Data center networking for small business buyers
Asked as “data center switching platform”, and as “data center network fabric”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 45 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each. Added to the November 2026 Edition.
Standing · first-choice share
22%
Contested · Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric 9%
22Arista Networks09Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric09HPE Aruba CX Series60others
22% of first choices, contested.
Since October 2026↗new leaderNew leader since October 2026: Arista Networks (22%) replaces Cisco Catalyst (11% then, 4% now), 18 points clear, past the 11-point floor.Arista Networks leads at 22%, replacing Cisco Catalyst, which led at 11% and stands at 4% now: 18 points clear, past the floor.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small business
Arista Networks22%Contested↗new leaderNew leader since October 2026: Arista Networks (22%) replaces Cisco Catalyst (11% then, 4% now), 18 points clear, past the 11-point floor.This pageMid-marketArista Networks42%Clear leader▲+15Since October 2026: 27% → 42%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Standing →EnterpriseArista Networks52%Clear leader▲+18Since October 2026: 34% → 52%, +18 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Standing →
Arista Networks22%Contested↗new leaderNew leader since October 2026: Arista Networks (22%) replaces Cisco Catalyst (11% then, 4% now), 18 points clear, past the 11-point floor.This pageMid-marketArista Networks42%Clear leader▲+15Since October 2026: 27% → 42%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Standing →EnterpriseArista Networks52%Clear leader▲+18Since October 2026: 34% → 52%, +18 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Standing →The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince October 2026
01Arista Networks22%17%41accepted challenger▲+11Since October 2026: 11% → 22%, +11 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.11% → 22%
Arista Networks22%17%41accepted challenger▲+11Since October 2026: 11% → 22%, +11 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.11% → 22%02
MikroTik CRS Series9%17%23accepted challenger▲+4Since October 2026: 5% → 9%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.5% → 9%
MikroTik CRS Series9%17%23accepted challenger▲+4Since October 2026: 5% → 9%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.5% → 9%03Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platform4%25%12criticized challenger▲+2Since October 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 4%
04
Cisco Nexus4%53%47criticized challenger▼−3Since October 2026: 7% → 4%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.7% → 4%
Cisco Nexus4%53%47criticized challenger▼−3Since October 2026: 7% → 4%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.7% → 4%05
Dell PowerSwitch2%0%15accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%
Dell PowerSwitch2%0%15accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%06
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect2%0%11accepted challenger▲+2Since October 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 2%
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect2%0%11accepted challenger▲+2Since October 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 2%Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11
Cisco ACI0%89%18criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Cisco ACI0%89%18criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%10
VMware NSX0%78%18criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
VMware NSX0%78%18criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%09
Cisco Meraki0%45%22criticized challenger▼−5Since October 2026: 5% → 0%, −5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.5% → 0%
Cisco Meraki0%45%22criticized challenger▼−5Since October 2026: 5% → 0%, −5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.5% → 0%08
Juniper Networks0%41%17criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Juniper Networks0%41%17criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%07Aruba Instant On0%9%11accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. Both editions asked the same fourteen models. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to headHead-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.
All six head-to-head pages: the top four products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
0102U03
040506A07
08091011Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Arista Networks22%
Arista Networks22%02MikroTik CRS Series9%
MikroTik CRS Series9%03Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platform4%
04Cisco Nexus4%
Cisco Nexus4%05Dell PowerSwitch2%
Dell PowerSwitch2%06HPE Aruba EdgeConnect2%
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect2%07Aruba Instant On0%
08Juniper Networks0%
Juniper Networks0%09Cisco Meraki0%
Cisco Meraki0%10VMware NSX0%
VMware NSX0%11Cisco ACI0%
Cisco ACI0%What they warned about
Two of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.20, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX, MiniMax M2.5, GPT-6 Luna and Muse Glimmer 30B changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Cisco Nexus53%
25 of 47 labels negative · 14 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“Avoid Cisco, they don't give a shit about you if you are a small company and ther Support is terrible these days.” Muse Glimmer 30B, budget prompt
Cisco ACI89%
16 of 18 labels negative · 12 of 14 models · 8 hard negative
“avoid or approach with caution the following data center networking platforms: ... Cisco ACI ... overly complex, with a steep learning curve” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
VMware NSX78%
14 of 18 labels negative · 10 of 14 models · 7 hard negative
“complex architecture, difficult configuration, and prohibitive cost make it unsuitable for smaller businesses” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Arista Networks17%
7 of 41 labels negative · 7 of 14 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid: High-end like full Arista (7050 series is excellent but not budget-oriented)” Grok 4.20, budget prompt
What they cite
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted.
