Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000) vs. Cisco Meraki MX

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000) provides a scalable, flexible foundation so you can quickly integrate leading IT initiatives like SD-WAN and edge compute, while meeting the explosive network performance need driven by cloud-based application adoption.N/A
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls is a combined UTM and Software-Defined WAN solution. Meraki is managed via the cloud, and provides core firewall services, including site-to-site VPN, plus network monitoring.
$595
per appliance
Pricing
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
MX64
$595
per appliance
MX67
$695
per appliance
MX68
$995
per appliance
MX84
$1,995
per appliance
MX100
$4,995
per appliance
MX250
$9,995
per appliance
MX450
$19,995
per appliance
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
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 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
Considered Both Products
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)
Chose Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)
The Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers have more capacity than the 1000 series. Both provide similar features but if you have a site with many users, you should go for Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers.
Meraki is less reliable than the regular Cisco ISRs. …
Cisco Meraki MX
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
Compared to the regular Cisco devices, the greatest thing will always be the ease of configuration that the Cisco Meraki MX gives by having a dashboard to eliminate a command line that can be difficult for some beginners, it is easier to identify if you make mistakes and fix …
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
They are equipment or solutions that provide similar characteristics at the level of routing, administration of internet links and security features for the customer's network. However, we opted for Cisco Meraki for clients who require much more agile deployments, who have …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)
-
Ratings
Cisco Meraki MX
7.9
113 Ratings
9% below category average
Identification Technologies00 Ratings8.0108 Ratings
Visualization Tools00 Ratings8.4106 Ratings
Content Inspection00 Ratings8.1105 Ratings
Policy-based Controls00 Ratings7.9104 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings7.594 Ratings
Firewall Management Console00 Ratings7.5107 Ratings
Reporting and Logging00 Ratings7.4111 Ratings
VPN00 Ratings8.8106 Ratings
High Availability00 Ratings8.8107 Ratings
Stateful Inspection00 Ratings7.7101 Ratings
Proxy Server00 Ratings6.760 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers
Score 8.9 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers
Score 8.9 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(71 ratings)
9.1
(152 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
8.7
(13 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(6 ratings)
8.5
(9 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(15 ratings)
8.3
(18 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(119 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(1 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(1 ratings)
9.3
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)Cisco Meraki MX
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Actually if we place it into the internet gateway, we do nothing in front of the firewall. Yes, it's working well also, if we put into the routing, it works well. But we should not use it instead of switch. Because some people tend to use the router instead of layer three suite. So yes, I try to use it.
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Cisco
the Cisco Meraki MX 's work great for us we have over 40 locations and each has it's own Cisco Meraki MX that connects to our main Cisco Meraki MX in our datacenter. Each site then connects to Meraki switches and access points. Very easy to setup and keep running smoothly. Secure and easy for users to get connected to VPN.
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Pros
Cisco
  • The ISR 4000 is an excellent router for our voice services. We purchased CUBE licensing in order to do this.
  • The ISR 4000 is an excellent router for security purposes as well. We purchased the security license with the router and that allowed us to run a Zone-Based Firewall.
  • The ISR 4000 is very simple and straight forward to configure.
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Cisco
  • It's very easy to deploy these devices because it's a cloud-based controlling controller that controls it. So able to, once the device has internet access, all you need to do basically is to look up the controller serial number and it'll basically find it. And once you add it to your network to automatically incorporate that device into your network and basically build the panels for the SD-WAN service.
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Cons
Cisco
  • A greater number of onboard WAN ports would be an improvement over the model we purchased, which only had two. [This] means we'll have to buy more expensive network cards to get more convenience.
  • The small router was a plus in some branches, but it was a hindrance in others. Its width is about half the size of the rack, so we had to keep it on top of another device.
  • When compared to its competitors, the rack mounting kit is unreliable and expensive to purchase.
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Cisco
  • Inbuilt wireless does not support tunnel SSID mode. This has meant not all SSID in our organisation can be deployed at a MX site.
  • Whilst Inbuilt switch ports support dot1x, they do not report as well on our NAC server as on a MS switch or catalyst switch.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
We renew Cisco end of life devices with current models.
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Cisco
The simplicity and ease of use for the Meraki Dashboard make it an easy choice for our organization to renew our Meraki Enterprise Agreement. We will likely continue using the Meraki MC67-C, MX450, and other MX models in their catalog until we shift away from Meraki completely
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Usability
Cisco
Regarding usability, this router has everything you need, except for a good GUI. Of course it can be integrated with other tools, but it lacks any native GUI option. Any engineer who is comfortable using CLI will find all options they need. Routing, security, voice are just examples of all the things you can do with it.
