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

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus 9000 Series comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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

Arista Networks Platform
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
4th
Ranking in Data Center Networking
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
9th
Ranking in Data Center Networking
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Arista Networks Platform is 3.8%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is 1.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Arista Networks Platform3.8%
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series1.1%
Other95.1%
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Dibyendu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech company with 11-50 employees
Ultra-low latency networking has delivered reliable video workflows and critical operations
The support of Arista Networks Platform is quite complex; it is not very easy to configure. It needs a lot of network expertise for token sheddings and different kinds of configurations. It is very difficult to configure because Arista Networks Platform does not have a flexible GUI like Huawei or Netgear; everything is a very CLI kind of mainframe architecture. Scalability at every single step has a huge upgrade cost which is required for port mapping, connectivity, and transceivers certified by Arista Networks Platform, then the fabric upgrades from a software firmware level. Arista Networks Platform should improve commercial aspects to be affordable. There is no path for growth with a perfect score because the focus is more on reducing costs globally.
AS
Technical Marketing Engineer Hybrid Cloud Infrastructures at NetApp
Policy-driven data centers have delivered low-latency connectivity for critical applications
The most critical and important feature in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is VPC. Apart from VPC, there are many other features in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series that stand out as advantages. You can apply access control lists on that. You can do Layer 3 capabilities. You can configure HSRP. You can implement VRFs. You can isolate the L3 network within your data center. It has a lot of features including network segmentation capabilities. You can apply a lot of security hardening and manage the access on the switches through auditing to see who is doing what and restrict access based on the network admin role. These are great features. The overlay technology support in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is good for large-scale deployment where you are going to build something like a hyperscaler. You need more network segments, and with VXLAN, you can definitely build a large fabric with those Nexus switches.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"It is very stable. It has good hardware and very stable code. It provides good value for its price. They are a very lean type of organization, so they are very responsive, and they're able to focus more on their platform versus having multiple products out there."
"Arista Networks Platform offers straightforward deployment, and has good features. Support for the platform is also good."
"We find the CloudVision switching feature of this solution really useful."
"The solution has good load latency. They're the market leader in this aspect right now."
"The most valuable features of the Arista Networks Platform are the EVPN and VXLAN, and it has comprehensive features."
"As a reseller and partner of Arista, the biggest advantages of Arista Networks Platform are ease of use, ease of configuration, and excellent support from Arista in terms of configuration."
"Arista Networks Platform is very cost-effective and a very good network solution if you are looking for scalability, reliability, and straightforward management."
"The stability and reliability of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series are robust, and once you put it on, it does not just fail; that takes a long time, maybe even years."
"The features for manageability and visibility are impressive."
"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
"According to the customers, they are not utilizing even 40% of the switches because the capacity is very large."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is quite a complex machine, but we are using a very simple configuration with basic Nexus switching, and we don't have many issues with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series at the moment in our present infrastructure."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is easy to use, and the performance is exceptional."
"For one of the biggest European customers, they deployed Cisco Nexus for their core networking and it has been running for a few years without having a single downtime."
"RealPresence works effectively."
 

Cons

"For my particular use, the only potential improvement I see is in power consumption."
"In my opinion, the solution for network monitoring is quite expensive."
"They should have a more stable code."
"I see some areas for improvement, particularly with pricing."
"The transition from a Cisco engineering environment to Arista was challenging because I needed to learn Linux commands."
"They should expand further into campus networks."
"The solution needs to improve their product range."
"They need to enhance their code and their EOS. They need to improve some security features, and there are quite a number of bugs in their system."
"When trying to contact support, we had issues trying to get someone to help us."
"If I have a Juniper and want to uplink with Cisco, there could be some configuration challenges."
"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"In terms of automation with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series, it could be better."
"Even though it is expensive, I am not sure about the return on investment. It is expensive, and you will need to pay for subscription fees that also are not cheap."
"The SFP modules we are using have had issues. We have Cisco modules, but they frequently heat up or there are packet error issues."
"For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches, I think we need to work on the HSRP. Whenever it flaps or something happens, it creates an issue."
"I would like to see features that control traffic and maintain service continuity during the transfer of signals from physical connections to servers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I remember that when our customers were offered the Arista Networks Platform, they used a checklist to compare the prices between Arista and Cisco for their requirements, and found that the prices were almost the same."
"The price of the Arista Networks Platform could be less expensive for the hardware and license."
"Specific tools definitely require a license for the subscription. But we are not using these tools in our environment. In terms of licensing, you need to spend approximately $10,000 per month."
"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."
"Arista is very expensive. Not everybody is in a position to spend $70,000 to $80,000 for one switch."
"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."
"Cost wise, Arista Networks Platform is more expensive than other networking solutions."
"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as seven out of ten."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Ethernet Switches solutions are best for your needs.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Comms Service Provider
22%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Construction Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?
The initial setup cost is high compared to others, and I find the initial setup cost to be very high.
What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?
Arista Networks Platform could improve its command line management. Coming from a Cisco background, the adjustment period was challenging. While similar in some areas, the AOS concept, especially a...
What is your primary use case for Arista Networks Platform?
I have worked with deploying Arista Networks Platform in data center environments, particularly for spine and leaf architectures. The configurations involved Zero Touch Provisioning, which went ver...
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I have not configured the DNA, but I have configured Cisco Intersight, and from Intersight, I have managed monitoring of the servers and switches. I have not given a 10 because there is some depend...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I am a system integrator and user myself. I have worked with Cisco Smart switches, Nexus switches, and Meraki MS switches. I have deployed these switches for Oil and Gas companies in India.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I have been dealing with Cisco series Smart switches and Nexus series, and I have worked with the Nexus switches. I have good support from the overlay technology support in Nexus 1900 for enhanced ...
 

Also Known As

7000 Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Internet Services
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.