No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Nexus vs NVIDIA Cumulus Linux 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 Nexus
Ranking in Data Center Networking
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (3rd)
NVIDIA Cumulus Linux
Ranking in Data Center Networking
12th
Average Rating
5.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.4
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 Nexus is 11.7%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NVIDIA Cumulus Linux is 2.1%, 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 Nexus11.7%
NVIDIA Cumulus Linux2.1%
Other86.2%
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.
YL
NVIDIA Network Engineer at Snetsystems
Faced challenges with configuration and automation but gained experience in modern data center networking
I usually participate in the initial setup of NVIDIA Cumulus Linux. The usual setup process for me is that NVIDIA Cumulus Linux configuration commands are very complex, more complex than any other network vendors. The Juniper CLI is very similar to NVIDIA Cumulus Linux, but NVIDIA Cumulus Linux is more complex than Juniper. The CLI configuration and commands are very complex. Other network vendors' commands are very simple and direct, so when viewing the configuration, it is clear what it is for. However, NVIDIA Cumulus Linux has very complex configuration, so when viewing the configuration, it is unclear what the configuration is for. There is enough documentation, guides, and manuals for the installation process. NVIDIA provides sufficient information for NVIDIA Cumulus Linux, but this is not standard.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Nexus has improved my organization in the way that it provided enhanced security in a point in the network that was critical."
"The redundancy and the vPC are the most valuable features. We can integrate two switches together for file transfers; that is, we can operate two switches as one. This is because the network can be shared via a vPC trunk, particularly for devices that are not critical for redundancy."
"We got increased bandwidth, faster performance, and newer software which has improved our organization."
"Cisco is refining the features all the time and you can see this in all the different vendors."
"The solution has introduced VPC, Virtual Port Channel, which allows for more redundancy and flexibility."
"Cisco has that X factor in their solutions, and specifically with networking, and Nexus is definitely their bread and butter; it is an exceptional solution."
"Cisco Nexus provides a reliable switching platform for our data centers."
"We definitely got ROI from Nexus and a pretty short term because the pure redundancy and the uptime is a real value add for us."
"NVIDIA Cumulus Linux has excellent support for EVPN VXLAN."
 

Cons

"It would be great if they could make the interface a little more user-friendly, but not trade power off for simplicity."
"There's been a little bit of bugginess in the code, but that happens."
"Nexus is a costly solution."
"The code quality for this solution has gotten worse and needs improvement."
"The initial setup of the Cisco Nexus platform takes a long time. It's a complex system because we have a lot of security layers."
"Cisco's security features are in line with other OEMs, however, for data center security in terms of layer seven security, we prefer to have different OEMs rather than relying solely on Cisco."
"Enhancing the software-defined level of this solution would empower it."
"Cisco Nexus is very costly for the service."
"Regarding areas where NVIDIA Cumulus Linux could be improved or enhanced, all areas have issues when EVPN and VXLAN are not used."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100K a year for the switching part."
"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 licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."
"In most cases, there is a need to secure perpetual licenses to be able to use the product. When I set up the product, there isn't just a one-time cost that is involved."
"We have a virtual license."
"Licensing is annual or every three years. We were one of the big customers, and we used to get good prices, but the cost of the support can be improved."
"This solution should be made more affordable."
"We have three hundred to four hundred data centers of Nexus. So the coverage associated with Smart Net is 27 by 4, is basically what we spend each year. If the incentives get better, which I know they're working on, it would be great but right now we're buying year to year."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Center Networking solutions are best for your needs.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise83
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
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,...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus?
Cisco Nexus is used in data centers with a simple Nexus OS deployment model. In our environment, we do not use programmability with Cisco Nexus. The switches are used very basically in our infrastr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NVIDIA Cumulus Linux?
In my opinion about the pricing of NVIDIA Cumulus Linux, it is too expensive for its function. It is not worth the money.
What needs improvement with NVIDIA Cumulus Linux?
Regarding areas where NVIDIA Cumulus Linux could be improved or enhanced, all areas have issues when EVPN and VXLAN are not used. NVIDIA Cumulus Linux has a significant problem in that with any oth...
What is your primary use case for NVIDIA Cumulus Linux?
NVIDIA Cumulus Linux is designed for data center networks, so switches running this software cannot be used in other network areas such as campus environments. NVIDIA Cumulus Linux can only be used...
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Dell Technologies, Arista and others in Data Center Networking. Updated: May 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.