Sites the answers cite
68 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 792 links across 209 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 69 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.
vendor site · Cisco36 answers · 64 citations · 11 models
publisher (Gane)35 answers · 40 citations · 9 models
28 answers · 52 citations · 9 models
23 answers · 40 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Juniper18 answers · 23 citations · 11 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 10 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 7 models
vendor site · G213 answers · 25 citations · 8 models
vendor site · HPE13 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
13 answers · 14 citations · 6 models
12 answers · 12 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Guideflow11 answers · 11 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
35 answers · 9 models
17 answers · 7 models
16 answers · 9 models
13 answers · 9 models
12 answers · 8 models
11 answers · 8 models
11 answers · 7 models
9 answers · 7 models
9 answers · 6 models
8 answers · 8 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best data center switching platform”, “data center networking platforms”, “data center switching platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arista EOS arista.com Arista Networks 22%, Arista EOS 2% | 24% | 114 | 33,100 | 278 | 46,898 | 3 | ||
| MikroTik CRS mikrotik.com MikroTik CRS Series 9%, MikroTik CRS 2%, MikroTik CRS328-24P-4S+RM 2% | 13% | 22 | 10 | 0 | 41,064 | |||
| Cisco parent site Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric 9%, Cisco Nexus 4% | 13% | 123 | 165,000 | 48,352 | ||||
| HPE parent site HPE Aruba CX Series 9%, HPE SimpliVity 2% | 11% | 27 | 27,100 | 5,522 | ||||
| Cisco Catalyst cisco.com Cisco Catalyst 4%, Cisco HyperFlex 2% | 7% | 12 | 5,114,808 | $683 | 91 | 2 | ||
| Ubiquiti ubiquiti.com Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platform 4% | 4% | 11 | 15,584 company | |||||
| Dell PowerSwitch dell.com | 2% | 38 | 140 | 11 | 13,697,880 | $10,867 | 63 | 6 |
| HPE arubanetworks.com HPE Aruba EdgeConnect 2% | 2% | 95 | 27,100 | 5,522 | 2,865 | |||
| Flexential FlexAnywhere | 2% | |||||||
| Arista Networks Platform | 2% |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 23 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (cisco.com, hpe.com, networkdevicesinc.com, reddit.com). The first result for “best data center switching platform” is gartner.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best data center switching platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which data center network fabric would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top data center networking platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best data center switching platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a data center switching platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which data center networking platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceFlexential FlexAnywhereChangedManageEngine OpManagerTP-Link TL-SG3428no first choiceagainst: Arista Networks, Cisco ACI, Cisco Nexus, Dell's enterprise networking services, Extreme Networks, HPE Aruba CX Series, Juniper Apstra, NVIDIA's Cumulus Networks, VMware NSX
Two alternatives
Cisco Nexus, Extreme NetworksFour alternatives
Arista Networks, Arrcus Hybrid Cloud, H3C, Project CalicoThree alternatives
Fortinet FortiSwitch 124F, TP-Link TL-SG1024, TP-Link TL-SG108EGPT-5.4 miniCisco Nexusno first choiceChangedCisco Nexusagainst: Dell SmartFabric / PowerSwitch, HPE Aruba CXHPE Aruba Networking CX 8360 or CX 6000/6200-class switchingagainst: Arista Networks, Cisco Nexus, Juniper QFXno first choiceagainst: Cisco Nexus-style, Juniper EVPN/VXLAN-heavy
Three alternatives
Arista Networks, Dell data-center switches, HPE Aruba CXTwo alternatives
Arista EOS + CloudVision, Juniper ApstraGemini 3.5 FlashArista Networksagainst: Cisco ACIArista Networks, HPE Aruba EdgeConnectChangedagainst: Cisco ACIHPE Aruba EdgeConnectFS.com N-Seriesagainst: MikroTik CRS SeriesArista EOSagainst: ACI, Apstra, Cisco NX‑OSagainst: Arista EOS, Aviz Networks, Catalyst, Cisco ACI, Cisco NX‑OS, Cisco Nexus, DENT, Dell Enterprise SONiC, HPE Aruba CX 10000 Series with Pensando DPU, Juniper Apstra, Juniper EX9200, Vanilla SONiC
Four alternatives
Cisco Nexus, Dell PowerSwitch, HPE, HPE Aruba EdgeConnectFour alternatives
