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Aruba Switches vs Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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

Aruba Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Juniper EX Series Ethernet ...
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Aruba Switches is 11.3%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is 2.7%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Eunice Thirikwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Stable hotel networking enhances return on investment with valuable modular features
There are issues with the distribution side of Aruba Switches. For instance, the distributor in our country cannot sell to neighboring countries, creating complications in project execution. Improving the distribution network across regions would be beneficial. Also, the SFP modules are significantly more expensive than industry peers, which affects cost-effectiveness.
PRADIPJOSHI - PeerSpot reviewer
Virtual chassis technology enhances connectivity and simplifies management
Juniper EX series switches offer great technology, particularly their Virtual Chassis technology, which is an excellent feature for stacking switches and functions like a single virtual switch. The EX series provides a separation of control, management, and data planes, reducing the attack surface area, ensuring a lesser extent of vulnerability. The PoE budget is commendable, and they manage connectivity effectively.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find the most valuable feature is it is part of the Aruba family."
"The solution is widely applicable to businesses like mine, thanks to its flexibility and compatibility with our warranty structure in South Africa."
"The initial setup is quite easy."
"The most valuable feature is the switches are reliable and replaced for free if anything goes wrong."
"It can scale well."
"Aruba has a good switching solution. It has some basic security features and full switching features for the company. It’s not used as a security device, but it has some basic features like configuring ACL. However, it cannot be used as a complete security solution. The primary thing our clients look for in Aruba, or HPE now since HP acquired Aruba, is cost-effectiveness. Aruba is a good choice if the customer has budget limitations. We recommend Aruba switches because they are less expensive than Cisco but provide the same features."
"The most valuable Aruba switch feature is the lifetime warranty. It is a plus point in the budget."
"The speed of the processor allows for quicker boot-up times compared to Cisco switches."
"The Juniper EX Series's most valuable feature is its robustness. Additionally, it is easy to use and great GUI."
"The virtual Chassis feature for stacking is good in general, with high bandwidth for the link, which is good."
"The solution is certainly scalable."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It is very valuable for SRX devices and we have found it very easy to configure."
"The GUI interface distinguishes it from other vendors and makes it easy to operate."
"There is no end to the ability to scale Juniper."
"Juniper switches are smart and we have all the features that we want. You can rollback to the previous version if you make any mistake during configuration. This is not possible in Cisco."
 

