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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. D-Link Ethernet 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

    D-Link Ethernet Switches

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AD-Link offers Ethernet switches.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesD-Link Ethernet Switches
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesD-Link Ethernet Switches
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices vary between $19.99 and $129.99 depending on switch category, series type, and other factors.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesD-Link Ethernet Switches
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    D-Link Ethernet Switches were being mostly used in our organization with some other lesser-known brands as well. These switches were made for small businesses and home users and they were not able to handle large amounts of traffic from hundreds of users simultaneously. Cisco …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    We had about 15 different brands of network switches before adopting Cisco, and were not satisfied with any of them. Percentage of breakage on these units was very high.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
    D-Link switches are nice switches with many features. They are also less expensive as compared with other options in the market. However, they are not built to handle large amounts of traffic in large enterprise networks or ISPs networks. Cisco Catalyst switches on the other …
    Incentivized
    D-Link
    Chose D-Link Ethernet Switches
    Cisco Catalyst Switches are top of the line when it comes to enterprise-grade network switches. They can handle large amounts of traffic with no impact on forwarding and they have all the features needed to manage and monitor in an enterprise environment. On the other hand, …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    493 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    439 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    494 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    407 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    470 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesD-Link Ethernet Switches
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    RUCKUS Ethernet Switches
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Cisco Ethernet Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesD-Link Ethernet Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (625 ratings)
    8.3
    (6 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (31 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.5
    (32 ratings)
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    Availability
    9.2
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.8
    (30 ratings)
    7.6
    (4 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    7.1
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.4
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.7
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.2
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.6
    (30 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.9
    (31 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Catalyst SwitchesD-Link Ethernet 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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    The focus of the equipment is SoHo, that is, small businesses or companies and even domestic use. It meets these scenarios very well. Using for large scale, they can present difficulties to maintain throughput, that is, its use in large networks can be difficult to maintain.
    Another issue to be taken into account is technical assistance, they are not as agile as the competition.
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    • Easy to use GUI
    • Inexpensive
    • Available in a different number of ports.
    • Support for copper as well as fiber ports.
    • Available in gigabit ethernet and above speeds as well.
    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
    D-Link
    • Updates frequently
    • End of life cycle and end of support cycle.
    • As D-Link frequently changes its products and customer have to switch very often.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    D-Link Ethernet Switches are working fine and fulfill all of our organization's needs cost-wise and efficiency-wise. The rating that I gave would vary based on performance and durability. We used an open environment without an IP-rated network rack, but its working fine and we handle all weather issues carefully and manage the network smoothly. Takeaways: cost effective, handles complex networks, and very good performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    I have given it 9 out of 10 just because of its low cost and additional features that have been an integral part of any product, otherwise, the load management part was far more inferior as compared to the Cisco switches, as those switches have a spanning tree protocol built-in.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cisco
    My own personal research to get the information I want is very handy and helped me many times
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    They stack up great. In performance, Price, Physical style. I have been around many networks with a business that has spent three times as much on a network solution and Dlink matches up toe to toe. Has of now they are moving over to Cisco language. So this will improve the availability of engineers and support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    D-Link
    • Reduction of oscillations in the network caused by repeater equipment (which was replaced by D-links).
    • Low cost of implementation and acquisition, making it possible to acquire a sufficient quantity to meet the entire park and demand.
    • Due to its low price, we have no losses with maintenance, and can simply purchase other equipment for replacement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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