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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Cradlepoint NetCloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reduces WAN expenses, improves efficiency, and enhances reliability, with ROI in three years for most users.
Sentiment score
7.0
Cradlepoint NetCloud improved uptime, reduced costs, enhanced security, and boosted productivity through better remote management and scalability.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN support is highly rated for expertise and responsiveness, despite occasional delays and redirection challenges.
Sentiment score
7.6
Cradlepoint NetCloud support is effective and highly rated, with swift issue resolution despite occasional response delays.
Cisco's ongoing reorganizations have affected the quality of technical support, which varies depending on the engineer handling cases.
I have worked very closely with Cradlepoint for several years and would rate their customer service as being among the best.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is praised for its scalability, suitable for diverse industries and enterprises, despite some technical expansion limits.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cradlepoint NetCloud effectively replaces routers and firewalls, supporting scalable network and security management for large enterprises via the cloud.
Cisco SD-WAN is highly scalable and can be expanded to more than 10,000 sites.
The ease of configuration and features like zero-touch provisioning enhance the scalability of Cisco SD-WAN, especially in disaster recovery situations.
Cradlepoint products support scalability very well in medium to large enterprise environments.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is stable and reliable, but complex setups and new deployments may face minor issues and bugs.
Sentiment score
8.3
Cradlepoint NetCloud is praised for stable performance, robustness in traffic handling, minimal downtime, and seamless, dependable connectivity.
While some software-related issues and bugs were encountered, they did not cause the whole environment to crash.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN needs cost efficiency, better interface, enhanced security, simplified licensing, and improved support and scalability.
Cradlepoint NetCloud needs better usability, SD-WAN enhancements, and affordable options for medium enterprises seeking cloud performance improvements.
Including more features like integrating with Splunk for monitoring vulnerabilities would help eliminate the need for other SOC solutions.
The company realizes that there's a need for affordable connectivity products, especially for lower-end medium enterprises or larger small enterprises.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is costly compared to competitors, with complex licensing but offers comprehensive solutions and performance benefits.
Enterprise users find Cradlepoint NetCloud pricing competitive, considering it a worthwhile investment for its efficiency and functionality.
Its pricing is justifiable due to the comprehensive solution it offers.
It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller businesses when using the Meraki version.
Cradlepoint's pricing is viewed as market competitive, offering good value for the money invested.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers centralized management, security, scalability, cloud integration, and enhances network performance and cost savings.
Cradlepoint NetCloud optimizes wireless WAN with 5G readiness, enhancing VPN, automated failover, and network monitoring for primary connectivity.
Security is standard compliant, eliminating config drift that was prevalent before manual configurations.
Integration with Cisco ISE, Cisco Firewalls, and other Cisco solutions is beneficial.
Cradlepoint supports the option for wireless to be a primary means of connectivity, rather than just a backup.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
2nd
Ranking in WAN Edge
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (5th)
Cradlepoint NetCloud
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
15th
Ranking in WAN Edge
16th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

Igor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables secure and flexible branch connectivity with application-aware routing
The valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include its security policies and zone-based firewall that are applied to every site, as well as application-aware routing. Security is standard compliant, eliminating config drift that was prevalent before manual configurations. Application-aware routing offers flexibility in using different lines for traffic, depending on the policy implemented.
Robert-Gardner - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy to setup solution, but it is missing useful configuration options
I use this solution to manage Cradlepoint wireless routers It lets us know whether it is online or not, and lets us do a speed test to see how quick the speed is. These are valuable features. They should change some of the configuration settings to enable it to act more as an SD-WAN box to view…
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?
When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The pricing for Cisco SD-WAN is rated eight out of ten, with some variability depending on the reseller discounts and the size of the enterprise. It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller bu...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
The main area for improvement in Cisco SD-WAN is the lack of documentation, which often lags behind the software releases. This is especially notable since Cisco acquired the solution and is still ...
What do you like most about Cradlepoint NetCloud?
It is easy to set up and requires a single administrator to maintain it.
What needs improvement with Cradlepoint NetCloud?
They should change some of the configuration settings to enable it to act more as an SD-WAN box to view the traffic and who's connected to it and what they are doing it.
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
City of San Antonio, Statue Cruises, Tour Dubai, St. David's Foundation, JBT, DSC Dredge
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Cradlepoint NetCloud and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.