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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Cisco Nexus Series Switches

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Catalyst Switches

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/ACisco's Catalyst is one of that company's brand of network switches.N/A

    Cisco Nexus Series Switches

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ACisco Nexus is a series of network switches.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    More features than Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Cisco Catalyst Switches are suited for Enterprise networks compared to Cisco Nexus switches that are better suited for data center environments
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches are best suitale for using in data centers or server rooms for connecting product servers. The problem in Cisco Catalyst Switches is that you cannont upgrade them without lost of service. For Cisco Nexus Series Switches it is also supportable to use …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Our engineers are more familiar with Cisco IOS. Cisco Catalyst switches are number one in the Campus network environment and they just work out of the box. We known that we won't go wrong with Cisco Catalyst switches if we use then in our network. Another thing we consider is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    The monitoring of Cisco devices is easy and have various monitoring tools available. The products offered for the Cisco Catalyst Switches work well hand in hand.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    NEXUS OS has better CLI commands to navigate and configure with.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Using Cisco Catalyst Switches we get a homegenous network for easy central administration and integration with our tool set. We also know that replacing a product series with another from Cisco always provide roughly the same form factor and physical requirements so we don't …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Cisco Catalyst switches they are the bedrock of all Cisco switching equipment especially layer 2 or 3 campus switching. They are very interoperable with all other types of cisco switches. One example is the C9500-48Y4C they can be used for core switching or aggregation …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Once you understand the syntax it is easier to manage a Cisco switch than many others.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    They are better at access, while nexus good at data center.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Less complicated to manage and rollout
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    we use cisco catalyst switches when we dont need advanced functionnalities like mpbgp, vxlan, macsec ...
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Cisco catalys switches are for better price than nexus series, but Nexus is really what data center due to high utilization, speed and latency requirements.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    The Catalyst line is far more feature rich than Aruba or Meraki. The main question will be if any of those additional features provide value to the organization. There are plenty of environments where the ease of use that Meraki has far outweighed the expanded feature set of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Cisco Catalyst Switches are easy to configure, troubleshoot and manage. They are much faster compared to HP ProCurve, Aruba, and Huawei network switches. Cisco provides the best customer support and insights to their customers relating features and services the Cisco Catalyst …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Cisco Catalyst switches stack up against them because of their simplicity of using IOS-XE syntax.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    We currently use Nexus, Meraki, and Catalyst gear in our operations. All [these products] are very successful for every need they fill. In the case of Catalyst switches, we use them for more unique situations where diverse products need to connect together as this brand has …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    We've used/evaluated Juniper EX series switches that stack up against Cisco Catalyst. However, Juniper did not offer as many features, especially around cloud compatibility and customization.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Cisco have the most popular interface in the market. Any networking technician have experience working with them in some way, that makes them the easiest to troubleshoot, mantain and administer. The Catalyst series particularily allows a depth of configuration that exceeds our …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    I love them for end-user switches, however, I have also started replacing some of them in branch offices with Meraki switches for the easy GUI to train service desk members to configure ports and apply VLANs really easy with almost no training needed. BUT Meraki's are AWFUL if …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    Nexus is better for the datacentre in my opinion
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    We use for different needs. Nexus DC Cat for PC Access
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    It's different requirement where Catalyst Switches are designed for Campus Network while Cisco Nexus Series Switches are well builded for DCN. Cisco Nexus Series Switches are made for servers that handle large amounts of data traffic, vm compute, virtual network and storage. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches are designed for data center environments, which provide high performance, reliability and DC required features.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    I like Cisco Nexus and the CLI is very similar to Cisco Catalyst so the majority of this is interchangeable but with the Dell networking, it is a totally different world and requires a lot of searching and assistance to learn, and even then some issues are caused by the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Easier configuration, no need for special stack cables when using multi-chassis ether channel and extremely high speed interfaces (1/10/25/40/50/100/400/800 Gbit/s).
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches is capable of both being a L2 switch and L3 switch at the same time. Possibility to …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    493 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    112 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    439 Answers
