When you are choosing routing software, Cisco and Mikrotik are the preferred software users can get, but which one is best for you?
Cisco is a well-established brand for software in a wide range of industries, for its consistency and reliability in spite of its high cost. In recent times, a relatively new software, Mikrotik has been making waves in the router softwarecircles. It is slowly becoming widely used because it not only offers excellent router and firewall service, but also offers great customer care despite being far cheaper than most of its competitors, making it a direct competitor for Cisco when it comes to matters routing.Although Mikrotik and software greatly differ in price and costing, they are similar in that they both offer very good customer care support while being relatively difficult to use for an inexperienced or first time user.
Their similarities and differences make it essential for a potential users to take time beyond just looking at ratings and cost to carefully weigh their functionalities against their specific network routing requirements.
Despite the high cost, Cisco has become a well-known software brand in all walks of life due to its consistency and reliability. Recently, a relatively new software Mikrotik made waves in the router software world. It is slowly being widely used because it not only provides excellent router and firewall services but also provides excellent customer service despite being much cheaper than most competitors, making it a direct competitor of Cisco on routing issues.
Although Mikrotik and software are quite different in price and cost. Also They are similar in that they both provide very good customer service support. This is very advantageous for users who are inexperienced or are using it for the first time.
Differences between Mikrotik and Cisco
| Feature | Mikrotik | Cisco |
| Operating system | Mikrotik-RouterOS | Linux |
| Pricing | Free and paid versions | Paid |
| Support for network cards | Great | Good |
| Packet filtering | Advanced | Intermediate |
Mikrotik Vs Cisco?
- Price
- Packet filtering
- Switch
Price
As you know The financial investment in these two routers is mainly a one-time cost, except for the additional cost of supporting Cisco. Cisco has different versions of router software, depending on your country/region and required router hardware. It is more expensive than most competitors, but it provides users with value-for-money services in terms of good customer service support and guaranteed quality and software security.
Mikrotik has some different software packages with different license configurations. So The one at the bottom of the list is free. In addition The cost of the product is arranged in such a way that the price is directly proportional to the scope and extent of the additional router and firewall applications. This is very convenient because it allows users to evaluate different packaging and choose the custom packaging that best suits their requirements. In addition, Mikrotik’s developers and technicians always provide excellent product support via email and reliable service calls.
Totally speaking, Mikrotik’s pricing model and value are more attractive than Cisco because of its affordable price and high quality.
Packet filtering
Both Mikrotik and Cisco have good packet filtering capabilities. Whatever, RouterOS for Mikrotik relies heavily on packet filtering, which requires developers to devote a lot of time and resources to its packet filtering function, making it more effective than the packet filtering provided by ordinary Cisco routers.
So This means that Mikrotik has better packet filtering tools that make it more suitable for users whose needs are critical to packet filtering.
Switch
Power consumption of Mikrotik switches is notorious for their high power consumption, which makes them less desirable than Cisco switches with advanced technology.
Ethernet compatibility-Cisco switches are easy to disassemble and can be used by Ethernet users. On the other hand, Mikrotik switches pose a challenge to the use of Ethernet because they have neither dual power supplies nor switchability.
Cisco switches are undisputedly better than Mikrotik switches, more reliable, and more flexible to adapt to users’ resources.
So lets listen to the Advantages ans Dias advnateges
Mikrotik Vs Cisco-Advantages and Disadvantages
Mikrotik
Advantages
- It is affordable
- The solution offers very good support for multi-routing
- It has good customer care support
Disadvantages
- The interface is not very user-intuitive, Also making it difficult to navigate for a new or inexperienced user
Cisco
Advantages
- The routers are designed to make set up very easy
- routers work very well with Cisco switches
- The routers support most routing protocols
Disadvanges
- The cyber solution is expensive
The best difference between Cisco and MikroTik
The best difference in Cisco and MikroTik is that the wireless platform is made with clear objective of making it affordable specific to ISP. Also MikroTik is a Latvian company which was founded in 1996 to develop routers and wireless ISP systems.
MikroTik now provides hardware and software for Internet connectivity in most of the countries around the world.www.mikrotik.com Since the Router Os has many advanced features and capabilities look complicated for first time users https://mikrotik.com/software Now to make it more understandable and enable you to make deploy easily in your network Mulitilink may think of doing a road show in your city or New Delhi if the attendance is good and we can have some nominal contributions from the participants to cover cost of doing it. It’s the software which has full managed Os on Base as well CPE thus give you full control of features sitting at one Central location .
Conclusion
With all the available information, both Mikrotik and Cisco are excellent router software and hardware solutions. If you want to provide services for large networks, or have a high focus on uptime and financial resources, then I would definitely recommend Cisco. However, if you have a small and easy to troubleshoot network. And Also don’t care about uptime, Mikrotik is the router solution for you.