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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerEdge R-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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.9
Cisco Catalyst Switches ensure long-term reliability and cost savings but opinions on cost-effectiveness vary by usage duration.
Sentiment score
6.3
Dell PowerEdge R-Series offers cost savings and reliable performance, providing long-term ROI through efficiency, durability, and energy savings.
I can say in terms of money saved because up until now, in the previous places where I have worked and also now, we still use the older model, the 2960 model Cisco Catalyst Switches, which has been in existence for almost 20 years and up until now it still functions very well.
Electrical control system engineer at Dangote petroleum refinery and petrol chemicals
From an investment standpoint, deploying Cisco Catalyst Switches offers tangible benefits, including cost reductions.
Unit Nos at Orange
By not having to worry about it, I would estimate we save two to four hours a week, depending on what's happening, such as if we need to spin up a new server, which would contribute to more time if done the old way.
Manager, Systems & Desktop Support at Tilson Home Corporation
In my immediate case for antenna analysis, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer a reduction from days of computing to half a day or hours.
Senior Radio Frequncy Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The value of uptime to us is critical.
VP IT Operations at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Cisco Catalyst Switches' customer service is efficient with skilled support, but initial levels may lack expertise without an active contract.
Sentiment score
7.5
Dell PowerEdge R-Series customer service is praised for responsiveness, expertise, and reliability, with some minor access delays reported.
When requesting an RMA, they replace defective items in just one day.
Network Engineer at General Authority OF ZAKAT & TAX
On a scale from one to 10, I would rate the technical support of Cisco at 10 out of 10.
student at St. Joseph's College of Engineering
Cisco's support is good, one of the best supports that you will get.
Network Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
I would give Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten because they're always able to answer all the questions we have; they reach a solution no matter how long it takes, and they don't give up.
Manager, Systems Security at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
It has always been scheduled maintenance, which says a lot for a production environment, as we haven't had to call in a trouble ticket for the actual hardware during its entire run.
Manager, Systems & Desktop Support at Tilson Home Corporation
Typically, the contacts we have on-site are very knowledgeable, they come in within a day and usually have it fixed and taken care of if there are issues.
Senior Systems Engineer at Federal Data Systems
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst Switches provide modular scalability, allowing easy network expansion and generally high user satisfaction despite some configuration complexities.
Sentiment score
7.3
The Dell PowerEdge R-Series offers adaptable scalability and cost-effective customization for expanding organizational infrastructure needs.
The scalability of Cisco Catalyst Switches is very much scalable, as it supports the stacking feature and growth; for instance, with 94K modular switches, based on the requirement, we can even increase modules for more bandwidth.
Unit Nos at Orange
Unlike Meraki, where I can bring a switch online, join it to the portal, and it becomes operational immediately.
Software Developer/ IT Analyst Individual Contributor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The auto-scaling and zero-touch provisioning kind of support for Nexus switches is lacking.
Network Security Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
The scalability of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is excellent.
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Any outages or blackouts are limited to particular servers, not affecting the whole chassis or enclosures.
Senior Systems Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
We bought our product with scaling involved, and we've been scaling it up anytime we've needed more storage.
Director, Information Technology at TEXAS PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Catalyst Switches are stable and reliable, with occasional issues in legacy models, generally rated highly for performance.
Sentiment score
7.9
Dell PowerEdge R-Series is praised for stability, minimal downtime, and excellent support, making it a preferred organizational choice.
The stability of Cisco Catalyst Switches in my environment is somewhat problematic: legacy Cisco Catalyst Switches, even though they have licenses and support, present many hardware-related issues, such as interfaces going down very repeatedly, SFP modules failing in most cases, and hardware ports becoming faulty.
Network Security Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
What you tell it to do is exactly what it does.
Electrical control system engineer at Dangote petroleum refinery and petrol chemicals
Cisco Catalyst Switches are stable.
Network Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Over four years, we've had less than 1 percent downtime.
It support lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
There is a feature to update the server while it is running, so there is no need to restart.
Manager, Regions Information Technology Security at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We have truly not had any downtime on the infrastructure at all.
