What users are saying about
64 Ratings
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Based on 64 reviews and ratings
Cisco Meraki MX
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Top Rated
145 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.8 out of 100
Based on 145 reviews and ratings
Feature Set Ratings
Firewall

Cisco ACI
Feature Set Not Supported
N/A

8.4
Cisco Meraki MX
84%
Cisco Meraki MX ranks higher in 11/11 features
Cisco Meraki MX ranks higher in 11/11 features
Identification Technologies

N/A
0 Ratings

8.4
84%
47 Ratings
Visualization Tools

N/A
0 Ratings

8.6
86%
46 Ratings
Content Inspection

N/A
0 Ratings

8.5
85%
46 Ratings
Policy-based Controls

N/A
0 Ratings

8.1
81%
46 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP

N/A
0 Ratings

8.1
81%
39 Ratings
Firewall Management Console

N/A
0 Ratings

8.2
82%
48 Ratings
Reporting and Logging

N/A
0 Ratings

7.8
78%
49 Ratings
VPN

N/A
0 Ratings

8.7
87%
47 Ratings
High Availability

N/A
0 Ratings

8.8
88%
44 Ratings
Stateful Inspection

N/A
0 Ratings

8.6
86%
42 Ratings
Proxy Server

N/A
0 Ratings

8.4
84%
26 Ratings
Attribute Ratings
- Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) is rated higher in 4 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Likelihood to Renew, Performance, Implementation Rating
- Cisco Meraki MX is rated higher in 3 areas: Usability, Support Rating, Product Scalability
- Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) and Cisco Meraki MX are tied in 1 area: Availability
Likelihood to Recommend

9.1
Cisco ACI
91%
25 Ratings

9.0
Cisco Meraki MX
90%
73 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew

9.1
Cisco ACI
91%
3 Ratings

9.0
Cisco Meraki MX
90%
3 Ratings
Usability

7.8
Cisco ACI
78%
4 Ratings

8.4
Cisco Meraki MX
84%
4 Ratings
Availability

9.1
Cisco ACI
91%
2 Ratings

9.1
Cisco Meraki MX
91%
2 Ratings
Performance

9.3
Cisco ACI
93%
9 Ratings

9.1
Cisco Meraki MX
91%
2 Ratings
Support Rating

8.1
Cisco ACI
81%
9 Ratings

8.4
Cisco Meraki MX
84%
21 Ratings
In-Person Training

8.2
Cisco ACI
82%
1 Rating

Cisco Meraki MX
N/A
0 Ratings
Implementation Rating

9.1
Cisco ACI
91%
3 Ratings

7.0
Cisco Meraki MX
70%
3 Ratings
Product Scalability

8.7
Cisco ACI
87%
9 Ratings

8.8
Cisco Meraki MX
88%
39 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco ACI
Implementation of a new application into Cisco ACI, with all of the relevant groups of servers and storage, is very easy to carry out, as long as all of the communications between the servers are known. Migrating an existing application into the platform was found to be extremely difficult, as legacy applications are often built on a flat network, where this kind of information wasn't documented in the required depth.
Senior Cyber Security Engineer
South Yorkshire PoliceLaw Enforcement, 10,001+ employees
Cisco Meraki MX
We run 30+ sites, we can easily identify when a site loses connectivity, and check the event log to see what the issue is. We have fail-over connections at all our sites and can proactively manage each of them under the portal. We had a connectivity issue in a rural area recently and were able to diagnose the fault instantly, disable the suspect device from connectivity and reboot the firewall and OT was back up and running within 5 mins.

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Renewables & Environment Company, 51-200 employeesPros
Cisco ACI
- The REST API allows your to programmatically interact with the network and make massive changes very quickly when needed.
- The API allows you to tie together Server Provisioning tools, storage provisioning tools, into an orchestration platform such as Ansible to streamline new deployments and builds.
- New Deployments are extremely simple once you've worked out your programatic deployment process. We can deploy new clients/tenants in seconds rather than days or weeks like it used to take.
- Replacing failed switches/apics/etc is also extremely easy.
- Tightly couple the underlying Network Infrastructure to VMWare Deployments to allow VMs to move anywhere in the datacenter at the drop of a hat.

