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Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus 9000 Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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 Networks Platform
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
13th
Ranking in Data Center Networking
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
21st
Ranking in Data Center Networking
9th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Nimit Puvar - PeerSpot reviewer
A VP Enterprise Sales at Ashtech Infotech (India) Pvt.Ltd.
Automation and visibility have simplified data center operations and improved network control
I see some areas for improvement, particularly with pricing. I think that not all features that are needed are already in Arista. AI power is required nowadays. AI would be needed for understanding data traffic flowing in my network. Sometimes I have a vision of what data traffic is flowing in my network and I want to capture that data. Using AI, I can understand how my entire organization operates and what kind of applications are being used, what the peak times are, where there is a bottleneck if any exists. This kind of report should automatically generate and provide clear-cut visibility.
Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
Has consistently supported high availability with reliable performance and minimal disruption
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and the routers are good, but the FMC or FTDs still need some improvement. We have Palo Alto firewalls and Next-Generation Firewalls in our environment. In comparison to the main firewall, we moved from Cisco FTDs to Palo Alto. We still have FTDs in our environment, but the majority of the firewalls have been moved to Palo Alto. They are more user-friendly, give more visibility, and are more efficient. The performance is better than Cisco. With the new features, Cisco is having some improvement for the FTD. I am currently evaluating the FTDs. The new version has better features like the encrypted visibility engine and user-based changes in FMCs, and other things are quite useful for us. FTDs do have limitations and other issues. We communicated that limitation and feature support to the Cisco account manager. We do have support for the devices. We currently have a weekly call with Cisco and they are making progress regarding new versions of the FMCs and introducing new features. The performance of deployment has improved quite a bit compared to four or five years ago.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best part is the single operating system that they have. Regardless of your model, it's the same operating system functioning across the board, which means you don't have to worry about backward compatibilities between your older switches and the new ones that you deploy."
"I find the operational system used by Arista to be very valuable, and the hardware is exceptionally nice. Arista has a unified operational system called EOS that is easy to set up and replicate on other devices. The ease of configuration and transition between devices is a significant advantage for me."
"Arista Networks offers similar features to Cisco."
"The most valuable features of the Arista Networks Platform are the EVPN and VXLAN. It has comprehensive features."
"Arista Networks Platform is comfortable, easy to deploy, and easy to manage, with non-blocking technology. Additionally, it has a useful CloudVision platform and automation capabilities."
"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."
"It is very stable. It has good hardware and very stable code. It provides good value for its price. They are a very lean type of organization, so they are very responsive, and they're able to focus more on their platform versus having multiple products out there."
"Technical support has been very good."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very durable and very reliable, and there has never been any issue with it."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is quite a complex machine, but we are using a very simple configuration with basic Nexus switching, and we don't have many issues with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series at the moment in our present infrastructure."
"RealPresence works effectively."
"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
 

Cons

"I think there is a need for improvement in the area of their VXLAN/EVPN capability but their current solution is great regardless but may be not very scalable for a global deployment."
"I want the solution to include a unified controller."
"Some new features are needed."
"They should expand further into campus networks."
"The documentation did not explain that we could not vary the speed between ports that are in the same block. For example, we cannot have 1G and 10G on the neighboring ports; all four ports have to be 1G or 10G, which was very annoying for us when we realized that we needed to change the configuration and the cabling that we had already prepared."
"The CVP management platform needs to be improved."
"The stability of this solution needs to be improved as part of the next upgrade."
"The solution needs to improve their product range."
"We find that Cisco has been left behind by the other vendors. The other vendors have adopted new technology, and we find Cisco lagging behind."
"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"The SFP modules we are using have had issues. We have Cisco modules, but they frequently heat up or there are packet error issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as seven out of ten."
"I remember that when our customers were offered the Arista Networks Platform, they used a checklist to compare the prices between Arista and Cisco for their requirements, and found that the prices were almost the same."
"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."
"There is an annual license required to use the Arista Networks Platform."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten where ten is high price and one is low price."
"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."
"Network devices are generally expensive. However, during the evaluation, Arista was the most inexpensive vendor."
"The price of the Arista Networks Platform could be less expensive for the hardware and license."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise12
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?
I do not handle the pricing for Arista Networks Platform as other departments handle the costing. I am a network engineer in my company.
What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?
I see some areas for improvement, particularly with pricing. I think that not all features that are needed are already in Arista. AI power is required nowadays. AI would be needed for understanding...
What is your primary use case for Arista Networks Platform?
We are still using Arista Networks Platform as system integrators. We sold the product and my customer is using this product. Mostly we sold Arista Networks Platform in data centers where customer ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
After the initial integration, the focus has been on support rather than further development. Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive. The pricing could absolutely be improved. So far,...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series serves as a core router and core switch for users, and provides interconnectivity between the core switch and the access switch, as well as remote access switch for smaller ...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I am a customer of this solution and also a distributor. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is usually integrated with other Cisco tools or third-party tools, including 3750, 3850, 3650, and 3750 as access sw...
 

Also Known As

7000 Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Internet Services
Information Not Available
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