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Cisco Nexus vs Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 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 Nexus
Ranking in Data Center Networking
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (4th)
Juniper MX Series Universal...
Ranking in Data Center Networking
6th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 15.3%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms is 5.0%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus15.3%
Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms5.0%
Other79.7%
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
Migration between data centers has strengthened core connectivity and simplified segmentation
The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches, which made this a quite difficult part to manage and to onboard the teams and to understand the impact of the migration. We encountered an issue where we have two data centers, and unknowingly we were configuring the devices with the same VPC number on both devices. By doing that, we were not able to terminate the lease lines over those core switches. According to Cisco, we had to change the VPC number of one of the data center's core switches since they are in a VPC. We are still waiting, and it has been more than five to six years just to change the VPC number and migrate back the lease line. Now we are having cabin switches for the lease line and then the core switch. That VPC number issue was quite surprising for us. However, we have a very frequent issue with Cisco Nexus, particularly with the SFPs. Every time a port or the SFP heats up, it gets faulty. We have almost sixteen Nexus switches per data center. In a year, we experience one or two port issues per annum. We have standard Equinix data centers with standard installations, but somehow the temperature is always maintained and there is no ducting, yet the ports and the SFPs heat up or become faulty. This is a very frequent issue with the SFP-based port.
FF
Technical Manager at Peter Rauter GmbH
Router configuration facilitates effective network solutions
The configurations and CLI of the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms are valuable features. While I did not appreciate them initially, I have grown to value them. The stability of the router is reliable, and they perform according to our requirements. We are using firewall systems and all other security mechanisms which are state-of-the-art with the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms. The main benefit of the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms is their stability.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It speeds up the network data transfer time."
"This is a very stable solution."
"Its low latency is most valuable. Its performance is good, and it is also very stable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its speed."
"Cisco technical support is a good backup team when you have issues with anything. If you open a case they are very good at following up and making sure that the issue's resolved according to the needs of our network."
"The flexibility, how accurately the VPCs operate as well as the redundancy built into it with the VPCs are the most valuable features."
"The most valuable feature is performance."
"Tech support is good."
"It's a stable product."
"The product is highly scalable."
"This solution is easy to manage and the resiliency of the hardware is excellent."
"The main benefit of the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms is their stability."
"We haven't faced any issues with the tool's integration."
"The most valuable Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platform is its ability to do routing in any way that I need. It's more than capable of handling the load I'm currently sending."
"I recommend Juniper because it is a code router that is easy to configure and manage."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms is its robustness."
 

Cons

"The implementation process could be easier, which is something that should be improved."
"Enhancing the software-defined level of this solution would empower it."
"In the next release of the solution, I would like to see varying integration between VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) instances so we can integrate BGB into different VRFs in a more organized way. We have some issues with tunnels and VRFs."
"One improvement needed is support for Multi-CAD scale that we were concerned about. We're not hitting any limits at this point."
"There is no feature parity between the 9K and the 5K or 7K, which means that it is harder to position the 9K to future proof them."
"In the Nexus 3500, you can't do per-port Jumbo frames, so you have to enable it as a global configuration."
"Our only complaint is about the licensing because it can always be a little more cost-effective."
"They could improve on having different technologies between product models."
"Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms should incorporate gen AI features."
"Although the support for this solution is good, there is still room for improvement."
"Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms should improve by being more agile with new technology that sits on top of the router."
"It needs to be more multifunctional for enterprises."
"Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms could improve by having a graphical interface. A lot of the younger generation tend to be used to graphical interfaces, command line tends to scare them."
"The product licensing process needs improvement."
"The main disadvantage is the price when compared to MikroTik, which is much cheaper but less stable."
"I want support to improve in terms of quality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco's licensing structures can be complex across different technologies, for example, unified communications."
"We only have a yearly support contract, as we do not use any of the subscription-based functions at this time."
"Costs more than most, but the reliability pays for the difference."
"The subscription model and price could be better."
"It's worth the money we're paying for Nexus."
"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."
"The solution is relatively expensive when compared with Cisco Catalyst."
"We use a local distributor for support, which is very expensive."
"The price of Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms is reasonable. We are on a perpetual license. I do not have any maintenance service as part of the license."
"The tool's pricing is in the middle."
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Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise83
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
We are a reseller, and we sell products to our customers.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
Cisco Nexus may not be very popular because of the requirements that we come across, as it will go into the core data centers, whereas we work with most of the corporate sectors, so Cisco Nexus is ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms?
I don't have information about the pricing setup costs or licensing costs of the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms because we purchased these MX series routers years ago.
What needs improvement with Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms?
I don't think there are any areas that need improvement in the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms. Everything I am using works perfectly. A graphical user interface would be beneficial, ...
What is your primary use case for Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms?
We are using the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms as a B2B core router. I use the Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms to protect the router itself, not for any customers, IP ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
Vocus New Zealand, Beeline, Iron Mountain
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.