D-Link Ethernet Switches vs. NETGEAR Ethernet Switches

NETGEAR and D-Link offer a wide variety of networking equipment for businesses and home use, including Ethernet switches.  D-Link presents a variety of managed or unmanaged switches, smart managed switches, cloud switches, and ruggedized industrial switches or metro area switches.  NETGEAR offers the SOHO unmanaged simplicity oriented switch, the easy to place ProSAFE and the bog basic (and aptly named) Essentials series, as well as a more high end series of fully managed or smart switches for larger businesses. While thriving in the home office and small business market, both NETGEAR and D-Link contend in the middle market and enterprise space with products like Juniper’s EX series, Aruba switches, as well as Cisco switches, and Cisco’s Meraki brand.

Features

Both NETGEAR and D-Link boast certain features that might land them a spot in your network.

NETGEAR presents a solution that is low footprint, low cost, and easy to deploy in a short amount of time. Praise for NETGEAR switches often begins with “We were on a budget…” and despite being low budget items they frequently exceed expectations in terms of performance and stability. Generally NETGEAR switches are considered quite reliable for standard use cases, and especially when posed with a tight budget.

Reviewers of D-Link Ethernet switches are similarly appropriate for smaller budgets, simple to set up, and backed by surprisingly good support and warranty service leading to potentially very low TCO for well-aligned use cases. Users also state D-Link networks perform.quite well, and that the switches themselves are eco-friendly, able to consume far less power than greedier alternatives.

Limitations

There are reasons to avoid NETGEAR and D-Link Ethernet switches, other than enjoying the smell of burning money. D-Link and NETGEAR switches tend to have similar weak points.

D-Link’s management console is inferior to more enterprise-oriented solutions. Users describe difficulty managing a fleet of devices through a single interface, and for even single devices the web interface could use improvement.

NETGEAR switches, like D-Link, are not as easy to manage as similar Cisco devices from a single interface. Also, some users say NETGEAR can be difficult to implement in a network alongside Cisco devices; and there is a high probability that an enterprise network has Cisco devices in it. Much of the praise NETGEAR receives is qualified with “…for our small office,” and it may be limited for mid-sized or larger businesses.

In essence the public doesn’t perceive either of these to be top tier solutions but budget solutions, though they are high performance options for smaller busineeses. Additionally, While the hardware devices are quite well reviewed, their management software is perceived to be sub-par.

Pricing

D-Link and NETGEAR Ethernet switches are available through VARs and third-party resellers and are similarly priced. Prices range based on whether switches are managed or unmanaged, with Power over Ethernet (PoE) models having higher pricing in general. For unmanaged switches, prices range from about $15-20 for the NETGEAR 5-port switch, and about $18 for the D-Link 5-port, to $25-50 for 8-port switches (the brands are similar at this tier).  Higher tiers are also available, from $60 through $370 for 24-port switches (some with PoE), to the NETGEAR 48-port switch at about $249 ($400 for the PoE+). Managed switches range up to about $530 (24-port switches with similar specs from both vendors) down to about $30 for a humble 5-port smart switch. D-Link’s top of the line DXS series smart-managed series are available from $1000 to just under $1,500, while NETGEAR’s 100G M4500 can be found for up to $15,000 as their top of the line solution.