Director, Information Technology at TEXAS PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst Switches are noted for performance but face criticism for high pricing, complex licensing, and user interface limitations.
The Dell PowerEdge R-Series needs better integration, management, scalability, and support, with improved efficiency and automation tools desired.
Cisco should provide some level of software that I can bring on-premise where I can add all my Catalyst switches for central management.
Software Developer/ IT Analyst Individual Contributor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Currently, I don't see much AI integration with Cisco Catalyst Switches; though they've started, it still needs improvement.
Unit Nos at Orange
It is the highest cost in the market.
Network Engineer at General Authority OF ZAKAT & TAX
We need to know about any upcoming updates so that we can plan accordingly.
End User Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The beneficial aspect of that feature was that we could skip the PowerStore and just have the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers alone, as they also served as storage, which helped us save money.
Director of IT at Star Kay White
This forces you to go up to a larger server to get the desired processor, which increases the cost.
Team Lead Infrastructure at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst Switches are costly but valued for reliability and support, with competition from Juniper and Huawei for affordability.
Dell PowerEdge R-Series is considered reasonably priced for its quality and value, with potential discounts for bulk purchases.
Cisco provides unique features that justify their pricing.
Product Manager at Uop Ipl
Cisco Catalyst Switches are quite pricey.
Network Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Cisco usually is costly compared to other vendors.
Unit Nos at Orange
They have been stable and running for years without performance downtime or significant disc failures.
Product manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Some customers find it cheaper due to contractual agreements, while others find it expensive, especially when scaling up.
System Administrator at Tigs
The software associated with servers, like VMware subscription licenses, drives costs.
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst Switches provide reliable performance, excellent security, scalability, and ease of management, ideal for high-demand enterprise environments.
Dell PowerEdge R-Series offers reliable management, scalability, security, and support, enhancing performance and reducing downtime for users.
Cisco Catalyst Switches are valuable for their reliability and performance.
Product Manager at Uop Ipl
With Meraki access points, I do not have to have a wireless controller for them. I can configure the wireless device directly from the switch, making the setup cleaner, and that is a major reason for my preference.
Software Developer/ IT Analyst Individual Contributor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Cisco Catalyst Switches provide high performance and security features that stand out in my daily work, where they handle a high volume of traffic with low latency, making them suitable for bandwidth-intensive applications, web applications, VoIP applications, video streaming, and major data center workloads.
Network Security Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
They keep running for at least five to seven years without any issues.
IT Manger at Dubai precast LLc
With PowerEdge Servers, I don't need a one-to-one ratio redundancy, which leads to about eighty percent downtime reduction.
Product manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
One of the valuable features is Active Directory, which helps in managing the network.
IT Manager at Misrconsult
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Switches
Ranking in Data Center Networking
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (1st), Ethernet Switches (5th), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
279
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Blade Servers (3rd), Rack Servers (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 15.6%, down from 22.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 5.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches15.6%
Dell PowerEdge R-Series5.2%
Other79.2%
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Electrical control system engineer at Dangote petroleum refinery and petrol chemicals
Reliable switching has delivered long‑term uptime, strong PoE support, and predictable performance
Cisco Systems Catalyst Switches are highly regarded for their performance, reliability, and enterprise-grade capabilities. My main reservation, however, is the pricing. The cost of Cisco Catalyst Switches—and Cisco products in general—is relatively high, especially in many African markets where organizations often need to balance budget constraints with required functionality. There are alternative vendors that offer comparable features at a lower price point. While they may not always match Cisco’s ecosystem, stability, or full feature depth, many businesses still choose them because of the significant cost savings. Another consideration is licensing, which can add to the overall total cost of ownership depending on the deployment model and required features. Overall, Cisco Catalyst Switches remain premium enterprise solutions, but when compared with other OEMs, their higher acquisition and licensing costs can be a major deciding factor for cost-conscious organizations.
Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business81
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise79
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business101
Midsize Enterprise59
Large Enterprise117
 

Questions from the Community

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.
When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
The prediction of hardware error using some AI tools could still be improved.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Dell PowerEdge R-Series and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.