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HPE Ethernet Switches vs Huawei Ethernet Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

HPE Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Huawei Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of HPE Ethernet Switches is 3.9%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei Ethernet Switches is 3.4%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Ethernet Switches3.9%
Huawei Ethernet Switches3.4%
Other92.7%
Ethernet Switches
 

Q&A Highlights

AS
Community Manager at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Nov 06, 2015
 

Featured Reviews

KK
General Manager at Zenith Business Solutions
Security, reliability, and cost-effectiveness drive success across different business scales
HPE Ethernet Switches are very much covered on the security front due to their ClearPass technology, which is exceptional. They are highly scalable and stable, which is vital for large enterprises that require reliable performance. Additionally, HPE Ethernet Switches offer a cost-saving advantage as they are approximately 40% cheaper than comparable Cisco solutions. The integration of the switches is very straightforward, making them an attractive choice for many organizations.
Muhammad Kabir Salihu - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Director at NITDA
Cost-effective performance enhanced by security features with easy configurations
I mainly use Huawei Switches and also work with Huawei Wireless. I deal with both Huawei and Cisco Switches, and I find Huawei to be more cost-effective Huawei has helped to save costs and is cost-effective, which also helps save time for the company. The performance of Huawei is good, and it…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"These switches have been in use for easily 11 years."
"It's fairly lightweight, they don't require a lot of maintenance."
"I'm a power user, so reliability is crucial. The HPE equipment hasn't failed on me, unlike some other brands like Huawei, which I find more sensitive."
"The initial setup is straightforward. The steps are simple, and you can always contact support if needed. Overall, it's easy."
"I have found the most valuable feature is stability."
"They are very easy to deploy and manage, and offer a lifetime warranty."
"The benefit is to connect everybody in the office."
"It's easy to use for switch management."
"My advice for anybody who is considering this product is not to be afraid of it, just because Huawei is not a true American brand."
"The solution is scalable."
"The most valuable features are that it is easy to use, easy to configure, it's priced well, and the operating system is easy to understand."
"This product is competitive technically with the best products in the class."
"Huawei Ethernet switches are easy to use and can be managed using either the GUI or via the command-line."
"In terms of the most valuable features, LAN switching is more comfortable and valuable in the network. It is easy to configure and easy to deploy. It is helpful for the installation and it is easy to troubleshoot issues. It's an easy product to understand. It's a good solution."
"They have the ability, since they have a very big R&D team, to create an upgrade for any feature or patch very easily."
"Huawei offers a wide range of products to choose from, which provides flexibility in deployment."
 

Cons

"They should have more control tools for controlling the bandwidth."
"Customer support needs to improve."
"Console port speed autodetect feature not work as we expected and create some problems with connecting to switch."
"I would like to see more updates for the solution."
"There are RAM limitations on the VMs and I can't install certain apps on HP VMs."
"The solution could improve by having more integration options."
"I would also like to see a more centralized private management console for the series of devices. Most solutions are adopting centralized cloud-based management, but my client base believes cloud solutions are too insecure. You've got a few dozen switches, so it would be nice to have the ability to manage them on a "single pane of glass.""
"HPE Ethernet Switches have room for improvement in the initial setup and integration process, especially when incorporating them into an existing infrastructure with competitor products."
"The company needs to provide more on hand training on the product."
"The durability of the device can be improved."
"The tool is not very robust in harsh environments. Issues with cooling and power can cause these switches to fail, which concerns customers. They work well in data centers but might be problematic in places without cooling or heat."
"The configuration could be improved and deployment should be easier. It's also quite expensive."
"Presently, the solution doesn't offer any AI integrations with the product hardware."
"There could be improvements in Huawei, such as adding features that Cisco has and Huawei currently lacks."
"In the next release, I would like to see an increase in the performance of DDoS protection systems against all kinds of attack packets."
"Huawei Ethernet Switches should improve its user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"They are affordable and less expensive than Cisco. Their price was the decider at the time."
"All the solutions have a license for the QSFP. Additionally, there is a one-time license fee to increase the interface speed."
"We just bought new switches for $500 last year, and now, the same switch is $800. It's gone up in price in the last 12 months."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"The licensing cost is set up annually or every three years."
"We need to pay when we buy the switch. We pay for a license to use the software, but it is not required."
"I believe HPE is less expensive than Aruba's and UniFi and that is why certain clients have chosen them as their solution."
"The tool's price is affordable and I would rate it a five out of ten. The prices are fixed with no additional cost involved."
"The pricing is good so is rated an eight out of ten."
"The licensing costs depend on the negotiations that a user has with Huawei...There is a need to make some additional payments apart from the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"Huawei Ethernet Switches are cheaper than other competitors."
"We only pay one-off instead of paying recurring license fees."
"Huawei Ethernet Switches are very competitively priced, almost 4 out of 10.However, the low price point may sometimes raise concerns about quality for some companies."
"From the initial purchase, you will pay for a license and you do not need to pay for a license again. The price depends on the size of the infrastructure."
"The exact pricing varies based on how many units you purchase."
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Answers from the Community