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employeesCisco Meraki MX
- The appliances are very, very easy to use. You could set one up for basic use with minimal documentation.
- Intuitive menus in the Meraki Dashboard make traversing your options and finding what you need very easy.
- Good support options and a healthy knowledge base with well-written guides.
Infrastructure, Network Administrator II
Dynamic AviationAviation & Aerospace, 501-1000 employees
Cons
Cisco ACI
- Cost is always a challenge and ACI is no different.
- The linkage between ACI and Tetration has been rebranded since the initial marketeering of it and this has caused confusion and in some cases diminished the business case as a result.
- The fact that Cisco has developed multiple Orchestrators of their differing network stacks causes issues when trying to pull together a singular approach to orchestration across a Cisco e-2-e network in an Enterprise.

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Telecommunications Company, 10,001+ employeesCisco Meraki MX
- As soon as network equipment is seen by the MX, it labels it, making it confusing as to if a device is rogue
- The reporting in the Client window is not real-time, [it's] not really accurate until some time has passed
- Individual client bandwidth usage seems to be inaccurate in the clients window

Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology
Retail Company, 51-200 employeesPricing Details
Cisco ACI
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Cisco ACI Editions & Modules
—
Additional Pricing Details
—Cisco Meraki MX
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
$595 per appliance
Cisco Meraki MX Editions & Modules
Edition
MX64 | $5951 |
---|---|
MX67 | $6951 |
MX68 | $9951 |
MX84 | $1,9951 |
MX100 | $4,9951 |
MX250 | $9,9951 |
MX450 | $19,9951 |
- per appliance
Additional Pricing Details
—Likelihood to Renew
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 9.1
Based on 3 answers
Cisco ACI is doing exactly what was intended for it to do, that is support our next generation data centre, improve security, and increase resiliency. Migrating to another platform would be a waste of time, resource and energy, which could be better spent migrating more legacy applications into the Cisco ACI fabric.
Senior Cyber Security Engineer
South Yorkshire PoliceLaw Enforcement, 10,001+ employees
Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 9.0
Based on 3 answers
As we have it in place now, we will continue to keep it at our remote sites. Future expansion is something we are reviewing, and may well start with some of the larger switches as they seem to offer good performance and management at a reasonable price. Wireless is also something we're investing in and their devices are great for that.
IT Manager
John Robertson ArchitectsArchitecture & Planning, 51-200 employees
Usability
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 7.8
Based on 4 answers
Cisco ACI has changed the traditional data center model into a new era of automation and agility. The product was considerably easy to deploy met all the expectations. In terms of usability, ACI provides a unified interface for managing the whole infrastructure in one place which is the main benefit for users (admins)

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Education Management Company, 5001-10,000 employeesCisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 8.4
Based on 4 answers
The Cisco Meraki MX series is very easy to use. Setting up user VPN access, site to site VPN to tie multiple locations together and managing all your devices. You can even download the latest firmware and install without ever leaving the dashboard. Meraki is the very definition of easy to use
Director of Information Technology
Callaway CountyGovernment Administration, 51-200 employees
Reliability and Availability
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 9.1
Based on 2 answers
no outages

