# Cisco ACI alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 246 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where Cisco ACI holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/cisco-aci/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Arista Networks: 42
- Cisco Nexus: 10
- Cisco: 9
- Arista EOS: 6
- Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric: 6
- Juniper Networks: 6

## Data center networking

**Small business**: 84 of 84 answers did not name Cisco ACI (Cisco ACI is #9 of 9 at 0%).

- Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric: first choice in 6 of those 84
- Arista Networks: first choice in 5 of those 84
- Cisco Meraki: first choice in 3 of those 84
- Ubiquiti UniFi: first choice in 3 of those 84
- Arista CloudVision: first choice in 2 of those 84
- Aruba Instant On: first choice in 2 of those 84
- Cisco Nexus: first choice in 2 of those 84
- MikroTik CRS Series: first choice in 2 of those 84

**Mid-market**: 83 of 84 answers did not name Cisco ACI (Cisco ACI is #7 of 7 at 0%).

- Arista Networks: first choice in 19 of those 83
- Cisco: first choice in 5 of those 83
- Arista EOS: first choice in 3 of those 83
- HPE Aruba Networking CX Series: first choice in 3 of those 83
- Juniper Apstra: first choice in 3 of those 83
- Arista Converged Cloud Fabric: first choice in 2 of those 83
- Cisco Nexus: first choice in 2 of those 83
- Cumulus Linux: first choice in 2 of those 83

**Enterprise**: 79 of 84 answers did not name Cisco ACI (Cisco ACI is #6 of 7 at 2%).

- Arista Networks: first choice in 18 of those 79
- Cisco Nexus: first choice in 6 of those 79
- Juniper Networks: first choice in 6 of those 79
- Cisco: first choice in 4 of those 79
- Arista EOS: first choice in 3 of those 79
- Arista EOS with CloudVision: first choice in 1 of those 79
- Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure) with Nexus Dashboard/Catalyst Center: first choice in 1 of those 79
- Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure: first choice in 1 of those 79

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.