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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Meraki MS

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers the Meraki brand of Ethernet switches.N/A

    Cloudflare

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/ACloudflare’s connectivity cloud is a unified platform of cloud-native services designed to help enterprises regain control over their IT environments. Powered by an intelligent, programmable global cloud network, it is built to offer security, performance, visibility, and reliability.

    $20

    per month

    Pricing
    Cisco Meraki MSCloudflare
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Pro
    $20
    per month
    Business
    $200
    per month
    Free
    Free
    Enterprise
    Contact sales team
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Meraki MSCloudflare
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    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 Meraki MSCloudflare
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Cloudflare
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    111 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    171 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    101 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    165 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    108 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    171 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93 Answers
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    144 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    107 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    154 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Meraki MSCloudflare
    Ethernet Switches
    Comparison of Ethernet Switches features of Cisco Meraki MS and Cloudflare
    Feature
    Cisco Meraki MS
    8.4
    16 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Cloudflare
    -
    Ratings
    Management Interface8.016 Ratings00 Ratings
    Quality of Service (QoS)8.215 Ratings00 Ratings
    Switch Scalability8.616 Ratings00 Ratings
    Switch Redundancy8.813 Ratings00 Ratings
    Link Aggregation (LACP)8.512 Ratings00 Ratings
    DDoS Protection
    Comparison of DDoS Protection features of Cisco Meraki MS and Cloudflare
    Feature
    Cisco Meraki MS
    -
    Ratings
    Cloudflare
    8.4
    6 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Automatic Scalability00 Ratings9.47 Ratings
    Mitigation SLA00 Ratings8.87 Ratings
    Security policy management00 Ratings8.67 Ratings
    WAF capabilities00 Ratings8.67 Ratings
    Request rate limiting00 Ratings7.87 Ratings
    Traffic filtering00 Ratings7.67 Ratings
    Bot detection00 Ratings8.07 Ratings
    Global threat intelligence00 Ratings8.87 Ratings
    Real-time analytics and reporting00 Ratings7.87 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Meraki MSCloudflare
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    RUCKUS Ethernet Switches
    Score1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco Ethernet Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Meraki MSCloudflare
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (126 ratings)
    9.1
    (192 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.7
    (9 ratings)
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    9.6
    (5 ratings)
    8.6
    (8 ratings)
    Availability
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    8.4
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.5
    (16 ratings)
    6.6
    (154 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.6
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.4
    (3 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (108 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.7
    (3 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.7
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Meraki MSCloudflare
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    A Cisco Meraki solution should always be in the toolbox for a small-medium office. Especially for a project team that moves around a bit. It is very easy to deploy and if after 6 months the project moves to another location, re-deployment times are much faster than traditional kit. Whilst it could do the job. It is not at the point of replacing a large corporate office of Catalyst Switches but we feel it does not need to do that necessarily.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    Cloudflare has features as a CDN/Gateway/Reverse Proxy that simply don't exist in other solutions. Having so many capabilities under a single platform, with solid support and high uptime, has been essential. I would recommend it for hobby projects all the way to enterprise scale. There's a lot of push around AI and workers. Some feel like Cloudflare is following the hype. But after reading a lot about the new features, a decent amount of them has real value.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • I think when it comes to the Meraki products, it's just the ease of use and ease of troubleshooting because it's all cloud-based, easy to access from anywhere I can literally get on now and troubleshoot. So I think it's just the ease of use, which is great.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    • The best part is the content delivery network. Cloudflare has a large network of data centres around the world that helps cache and delivers content quickly to our customers.
    • Cloudflare offers us with a fast and reliable DNS service and with the world class features such as Cloudflare workers, SSL verification, certificate management and web application firewall. When all of these are combined together, it provides very strict security for our organization.
    • One of the most important feature that we use is the analytics and threat detection. It provides us with the real time insights of all the threats originating from multiple locations and landing on our websites.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • So compared to the Cisco Catalyst series, there isn't that many dolls you can turn and just optimize stuff. So particularly I'm not quite sure around how stuff like MACsec would work on the MS. It's something that I've really got to look into more and the documentation isn't really that obvious for that feature.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    • In some cases, using Cloudflare can actually lead to slower website speeds if the network is congested or if the website's traffic is particularly heavy.
    • Some website owners may find that the level of customization offered by Cloudflare is limited, especially in comparison to other solutions.
    • While Cloudflare is easy to set up and manage, it may be too complex for users who are not familiar with web technologies.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    At the time I am writing this, Meraki MS has conver all of the required needs. Is really easy to implement, the dashboard helps a lot with the implementation and troubleshooting process, the devices are very robust and you can count with the meraki support in case you face a physical or logical issue with them.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    lower cost
