Cisco Meraki MS vs. Ubiquiti Networks UniFi

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Meraki MS
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers the Meraki brand of Ethernet switches.N/A
Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Ubiquiti Networks in San Jose provides their UniFi wi-fi hotspot technology.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Meraki MSUbiquiti Networks UniFi
Editions & Modules
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki MSUbiquiti Networks UniFi
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 Meraki MSUbiquiti Networks UniFi
Considered Both Products
Cisco Meraki MS
Chose Cisco Meraki MS
They are similar low-cost equipment that has some of the features of Cisco Meraki MS, but in general, we always go for the industry giant because of the support it offers.
Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Chose Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Ubiquiti is the worst of all network products I've ever used - with the worst support. Even Netgear - as much of a joke as they are - have better products and support.
Chose Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Cisco Meraki's solutions closely provide the benefits Ubiquiti provides with a more consumer-level financial accessibility. Ubiquiti has been exponentially increasing its attention and being implemented by home users means gaining a huge market within users that are attentive …
Chose Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
One way of looking at network equipment is by grouping all into two categories: Standalone, and Centrally Managed.
Most home or SOHO network equipment is standalone, meaning each device is configured individually. If you need to adjust settings off-site, you need to allow it …
Chose Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Unifi trails the competitors in the switch/gateway category but exceeds all competitors in WiFi and IP cameras.
Cisco Meraki equipment is too expensive along with monthly costs. Netgear equipment is fine for simple networks but a small increase in upfront spend will get you …
Chose Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Ubiquiti is a large product line. The switches are great, but only layer 2, and don't have a ton of super advanced features. So they won't meet everyone's needs. The Access points have most features people need, and are a fantastic performer for the price.
The UniFi Security …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Meraki MSUbiquiti Networks UniFi
Small Businesses

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Medium-sized Companies
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10

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Enterprises
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10

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All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Meraki MSUbiquiti Networks UniFi
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(76 ratings)
8.7
(38 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.3
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(12 ratings)
6.9
(6 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(57 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Meraki MSUbiquiti Networks UniFi
Likelihood to Recommend
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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Ubiquiti Networks
In the past few months we purchased thousands of dollars in brand new networking equipment from Ubiquiti. IT DOES NOT WORK CORRECTLY We bought 2 sets of hardware. 1 for home office and 1 for work. They both have the same issue (internet stops working). We have emailed literally dozens of times with customer service and they have not been able to resolve the issue. We have requested escalation to more trained technicians and have asked them to log into our system to assess. None of this has happened and our internet continues to intermittently work.
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Pros
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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Ubiquiti Networks
  • AP's are very affordable.
  • Most of the AP's are highly reliable and can be used indoors or in covered outdoor spaces.
  • Outdoor Mesh AP's with an external directional antenna can effectively cover outdoor spaces with dual band wifi better than much more expensive APs.
  • Unifi Protect via the Cloud Key Gen2+ is probably the slickest, most affordable IP camera system on the market right now.
  • Unifi controller is powerful yet simple to administrate.
  • Remote management of entire networks through a single pane of glass is easy to accomplish with the Unifi controller.
  • Cloud Key Gen2 solves problems with the first Cloud Key wiht a built-in battery backup.
  • When you are "full stack" Unifi with wifi, network switches and gateways, the control you can wield over a network in just a few clicks and the amount of data you can glean from a quick glance in the controller is incredibly impressive. It makes an IT guy wish every product/service could be so tightly and well-integrated.
  • Community support is excellent, Unifi staff monitors their official forums and responds to almost every thread.
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Cons
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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Ubiquiti Networks
  • VLANs: They can make these work more smoothly. Setup can be more intuitive.
  • Cloud Key: These need to be stabilized; they lose their programming a little too easily.
  • Stop selling the Gen-1 cloud key: No battery means you need an external power source or you must be onsite to power it off before updating.
  • Portal can be modernized.
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Likelihood to Renew
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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Ubiquiti Networks
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Usability
Cisco
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Ubiquiti Networks
UniFi's system is intuitive in how options are placed and explained throughout the interface. What is not directly explainable within the interface, Ubiquiti does provide several knowledgebase documents explaining best practices and methods of troubleshooting when things don't go exactly right. We've been using them for over three years, and the benefits vastly outweigh any negatives we could come up with on the equipment and system.
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Support Rating
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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Ubiquiti Networks
Support tickets can be proactively created within the dashboard with full detailed documentation. The Ubiquiti website provides detailed documentation on support. Forum and user groups also provide the interested community with information that covers all aspects of issues or questions users can encounter with the latest and most updated information.
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Alternatives Considered
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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Ubiquiti Networks
Ubiquiti is overall easier to work with. There is no special training needed to accomplish many of the things required with a Cisco product. Since my time is stretched thin, I need something that I can manage without being weighed down by command-line communications. Also, I am able to use my wireless devices to maintain every Ubiquiti device on my network.
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Scalability
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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Ubiquiti Networks
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
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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Ubiquiti Networks
  • The access points and switch were extremely affordable and we've had minimal downtime over the life of the products.
  • The switch was in our main rack and there was a bug in the firmware that would reboot the switch if you made a change to one of the switch ports (that was not in use at the time). This caused our entire organization to have a network outage, in the middle of the day. Fortunately we didn't have any customer refunds to issue. We've had to purchase different switches for the main racks, and place the UniFi switch in a better suited place.
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ScreenShots