Verified User
Professional in Sales
Telecommunications Company, 1001-5000 employeesCisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 9.1
Based on 2 answers
No answer on this topic is available.
Performance
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 9.3
Based on 9 answers
I do not give it 10 because the platform evolves more and more every day in the data traffic of the datacenter.But the implementations that they carry out for different clients of the platform are very happy with the result of the same over time.Another point that you notice about the platform, despite its good performance, is the low use of energy used by this 24x7 on, it is a good fact to take into account for our environment.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Telecommunications Company, 1001-5000 employeesCisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 9.1
Based on 2 answers
No answer on this topic is available.
Support Rating
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 8.1
Based on 9 answers
Application and service support, in times where we needed consulation, were superb. Issues were mainly due to familiarity of our Senior Engineers with this new tool or application, and the uncertainties were clearly explained by the Support Team. All the while, an "unofficial" training, so to speak, was also provided during the implementation phase - but it's most likely due to the technical person that was assigned to us and how his approach was in terms of assisting.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Telecommunications Company, 501-1000 employeesCisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 8.4
Based on 21 answers
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
Senior Systems Administrator
DRT Holdings, Inc.Aviation & Aerospace, 501-1000 employees
In-Person Training
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 8.2
Based on 1 answer
The Cisco ACI training provided by Cisco was in depth, covered all of our requirements, and allowed us to implement and maintain the platform without issues.
Senior Cyber Security Engineer
South Yorkshire PoliceLaw Enforcement, 10,001+ employees
Cisco Meraki MX
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 9.1
Based on 3 answers
The following are extremely important when implementing Cisco ACI:
- Design phase
- Naming scheme
- Documentation
Sr. DataCenter Engineer
Conscia NetsafeInformation Services, 51-200 employees
Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 7.0
Based on 3 answers
Good product and simple to use.
IT Manager
John Robertson ArchitectsArchitecture & Planning, 51-200 employees
Alternatives Considered
Cisco ACI
ACI and DNA are all very tightly integrated as it stands today. So using one with another only increases the overall benefits, when you are using the overall Cisco Stack of NGFW, ISE, ACI, Assurance engine, and Tetration (which is another product, we plan to evaluate)
IT
TrafiguraOil & Energy, 5001-10,000 employees
Cisco Meraki MX
We continued using Cisco Meraki MX after taking over the client since they are familiar with it and enjoy the reporting it provides. We use pfSense for most new deployments as the controls it gives us are slightly better than the Cisco Meraki MX controls. That isn't to say Cisco Meraki MX is bad; it just isn't suitable for many of our clients that are multi-tenant, which is one of the weaker offerings from Meraki. For our clients that were already using Cisco Meraki MX when we adopted them, there was no reason to change, it does the job, and it does it well.
Owner and Lead Developer
Binary CocoaComputer & Network Security, 1-10 employees
Scalability
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI 8.7
Based on 9 answers
Cisco ACI scales well and is suited in scenarios such as multi-cloud or large data centre implementations. It is not suited to smaller deployments as the efficiencies that it provides are not fully realised. It is well suited in large environments that contain both virtual and bare-metal machines allowing a great deal of flexibility. It is also perfect to support multi-tenancy platforms.
National Manager Architecture services
NEC AustraliaComputer Networking, 1001-5000 employees
Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX 8.8
Based on 39 answers
I've used MX devices in one location organizations, multi-building campuses, and multi-national organizations. All implementations can be easily managed with Meraki equipment thanks to the dashboard and cloud-based management features. Being able to seamlessly connect any site with any other via SD-WAN makes a large-scale deployment a straightforward project. [...] With the use of [...] virtual products, secure connectivity with cloud providers is like adding any other site.

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 201-500 employeesReturn on Investment
Cisco ACI
- We typically don't have to touch ACI. It does what we need it to do without having to "baby" it.
- It's constantly running so the amount of downtime we have (if any) is very minimal.
- It was pricey in the beginning but with is reliability it was well worth it.
Network Administrator II
Central Electric Power CooperativeUtilities, 51-200 employees
Cisco Meraki MX
- Previously I managed Cisco ASA equipment and enjoyed these firewalls. The need to train other admins and deployment at MSP clients were at the top of my list for switching to Meraki MX. The learning curve is much less steep for new security admins and the central dashboard allows coolabritive efforts when admins are in different locations. Built-in change management makes it easy to see who made specific changes as changes are logged on the dashboard.
- Other content filtering solutions that I have used had more bells and whistles, but given the cost, complexity, and management overhead, I am very pleased with Meraki’s solution.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Utilities Company, 51-200 employees