Cisco Catalyst, Cisco Meraki, and Cisco Nexus switches with Cisco DNA Center controller

Network switch competitive comparison

See how Cisco Switches stack up

Compare Cisco enterprise network switches with switches from Arista, Huawei, and HPE. Use the chart below to take a deep dive into ways that Cisco switches help you adapt to whatever is next.

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What to consider when looking for a network switch

When comparing network switches to find what's right for you, consider both your current and future needs for flexibility, reliability, and security as well as speed, port count, and size.

Network switch comparison chart

Feature	Cisco	HPE	Huawei	Arista

Custom silicon	Available Investment protection Feature robustness Platform longevity	Limited Short life span Mix of custom and merchant silicon based platforms with inconsistent set of capabilities	Limited Merchant silicon with limited flexibility ENP and Solar inferior to Cisco UADP capability No high-speed stacking interface Lacks in performance, packet processing, and full data flow visibility	Limited Merchant silicon with limited flexibility
Common chassis	Available Investment protection with line card and supervisor upgrades Catalyst 9400X: 90W Cisco UPOE+ Multigigabit scale Catalyst 9600X: Industry's first 400G campus switch WAN MACsec Enhanced queueing with VOQ architecture	Limited Single chassis with no supervisor upgrades possible	Limited Future supervisor upgrades possible	Limited Two-box solution using data center switches
Branch-in-a-box with 100G hardware-based IPsec	Available Catalyst 9300X models: 100G uplinks IKEv2 IPsec encryption on the hardware Branch-to-cloud connectivity Site-to-site IPsec Secure tunnels directly to multicloud service providers Access onboard applications or workloads securely	Not Available No equivalent offering for campus switching	Not Available No equivalent offering for campus switching	Not Available No equivalent offering for campus switching
Multigigabit technology	Available Cisco Multigigabit Technology: Prepares access networks for future innovations by delivering speeds of 1G, 2.5G, 5G, and as much as 10G on existing Category 5e and 6 cables PoE and Cisco UPOE+ across the same port, up to 90W Cisco UPOE	Limited Smart Rate multigigabit technology in some models Limited number of multigigabit ports per chassis	Limited Multigigabit up to 2.5G in some switch models	Limited Multigigabit up to 2.5G and 5G in some switch models
Smart building-ready	Available Expands value for smart buildings: No new license needed for Catalyst 9000 switches Bundled into Cisco DNA Advantage Includes cloud software, connector, and support Full-stack offering: Cisco DNA Center zero-trust segmentation PoE assurance	Not Available No IoT gateways supported	Limited No smart buildings ecosystem partners	Not Available No 90W PoE platforms No IoT gateways supported
Smart building ecosystem	Available Large partner ecosystem Cisco Spaces IoT gateway and ThousandEyes technology onboard Third-party app hosting on Catalyst 9000 Switches 90W PoE to power and connect expanded set of devices and sensors	Not Available	Not Available	Not Available
Monitoring by endpoint type	Available Uses analytics to monitor behavior with Cisco Secure Network Analytics and NetFlow Classifies traffic on the edge and inside the network with Cisco TrustSec technology	Limited Limited analytics functionality Use of Tunnel Node limits scale	Limited iPCA option on S5720HI/S5730HI/S6729HI models only and limits visibility	Limited Network detection and response (NDR) capability only by 720XP switches' acting as sensors
Wired assurance with machine reasoning engine (MRE)	Available Wired assurance using PoE analytics, including power supply starvation, power supply missing, power overdraw, and PoE insights Cisco StackWise technology for redundancy Improved application experience AI/ML analytics and machine reasoning	Limited Limited functionality with AI Insights	Limited Reliance on different tools with limited wired assurance	Limited No advanced capabilities in guided remediation or root-cause analysis for wired infrastructure
Application visibility	Available Supports: Flexible NetFlow IPFIX with NBAR2-DPI Engine resident on Catalyst 9200, 9300, and 9400 Series switches Provides line-rate and accurate application identification and analytics	Limited Recently introduced Application Visibility equivalent capabilities on limited platforms	Limited No NetFlow support; uses proprietary NetStream protocol	Limited Supports sFlow and IPFIX No DPI Engine

