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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Rackswitch comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Catalyst Switches
Ranking in Data Center Networking
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
186
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (1st), Ethernet Switches (3rd), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Rackswitch
Ranking in Data Center Networking
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 14.3%, down from 21.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rackswitch is 2.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches14.3%
Rackswitch2.5%
Other83.2%
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.
it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Rackswitch is very easy to use and perfect for small businesses with small budgets.
Rackswitch consumes less power, eliminates delays, has a low latency, has airflow like the one found in servers for cooling purposes at a low cost and are redundant, is flexible, is reliable, and has a high level of performance. They are also scalable and of very high performance caliber with some already made virtualized.Rackswitch is easy to acquire, deploy and manage. It has an OpenFlow feature that minimizes complexity and allows for easy creation of virtualized networks.They are also fault tolerant, multicast and compatible with switches from other vendors.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Cisco software ties all the hardware together better than the competition."
"We are satisfied with the solution; it demonstrates good performance."
"Cisco provides very good support services."
"Cisco products have been shown to be very reliable and stable."
"As far as technology is concerned, Cisco improves the client-to-client business."
"One of the main features of this solution is it is easy to manage."
"Our clients are able to get analytics on how often people are in rooms or using a certain area of a building, and by doing this, in the future, they can often opt for a slightly smaller space and use multi-purpose rooms instead, achieving higher efficiency and lower overhead for rent and other things."
"The most beneficial features for our network management are their stability and good customer support."
"Rackswitch consumes less power, eliminates delays, has a low latency, has airflow like the one found in servers for cooling purposes at a low cost and are redundant, is flexible, is reliable, and has a high level of performance."
 

Cons

"The cost could be reduced. If they worked on lowering the price, they would be able to attract more customers."
"Cisco forces end-users to accept billing for some capabilities or services that they may not want."
"One feature that I would like to add is for the following: At times, when I add an access-list for a hostname, it doesn't actually add the hostname, it adds the IP address. So in the back-end, if my server changes the IP address I have to go in manually and change the IP address. If the capability was there in Cisco to add a hostname instead of the IP address that would be really good."
"The price is something we would definitely like improved. It would be nice if it was more economical."
"I would like to see the integration of the 2960 SX switches. I would also like to see more information about them."
"I think one switch should go beyond the 10 gig connectivity to 40 gigs."
"The biggest barrier to buying Cisco or using Cisco is the price and also the competition with competitors and with Cisco partners."
"I would not recommend Cisco for anyone, many of my customers have had bad experiences with them."
"Rackswitches are very complex and you must be skilled to configure and use them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product price a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"When compared with other products, the solution is kind of on the expensive side."
"This is expensive, even when compared to competitors' products."
"The product is quite expensive."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches is an affordable solution."
"The new products from Cisco in the market are expensive. My company cannot import Cisco products, so they are mostly unavailable."
"It has a very high cost, but understandably, due to its very good quality."
"The price is too high for this market."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business83
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise85
No data available
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Switches?
Those aspects regarding pricing, setup, cost, and licensing are managed by management, so I am not directly involved.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Switches?
I believe that Cisco Catalyst Switches could be improved by being given AI capability and advanced licensing, which would be beneficial.
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Also Known As

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst
No data available
 

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
Altus IT, SL-Rasch, COMAS, Balluff GmbH, CANCOM IT Solutions, Kings College London
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Dell Technologies, Arista and others in Data Center Networking. Updated: May 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.