Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Catalyst Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco's Catalyst is one of that company's brand of network switches.N/A
Cisco Meraki MS
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers the Meraki brand of Ethernet switches.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Meraki MS
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Meraki MS
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 Meraki MS
Considered Both Products
Cisco Catalyst Switches
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 …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
I prefer the simplicity of Meraki switches. They are cheaper, easier to use, and the licensing makes more sense to me. It was a bit harder to troubleshoot STP issues, but simple device troubleshooting was super easy. It was a better choice for an enterprise environment even if …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
If I were to compare the Catalyst to the Meraki, I do feel more secure about the Catalyst, as Meraki was not originally a cisco product and was acquired. So, from the point of security and dependability, the Catalyst is a winner.
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 …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
The Cisco 9300 can be managed in a number of different ways compared to the Meraki portfolio which is Cloud Management only. I think that for many customers that the Cisco Meraki offering stack up really well unless of course there are features that are only included within the …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
In comparison to the NETGEAR and Linksys, these are simple single VLAN switches that are not business capable. Cisco switches give you the ability to separate segments as well as true single-port speed, no sharing. In comparison to Aruba, Aruba just recently got into the PoE …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Obviously still in the Cisco family but the Meraki switches offer trade off of being much easier to manage off-site from a cloud based management system, but you do not get the same advanced features of the Cisco Catalyst switches.
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 …
Cisco Meraki MS
Chose Cisco Meraki MS
Both have their own advantage so one needs to understand what he/she wants to achieve and based on that you can decide which product or solution is suitable.
Chose Cisco Meraki MS
I think that Meraki stacks up well against the competition. I have not found a situation where it does not meet the needs from speed to security. I think that this concept of how it is designed will become a trend of the next few years and the competition has something to …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Meraki MS
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Meraki MS
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(359 ratings)
8.9
(76 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.4
(17 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.7
(29 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.2
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.4
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(21 ratings)
8.3
(12 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.4
(8 ratings)
9.1
(57 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(22 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.6
(23 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Meraki MS
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
So in every scenario where you have to take one port and create, make it so that you can have more devices connected. So there will be like in a normal office area where you have an internet connection and you have to have 40 or 20 clients connected. That's where definitely Catalyst Switches becomes a very important part of this. The whole thing, scenarios where it's not very usable, I can't really see a scenario where you wouldn't be needing a switch to. There would be a very unlikely scenario because mostly you would need to connect more than one device to a router or something like that. So you would need to have a switch scenario I would say. Then it would be in some sort of scenario where you only had a need to have a directly connection to a router or something else where you wouldn't need to have more ports. So like a peer to peer connection or something like that. But I can't really see any other scenario where wouldn't you wouldn't be needing a switch.
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Cisco
Cisco Meraki MS is brilliant in very simple environments where basic segregation is required. Many features are pre-configured as defaults and this makes it easy to configure security and stability features like STP protections and UDLD. It is capable of some more complex functions, such as dot1x authentication. TAC support is easy to access and usually timely. Bundling support into the license and making it available through Dashboard is great. We have had issues monitoring the Cisco Meraki Dashboard using legacy SNMP based system - this means we now effectively have one more network monitoring screen to watch. We also sorely lack an ageing timer for stick MAC address port security - essential in uncontrolled locations with no NAC available. We have also had issues with devices pulling DHCP leasing from the wrong VLAN on initial provisioning and then struggling to transition to our management VLAN when the full config is pulled.
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Pros
Cisco
  • I think the switch is a fast switch. What we also admire about it is the enhanced power over ethernet functionality. It has higher power levels to be used for wireless, for other products that use the power over ethernet, the quick uplinks, 10 gig uplinks, the possibility to run other applications on it, like a thousand eyes clients, and so on.
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Cisco
  • Meraki MS switches are wonderful at allowing a network admin to configure a VPN mesh network without having to have highly specialized knowledge. Unlike Cisco switches, there is no CLI, there is only a GUI, and Meraki support helps you set it up as you add nodes to your network.
  • Meraki MS switches are easy to deploy. Full stop.
  • They can work with any firewall or ASA but I would strongly recommend using the Meraki MX security appliance if you are going to use Meraki MS switches because they were made to work together.
  • They easily stack. It's all done for you in the Meraki cloud control panel.
  • They will get an address from your admin VLAN's DHCP scope and keep it. Even if you unplug it and move it, you will not have to worry about addressing it.