Aruba Instant On, Cisco Meraki, Dell PowerSwitch, NutanixSix alternatives
Arista Networks, Cisco Nexus, Juniper Networks, Nutanix Flow, Proxmox SDN, VMware NSXTwo alternatives
Arista 7050SX / 7050X2 Series, Dell PowerSwitchThree alternatives
Dell SmartFabric, FS.com, MikroTik CRS SeriesPerplexity SonarArista Networksagainst: Aruba Instant On, Cisco Meraki, Nokia Data Center FabricCisco Nexus HyperfabricChangedArista CloudVisionagainst: Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus Dashboard, NVIDIA Spectrum-X, VMware NSXUbiquiti UniFi Switching Platformagainst: Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexusno first choiceagainst: Arista CloudVision, Cisco ACI, Cisco DCNM, Nokia Nuage, Riverbed SteelConnect CX, VMware NSX
Two alternatives
Cisco Nexus HyperFlex/Fabric options, MikroTik CRSTwo alternatives
Extreme Networks IP Fabric, HPE Juniper Networking ApstraTwo alternatives
Dell SmartFabric/SONiC, HPE Juniper ApstraTwo alternatives
Arista Networks, TP-Link OmadaGrok 4.20Arista Networksagainst: Cisco Nexus, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching PlatformCisco Nexus Hyperfabric, Juniper Collapsed Data Center Fabric with ApstraChangedagainst: Full Cisco ACIExtreme Networks, ManageEngine OpManageragainst: VMware NSXMikroTik CRS Seriesagainst: Arista Networks, Cisco Nexus, Juniper Networksno first choiceagainst: Cisco ACI, Juniper Apstra, MikroTik CRS Series, NSXagainst: Cisco ACI, Cisco Nexus, Juniper Networks, VMware NSX
One alternative
HPE Aruba Instant On or CX SeriesTwo alternatives
Arista Networks, Extreme NetworksTwo alternatives
Arista Networks, Cisco Data Center NetworkingThree alternatives
Aruba (HPE) Entry-Level Switches, Extreme Networks, Ubiquiti UniFi or EdgeSwitch SeriesNine alternatives
Arista Networks, Cisco Meraki, Cumulus, Dell PowerSwitch, Extreme, HPE, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, TP-Link Omada, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching PlatformMistral SmallArista Networks Platform, Cisco Nexusno first choiceChangedArista Networksagainst: Cisco NexusCisco Catalystno first choiceagainst: Juniper Networks, MikroTik CRS Series, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platformagainst: Cisco ACI, Cisco Meraki, Juniper Networks, VMware NSX
Two alternatives
Flexential FlexAnywhere, Juniper QFX SeriesThree alternatives
Aruba Instant On, Flexential FlexAnywhere, MikroTik CRS SeriesTwo alternatives
Arista 7050 Series, White Box Switches with SONiCDeepSeek V4 FlashHPE Aruba CX Seriesagainst: Arista 7050 Series, Cisco NexusCisco Nexus HyperfabricChangedMikroTik CRS SeriesMikroTik CRS Seriesagainst: Fortinet FortiSwitchno first choiceagainst: Cisco Nexus, Juniper Networks, NVIDIA Spectrum-Xagainst: Arista Networks, Cisco ACI, Juniper Apstra, Juniper Contrail Networking, VMware NSX
Two alternatives
FS.com Data Center Switches, MikroTik CRS SeriesTwo alternatives
Arista Networks, Cisco NexusFour alternatives
Arista Networks, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, ManageEngine OpManagerThree alternatives
Arista 7050 Series, Asterfusion, EdgecoreTwo alternatives
Arista Networks, HPE Aruba CX SeriesLlama 4 Maverickno first choiceno first choiceHeldno first choiceagainst: Cisco ACI, VMware NSXMikroTik CRS520-4XS-16XQ-RMno first choiceagainst: Arista Networks, Cisco ACI, Cisco Nexus, Juniper Contrail Networking, VMware NSX
Two alternatives
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Ruckus ICX switchingQwen 3.7 FlashArista Networksagainst: Cisco Nexus, Juniper EX2300Arista NetworksHeldagainst: Cisco Nexus, NetgearCumulus LinuxMikroTik CRS Series, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platformagainst: Arista Networks, Cisco Nexus, HPEHPE Aruba CX Seriesagainst: Mellanox, NVIDIA Spectrum-Xagainst: Cisco Catalyst 2960s, Cisco Catalyst 9000 DNA, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, Extreme VSP, HP ProCurve, Huawei Data Center Networking, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platform
Five alternatives
Cisco Catalyst, Cisco Meraki, Dell Enterprise Networking, HPE Aruba CX, NVIDIA Spectrum-XThree alternatives
Cumulus Linux, Juniper Networks, SONiCThree alternatives
Arista EOS, SONiC, VMware NSXTwo alternatives
Cumulus Linux, Ubuntu ONTwo alternatives
Cisco Nexus, Dell PowerSwitchKimi K2HPE Aruba CX Seriesagainst: Arista 7050X/720XP, Cisco Nexus, Juniper QFX, White-box/SONiCArista NetworksChangedArista NetworksArista Networksagainst: Cisco Nexusno first choiceagainst: Apstra Data Center Director, Cisco ACI, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, Juniper Contrail, VMware NSX
One alternative
Cisco CatalystOne alternative
Cisco NexusTwo alternatives
Cisco Nexus, Juniper NetworksThree alternatives
Edgecore, MikroTik CRS Series, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching PlatformGLM 4.7 FlashXCisco CatalystDell PowerSwitchChangedArista Networks, Cisco Nexusagainst: MikroTik CRS SeriesMikroTik CRS328-24P-4S+RMno first choiceagainst: Cisco ACI, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, VMware NSX
Two alternatives
HPE Aruba CX 9300 Series, Ubiquiti Enterprise SwitchesTwo alternatives
Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric, Extreme Networks IP FabricFour alternatives
Dell PowerEdge Networking, HPE Aruba CX, Juniper QFX, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching PlatformTwo alternatives
Refurbished Cisco Nexus 3100, Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch ES-16-XGMiniMax M2.5Arista NetworksCisco HyperFlex, HPE SimpliVityChangedArista NetworksUbiquiti Networksagainst: Cisco Nexus, Juniper Networksno first choiceagainst: Cisco ACI, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, VMware NSX
Four alternatives
Cisco Nexus, Edge-core Networks, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Juniper NetworksTwo alternatives
Arista Networks, NETGEAR InsightFour alternatives
Cisco Nexus, HPE Aruba Instant On, Juniper Networks, MikroTik CRS SeriesTwo alternatives
Netgear ProSAFE, TP-LinkGPT-6 LunaHPE Aruba CX Seriesagainst: Cisco NexusFortiSwitchChangedArista EOS + CloudVisionagainst: SONiCCRS326-24S+2Q+RM, MikroTik CRSno first choiceagainst: Cisco ACI, Nexus
Three alternatives
CX 8100, CX 8325, QFX5120-48YOne alternative
Cisco Nexus HyperfabricThree alternatives
Cisco NX‑OS, Juniper Apstra, NVIDIA Cumulus LinuxOne alternative
CRS518-16XS-2XQ-RMMuse Glimmer 30BArista Networksagainst: Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, VMware NSXCisco Nexus HyperfabricChangedArista EOSMikroTik CRS Seriesagainst: Cisco Nexusno first choiceagainst: Arista EOS, Arista Networks, Cisco ACI, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Nexus, e.g. Nexus 9000 Series, Juniper Networks, VMware NSX
Six alternatives
HPE, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, HPE Networking Comware Switch Series 5720, MikroTik CRS Series, Ubiquiti USW-ENTERPRISEXG-24, Ubiquiti USW-PRO-AGGREGATIONOne alternative
Arista NetworksSix alternatives
Apstra, Cumulus Linux, Flexential FlexAnywhere, Junos on QFX, SONiC, vSTREAMSix alternatives
Arista Networks, Aruba CX 6200 Series, Aruba Instant On, HPE, TP-Link Omada, Ubiquiti UniFi Switching PlatformBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 16:54 | no | 0 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 15:13 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 13:28 | no | 0 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 10:36 | yes | 10 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 19:13 | yes | 9 | 12 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 09:40 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 19:21 | yes | 24 | 36 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 12:01 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 18:53 | no | 0 | 33 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 15:51 | yes | 10 | 53 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 10:42 | yes | 24 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 19:16 | yes | 5 | 55 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 19:32 | yes | 3 | 15 s |
| Direct recommendation | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 14:48 | yes | 18 | 39 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 18:13 | yes | 19 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 13:08 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 10:48 | no | 0 | 17 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 14:05 | yes | 10 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 18:48 | yes | 5 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 10:50 | no | 0 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 13:53 | yes | 20 | 26 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 16:48 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 11:53 | no | 