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Cisco Nexus vs Juniper QFX Series Switches comparison

Cisco and Juniper are both solutions in the Data Center Networking category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6, while Juniper is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.5. Cisco holds a 19.6% mindshare in DCN, compared to Juniper’s 15.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Juniper users who would recommend it.
Cisco Nexus
Read 105 Cisco Nexus reviews
  • 2,630 Views
  • 1,834 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
Juniper QFX Series Switches
Read 7 Juniper QFX Series Switches reviews
  • 1,273 Views
  • 1,024 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Cisco Nexus and Juniper QFX Series Switches are both prominent in high-performance networking hardware. Cisco Nexus seems to hold an edge with its feature-rich offering and stability, vital for tech-focused enterprises, while Juniper excels in competitive pricing and efficiency.

Features: Cisco Nexus impresses with innovative features such as VPCs, unparalleled data center stability, and robust VRF support, catering to scalability and network innovation enthusiasts. Juniper QFX Series shines with high port density, EVPN-VXLAN support, and efficient Broadcom chipsets, appealing to firms seeking cost-effective, performative solutions.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Nexus could enhance its licensing process, unify interfaces, and streamline support to reduce complexity and costs. Juniper QFX Series has areas for improvement in UI simplification and optimizing fiber connectivity for storage solutions. Both could benefit from better integration and configuration documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Nexus, known for on-premises deployment, provides strong support, though some users report slow processes. Juniper QFX Series, despite fewer reviews, is acknowledged for decent support similar to Cisco, differing mostly in brand perception and structured escalation protocols.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Nexus is typically pricier but offers reliable performance and advanced features, which justify cost through long-term ROI. Users note complex pricing but acknowledge its investment value. Juniper QFX Series, though initially costly, is budget-friendly, providing excellent value with scalability and hardware efficiency, ensuring substantial long-term ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFX Series Switches Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFX Series Switches
April 2025
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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
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (2nd)
Juniper QFX Series Switches
Ranking in Data Center Networking
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (25th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 19.6%, up from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper QFX Series Switches is 15.2%, up from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

Joe Benítez - PeerSpot reviewer
Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing
Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.
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RafaelTorres - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers automation capabilities and good customer support
Juniper QFX Series Switches offer several features that contribute to improved efficiency. One key advantage is the automation capabilities. This allows us to automate network configuration and management tasks using scripting languages. In our case, at the bank, we use a script for automation to confirm the switch's scalability in the local data center. We expanded the environment to utilize the environment feature with AWS, creating connections between both data centers. This setup allowed us to extend our operations to another data center in Latin America, using AWS and Juniper together.
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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a very stable solution."
"The setup is straightforward. I'd like to see the firmware and code upgradability to be slightly more intuitive."
"We are a Cisco shop. This solution is better compared to other options."
"It gives me an unparalleled ability to build out my environment differently than I would have if I was going with another vendor."
"The ability to tenant-out the traffic and segment it, without having to get into separate physical hardware or trying to figure out VDCs manually, has been really powerful and extremely useful for us."
"The most valuable features are the access layer security, OpenConfig, and OpenFlow."
"We leverage Cisco DCNM a lot, which allows us to automate."
"This is a powerful device and I can get good bandwidth."
More Cisco Nexus pros
"EVPN-VXLAN feature offers the most benefits."
"It's a stable solution."
"The QFX series is a good choice for large data centers, particularly for Spine-Leaf architectures."
"The most valuable features are the VxLAN and the EVPN."
"It's really easy to replicate rules. It's the one that I've used; it was CLI-based. You can implement a large set of rules with CLI. You can just copy a script and add additional changes to the source and destination on the part. And so it's easy to do large zone-based rules."
"Support is good and customer-friendly"
"Juniper QFX Series Switches provide a good platform for all of our hardware and are easy to use."
 

