Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

Arista and Cisco are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Arista is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3, while Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6. Arista holds a 1.9% mindshare in LS, compared to Cisco’s 8.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Arista users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Arista Campus LAN Switches

Read 7 Arista Campus LAN Switches reviews

214 Views
118 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Read 105 Cisco Nexus reviews

1,564 Views
1,090 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Arista Campus LAN Switches

Cisco Nexus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Arista Campus LAN Switches and Cisco Nexus based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two LAN Switching solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

March 2025

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Helped 845,040 peers since 2012

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

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Nexus

Ranking in LAN Switching

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

105

Ranking in other categories

Data Center Networking (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Arista Campus LAN Switches is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.7%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

MarekSzafrański

Senior Core Network Engineer at Eurofins

Functions efficiently and is cheaper than what its competitors offer

In general, the product works fine and is efficient. It was mainly used by someone else in my company, and I just used to operate it The solution's most valuable feature is its stability because Arista falls in an industry that is very similar to Cisco. If the engineer knows Cisco's solution,…

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Joe Benítez

Systems Engineer at GAD Municipal de Guayaquil

Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing

Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Cisco Nexus has improved the way our organization functions through the troubleshooting. We had issues where we've seen our links saturated. We were able to determine what was being processed on the link."

"They are very high-performance switches and they are made for lossless data, so they're a good play in the customer environment."

"Its easy management is most valuable. It is easy to use, easy to manage, stable, and very reliable."

"The consolidation of all of the layer two ports into one rack is very valuable."

"The most valuable features of the solution are capacity and scalability."

"Cisco Nexus is very safe and stable. I've been here 8 months. We have some devices that have been out for 11 years."

"The seamless integration of Nexus in the data center provides a scalable and stable solution."

"The most valuable features are the solution is robust, you are able to use it for fabric architecture as well as SPAN on exit with the controller."

More Cisco Nexus 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."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

"Some of the DHCP features need improvement."

"Cisco Nexus needs to add the SDN capability and lower the price."

"The initial setup was pretty complex, mostly because of our environment, having to do multi-context. That's where you have a lot of different logical routes that are in one physical device, and it can get kind of complex trying to think about how to set all that up. You really have to whiteboard it out a lot."

"If we could get some more automation integrated into it, it would make it easier."

"The technical support for this solution needs to be improved."

"One improvement needed is support for Multi-CAD scale that we were concerned about. We're not hitting any limits at this point."

"The initial setup is always complex."

"There is some room for improvement when it comes to the frequency on the network."

More Cisco Nexus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."

"The license on a yearly basis is $200,000."

"The solution is expensive."

"We have three hundred to four hundred data centers of Nexus. So the coverage associated with Smart Net is 27 by 4, is basically what we spend each year. If the incentives get better, which I know they're working on, it would be great but right now we're buying year to year."

"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."

"The subscription model and price could be better."

"The license for Cisco Nexus is one year to three years, in this case for the SMARTnet. It is a price per unit, in terms of this specific appliance."

"The problem with Cisco, from what I see, is that their costs are much higher."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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

I have cross-checked because this network is a ten-gig network. We are using the multigig switches, which Cisco also has. We found that Cisco's cost is 100%, while the cost of the multi-gig switche...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Arista Campus LAN Switches?

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,...

See all answers

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

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

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?

The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Arista Campus LAN Switches

Compared 52% of the time

More Arista Campus LAN Switches Competitors

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 45% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 12% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

March 2025

Download Arista Campus LAN Switches product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

March 2025

Download Cisco Nexus product report

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

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.

Cisco

Sample Customers

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

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Buyer's Guide

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

March 2025

Free Report: Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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