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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Rackswitch comparison

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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
191
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (1st), Ethernet Switches (3rd), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Rackswitch
Ranking in Data Center Networking
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 14.4%, down from 22.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rackswitch is 2.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches14.4%
Rackswitch2.6%
Other83.0%
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

"Cisco Catalyst Switch's technical support is one of the best; they are very fast and knowledgeable."
"It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches are the best overall."
"Cisco Switches are more stable in terms of hardware and firmware, rather than Juniper Switches."
"Technical support is very responsive and helpful."
"In terms of technology, Cisco is the leader in everything."
"I am satisfied with the performance of these switches and would recommend them to others."
"Cisco provides the best technical support when I evaluate it."
"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

"It can be a little more cheaper."
"Its initial setup can be simpler, and it would be great if we can work with a reference architecture. Cisco has the capability to provide a very integrated solution. They have DNA Center, Cisco ISE, Cisco Prime, FMC, and AMP. We are looking at all the products, but it is rather complex to pick out the right licenses that you need. The license structure is a bit complex. Sometimes, there is an overlap in products, which does not really make sense. For example, you have DNA Center and Cisco Prime, and it is not really clear what you would use for what exactly. There is a lot of information on the Cisco website, but it takes a while to go through all this and look at the presentations that are available from Cisco Live. These presentations are appreciated, but sometimes, they are a bit too much like bullet points. You don't exactly know what's behind it, so you have to do a second guess. Overall, there is a lot of information but not always to the point."
"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 biggest issue we are having is with bugs and memory loss, which occurs when developing the IOS."
"Its price can be improved. It is currently expensive."
"The product could always be more secure."
"Dell switching is coming up with a solution where you can put your own OS inside their switching infra. That is where they are talking about open networking. We can show that our Cisco is also an open-source. We are open to different switching operating systems if the customer is willing to put it in. We can support multiple operating systems inside the switching infrastructure. It removes the hardware and software dependency on each other. That is where I think there can be room for improvement. Then we can talk about open networking and that is where Cisco can also come up with open networking access."
"I would like to see the integration of the 2960 SX switches. I would also like to see more information about them."
"Rackswitches are very complex and you must be skilled to configure and use them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Catalyst Switches is a very expensive solution."
"There is no licensing fee. All of the features are available on the switch from day one."
"The price of the solution is expensive compared to other products from America or Europe. They should have more competitive pricing."
"The cost of this solution could be less expensive, and we are on an annual license."
"The solutions are costly, considering that Cisco provides top-notch support and devices."
"We had to pay for the product’s licenses."
"We love Cisco, but the price is very prohibitive."
"Pricing could be better."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business84
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise87
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?
The price is very high. Compared to others, I find the price a bit high when compared to Juniper and Allied Telesis.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Switches?
I cannot identify specific disadvantages with the product. However, the areas that have potential to be better are the timeline for the system and switch delivery. The delivery timelines for the pr...
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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: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.