as far as I'm concerned, they're very comparable with Ubiquity. NETGEAR has pricing that is as good as it gets. That's why I use them."
"The pricing is great. The cost of the hardware is low... There are a few solutions that have a lower cost, but NETGEAR is very value-oriented."
"There are two parts to the pricing. There's the pricing of the device itself, which is good. Their licensing model needs work, though. The licensing model doesn't fit the way MSPs do business."
"It is not expensive."
"The great thing about the Insight product is that the renewable subscription is much cheaper than the competitors in the market. It is not over $50, per year, so customers buy the equipment and don't have to worry so much about the renewable fees that go along with having such access into their switch, with a cloud-managed solution. There are some other manufacturers where you'll essentially pay the same in hardware as you do in software, just for the cloud solution that supports it; just to keep getting the firmware updates and all of that information. With NETGEAR, you can do multi-year and that is something like 90 percent cheaper than if you're looking at Meraki, for example. It is extremely competitive. It's one of the main reasons we liked it so much."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Educational Organization
9%
Hospitality Company
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MikroTik Cloud Router Switch?
The tool has impacted our company's network costs and productivity in a perfect manner and percentage-wise, I can say it is 120 percent.
What needs improvement with MikroTik Cloud Router Switch?
I have not tried AppSec. Everything, I do on my own with Sage or something similar. I do not rely on technical support.
How do NETGEAR switches compare with Cisco ethernet switches?
NetGear switches have a lot to offer. They have high availability, zero-downtime stacking, L2 and L3 functionality, and are AV-over-IP ready. NetGear switches also have a command line interface and...
Which switches are better - Ubiquiti Unifi or Netgear?
Ubiquiti Unifi offers a great set of features. For starters, it is easy to configure and implement, and also doesn’t require a learning curve because it is easy to use. It is also simple to reconfi...
What do you like most about NETGEAR Switches?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have not faced any issues with the product whatsoever.
 

Also Known As

MikroTik CRS Series
NETGEAR Insight Managed Switches, NETGEAR GC Series, NETGEAR M Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Blaze Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about MikroTik Cloud Router Switch vs. NETGEAR Switches and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.