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Cisco Enterprise Routers vs ExtremeRouting comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 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

Cisco Enterprise Routers
Ranking in Routers
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ExtremeRouting
Ranking in Routers
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Routers category, the mindshare of Cisco Enterprise Routers is 16.7%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeRouting is 3.7%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Routers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Enterprise Routers16.7%
ExtremeRouting3.7%
Other79.6%
Routers
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad IrfanGhauri - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Solutions at Comtech Associate
Enterprise routing has delivered advanced security integration and supported AI data centers
The licensing part of Cisco Enterprise Routers is a bit tricky nowadays. With DNA, they have introduced DNA licensing. If they make it more simplistic with respect to customer understanding, I think it would be a good selling point for them. The licensing model could be a bit too high or a bit too complex. They need to make it simplified. It would be good for their business. With respect to enterprise routing, I would like to see additional features in the future to make it closer to a ten. Previously, Cisco has integrated many technologies into their router and multiple security features. However, since they have created a separate firewall product line, Firepower, I still want them to integrate more security features into their enterprise-grade router as well. Content filtering, application control, and website filtering are features that should be integrated into the router. They have multiple options, so with respect to technology, I am expecting that they integrate security more and Voice over IP features more easily into the router. For the customer, this makes their life easier in the sense that a single box can give them multiple solutions. I think they are already providing 5G interfaces, and there are options available.
Imran Taiyeb Ali - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Solutions Specialist at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
A scalable tool that needs to improve its support, software resiliency, and software stability
The support team is not technically that strong. The previous company that owned the product, Nortel, went bankrupt, after which the transition phase of the product didn't go smoothly. Avaya did not do well with the product's design and engineering after taking the product over from Nortel, after which Avaya decided to outsource the tool to my company, meaning we have worked as a vendor with third-party access to the tool in the name of Avaya. The support was very bad initially, but my company could fix the problems of the customers on time since we had better communication skills than technical-solving skills due to our limitations related to the area of device engineering. When it comes to a feature of the product, my company could enable it for the customers or users of the product. If, by any chance, my company found a bug in the tool, then it was a hectic task for our support team to deal with it since it took months to fix it. Currently, Extreme Networks takes care of the support part, and it might have improved. I rate the technical support a four out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have found the most valuable feature of Cisco Enterprise Routers to be the simplicity of the command-line interface, it is very intuitive as to how the commands need to be configured for a specific use case."
"This solution helps us with our inter-network constitution, and that works for us."
"We achieve good performance in our data center."
"Cisco support is the most valuable aspect because most technicians in the industry understand how to interface with a Cisco product. When we contact support, we know we'll probably get the answer whether we have to escalate the request to a new engineer or not."
"The stability of the solution is better than most other solutions."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers are the best."
"It's a sound solution, so it's very easy to solve problems without a support contract, as mainly the problems we have related to the equipment can be solved by doing a Google search."
"The performance is good."
"We evaluated Cisco routers as well, but we chose ExtremeRouting because it was more user-friendly, budget-friendly, cheap compared to Cisco, and has an easy configuration process."
"It is very easy to set up."
"Looking at the robustness, I do not know whether it would be carrier grade – let's say for hundreds of thousands of users – but it certainly doesn't balk at 10,000 users or less."
"What I like about Extreme Routing is its impressive performance."
"Technical support is very good, especially when you compare it to other vendors we have here."
"It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The routing protocol is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"Overall, ExtremeRouting requires less technical depth in order to implement the infrastructure than Cisco, for example."
 

Cons

"There have been multiple issues when updating iOS to Cisco routers."
"Sometimes, I find it hard to learn how some features of the router work. So, these are the issues that may arise when a user might not have knowledge about the product."
"I would like to see the setup time reduced."
"I cannot assess the high-performance bandwidth of Cisco Enterprise Routers without knowing the purpose of the call."
"Cisco could improve by reducing the delays in receiving physical devices."
"The solution is not easy to manage for people that do not have the experience."
"We would like to see an improvement in the price of this solution. It is currently more expensive than other comparable products on the market."
"Cost and configuration simplicity are areas needing improvement."
"The support, software resiliency, and software stability are areas of concern where improvements are required."
"My advice for those looking into ExtremeRouting is: right now all switch manufacturers are backed up for months. If you're looking to implement quickly, I would say shop around a bit because it might be difficult."
"We have not had a very good experience with customer service and support."
"It's not evolving as quickly as we would like it to."
"We are concerned with how the solution will evolve to the next generation of Contact Center. It's not evolving as quickly as we would like it to."
"The solution is far too unstable. It's completely unreliable."
"Some of the latest protocols are unavailable."
"One area for improvement with Extreme Routing is the need for more accessible and comprehensive training."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco's prices could be cheaper."
"The product is very expensive and does not provide the expected performance for the cost."
"It's expensive and the pricing could be improved."
"The licensing policy can sometimes be very complicated."
"I have found the price to be expensive for the solution."
"If it could be cheaper that would be good, but I would rate it as a four out of five for price, with one being very expensive and five being very affordable."
"The price of this solution is high."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers are expensive."
"We have no issues with the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise46
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How do Cisco Enterprise routers compare with Mikrotik routers and switches?
Cisco Enterprise Routers are very stable and easy to use. They offer a very solid performance and are very secure. They also have a very good, long lifespan. We feel the command configuration is ve...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Enterprise Routers?
In terms of licensing, I think it is straightforward. I do not see any issues with licensing for a specific feature, support, or anything else.
What needs improvement with Cisco Enterprise Routers?
Looking at the product portfolio, most features are covered. There are different types of interfaces available, whether Ethernet Gigabit or 10 Gigabit, along with various interface modules and diff...
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Also Known As

No data available
Avaya Enterprise Routers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Boingo, Chartwell School, Children's Hospital of Orange County , Department of Justice, Explorer Pipeline, Linz AG, National Rugby League, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Telecom Italia, Transwestern
Breakthrough Urban Ministries, Black Oak Casino, Glamorgan County Cricket Club, University of San Carlos, Holland Hall School, South Euclid Lyndhurst Schools, Prairie View Networking Academy, City of Troy, Ryerson University, Linamar, City of Redondo Beach, York Region District School Board
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Enterprise Routers vs. ExtremeRouting and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.