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Aruba Instant On Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.6
Aruba Instant On Switches are ideal for startups and development areas, offering simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and easy deployment.
Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Nexus offers stability and efficiency, with long-term cost savings and reliability justifying its initial expense for users.
Speeding up our response times and reducing errors and incidents with automation and available APIs.
Global Head, Network Endpoint Connectivity at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Aruba Instant On Switches customer service is generally positive, though some report slow responses; enterprise versions offer lifetime warranty.
Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Nexus support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, despite high costs, being favored for reliability and assistance.
I want more direct communication with the technical support.
System Engineer at University of Kelaniya
It is not fast or knowledgeable.
System Engineer at Juniper Networks
I would rate them an eight on a scale of one to ten because the support was good.
Engagement Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
For us, we have a time advantage because we know the solution, and the technological refresh is easier.
Systems Area References Specialist at Fondazione Poliambulanza
I would rate the support of Cisco an eight out of ten.
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Aruba Instant On Switches offer scalable integration for small businesses, easy setup, but limited enterprise-level features and configurations.
Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Nexus provides robust scalability and versatility for enterprise networks, despite being costly and having some limitations.
The product scalability can be deployed on a very large network scale.
Presale Network Security at a consumer goods company with 1-10 employees
Aruba Instant On Switches is a scalable solution with no problems.
System Engineer at Juniper Networks
I would rate the scalability of Aruba Instant On Switches as an eight regarding the ability of the product to adapt to our needs.
System Engineer at University of Kelaniya
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Aruba Instant On Switches are stable, reliable, easy to manage, and rated highly by users, despite limited enterprise features.
Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco Nexus is reliable and high-performing, with minor issues, praised for data center use and stability with updates.
In terms of stability and scalability, I have not faced any performance issues with Aruba; it functions very well.
Presale Network Security at a consumer goods company with 1-10 employees
I would rate the stability of Aruba Instant On Switches as an eight out of ten.
System Engineer at Juniper Networks
Initially, the stability of Cisco Nexus, particularly with the ACI, was problematic due to unstable codes, requiring replacements.
Global Head, Network Endpoint Connectivity at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Instant On Switches need improved scalability, security, AI features, management interface, documentation, VLAN support, stability, and diagnostics.
Users want Cisco Nexus improvements in GUI, integration, scalability, programmability, cost-efficiency, compatibility, management, and training resources.
Aruba Instant On Switches could be improved by utilizing more AI features.
Engagement Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
If they can apply more security features to Aruba Instant On Switches, such as network access control including ClearPass, then that would be great.
Presale Network Security at a consumer goods company with 1-10 employees
It might be pretty expensive for other companies.
Director at WAJDA GROUP
We are still waiting, and it has been more than five to six years just to change the VPC number and migrate back the lease line.
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
The solution is on-premises and stable.
Systems Area References Specialist at Fondazione Poliambulanza
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Instant On Switches are cost-effective with an all-inclusive pricing model, rivaling Cisco but pricier than Ubiquiti.
Cisco Nexus pricing is high but justified by features, with varied licensing options and favorable long-term ownership costs.
With Aruba Instant On Switches, you need to pay for a yearly license.
System Engineer at Juniper Networks
Economically, its price is acceptable for us.
System Engineer at University of Kelaniya
The pricing was good because they do not nickel and dime on costs.
Engagement Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution.
Systems Area References Specialist at Fondazione Poliambulanza
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers.
Global Head, Network Endpoint Connectivity at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Instant On Switches provide affordable, reliable, and user-friendly networking solutions with VLAN support, scalability, and easy management.
Cisco Nexus is praised for its performance, scalability, advanced routing, integration, low latency, automation, security, and redundancy.
Aruba Instant On Switches improves the user experience by providing simplicity and reliability.
System Engineer at Juniper Networks
The first valuable aspect of Aruba Instant On Switches is the price because it is affordable, and it is easy to deploy and not complicated regarding licensing because when you purchase it once, you can enjoy it for more than five years or lifetime.
Presale Network Security at a consumer goods company with 1-10 employees
The best features of Aruba Instant On Switches include the ability to remotely monitor the access points and any troubles on the network.
Engagement Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The VPC feature of Cisco Nexus is great because it provides an active-active way of forwarding the traffic and avoids blocking any of the links.
Global Head, Network Endpoint Connectivity at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
I encountered an issue where different models within the same series, the 95308 DC, do not support VPC between the EX series and FX3 series.
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
For us, we have a time advantage because we know the solution, and the technological refresh is easier.
Systems Area References Specialist at Fondazione Poliambulanza
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Instant On Switches
Ranking in LAN Switching
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus
Ranking in LAN Switching
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Aruba Instant On Switches is 6.1%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 10.0%, up from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Instant On Switches6.1%
Cisco Nexus10.0%
Other83.9%
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

MI
System Engineer at University of Kelaniya
Solution offers straightforward management and compatibility, though user support needs direct access improvement
Sometimes some features are not available. For example, the network discovery protocol, LLDP, is not available on some of the switches. When we look at the CLI management, we are considering Cisco, and we are familiar with the Cisco commands. In that case, at the command level, Cisco is much better than Aruba Instant On Switches. Considering the configuration and the CLI level and some of the features, Cisco has better offerings than Aruba Instant On Switches. There are Netgear and some other low-cost switches, but the quality of those is not aligned with our organization's requirements. Overall, I rate Aruba Instant On Switches a seven out of ten.
Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
Migration between data centers has strengthened core connectivity and simplified segmentation
The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches, which made this a quite difficult part to manage and to onboard the teams and to understand the impact of the migration. We encountered an issue where we have two data centers, and unknowingly we were configuring the devices with the same VPC number on both devices. By doing that, we were not able to terminate the lease lines over those core switches. According to Cisco, we had to change the VPC number of one of the data center's core switches since they are in a VPC. We are still waiting, and it has been more than five to six years just to change the VPC number and migrate back the lease line. Now we are having cabin switches for the lease line and then the core switch. That VPC number issue was quite surprising for us. However, we have a very frequent issue with Cisco Nexus, particularly with the SFPs. Every time a port or the SFP heats up, it gets faulty. We have almost sixteen Nexus switches per data center. In a year, we experience one or two port issues per annum. We have standard Equinix data centers with standard installations, but somehow the temperature is always maintained and there is no ducting, yet the ports and the SFPs heat up or become faulty. This is a very frequent issue with the SFP-based port.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise83
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Instant On Switches?
With Aruba Instant On Switches, you need to pay for a yearly license. If you have yearly support, you have to pay for that. For Aruba Instant On Switches, there are not really any extra costs in ad...
What needs improvement with Aruba Instant On Switches?
I would not like to improve something; the only thing is what occurred last week.
What is your primary use case for Aruba Instant On Switches?
Almost everyone in our company is using Aruba Instant On Switches today.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
We are a reseller, and we sell products to our customers.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches,...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus?
Cisco Nexus is used in data centers with a simple Nexus OS deployment model. In our environment, we do not use programmability with Cisco Nexus. The switches are used very basically in our infrastr...
 

Also Known As

Aruba Instant On 1930 Switches
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

KEMET, Vestavia Hills City Schools, Dropbox
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Instant On Switches vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.