Single OS across campus domains	Available Common foundation for switching, wireless, and routing across Cisco Catalyst 9000 with Cisco IOS XE Total system visibility and control	Not Available Separate campus switching, wireless, and routing OSS	Not Available Separate campus switching, wireless, and routing OSS	Not Available Separate campus switching, wireless, and routing OSS
Device-level programmability and automation	Available Cisco IOS XE supports DevOps toolkit, NETCONF/YANG models, gNMI, gNOI, gRPC, OpenConfig, YANG All programmatic access options are available	Not Available REST API-based automation only	Limited NETCONF support	Available
Cisco ThousandEyes integration	Available Cisco ThousandEyes agents embedded Provides immediate visibility with additional software Can leverage existing switches Included with all Cisco DNA Advantage licenses	Not Available	Not Available	Not Available
Application hosting framework	Available Offers strategic capabilities with Catalyst 9000 switches Enables a rich ecosystem partnership of 25+ certified apps, including Kibana, perfSONAR, TrapX Security, Cyber Vision, and CodiLime IPsec app Over 200 active customers	Not Available	Not Available	Limited No resource protection No centralized dashboard
High availability	Available Resiliency features: ISSU, GIR, Extended Fast Software Upgrade (xFSU) Redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fans N+1 chassis redundancy with Cisco StackWise-1T physical stacks 1+1 virtual stack redundancy with Cisco StackWise Virtual technology	Limited No xFSU, stacking power aggregation, patching, or dedicated 1-Tbps stacking Unproven VSX live upgrade No Quad-Sup RPR	Limited No xFSU, stacking power aggregation, or dedicated 1-Tbps stacking No single-chassis ISSU	Limited No xFSU, stacking power aggregation, or dedicated 1-Tbps stacking No single-chassis ISSU Leaf SSU supported only for limited set of protocols with no support of STP
Power resilience: IoT and other devices	Available 90W Cisco UPOE+ Perpetual PoE Fast PoE Multiple-level redundancy: Cisco StackWise 480/1T technology and Cisco StackWise Virtual technology	Limited 30/60/90W PoE support 1:1 power redundancy through dual power supplies supported on some switches No advanced power-resilience feature sets available	Limited PoE and 90W PoE+ PoH on S5700 switches 1:1 90W PoH power redundancy (over HDMI) on a single platform	Limited 30W/60W PoE support 1:1 power redundancy through dual power supplies No advanced resiliency features

Secure infrastructure	Available Trustworthy solutions help ensure that software is authentic, unmodified, and operating correctly: Image signing Secure boot Cisco Trust Anchor module Run-time defenses Hardware-level root of trust Unique device identity Software validation	Available	Limited Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is supported Secure Boot is disabled by default on a few platforms	Limited TPM is supported Secure Boot is disabled by default on some platforms
Secure transport	Available 802.1AE MACsec encryption on switch-to-host and switch-to-switch links using TrustSec Network Device Admission Control, Security Association Protocol, and MKA-based key Catalyst 9300X with 100G line-rate IPsec WAN MACsec on Catalyst 9000X Core switches	Limited LAN and WAN MACsec supported on selected platforms	Limited Switches do not support the MACsec encryption by default; an additional plug-in is required Only point-to-point MACsec is supported Just one enterprise switch supports MACsec-256, the CloudEngine S5732-H model Only software-based IPsec is supported	Not Available MACsec-256 is supported on only the Arista 722XP switch
Zero-trust assessment	Available ZTA security scans and flags weak credentials and open ports Cisco AI Endpoint Analytics actively probes endpoints and detects unauthorized ports	Not Available	Not Available	Limited Only 720XP Series switches support NDR sensor capability
Integrated security	Available Advanced security features: Cisco TrustSec segmentation Network as a service Cisco Network Security Analytics Cisco Identity Services Engine Encrypted Traffic Analytics Network as an enforcer mDNS gateway MACsec-256 link encryption	Not Available	Limited Supports ECA	Not Available
Network availability, agility, and policy segmentation	Available Centralized and automated network design, policy, and provisioning of all wired and wireless networks	Limited Dynamic segmentation with limited automation Provisioning and group-based policy enforcement	Limited No turnkey support for automation capabilities for provisioning or group-based policy enforcement	Limited No turnkey support for automation capabilities for provisioning or group-based policy enforcement

Updated in June 2024 based on public information.

Americas Headquarters

Cisco Systems, Inc.

San Jose, CA

Asia Pacific Headquarters

Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd.

Singapore

Europe Headquarters

Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

Netherlands

Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco website at: www.cisco.com/go/offices.

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Cisco DNA Center controller, Catalyst 9300 Series and Catalyst 9200 Series Switches, and Catalyst 9100 Access Points

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