Cons

"The firmware in this solution has a lot of bugs that become noticeable when you have complex implementations."
"Aruba's website should be localized to support the Indonesian language. The content of their website and the help desk should be in the Indonesian language."
"I have some security issues with Aruba Switches. I need to update the firmware and then the problems might go away."
"I would like to see something like a Cisco Prime, an application controlling the entire system, switches, and access points."
"If we compare Aruba and Cisco at the data center layer, Cisco has its Nexus switch. Aruba provides the new 10000 series, but it does not compare with the Nexus switch."
"The biggest issue right now is the delivery timeline. It takes too long to get the product."
"I think that the performance is getting better but they need to have more powerful switches on the market so that they can capture medium and large businesses."
"The initial setup is not easy."
"The initial setup for Juniper switches is complex. Juniper has a new program that solves that problem a little bit, but it is expensive, so I don't use it. It is Juniper Mesh, Juniper Wire, or something like that where you plug in a switch, and it goes out to their cloud, finds a config, and brings it down. So, you can do everything cloud-based, but there is a fee for that. It is expensive, so I've never used it. If we were starting, we would try to do something like that. It is more for a large enterprise for managing hundreds of switches versus what we're doing. They should make its price more cost-effective or include it for new or smaller companies."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches could improve in the EX 2300 model because it does not support IPsec VPN. Only the models at 3400 or higher support it. Additionally, there is a need for support for Mac which is lacking. Some of their competitors, such as Cisco, support Mac."
"Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches lack to offer the latest management tools."
"The stability could be better. We find, for example, Cisco, to be more stable."
"Stability could be better, especially during a reboot. We have had some issues recently with the software getting corrupt on reboot, which causes a lot of downtime."
"Juniper's support could be much better and faster."
"Support could be improved."
"The updates are constantly breaking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost depends on the requirement. An extensive network will expand the budget. The price will be lower if there is a small requirement of one to ten switches. In comparison, Aruba is less costly than Cisco by about 10-20%."
"Comparing with Cisco, and some other solutions, it's a cheap product."
"The pricing for Aruba Switches is definitely expensive."
"Aruba Switches are very expensive."
"This is an expensive product, costing about double what most competitors do."
"The price is reasonable."
"The pricing is perfect."
"I am paying for the hardware and Aruba Central licenses, but I would like a version of Aruba Central to come out with a light version with a few features turned off. Ubiquiti and other vendors have free tools. I believe they're looking at that, but it's not out yet. I hope they will release that to make it competitive because I'm using an enterprise-class switch for small businesses. We're looking for some of those capabilities, but not all of them."
"It is an inexpensive product."
"There is a subscription payment model or you can purchase licenses on a one, two, and five-year basis. If you want decent support, the solution is not expensive."
"For the QFX5000 Juniper switches, the price is about $10,000, but they would probably sell it for $1,000. Nobody can beat Juniper's pricing when it comes to switches. Juniper out-prices everybody, but they get you on the back end, maintenance, service port, and service contract."
"If compared to Cisco, this is a well priced solution. Compared to HP, it is a little bit overpriced. Overall, they are priced in the middle compared to competitors."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches are a less expensive solution than Cisco Ethernet Switches. There is only a one-time purchase for Juniper Ethernet Switches."
"Juniper costs less than the competition. As a comparison, Cisco is 33% more."
"Support prices and licensing scheme need to be improved to allow some features to be purchased at lower costs, for example, RPM​."
"The pricing of Juniper Ethernet Switches compared to equivalent switches from Aruba, Cisco, and others, Juniper Ethernet Switches are priced a little higher. They are approximately 20 to 50 percent higher. When we receive a new range of models, the prices can come down. The price can also vary by region."
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Comparison Review

it_user82779 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 29, 2014
Benefits of Juniper vs Cisco
Both are decent products. I prefer Juniper for the following reasons: 1) Cleaner separation of data plane from control plane. Higher end Cisco devices are better at this but most of the lower end products still seem to be more integrated than I like. 2) The Hierarchical config design means I can…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Switches?
Aruba lives up to the expectations of the tech giant hewlett packard enterprise providing excellent networking capabilities at a very affordable price compared to the equivalent from another tech g...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Switches?
I find it to be middle to high. It's not always affordable, but they're losing the pricing market against Huawei, let's just put it like that.
What needs improvement with Aruba Switches?
There isn't much room for improvement. A more granular breakdown in debugging would be beneficial. Apart from that, not much is needed.
In terms of ethernet switches, would you go with Cisco or Juniper?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Cisco or Juniper Ethernet switches were the better fit for us. We decided to go with Juniper. Juniper ethernet switches are a lesser-known...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Ethernet Switches?
Juniper EX model is ok for the campus network as the ex4300 is EOL in a few years and the new ex4400 is the standard. Now for the QFX model, 5k/10k in CRB mode IP fabric Ethernet switching is horri...
What is your primary use case for Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches?
Throughout my experience, I've deployed Juniper EX switches in various environments, from small enterprise networks to large-scale data centers. In every instance, they have consistently delivered ...
 

Also Known As

8400 Series, 8320 Series, 5400R Series, 3810 Series, 2930M Series, 2930F Series, 2920 Series, 2540 Series, 2530 Series
Juniper Ethernet Switches
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Purdue University
BlackLotus, Staminus, Community Bank, BAS Group, Cloud Dynamics, Privalia, Fluidata, and Tesla Motors.
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Switches vs. Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.