Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Catalyst Switches comparison

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Arista Campus LAN Switches

Ranking in LAN Switching

8th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Ranking in LAN Switching

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

179

Ranking in other categories

Ethernet Switches (5th), Data Center Networking (1st), AV Over IP Switching (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Arista Campus LAN Switches is 4.5%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 21.3%, down from 29.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches	21.3%
Arista Campus LAN Switches	4.5%
Other	74.2%

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

Denis Malinovtsev

Chief Technology Officer at ictbit

Unified monitoring has transformed campus deployments and provides rapid EVPN-VXLAN rollouts

Regarding improvements to Arista Campus LAN Switches, nothing comes to mind about the switches themselves; they are really fast and have all the technologies and protocols that exist in the market. However, on the management system, I would improve it because as a network engineer, I want a chatbot that can communicate in a native language with the monitoring system to get answers regarding my network faults. There are no problems particularly with the product, but there is room for improvement regarding licensing and the chatbot for all Arista products.

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Arun Giri

Unit Nos at Orange

Reliable support boosts confidence while initial setup complexities highlight improvement areas

Challenges I've encountered mostly involve the RMA part for hardware replacement, which doesn't happen regularly, but sometimes I face challenges due to limited parts in India; they offer different model devices as a stopgap arrangement. It's quite difficult to specify features I would want to see in future updates because that varies from model to model. I would definitely recommend Cisco Catalyst Switches to other users. We do maintenance for Cisco Catalyst Switches. For maintenance, we usually need three people from different regions working as a single team; our engineers handle both projects and maintenance, so there isn't a specific engineer just for maintenance. I work with firewalls and next-generation firewalls. Overall, I would rate the solution as an eight out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I use the solution for connectivity in data centers and LANs, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity based on network needs."

"QoS is the most valuable feature because our clients work with VOIP and Critical applications."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its stability because Arista falls in an industry that is very similar to Cisco."

"The most winning feature of Arista Campus LAN Switches is their management, specifically CloudVision, along with features like comparing changes and diagnosing problems quickly with telemetry and network visualization."

"The feature sets are pretty cool. They've got almost everything that the competition offers."

"The Software Defined switch architecture, runs optimized 2-tier network instead of traditional 3-tier network (Core, Distribution and Access) gives you efficiency and savings."

"The CloudVision Portal allows us to centrally manage all of our Arista products."

"The technology is scalable as much as you want."

"The solution is stable."

"Catalyst Switches are easy to install."

"We have to use the QoS (CBWFQ) function... and it is easy to use."

"This solution has a pretty good rate of not causing unexpected behavior or failing. We're using maybe 900 switches right now. And, rarely, if ever, something fails, it's dependable."

"VLAN gives us segregation."

"We use the VLANs to separate library, office, and individual apartments. With some of the reporting that receive, we're able to take and track down where people like to put in their own wireless routers. Sometimes they will take a DSL modem from AT&T that they brought from home, hook it in backward, and it will give rogue addresses causing issues."

"We have used Cisco Catalyst Switches to achieve our goals with stability and blanket level of performance."

"The solution is beneficial for interconnecting POE telephones, computers, printers, and buffering networks."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches pros

Cons

"One of the issues that we have been faced with here in Brazil is that we don't have any list times for delivery."

"I think there's still room for improvement. Arista Campus LAN Switches are not highly scalable as they are hardware-based. If hardware requirements exceed capacity, the product needs to be changed, which can impact service."

"We have to renew the license every three years, which can be a challenge for customers. Arista, like other vendors, now follows a license-based system."

"I would like to see a version available with eight or sixteen ports."

"It would be ideal if the solution was less expensive."

"I do think they could improve their licensing model. Today, I need to pay for a license, for a switch, for support, and it costs money; it is not cheap."

"The complex setup phase is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The solution offers a bit of complexity and you need a specialized workforce."

"There is a lot of overhead, and I have to have so many technology people to manage so many Catalyst switches."

"I would like to see better compatibility between Cisco and other vendors."

"The product could be more user-friendly."

"Its price can be improved. Some devices can be very expensive."

"When you compare it with HPE and Aruba, it should be fancier."

"The prices are high. It's more expensive than other similar options."

"Stability could be better."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is not that good, but our clients value the solution despite the price."

"The only licensing costs are for CloudVision, although the upfront price of the device is not cheap."

"The cost of a license before COVID and before the lockdown was approximately three lakh 70,000 in Indian Rupees. After this COVID situation, the cost has gone down to two lakh 46,000 rupees."

"Pricing could be better."

"The solution is probably the most expensive, but users who want the best need to pay the premium."

"Cisco switches are expensive. Their price range is based not only on what the product does but also the name in the industry. They are good at what they do. If you need a better product, there are other lineups available."

"Pricing of Cisco equipment is high, but I think these switches are worth the price."

"Generally, Cisco Catalyst would be relatively expensive compared to the competition, it would be on the expensive side."

"We had to pay for the product’s licenses."

"It's very pricey. Compared to competitors, it's a lot more expensive."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Educational Organization

Marketing Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	80
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	79

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Campus LAN Switches?

Regarding pricing, it is not cheap. While it is an enterprise solution, comparing it to low-level switches like Fortinet and Netgear, it is much more expensive. However, comparing it to Cisco and J...

What needs improvement with Arista Campus LAN Switches?

What is your primary use case for Arista Campus LAN Switches?

I work as a consultant and integrator, using Arista Networks platform in my customers' networks. I deal with switches by Arista, which is mostly what we use Arista for. I am familiar with Arista Ca...

Would you recommend replacing a Cisco Catalyst Switch by a D-link one?

Hello Mesfin It depends on the real scenario, the cisco 2960 is a very good device and they usually have routing functions but there are many different models within the same 2960 line, and on the ...

What do you like most about Cisco Catalyst Switches?

We are a vendor for the healthcare sector, especially hospitals, and normally, we use a full Cisco solution for stability, especially for the stability of the Access Points and the security of swit...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Switches?

For pricing satisfaction, I'd say it will be six to seven because Cisco usually is costly compared to other vendors. Regarding pricing, there is indeed room for improvement.

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Product Reports

LAN Switching

Download Arista Campus LAN Switches product report

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Download Cisco Catalyst Switches product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst

Overview

Arista Campus LAN Switches are the perfect network solution for your most demanding workloads.With native support for VMware Virtualization and hundreds of Linux applications integrated into hardware platforms designed to meet the stringent power and cooling requirements of today's most demanding data centers, Arista delivers the most efficient and best performing 10Gb Ethernet platforms.

Arista

Cisco Catalyst Switches are a reliable and scalable network switching and routing solution, focusing on VLANs and VLAN switching. They are used as access switches, distribution switches, and core switches in various environments, deployed on-premises, and used for long connections. The switches are easy to configure, install, and upgrade and offer good pricing.

The most valuable features include warranty and firmware support, stability, security, good performance, flexibility, etc. The Cisco Catalyst Switches have provided a stable solution for the organizations and are widely used, trusted, and well-known in the networking industry.

Cisco

Sample Customers

University of Winchester, AWE, picturemaxx, Medical Mutual, Leonix, CloudEra, National Physical Laboratory, Tri-State G&T, AIS, Morph, SingTel, SDSC, BBC

Afni, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Del Papa Distributing, Explorer Pipeline, Mindtree, Omaha World Herald, Radio 538, Sony Corporation, Telecom Italia, Telenor Arena

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches