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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs ExtremeCloud SD-WAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (4th), WAN Edge (2nd)
ExtremeCloud SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
35th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 11.1%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeCloud SD-WAN is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN11.1%
ExtremeCloud SD-WAN0.6%
Other88.3%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Ashwani-Tyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Manager at Orange
Centralized control has simplified cloud access and has improved operational visibility
If they can have better firewall features as their competitors have, such as Fortinet and Versa, that would help to place this solution better so that we can address security related things. If they can have all the IPS, IDS, everything built on all the edge devices, whether physical or virtual, that could be one improvement. Actually, if customers are existing Cisco customers, if Cisco can be more flexible to leverage the existing investment, that could be another important aspect to save on cost and be more competitive from a pricing perspective. Overall, the pricing or the segment that Cisco deals with is a bit premium, which they charge a bit premium against the competition on the licensing, hardware, and services. The implementation is not straightforward. You need a specialized partner or specialized people who can implement this. It can be simplified a bit from that perspective as well. Mostly the way we implement the policies for a big environment requires a lot of things that we need to take care of. If that can somehow be improved, because they have different components, like they have vManage, they have vSmart, and vBond and all these components have to work with a certain flow that they need to follow.
Wael Awni - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Board Member And Network Engineer at NewLogics
A useful and scalable solution for customers with multiple retail offices
Our primary use case for the solution is focused on remote branches. The solution is very useful if customers have multiple retail offices and branches, and it's really good on the scale The solution is very scalable, and the business model is good because it provides a solution as a service. For…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's very good and stable compared to the others."
"The stability is really great; it's definitely reduced downtime, with no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"Having complete visibility into the complete Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN fabric helps not only to troubleshoot but also from a traffic engineering or capacity planning perspective or to ensure that proper uptime is maintained because we can proactively sense the issues in the network."
"I would rate the overall solution as a ten out of ten."
"Overall, I really like the whole technology."
"The integrated threat protection and end-to-end encryption features in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN are good."
"80 percent reduction in WAN costs."
"Configuration interfaces are quite easy and intuitive. Being a part of the Cisco environment, Cisco SD-WAN is quite straightforward."
"The solution is very scalable."
 

Cons

"Some configurations or procedures could be more user-friendly. Adding a bandwidth management feature would make Cisco SD-WAN more scalable and less resource-intensive."
"The installation is not easy. If you have experience and it is not your first time doing the installation, it can be easier."
"We don't have any issues with this solution other than the price."
"Cisco can improve Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN by simplifying licensing and platform integration with other Cisco products such as Catalyst Center or solutions with Meraki. A license needs to be permanent for me. The client feels that it is very expensive."
"The solution is very costly."
"Cisco is more expensive than FortiGate."
"In the next release, Cisco should focus on simplifying the configuration of SD-WAN. SD-WAN has a lot of room to grow."
"The platform needs to be updated to be more stable and simple."
"The solution could be more affordable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of this solution is very expensive."
"Cloud subscription management must be paid for, although this does not incur a perpetual fee."
"Cisco is more expensive than FortiGate."
"The price of Cisco SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive. The cost of the solution is approximately 30 percent higher than competitors."
"The initial cost is quite significant, but the investment is worthwhile."
"It's costly. The cost is high compared to competitors."
"The cost is reasonable. I would rate the price as seven out of ten."
"In the Russian market where we operate, this solution is expensive."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise50
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco offers premium enterprise capabilities, but its pricing, setup cost, and licensing models represent the most significant hurdles for IT organizations. Cisco hardware commands a premium price ...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
I cannot speak to programming-side improvements since that is not my area of expertise. On a base level, improvements could include a better interface, more AI capabilities, better pricing, and bet...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
The primary use case is for network management and routers we have for WAN connectivity.
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Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
Ipanema SD-WAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions. Updated: October 2026.
917,743 professionals have used our research since 2012.