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    100 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    494 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    112 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    407 Answers
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    87 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    470 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    107 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco Nexus Dashboard
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Cisco Nexus Dashboard
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (625 ratings)
    8.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (31 ratings)
    9.9
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    9.5
    (32 ratings)
    9.0
    (36 ratings)
    Availability
    9.2
    (9 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    7.5
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.8
    (30 ratings)
    8.8
    (10 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    7.1
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.4
    (8 ratings)
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.7
    (7 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.2
    (5 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (9 ratings)
    7.5
    (4 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.6
    (30 ratings)
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.9
    (31 ratings)
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I think the most suited ones will be of course, for example, a supermarket where you have more than 50 plus devices because there are like 48 ports in a switch. We can just use a lot of devices and connect them to it. A less use case will be, I think it depends at the end of the day how your topology looks like. If you have a very few devices, you shouldn't be going for these catalyst switches because they are of course much bigger, more processing power and all those things. If you have, again, it comes to topology. If you have the number of users who are using these switches is less than 15, it's less than 15, then you can just go for any other option and not use them.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It fits perfectly in all our data centers where we are using it. For small companies or smaller racks or something. I don't think it fits there because Cisco Nexus Series Switches is a big one. It's the most advanced one.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • One of the things that it does well, it's not something major, but there's a light tracking feature that the 9300 comes with that you can turn on the light and that has become critical in a data center environment where you want to help someone to make sure that you're talking about the same switch, you can turn the light on and off something that is not available in other versions of Cisco switches before the 9300. So it's not as major, but it's quite critical when you're dealing with multiple systems and multiple switches.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Continuous system operation:
    • Maintenance, upgrades, and software certification can be performed without service interruptions because of the modular nature of NX-OS and features such as In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) and the capability for processes to restart dynamically
    • FabricPath:
    • Enables each device to build an overall view of the topology; this is similar to other link state routing protocols. Each device in the FabricPath topology is identified by a switch-id. The Layer 2 forwarding tables are built based on reachability to each switch-id, not by the MAC address. Eliminates spanning-tree to maximize network bandwidth and flexibility in topological configurations, as well as simplify operational support and configuration. This enables a tremendous amount of flexibility on the topology because you can now build FabricPath topologies for Layer 2-based networks the same as for Layer 3-based networks
    • Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV): Enables the Layer 2 extension between distributed data centers over any transport Layer 3 network
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Functionality. Well, one of the functions that we are missing is a faster route based on OSPF. Other than that, it could provide an upgrade without a hitless upgrade. Well, now it is a very fast upgrade, which is also okay. We had a case when the platform crashed, but that was a specific case. We were happy with this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Implementing jumbo frames on interfaces of its fabric extender series (N2k, etc.) by editing the network QoS does not have to be a global configuration that would affect all its interfaces. It can be improved to become just an interface configuration.
    • Licensing on the NXOS is a bit complicated and expensive. I understand that the Nexus is made for core data center switching but it does not have to break the bank.
    • OTV technology is for Nexus only. Based on the advantage of the technology, it should be made vendor-neutral to accommodate other vendor devices.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    They are consistently reliable and this switch in particular is a very affordable solution. We can place the Cisco Catalyst 1000 Series Switches gear in areas that we normally would not place a switch because it is affordable enough to make it justifiable. And because it is a reliable solution, we are confident it will continue to provide service over the long haul.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Actually if we need to implement or develop our actual DC we will use Cisco Nexus Series Switches again. The solution is well known and we will be able to interconnect easily the switches, as we're not using all the possibilities of features we know what is solution is a long term solution.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    Cisco by and far does a great job with the Catalyst line. From a layer 2 dumb switch all the way up to ISP carrier grade switching within the Catalyst portfolio. The best part about it is command parity among the various tiers of product. The only differences are going to lie in what features are available per switch.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The platform has a good performance. The major issue is all the bugs you can discover across the operations, and it can be a big challenge depending on the number of Cisco Nexus Series Switches you have deployed. In our case, we own more than 200 Cisco Nexus Series Switches 9k, and we face an upgrade process, it could be a long time project to grant a new software deployment in all our switches platform.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    We have very few is any outages due to a Cisco hardware failure. Some of our gear is exposed to some pretty harsh environments, and they keep on ticking!