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Cisco
Some features simply aren't there, but the ones that are there are pretty easy to use. Sometimes it is easy to get lost when trying to find the specific device you want to work on, but that's mostly due to how rarely we have to go into the interface.
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Reliability and Availability
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Meraki MX devices support high availability (HA) configurations, which ensures minimal downtime if one device goes offline. This feature has helped us maintain a stable and reliable network, even in cases of hardware failures. ince Meraki is cloud-managed, we've noticed that the cloud infrastructure is generally highly reliable, with minimal service interruptions or downtime. This makes it easier to manage the network remotely without significant availability concerns. Meraki automatically pushes firmware updates and patches, which helps maintain system stability without requiring manual intervention. These updates are rolled out in a manner that ensures minimal disruption to service.
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Performance
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
The interface is pretty responsive. The lower end devices are easy to overwhelm if you have a lot of throughput. Be sure the model you get is rated for the amount of traffic you will have. Overbuild if possible, otherwise you won't be fully leveraging the connection from your ISP.
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Support Rating
Cisco
There is always room for improvement with support, but Cisco support has been good to me over the years. Being able to call or submit online TAC cases makes it so I can get my issues or questions answered faster. They have even added the TAC bot for TAC cases to get to support even faster!
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Cisco
I haven't ever had a bad experience with Meraki support. On the few occasions where I wasn't understanding the UI or needed some clarification about what a setting actually would do, I contacted them and they were very quickly able to provide help. Returns are simple and fast, too. We had to return a defective device one time and they shipped the replacement before we had even un-racked the one that was faulty. Unlike many other vendors, they didn't ask use to a do long list of scripted diagnostics, they just took my word for it that the device was broken and sent out a replacement immediately
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In-Person Training
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
great when they offered it, really tested your knowledge with hands on and see what your peers from other orgs know. glad to see that we were ahead of the curve of what our peers knew
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Online Training
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
it was okay as it was moderated but still better than nothing and done via semi self paced webex meeting
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
If you planning on upgrading your network to software defined networks, Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers are the best. To successfully implement the project you need to plan and communicate with all your stake holders
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Cisco
Implementing Meraki MX devices in phases—starting with a pilot group or select branch offices—was invaluable. This allowed us to identify potential configuration issues, troubleshoot problems, and refine our setup before rolling it out company-wide. It also helped to get feedback from early users and adjust the deployment strategy accordingly. The SD-WAN capabilities in Meraki MX were essential for optimizing our WAN traffic and ensuring better application performance across various locations.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
We did not compare the Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers to other competitors as we used Cisco for a long period of time already. We selected this product as we used a lot of CISCO products in the past and with good support. Other products don't have the protocols that CISCO products have.
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Cisco
The Meraki Dashboard has been a lot more intuitive than CradlePoint NetCloud. We switched from CradlePoint to Cisco Meraki MX because we were already familiar with the interface which allowed us to be familiar with a single dashboard.
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Scalability
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
I think at an organization level it's definitely a 10. You can automate when you're going to upgrade. You can do it on a peer network basis. There might be issues around scalability if things get a bit too complicated, but if you keep it simple and stupid is my examples of a retail store with an fpos machine, you're going to be fine.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Can be used for ISE, Meraki access point, FTD firewall, works well, no worry about integration with any third party product. As this device can be multipurpose, ROI is faster and usable for longer period of time, as no EOL any time soon
  • This is an integrated modular device so even if my small offices are closed over a period of time, this can be re-purposed for other requirements within organization
  • This device supports WAN optimization within software. This reduces the requirement of that specific optimization device, which reduces my overall cost for a branch network
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Cisco
  • I'm going to say positive impact. The biggest thing is especially coming from having a third party taking care of our network to us doing it ourselves. The ease of this with the overall high level visual that we can get as to how our day is starting and running reports to see how many outages have we had, what areas have they actually been in running these reports and being able to gather if it's a certain service provider that's causing an issue in a general area, maybe we need to switch service providers for ISP. So it's been great in that mannerism for us. Ease of manage, I mean, we have a limited number of staff, we have a lot of different offices across the country. And then this is relatively new for us because we did have a previous provider doing all of this for us.
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