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Cisco ACI vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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

Cisco ACI
Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (1st), Cloud and Data Center Security (4th)
Meraki SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 15.2%, up from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki SD-WAN is 23.9%, down from 24.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
 

Featured Reviews

Raj Metkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides scalability, ease of migration for future DC moves, multi-tenancy and programmability
Cisco's MSO (Multi-Site Orchestrator) or NDO has room for improvement. Cisco monitors ACI through a product called NDI. I find it very frustrating that Cisco has multiple monitoring platforms. It has DNAC for monitoring Cisco NX-OS, campus switches, and any other routers and switches you would have in the environment. That same thing does not work for Cisco ACI monitoring. MEraki cloudbasd platform for Meraki which will get extended to Campus monitoring, to be honest Cisco never got Monitoring 100% right from days of CiscoWorks to Prime to current platforms. To monitor and manage Cisco ACI, you need to have another platform called NDI and Cisco Dashboard Insights. What frustrates me about Cisco is that it never has a central, single pane of glass platform for all its solutions. It has one thing for Cisco ACI and another thing for campus switches. I would really appreciate it if Cisco came up with something centralized to monitor everything. I haven't thought about anything since the Cisco NDO is quite advanced, and you can deploy your cloud networking through it. I don't know how many people use it. I might explore it as my cloud orchestration tool in the future. We do a lot of cloud automation using our scripts like TerraForm, but I would like to see people using NDO more. We could have more case studies on how many people use NDO for their cloud orchestration. That might be a much easier journey for people when they move from an on-premises data center into a cloud and move from one cloud to another cloud. That is where I personally see an orchestrator being effectively used for multiple deployments.
Martyn Walker - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables productivity in terms of users and has ease of management
Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are many features which are useful, like the automatic completion of the VXLAN."
"The most valuable features are the ease of setup for redundancy, as well as centralized control."
"This product improved the way our company functions by enabling us to establish our goal of moving to a zero-trust model. That's how Cisco ACI helps us the most."
"The stability is perfect. We have had no problems with Cisco ACI."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the Call Manager."
"It has saved me a couple of times, as just a backup feature. It can easily do a snapshot before you do any change, and if something goes wrong, you can just rollback."
"It's improved the static configuration of our data center switching environment. But it's added some challenges to our ability to operationalize it and make it easier for people to manage."
"The ability to integrate with other systems is the most valuable feature."
"A lot of our customers really enjoy the Meraki Dashboard."
"The best feature we're using is the packet shaping."
"The dashboard is the solution's most valuable feature."
"Meraki makes you believe that anything is possible."
"I have found the dashboard very useful, you can configure all of your devices at the same time by just changing some menus."
"This product contributed to a huge benefit in our bottom line on operational costs."
"The solution has many features available."
"The solution is very stable."
 

Cons

"Compared to VMware, it needs more virtualization technologies."
"I would really appreciate it if Cisco came up with something centralized to monitor everything."
"We are looking at better synchronization with the cloud and on-premise, bringing in a multi-cloud networking solution."
"It could benefit from an orchestration tool that makes deploying services easier."
"The product needs to be simpler. There is too much complexity in ACI. 80 percent of its features are of no use to us. We could do with a simplified version."
"Our problems with Cisco ACI are mainly related to the contracts and how to manage them easily in the platform. Cisco also needs to improve the log files and the complexity of the graphical interface."
"I would like for them to develop integration with AWS."
"I would like to be able to test the upgrades in a simulation before implementing them in production because not everyone has a lab."
"Meraki SD-WAN could improve by adding wireless access time-scheduled and overall capabilities."
"I'm not too familiar with the Meraki environment, but I suppose more automation is always a good thing."
"Meraki SD-WAN had trouble prioritizing traffic for VoIP calls."
"Perimetral security for new requirements on financial networks and DRP systems, like SAP."
"There are literally things you cannot do at this point in a graphical user interface that can be done from a command line."
"The product could be improved by being made more simple to use. We had some issues integrating our MPLS with Meraki SD-WAN."
"The default classes should be expanded."
"The interface in the VPN management system can be a bit complex for users to understand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be improved. It is expensive, but then again, it is Cisco. The price is worth what you pay for."
"There are no additional costs. We only have to pay for a support contract apart from the license."
"We have saved time on the provisioning and configuration."
"The licensing cost for ACI is expensive - I would rate its price 2.5 out of five."
"The product is not cheap."
"It saves time and resources."
"It's expensive but the product is very good. I have never found another partner like Cisco with a solution like this and with great support."
"Cisco is much more expensive than other vendors, especially when it comes to the licensing."
"I am not aware of the licensing fees."
"Any license you buy until January 2021 gets you an extra year for that purchase."
"The tool offers term licenses. You have the same term licensing model available for all of your equipment, which is good for management."
"If you purchase a Meeraki box, you have to purchase a license, and it's already the basic license, you will have you SD-WAN included."
"The price of this solution is good, it is not expensive."
"The pricing is fair, but if they can make it less it would be even more attractive."
"For a pure SD-WAN solution, the pricing is competitive. However, our clients are on the lower tier in terms of budget, viewing IT more as a necessary expense rather than integral to their business. While Meraki's solution might be pricey for them, there aren't many cheaper, reliable options."
"The price can vary depending on the challenges that you need to address. When you look at the stability and reliability against the price, you absolutely get the value for the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What do you like most about Cisco ACI?
The flexibility of adding new components with minimal impact on existing services running in the data center is a key benefit of this ACI-based solution.
What do you like most about Meraki SD-WAN?
The auto VPN feature is important because it automates many tasks, making things simpler and faster. It helps with setting up devices and changing configurations without manual effort.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki SD-WAN?
The price is a little bit higher than local vendors, for example, Huawei ZTE or H3C. However, some customers require the best quality and performance, thus needing solutions and products from Cisco.
What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?
They have to ask us many questions about configurations. It could be improved with some automation to trigger, for example, telemetry data, so we can determine the state of the deployment as of day...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University
École Jeannine Manuel
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco ACI vs. Meraki SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.