  • The GUI is online and you can reach it from anywhere, so as long as you have the credentials, you can manage the network from any device that has a browser.
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Cons
Cisco
  • Smaller devices are always preferred due to high mobility needs.
  • Would benefit from having console cables provided with networking devices instead of separate purchase.
  • Transit case options for larger devices would benefit and keep us from having to source outside vendors for support.
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Cisco
  • People who are coming from enterprise switches or command line options may feel limited
  • If internet is having issue, managing the switches can become more burdensome
  • Switches do not have as many advanced features as enterprise switches
  • Delay in reporting and debugging
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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.
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Cisco
Being on the cloud its very easy to manage. We have layer 7 visibility and Cisco has introduced stackable MX switches which is even better! The Meraki portal can be accessed via SSO which is important to my organization (although it was a bit difficult to get that implemented initially!)
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Usability
Cisco
The usability will feel natural to frequent Cisco users and a bit harder to navigate if you're new to the system. If you're limited to a small rack, maybe even in a not climate controlled environment the fan-less models with less energy consumption are a pro. With PoE you can deploy your network hardware anywhere you have a network socket: Thin Clients, APs, Sensors, you name it. The integrated power monitoring tells you how much power each client consumes and how much you have left.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Cisco
We have had very few unplanned outages with all of our Cisco Catalyst products. The biggest issue I have seen is when a device has been powered on for a very long time and it gets powered off and reused later. Sometimes, the switch will not come back up. In most cases, these are switches that are way past end of life. I can't say we have really seen any other issues with the availability of the Catalyst family of switches
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Cisco
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.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
So far we haven't had very many support issues with our Catalyst switches. When we have had issues TAC is always a pleasure to work with. They're prompt, knowledgeable, and take ownership of the case from open to close. Also, this isn't attributed to Cisco support directly. But because they are so widely known and have such a great market share you can find a solution to almost any issue with a quick internet search.
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Cisco
Cisco support for the Meraki products is great. I have a dedicated representative who I can reach out to at any time. They offer numerous online resources and easy to follow tutorials to help the most novice user feel like a pro. When I need support they were ready and quickly helped me solve my problems.
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In-Person Training
Cisco
I prefer in person training. For me I understand things and the ability to ask someone helps. This particular training was a large class and it was a bit busy. However, I do prefer in person training to online. I have taken many online courses, and while they do offer a lot more info at an affordable price, there is sometimes a place for the personal touch.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cisco
We upgraded from an older catalyst model to a newer one. The implementation was pretty much seamless as the newer switches supported all the features as the old ones. These features included OSPF, HSRP, MPLS, LDP, MP-BGP, etc. One issue we say with the newer switches was that the buffers needed to be tuned. The default settings were dropping packets to a slower link. Once we change the 'qos softmax' command settings, we were able to resolve that issue.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
If I were to compare the Catalyst to the Meraki, I do feel more secure about the Catalyst, as Meraki was not originally a cisco product and was acquired. So, from the point of security and dependability, the Catalyst is a winner.
Read full review
Cisco
Meraki MS provides the sweet spot between manageability and functionality, though not at a significantly lower cost. Desktop support engineers can manage it day-to-day and sometimes that is the most important factor, especially in our case, as a layer 2 switching solution that can also provide PoE to the Meraki MR WAPs.
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Scalability
Cisco
The product line is very complete and flexible. Supporting anything from small to larger modular solutions. Need PoE? Need 25Gb or faster fiber? Catalyst has you covered in all areas we can think of. Compact form factor? Industrial use? Cisco Catalyst has something that fits any scenario. And we can expect the same features, configuration and integrations to work no matter what.
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Cisco
Cisco Meraki MS is intuitive and allows us to easily manage 340+ satellite locations and four corporate locations. Templates, intelligent patching, and alerting are fantastic. This has drastically improved compliance and managing such a large footprint. I would continually recommend Cisco Meraki MS for any multi-site organization because of its ease of use.
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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
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Cisco
  • We scaled out existing networks way faster and way easier.
  • We have added new sites with new switch and network configuration requirements way faster and easier.
  • Because Meraki switches integrate so seamlessly with Meraki Wi-Fi it makes Wi-Fi management very easy and very straightforward.
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ScreenShots

Cisco Catalyst Switches Screenshots

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