0 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 14:50 | yes | 10 | 51 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 09:37 | yes | 25 | 28 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 13:35 | yes | 10 | 44 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 19:16 | yes | 2 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 11:45 | yes | 13 | 20 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 12:43 | yes | 10 | 8 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 12:33 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 12:29 | no | 0 | 21 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 15:55 | yes | 10 | 5 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 19:03 | yes | 9 | 15 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 10:38 | yes | 5 | 6 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 11:18 | yes | 24 | 34 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 09:07 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 09:06 | no | 0 | 38 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 12:22 | yes | 15 | 45 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 15:50 | yes | 20 | 67 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 17:53 | yes | 12 | 50 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 11:44 | yes | 6 | 13 s |
| Comparative | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 16:11 | yes | 15 | 37 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 15:06 | yes | 15 | 8 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 18:53 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 13:53 | yes | 9 | 28 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 09:59 | yes | 10 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 15:36 | yes | 5 | 11 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 08:38 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 12:21 | yes | 23 | 36 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 16:16 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 18:14 | no | 0 | 32 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 11:27 | yes | 25 | 46 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 13:19 | yes | 24 | 205 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 17:39 | yes | 5 | 35 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 09:46 | yes | 2 | 11 s |
| Budget constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 19:39 | yes | 23 | 41 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 12:12 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 12:15 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 18:01 | no | 0 | 21 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 11:20 | yes | 10 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 18:32 | yes | 5 | 13 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 08:53 | no | 0 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 12:23 | yes | 24 | 42 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 18:29 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 14:37 | yes | 5 | 34 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 14:53 | yes | 19 | 25 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 10:21 | yes | 15 | 43 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 16:15 | yes | 5 | 30 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 16:42 | yes | 3 | 20 s |
| Scale constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 11:36 | yes | 13 | 23 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 18:45 | yes | 18 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 09:05 | yes | 5 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 18:08 | no | 0 | 18 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 16:19 | yes | 10 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 19:40 | yes | 19 | 11 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 17:58 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 13:02 | yes | 24 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 18:23 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 12:38 | no | 0 | 39 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 11:58 | yes | 17 | 56 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 17:22 | yes | 14 | 27 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 17:35 | yes | 24 | 61 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 12:00 | yes | 2 | 18 s |