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    it is reliable and we seldom encounter outages for the switches
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Cisco
    No, the packets flow. Sometimes you will see collisions and broadcast storms can happen which will slow performance but that can be fixed and the packets will flow.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    These switches are very fast. They've been designed to work within the data center. We connect them to Cisco UCS-B Mini servers with the storage being directly attached. They are able to handle the data traffic pretty easily. We can also move servers pretty fast from data center to data center without overloading them. This has allowed our company to stay running during any kind of conditional outage. We have come to really rely on them for business continuity.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    We rarely have issues with the product. I have only had to contact support one time since we put it in and that was to see if another vendor was giving me accurate information on an issue I was having.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Overall, Cisco has great products and I believe that they believe in the philosophy of a great customer experience. Although there have been a few technical support issues that caused a lot of company anxiety, in most cases, Cisco has gone above and beyond in making a valiant effort to help the customer solve any issues.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    Cisco Networking Academy partners with many local Colleges and High Schools to provide great hands-on training. You do need to drive to learn the topic. The in-class session only go so far. You really need to apply this to the real world. Cisco makes it easy for business to connect via CLC or Cisco Learning Credits.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Trainer didn't has good handon experience.. he was bookish trainer.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Cisco
    My own personal research to get the information I want is very handy and helped me many times
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Never had it
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    The implementation of the Cisco Catalyst 1000 Series Switches is fairly seamless, especially if you are familiar with Cisco products. We have had Brocade switch gear in place too, and the differences between the manufacturers [are] not a major issue.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Since we already have exposure to other Cisco switching products, the implementation of these switches is very seamless;
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    We do have other vendors. For example, Juniper, Fortinet, and there are quite a few others. And Cisco is pretty good because we know the workflow, we know how the operating system works. We are much more familiar with Cisco products and we know the support system behind it. So in terms of comparing with others, I think it stands out. It's one of our top products to go to
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The Cisco 9000 stacks up quite well against the Cisco Catalyst 3850 switches. The additional features available in the Nexus 9000, such as VPN, FCoE, 40 gigabits, give us the ability to support the future needs of the company in our data center. The Nexus 9000 allowed us to condense our core and aggregation environment that comprised of 2 Catalyst 6504 and 2 Catalyst 6509 to a port of Nexus 9000. Although the Catalyst 3850 would be sufficient to handle routing, those features in the Nexus 9000 made it the clear choice for us.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    No, all good
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    We are exclusive Cisco at our organization. In truth part of the reason is, with one type of switch and one manufacturer, it is easier to support. It is also easier to give consistent training to our staff in our tech department
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The Nexus 3000 series switches are data center switches, so I would say they have similar security ability to other switches in this segment. I don't have a lot of experience doing more than basic ACL security on switches, but I know these can be integrated into other security solutions like Cisco ISE and 802.1x authentication. It could also be integrated into an ACI solution to add micro segmentation, which would bring in other security functions.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    their professional services is ok and support provided is good
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • energy costs dropped by around 11 per cent on the access layer
    • management has become easier with DNA Center
    • ISSU software upgrades and fabric deployments have significantly reduced "planned" down times
    • network speed has increased, latency is at an all-time best within our own LAN
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • We expected the switches to provide ROI and they did as advertised.
    • NX-OS was pretty similar to IOS so the learning curve was pretty low.
    • Being a Non-Profit we need to be extremely cost conscience and buy gear that has a long shelf life. Nexus line of switches met this objective.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Cisco Catalyst Switches Screenshots

    Product screenshotScreenshot of Catalyst 9200 SeriesScreenshot of Catalyst 9300 SeriesScreenshot of Catalyst 9400 SeriesScreenshot of Catalyst 9400 Series Additional ViewScreenshot of Catalyst 9500 Series

    Cisco Nexus Series Switches Screenshots

    Screenshot of Cisco Nexus 9800 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Nexus 3000 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Nexus 6004 Extensible Fixed SwitchScreenshot of N3K-C3548P-10GX Switch