Cons

"The GUI interface could be improved to make it more user friendly."
"There is limited guidance in terms of the use and configuration of Cisco Nexus for specific use cases. The documentation is not comprehensive, and you have to do a lot of online research."
"For a very small subset, Cisco Nexus caused port flapping within the applications."
"The initial setup was somewhat complex."
"It would be ideal if there was better integration with various other platforms."
"I don't really deal with the pricing but I know that it's not cheap."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see a focus on backplane deployment, so you can stack more."
"There's been a little bit of bugginess in the code, but that happens."
More Cisco Nexus cons
"I faced issues with the deployment and upgrade. In the QFX5110 series, features like ISSU and DSSQ should be improved. Upgrades should be smoother."
"The price could be cheaper."
"There have been some issues sometimes. When you upgrade the device, it doesn't come up. It gets stuck."
"Integrating QFX switches was the first point of challenge."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model. It is too high."
"It is very costly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you compare Cisco hardware to any other vendors, such as HPE, they are more expensive. There is a license to use the solution. If my customer's licenses are about to expire I receive notification from Cisco, this is very helpful."
"The license for Cisco Nexus is one year to three years, in this case for the SMARTnet. It is a price per unit, in terms of this specific appliance."
"The solution should be more cost-effective in general."
"Cisco Nexus is not a cheaply priced product."
"The solution is relatively expensive when compared with Cisco Catalyst."
"Every Cisco product is more expensive than competitors on the market, which is just a fact, but from my perspective, it is worth it."
"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."
"This is a very expensive product."
More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice
"The solution is cheap, especially compared to competitors like Cisco."
"The cost is expensive."
"The price of Juniper QFX Series Switches is expensive because we are running some enterprise hardware. However, they are less expensive than Cisco or HPE hardware."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
23%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...
See all answers
What do you like most about Juniper QFX Series Switches?
EVPN-VXLAN feature offers the most benefits.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper QFX Series Switches?
It is very costly. It has a three-year license.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Juniper QFX Series Switches?
The price could be cheaper.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 20% of the time
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 11% of the time
ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus Logo
ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 4% of the time
Juniper QFabric vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Juniper QFabric vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 4% of the time
VMware NSX vs Cisco Nexus Logo
VMware NSX vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 4% of the time
More Cisco Nexus Competitors
PTX Series Routers vs Juniper QFX Series Switches Logo
PTX Series Routers vs Juniper QFX Series Switches
Compared 23% of the time
Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms vs Juniper QFX Series Switches Logo
Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms vs Juniper QFX Series Switches
Compared 7% of the time
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Juniper QFX Series Switches Logo
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Juniper QFX Series Switches
Compared 4% of the time
NVIDIA Mellanox vs Juniper QFX Series Switches Logo
NVIDIA Mellanox vs Juniper QFX Series Switches
Compared 3% of the time
Aruba Switches vs Juniper QFX Series Switches Logo
Aruba Switches vs Juniper QFX Series Switches
Compared 3% of the time
More Juniper QFX Series Switches Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus
May 2025
Cisco Nexus reportDownload Cisco Nexus product report
Buyer's Guide
Ethernet Switches
May 2025
Juniper QFX Series Switches reportDownload Juniper QFX Series Switches product report
 

Overview

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.
Cisco

QFX Series Switches deliver industry-leading throughput and scalability, an extensive routing stack, the open programmability of the Junos OS, and a broad set of EVPN-VXLAN and IP fabric capabilities. With QFX, you’ll find premier solutions for data center spine-and-leaf, campus distribution, core, and data center gateway and interconnect switching.

Rethink data center operations and fabric management with turnkey Juniper Apstra software in your QFX Series environment. You can automate the entire network lifecycle to simplify design and deployment and provide closed-loop assurance. With Apstra, customers have achieved 90% faster time to deployment, 70% faster time to resolution, and 83% OpEx reduction.


Juniper
 

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
Linode, VPRO, West Chester University
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFX Series Switches
April 2025
Free Report: Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFX Series Switches
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFX Series Switches and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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