Which Cisco Meraki Switch Should I Buy?

Cisco Meraki’s switch portfolio has recently evolved. Alongside the familiar MS series, there’s now a powerful new wave of cloud-managed Catalyst switches — offering greater flexibility, higher performance, and deeper integration into enterprise networks.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the six key Meraki switch models you should be considering right now:

• MS130
  

• MS150
  

• Catalyst 9300L-M
  

• Catalyst 9300-M
  

• Catalyst 9300X-M
  

• MS450
  

We’ll explain what each one is for, who it’s ideal for, and how to choose between them.

⚙️ The Current Meraki Switch Lineup (2025)

🔍 Understanding the Model Families

🧩 MS130 - Simple, Cost-Effective Access

• Fixed 1G or 2.5G ports
  

• Up to 740W PoE on P models
  

• Silent or near-silent fanless design
  

• Non-stackable
  

Best for:

Retail, branch offices, or deployments where cost and simplicity matter most. MS130 is the new baseline for Meraki-managed access.

🏢 MS150 - Enterprise-Ready Access with Uplinks

• Higher performance than MS130
  

• Up to 10G SFP+ uplinks
  

• Supports physical stacking
  

• Optional full PoE across all ports
  

Best for:

Larger office floors, Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 rollouts, or anywhere you need high-capacity access switching with uplink options.

🚀 Catalyst 9300L-M Cloud-Managed Access with Cisco DNA Hardware

• Cisco’s C9300L hardware, Meraki-managed
  

• Layer 3 switching with static/dynamic routing
  

• StackPower and StackWise supported
  

• 1G and 10G uplinks
  

Best for:

Enterprise sites that want high-availability access switching, with Cisco’s Catalyst hardware reliability and Meraki cloud simplicity.

🧠 Catalyst 9300-M - Fully Modular, Flexible Uplinks

• Same architecture as the standard Catalyst 9300
  

• Modular uplinks (1G/10G/25G)
  

• StackWise and StackPower supported
  

• MACsec, advanced routing, and segmentation
  

Best for:

Larger organisations or government/regulated sectors needing advanced routing, security, and flexibility in uplinks.

⚡ Catalyst 9300X-M - 25G/100G Aggregation or High-Density Access

• Meraki-managed version of the C9300X
  

• Supports multigigabit (up to 100G)
  

• Ideal for aggregation, uplink-heavy scenarios
  

• Cloud-first performance
  

Best for:

High-density environments like healthcare, education, or smart buildings. Also great for aggregation layers under MS450 or Catalyst cores.

🧱 MS450 - The Meraki Core Switch

• 100G fiber aggregation/core switch
  

• 12 × 100G QSFP28 ports
  

• Designed for spine-leaf and large-scale campus
  

• Meraki-managed only
  

Best for:

Enterprise or campus environments with 10G/25G/40G access layers. Use as the aggregation layer to scale across sites and buildings.

✅ Which One Should You Choose?

💡 Final Thoughts

Cisco Meraki’s new switch lineup combines familiar simplicity with serious enterprise muscle. Whether you’re outfitting a new site, scaling a campus, or refreshing your network backbone — there’s a Meraki-managed switch that fits.

The key is to match your performance, management, and stacking needs to the right platform:

• Go MS130/MS150 for clean, simple access
  

• Choose C9300L-M / C9300-M for enterprise L3 with Meraki simplicity
  

• Use C9300X-M or MS450 for serious uplinks and backbone performance
  

📦 Need help choosing?

Speak to The Networking Nerds and we’ll help you design the right switch setup for your network.