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    The Meraki dashboard is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly network management interfaces available. It simplifies many traditionally complex tasks, such as VLAN configuration, port management, and firmware updates, making it easy to deploy and manage networks without extensive CLI work. Features like zero-touch provisioning, remote troubleshooting, and real-time monitoring significantly reduce the time and effort needed for network administration. The reason it’s not a perfect 10 is that while Meraki is great for most standard networking tasks, it can feel somewhat limiting for advanced configurations. Additionally, the reliance on the cloud dashboard means there’s very little local management option, which could be a drawback in environments with strict compliance requirements. Overall, it’s one of the easiest networking solutions to work with, but power users might find certain advanced features lacking.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    Everything is extremely concise and all settings apply immediately and take effect globally. There is no reason to explicitly plan/think in terms of individual regions as one would have to traditional cloud offerings (AWS, OCI, Azure). All Cloudflare products integrate seamless as part of a single pipeline that executes from request to response.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki MS switches are quite reliable, robust, and incredibly rare to experience failures. Most of the time, as with all equipment, problems arise from incorrect configurations, not from poor performance of the equipment itself. In any case, when a hardware or software issue arises, Meraki support responds promptly, and if equipment replacement is required, the service is dispatched quickly and efficiently.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    In 6+ years of relying on Cloudflare, I think we experienced one or two brief outages that were Cloudflare's fault.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Cisco
    In deployments using Cisco Meraki switches, no issues with performance, slowness, or loss have been reported; overall, performance is quite good. Communication and integration with other devices and brands is quite good, and the devices rarely fail.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    Their Argo for the global network is the core feature we love.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Meraki support is excellent. They are also highly proactive. They literally replaced all of a particular model of our MS switches when it was discovered that they were not sure about the longevity of a particular chassis fan inside those switches. Without us having to do anything other than ask, they shipped us all new replacements (with a better fan in them) for the 10 or so of the switches that were in the affected model group, and we shipped the defective ones back to them int he same packaging, prepaid. None of the recalled switches had ever experienced a fan failure, but they were not willing to let them run in a production environment. I like that. Meraki MS support staff are also quick to get back to you and very knowledgeable about their product. I actually contact our Meraki rep to instigate a support case (although i could call support directly), and he gets the details from me first, then opens the ticket for us and explains it to support. This means that I only even need to talk to one person, and I like that, too. Meraki MS switches are designed to be essentially "plug and play", so support is generally not needed unless the end user is not following the deployment and operation guides
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    While I have had good support in the past from Cloudflare's technical support team, I have had some terrible experiences with billing support. I have had multiple tickets sent to their billing support that I will never receive a reply to for over a month. When I finally do get a reply, it has been an automated email that never gives me an answer to my question.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    The trainers provided during the sessions are highly knowledgeable and well-prepared. They possess a strong understanding of both the technical aspects of Cisco products and the practical applications, which greatly enhances the learning experience. Their ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and understandable manner helps participants grasp the material more effectively. Additionally, their expertise allows them to address questions confidently and provide real-world insights, making the training sessions more engaging and valuable. Overall, their professionalism and depth of knowledge significantly contribute to a positive and productive learning environment.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cisco
    The trainers provided during the sessions are highly knowledgeable and well-prepared. They possess a strong understanding of both the technical aspects of Cisco products and the practical applications, which greatly enhances the learning experience. Their ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and understandable manner helps participants grasp the material more effectively. Additionally, their expertise allows them to address questions confidently and provide real-world insights, making the training sessions more engaging and valuable. Overall, their professionalism and depth of knowledge significantly contribute to a positive and productive learning environment.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    In general, the implementation process was relatively simple, given that we already have a relationship with the partners and experience in other implementations, from the acquisition of licenses, purchase of equipment, configuration of switches and support from the Meraki team, everything has been easy to manage and the support from both the partner and the Meraki team has been excellent.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    Very well executed implementation where our team was able to handle the implementation with guidance.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki MS is the clear leader for technical proficiency and he ease of cloud integration with the rest of the network devices. Prospects often balk at the cost of MS Switches, or they might already have competitor switches. The Cisco Meraki MS Switch is preferable, but the budget may not exist.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    Nothing like it. Organizations can utilize these Cloudflare products to enhance their online presence by improving security, performance, reliability, and developer efficiency. Cloudflare is an American company that delivers services such as DNS, a content delivery network (CDN), and various other additional services to make websites faster and more secure. Cloudflare is used by over 26 million sites, resulting in the processing of more than 1 billion IP addresses each day.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki MS is super easy to scale up. The dashboard neatly arranges all your devices. You can have a change of requirements, such as adding a new comms room in a site, and easily deploy and add new Meraki MS switches into it, and copy a lot of the configuration across. The SFP's also work very well and reliably in my experience
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    They are built for scale and have the capacity to handle all the traffic we could ever expect to get.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • I can't think of any negatives. Positive, well, I had nothing but positive things to say about it. Like I said, multiple times. Of course it does give us so much visibility, which is important to us. As far as on a daily basis, I mean the dashboard daily of course, and the use of the phone. It's just also they keep innovating and adding new features to it, which help us lower our troubleshooting times and uptime. And just the overall use of the product itself.
    Incentivized
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    Cloudflare
    • Immediate ROI on Registrar and DNS hosting while giving a single plane of glass to managing both with domain registrations at cost, and no cost DNS hosting
    • WAF helped us move at risk servers/applications into a protected state allowing us to perform remediations at a measured pace and get them done right instead of band aide solutions.
    • CDN proxying increase the speed of our website while simultaneously reducing server load.
    • DMARC management and report interpretation allow use to identify weak points in our email systems, remediate and move to stricter policies without significantly increasing staff time spent managing it.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots