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MikroTik Cloud Router Switch vs. NETGEAR Ethernet Switches

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    MikroTik CRS Series

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AMikroTik offers a series of Cloud Router Switches (or their CRS series), their flagship products.N/A

    NETGEAR Ethernet Switches

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ANETGEAR offers Ethernet Switches.N/A
    Pricing
    MikroTik CRS SeriesNETGEAR Ethernet Switches
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    MikroTik CRS SeriesNETGEAR Ethernet Switches
    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
    MikroTik CRS SeriesNETGEAR Ethernet Switches
    Considered Both Products
    MikroTik
    No answer on this topic
    NETGEAR
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    MikroTik CRS SeriesNETGEAR Ethernet Switches
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Routers
    Score9.1 out of 10
    RUCKUS Ethernet Switches
    Score1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Routers
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Cisco Ethernet Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    MikroTik CRS SeriesNETGEAR Ethernet Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    MikroTik CRS SeriesNETGEAR Ethernet Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    MikroTik
    MikroTik Cloud Router Switch work very well as layer2/3 switches in enterprise environments, aggregation or distribution layers. Example: in our case (ISP) we use CRS326 and CRS317 at multi-dwelling units to finish the customer lines, manage vlans of service and apply basic qos. They offer a good variety of ports 1/10G, which is perfect for connecting other ISPs or connecting corporate end users. MikroTik Cloud Router Switch would work fine in low-traffic Routing and Switching, you could configure L3 Hardware offloading and serve some significant traffic, but you may missing some features like, mangle, nat, firewall or other things that may be solved with other device in an upper layer of infrastructure. Based on our experience MikroTik Cloud Router Switch is not good for high performance traffic, they are not optimized for heavy L3 routing task. Example: if you use a CRS as core or router in a small DC or IX the result is traduced on high cpu usage and load performance. If you are looking for special works, MikroTik Cloud Router Switch in this aspect is out.
    Incentivized
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    NETGEAR
    Great for entry-level networking, and the cost-to-quality ratio is great for the average consumer. I've used them in a crawl space that is not climate controlled, and it just works and provides the switching capabilities I need. These are great for users that don't have a ton of experience and can simply try to troubleshoot with a simple power cycle.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    MikroTik
    • L3 Hardware Offloading
    • Vlan segmentation
    • Traffic troughput
    • Port density
    • Cost effective
    • Port Isolation
    • Trunk, access and hybrid configurations
    Incentivized
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    NETGEAR
    • Manage extra connections in a switched network.
    • Provide good throughput for those extra connections.
    • Easy to add into an existing network environment.
    Read full review
    Cons
    MikroTik
    • L3 features like firewall IPsec NAT
    • LACP with more than 4 interfaces
    • Centralized Management platflorm
    • Limited Hardware offloading insight
    • Outdated web interface
    • CLI usability
    Incentivized
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    NETGEAR
    • Better advertisement about advanced enterprise features. My experience is with smaller switches and not with the fully managed switches.
    • Additional management tools to monitor multiple switches in the environment. Similar to Cisco Network Assistant.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    MikroTik
    Powerful features at a low price: MikroTik Cloud Router Switch provides a good variety of features that are not present on more expensive brands. Flexible deployment options: SwOS for simple switching use cases and RouterOS for more advanced configurations. Winbox is a fast and responsive tool for configuring, maintain and monitoring the traffic or other variable. Why it doesn't score higher, we think that the learning curve for new users could be hard. Sometimes the logic configuration can be unintuitive example: bridge filtering, vlan interfaces. Inconsistent UX Across RouterOS versions, some features may change without clear documentation causing confusion missconfig or incompatibility between versions. Documentation and support are poor, official documentation is fragmented and depht in some cases, the active community should be your best friend.
    Incentivized
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    NETGEAR
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    MikroTik
    We chose MikroTik Cloud Router Switch because it met our technical requirements without significantly affecting our budget. MikroTik Cloud Router Switch offers a performance reliable and scalable for access and aggregation roles and is easy to integrate with our existing infrastructure (Mikrotik CCR). While it doesn't offer enterprise-class UX, or automation frameworks out the box, its disruptive focus, control and granular configuration convert it in an attractive option for ISP operations.
    Incentivized
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    NETGEAR
    While the Ubiquiti are much easier to manage remotely through their cloud controllers, the Netgear is much more reliable in harsh environments than the other simple switches we use, as they seem less susceptive to high temperatures and humidity. (TP-Link and Zycel are the other major brands we use for simple switches.)
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    MikroTik
    • Significant Cost Savings
    • Rapid deployment and flexibility
    • Bottlenecks in wrong scenario of use
    • Manual configuration overhead
    • Perception and vendor approval barriers
    Incentivized
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    NETGEAR
    • Keeps our investment in infrastructure connections low because they can provide those connections.
    • A lower cost alternative to adding in wall connections.
    • Sometimes they can cause collision issues due to traffic across them.
    Read full review
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