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Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Juniper Session Smart Router comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

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

Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), WAN Edge (5th), ZTNA as a Service (5th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (5th)
Juniper Session Smart Router
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Routers (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 8.0%, up from 7.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper Session Smart Router is 3.3%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Alexander Azikov - PeerSpot reviewer
Provide a seamless experience for end users with internet duplication feature
The setup and onboarding process is very straightforward - I'd rate it a ten out of ten for ease. We use CatoCloud as our cloud provider. They have points of presence, and we connect to the nearest one to our physical location. All the routing, inspection, and logic for what to route, block, or allow happens in the cloud, not on the local device. Our deployment took a couple of weeks because we installed the sites manually. If we had a team to help switch locally, it could have been done in a week. The deployment process is straightforward. We set up all the sites in their cloud system; then, they ship the sockets directly to the location or our main office. We connect the device to the internet, it gets activated, we assign it to a specific site inside the cloud, and it's online and ready to use. It's very easy.
Sascha Bülow - PeerSpot reviewer
Tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, and as a partner, we get good support from them
The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen. Besides that, there are so many things we are discussing with the engineers and the product management of 128T or Juniper. I'm pretty sure that every feature that will come in the next half-year or three-quarters of a year would be influenced directly by us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cato SASE Cloud Platform's self-healing model is the most valuable feature."
"I haven't had any trouble, and practically forget that I'm using it."
"The query and the SD-WAN are useful features of the solution."
"The main features we use are the firewall and secure web gateway."
"It's a pretty straightforward solution."
"The solution is stable."
"The product is efficient and easy to use."
"The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity. There is no complex routing."
"As compared to the other major vendors in the SD-WAN market, such as VeloCloud, Cisco, and others, the tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, which gives plenty of room to discuss with the customer why IPSec from 1998 is a bit outdated."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
 

Cons

"Its functionality is a bit limited in some areas as compared to a Cisco solution. It is not as granular. It doesn't have the manageability, feature set, and capabilities of a larger or an enterprise-level solution. It just needs a more robust feature set and granularity."
"The tool should improve its interface."
"The tool needs to be more granular. Its reports are not very in-depth."
"Modifying or incorporating Cato Network to work with a third-party platform, such as Microsoft, or other Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings would be beneficial. Having more integration partners would help the users implement the solution."
"Cato Networks security could be better."
"They should include a web application firewall feature in the solution."
"The product's technical support could be more responsive."
"They can't do one-to-one NAT (Network Address Translation) in AP (their access point), and that is something that Palo Alto can do."
"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."
"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."
"The pricing is on the higher side, almost an eight out of ten."
"If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."
"The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."
"Cato Networks is an expensive product, but it works out of the box, so that's the usual trade-off, make versus buy. If you decide to buy a product that doesn't require much programming, then you'd want to go for Cato Networks, which will work naturally, and immediately without any complex setup. However, the product is a little bit more expensive than the competitors. On a scale of one to five, I'd rate the pricing for Cato Networks as four."
"The pricing of this solution depends on what you need. It is based on bandwidth."
"I'd rate Cato SASE Cloud Platform's pricing as about five or six out of ten. It's not the cheapest solution, but it is cheaper than Palo Alto and even VeloCloud. We've been working with them for a while and have significant discounts. Our licensing costs vary because we keep adding sites, but it's about 280 per month per site. This includes additional features beyond the base product, starting at around 200."
"The solution's pricing is flexible."
"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."
"We are currently renegotiating the offer for the licenses and the license bundle model. The license for an ISP has to be different from the license for an end customer. This is something we are currently renegotiating with Juniper, but, of course, the pricing for the licensing is always an issue when you want to get more customers."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
30%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cato Networks?
The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity. There is no complex routing.
What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?
We have been using Cato Networks as a solution for firewall and secure web gateway.
What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?
I would definitely recommend Cato Networks to other users. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
What do you like most about Juniper Session Smart Router?
The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router is not significantly cheaper than, for example, Cisco.
What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance. Sometimes, there are glitches, especially with MTU issues that affect application communication, although this seems t...
 

Also Known As

Cato Networks
128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
Revation Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Juniper Session Smart Router and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
830,824 professionals have used our research since 2012.