| Negative framing | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 15:55 | yes | 12 | 25 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
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Category-scoped readings
Arista read as Arista Networks
Cisco read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco (Nexus 9000) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco (Nexus 9300-FX3 Series) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco (Nexus Dashboard / Cisco Meraki for Server Rooms) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco (Nexus) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco (Nexus/DNA) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco (entry-level Catalyst) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series read as Cisco Catalyst
Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series read as Cisco Catalyst
Cisco Catalyst Series read as Cisco Catalyst
Cisco Meraki MS Series read as Cisco Meraki
Cisco Nexus 9000 read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco Nexus 9300 Series (Traditional NX-OS mode) read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco Nexus Series read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco Nexus Switches read as Cisco Nexus
Cisco Systems read as Cisco Nexus
Dell read as Dell PowerSwitch
Dell (PowerSwitch) read as Dell PowerSwitch
Dell Networking read as Dell PowerSwitch
Dell PowerSwitch S-Series (e.g., S4112F-ON or S4148F-ON) read as Dell PowerSwitch
Dell PowerSwitch Series read as Dell PowerSwitch
Dell Technologies read as Dell PowerSwitch
HPE Aruba read as HPE Aruba CX Series
HPE Aruba (AOS-CX) read as HPE Aruba CX Series
HPE Aruba (CX series) read as HPE Aruba CX Series
HPE Aruba Networking CX read as HPE Aruba CX Series
HPE/Aruba read as HPE Aruba CX Series
Huawei read as Huawei Data Center Networking
Juniper read as Juniper Networks
Juniper (Ex4300 series) read as Juniper Networks
Juniper (Junos + Apstra) read as Juniper Networks
MikroTik read as MikroTik CRS Series
MikroTik (ROS) read as MikroTik CRS Series
NVIDIA read as NVIDIA Spectrum-X
NVIDIA (Cumulus Linux) read as NVIDIA Spectrum-X
NVIDIA (Spectrum-X) read as NVIDIA Spectrum-X
Nokia read as Nokia Data Center Fabric
Nokia SR Linux/Data Center Fabric read as Nokia Data Center Fabric
Ubiquiti read as Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platform
Ubiquiti UniFi read as Ubiquiti UniFi Switching Platform
Unresolved, counted raw
Arista 7050SX / 7050X2 Series
Arista 7050X/720XP
Arista Networks Platform
Arrcus Hybrid Cloud
Aruba (HPE) Entry-Level Switches
Aruba 2930F
Aruba CX 6200 Series
Aruba CX Series with Central
CRS326-24S+2Q+RM
CRS518-16XS-2XQ-RM
CX 8100
CX 8325
Cisco Catalyst 2960s
Cisco Catalyst 9000 DNA
Cisco DCNM
Cisco Data Center Networking (Nexus + ACI or DNAC for SMBs)
Cisco HyperFlex
Cisco IOS XE
Cisco Nexus HyperFlex/Fabric options
Cisco Nexus, e.g. Nexus 9000 Series
Cisco Nexus-style
Cisco Small Business series
DENT
Dell Enterprise Networking (N-Series/Z-Series)
Dell PowerEdge Networking (PowerSwitch)
Dell S3048
Dell SmartFabric
Dell SmartFabric / PowerSwitch
Dell SmartFabric/SONiC
Dell data-center switches
Dell's enterprise networking services
Edge-core Networks
Edgecore Open Fabric
Extreme Fabric Connect
Extreme VSP
ExtremeCloud Orchestrator
FS.com Data Center Switches
FS.com N-Series (e.g., N5860 or N8560 Series)
FortiSwitch
Fortinet FortiSwitch 124F
Full Cisco ACI
HPE Aruba CX 10000 Series with Pensando DPU
HPE Aruba CX 9300 Series
HPE Aruba Instant On
HPE Aruba Instant On or CX Series
HPE Aruba Networking CX 8360 or CX 6000/6200-class switching
HPE Networking
Hedgehog
IOS XR
Juniper Collapsed Data Center Fabric with Apstra
Juniper EVPN/VXLAN-heavy
Juniper EX/QFX series
Juniper EX2300
Juniper EX9200
Junos on QFX
MikroTik CRS328-24P-4S+RM
MikroTik CRS520-4XS-16XQ-RM
NVIDIA's Cumulus Networks
NetCyntra
Netgear ProSAFE
Nimble dHCI
Nokia Nuage
Nokia SR OS
ONOS
PacketFabric
Proxmox SDN
QFX5120-48Y
Quanta
Refurbished Cisco Nexus 3100
Ruckus ICX switching
TP-Link TL-SG1024
TP-Link TL-SG108E
TP-Link TL-SG3428
Traditional Cisco Catalyst/Meraki
UCS SE
Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch ES-16-XG
Ubiquiti Enterprise Switches
Ubiquiti Networks (UniFi)
Ubiquiti USW-ENTERPRISEXG-24
Ubiquiti USW-PRO-AGGREGATION
Ubiquiti UniFi or EdgeSwitch Series
Ubuntu ON (SONiC)
Vanilla SONiC
White Box Switches with SONiC
White-box/SONiC
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.