AS
Community Manager at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Nov 6, 2015
Nov 6, 2015
Core SwitchHP 5412 zl and Access SwitchHP 2920-24G-POE+
2 out of 7 answers
it_user151515 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Oct 13, 2014
Hi there Avigail, It really depends on use and budget. Those switches are quite different in many ways. The HP 5412zl (and btw, that model is EOL you should get the 5400-R series which was released a few months ago) is part of HP's "ProCurve" range (i.e. there pre-3Com acquisition). It's one of my personal favourite switches due to its versatility, reliability, performance and price. ProCurve switches have a CLI based on HP's licensing of Cisco IOS around 15 years ago which was then simplified so setting them up even in fairly complex environments is a snap. They also come with a lifetime NBD warranty so you can usually self-spare and not bother with hardware maintenance. It supports a number of core features such as IPv4/v6 (dual stack) routing (RIP/OSPF/BGP), VRRP and basic distributed trunking but it doesn't stack all that well. The Huawei 7706 is a different beast altogether. Think of it as a clone of the Cisco 4500 series. It's far higher performance than the HP switch and allows 40/100GbE interfaces (the HP can only do 10GbE) as well as supporting true stacking and far more granular configurations. It's also somewhat more expensive and will require ongoing hardware maintenance. The choice for core switch really thus comes down whether or not you need the advanced features and performance of the Huawei switch and are willing to bear their upfront and ongoing cost. If not then the HP 5400 is the winner. (NB: Huawei and 3COM have common routes so if you like the Huawei 7700 you might want to consider the HP Comware 7500 which is more or less identical). The access switch is somewhat easier. The S5700 is way overkill for an access switch and no doubt cost a lot more. The HP 2920 series is a high-performance access switch which supports the fundamental technologies you need as well as easy stacking whilst the S5700 is better suited to a distribution switch where technologies like MPLS are required. HP also gets the nod for ease of configuration and pricing (paritcularly since the lifetime NBD warranty extends to all their stackable switches). The wireless is a bit more complicated since those APs are somewhat different. The HP 425 is a dual-radio 2:2 MIMO 802.11n AP whilst the Huawei AP5130D is a single radio 802.11AC device. I'm not a fan of single radio APs since even a single slow client (i.e. 802.11a/b/g)/n will slow the AP down somewhat and it will be a long time before all clients are running 802.11AC. I'm not a huge fan of the HP 425; it's a budget model and I much prefer the MSM460/466 (dual-n) or the 560 (n/AC) as being more powerful and versatile. I can't comment about alternate Huawei wireless as I am less familiar with their wireless products but they have quite a broad range. With wireless, both vendors are very good so it somewhat comes down to the controller. The Huawei controller is very CLI focused (somewhat like Cisco) and - IMO - a bit of a pain in larger distributed deployments but it is very flexible and reliable. The HP MSM controller is quite a bit easier to configure and learn to use but it only scales to 800APs whereas the Huawei device can go much futher than that. Both vendors offer embedded controllers within their chassis switches but only HP maintains the free lifetime warranty. Whichever vendor you choose make sure you include their management software (IMC for HP, E-sight for Huawei). Again these are both very similar - and very good - offerings. This will make management and troubleshooting of your environment much easier and more streamlined. Probably the final consideration you need to make is the support offered by each vendor in your country and there - if you are not in Asia - HP probably has the advantage of having an extremely mature support and logistics model given there global presence and longevity. I hope this helps, I've tried to be as unbiased as possible in my response. Michael
it_user106689 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Infrastructure with 51-200 employees
Oct 13, 2014
Hi, It entirely depends on your budget and requirement for IDC or End User. While you select POE switch you need to be very careful on below points 1) assessing the capability to provision power of switch 2) How POE enable device can be connect to Access switch (limitation) Above two points mainly left aside while selecting the POE switches by majority of the NW admins. Also you can look for new series release by HP, which can be stack to 9 switch in a single stack.( HP 5130-48G-4SFP+ EI Switch) However for Huwai, don’t have any idea. Thanks & Regards Ankit Shah
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE Ethernet Switches?
The solution is very stable and easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Ethernet Switches?
When compared to Cisco, Aruba is about 40% cheaper. However, Huawei would be even cheaper than Aruba. We can't compare HPE Ethernet Switches with Huawei directly because of different price ranges.
What needs improvement with HPE Ethernet Switches?
HPE Ethernet Switches have room for improvement in the initial setup and integration process, especially when incorporating them into an existing infrastructure with competitor products. It's a cha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei Ethernet Switches?
Huawei Ethernet Switches offer very competitive and aggressive product pricing compared to other brands.
What needs improvement with Huawei Ethernet Switches?
Huawei should focus more on security. They need more products on the security side to improve the security portion.
 

Also Known As

HP Ethernet Switches
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Emirates Palace Hotel
Newcastle University, Jingyang District of Deyang City in Sichuan Province, Southwest China, Glasgow Rangers Soccer Team, RMIT, Insurance Industry Association of Zhejiang Province, China, APT Satellite Holdings Limited (APT)
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Ethernet Switches vs. Huawei Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.