Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

The compared Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Meraki SD-WAN solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is ranked #6 in NMA , with an average rating of 8.1. Meraki SD-WAN is ranked #1 in SDN , with an average rating of 8.8, and holds a 23.9% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Meraki SD-WAN users who would recommend it.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Read 92 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reviews

129 Views
67 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Meraki SD-WAN

Read 77 Meraki SD-WAN reviews

1,592 Views
1,029 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Meraki SD-WAN

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Meraki SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Network Management Applications

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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

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)

Meraki SD-WAN

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)

Featured Reviews

Igor Van Den Ouden

Engineer at Routz

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.

Read full review

Martyn Walker

Business development manager at Virgin Media

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution sufficiently provides ISPs."

"Troubleshooting is swift, allowing for fast turnaround times whenever we encounter an issue."

"One of the most valuable features is that they have multiple SD-WAN options: you have Meraki for simple management solutions, you have Viptela, and you have the option of having any type of WAN interfaces. Presently, you can also have a single combined solution for both WAN as well as for voice, so you can have a voice bundle as well. These are major unique points of this solution."

"The solution's application control and application traffic steering tool are its most valuable aspects in terms of how we utilize the product."

"The solution is great at aggregating the traffic and then sending it in one direction."

"The most valuable features in Cisco SD-WAN are the QoS, AI, and simple interface for users to access."

"The best feature of this technology that is available to us is the ability to do better load-balancing."

"The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include the DIA and its integration with Cisco Umbrella for DNS security."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pros

"The solution's technical support is good."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of setting up Meraki SD-WAN."

"Meraki SD-WAN is user friendly."

"The advantage you have with Cisco Meraki is that they take a lot of that complexity out of the backend."

"The solution is a whole vertical solution, so it doesn't need any other components in order to provide basic features."

"I'm not directly involved in SD-WAN monitoring and maintenance, but based on what I've heard from our infrastructure team, it's working well."

"Meraki SD-WAN is a scalable solution because changes are being made to the solution, enabling it to work in different environments."

"It is secure, and some features, like work device management, are very useful."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

"All of the configurations are based on templates, and we need to spend a lot of time doing the templates. It's good because that means that all of the configurations will be equal in the network. However, we need to spend a lot of time implementing the templates and doing the customizations."

"It would be better if it provided more visibility. At present, we can't troubleshoot in real time."

"It is the best solution that I ever had, but there might be something better than this in the future."

"We recently found some bugs."

"The initial setup is complex and can be improved."

"The solution could have a better web interface to simplify changing configurations."

"The inexpensive Viptela hardware may be replaced with overpriced Cisco routers. This would be a tragic mistake for Cisco as the lightweight commodity platform built by Viptela is the reason to own this solution."

"It is expensive."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN cons

"Meraki is more or less intelligent load balancing, although a lot of features are missing that our SD-WAN solutions will have."

"With Meraki, it's more of a basic connectivity. It doesn't have all the feature sets that a Cisco SD-WAN solution has. It's limited."

"There should be a few more options for security parameters. It is currently not very customizable. It should be a little bit more customizable."

"The solution could be improved if it added more features, especially monitoring and reporting features."

"Perimetral security for new requirements on financial networks and DRP systems, like SAP."

"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."

"There is a point in a very large organization where you hit the VPN limit, or tunnel limit."

"The area I think this solution should improve is the pricing."

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In the Russian market where we operate, this solution is expensive."

"The pricing of this solution is very expensive."

"When purchasing, there are so many features available that it's quite confusing deciding which to choose. And some of the devices force you to buy licenses you don't want."

"The cost is reasonable. I would rate the price as seven out of ten."

"The pricing is fair, and it's on par with the market vendors. But based on the competition, Cisco could work on the pricing, go deep on discounts and provide more commercially viable solutions to customers."

"Cisco's pricing is not entirely satisfactory when you compare the SD-WAN solutions in Asian markets — like the South Asian market in Sri Lanka — because there are several competing brands including Fortinet and Citrix, who provide much the same product for a generally lower price. And when it comes to firewall vendors like Palo Alto and SonicWall, they're also selling here. It's the same with VMware, too; they have much the same features."

"The product's license is expensive."

"There is no license required for this solution."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

"Regarding pricing, Meraki SD-WAN is quite competitive, especially compared to solutions like Fortinet. However, it's essential to consider that Meraki requires cloud orchestration, which adds to the overall cost. Overall, it's one of the most competitive solutions from Cisco for SD-WAN."

"The licensing model is a fair one, although having the hardware means nothing without the license. You need to continue to pay licensing fees."

"There are no licensing costs for the product subscription."

"Our clients pay Meraki an annual licensing fee and the pricing is not too bad when compared to other products in the Cisco portfolio."

"The pricing is reasonable and we can choose the software or the feature."

"One of the most valuable aspects of Meraki SD-WAN is the price. It is highly cost-effective."

"The licenses cost a fortune."

"The product's price falls under the mid-range category, especially if we consider the new licensing model. The tool is not cheap anymore."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

45%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 15% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 10% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Competitors

Omada Cloud SDN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 20% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 16% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 14% of the time

Cradlepoint NetCloud vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Meraki SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

March 2025

Download Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

March 2025

Download Meraki SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN

No data available

Overview

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN serves to connect remote offices, reduce MPLS costs, and facilitate cloud and internet access while providing secure connectivity and centralized management for hybrid networks.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is leveraged for secure connectivity, load balancing, VPN, centralized network management, and migrating from traditional networks to SD-WAN. It supports hybrid networks, enabling centralized management across branches and data centers, improving security, and optimizing bandwidth usage. Industries such as banking and retail benefit from its capabilities for secure and efficient network management.

What are the main features of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN?

Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations and administration.
Application-Level Routing: Enhances performance for critical applications.
Segmentation: Provides robust network segmentation for security.
Policy Configuration: Customizable policies for traffic management.
Real-Time Traffic Visibility: Enables monitoring for better insights.
Load Balancing: Distributes network traffic efficiently.
Hybrid Cloud Connectivity: Seamless integration with cloud services.
Deep Packet Inspection: Detailed traffic analysis for security.
High Security: Offers strong security protocols to protect the network.
Ease of Deployment: Features like zero-touch provisioning simplify setup.

What benefits should be considered in reviews?

Cost Savings: Reduces operational expenses through efficient network management.
Reliability: Proven performance and uptime for critical operations.
Scalability: Grows with the organization's needs.
Integrated Health Monitoring: Proactively identifies and resolves issues.
Industry Trust: Cisco's reputation for quality and support.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's implementation in banking enhances secure transaction communication between branches and data centers. Retailers utilize it to ensure steady connectivity for point-of-sale systems and inventory management. Organizations benefit from centralized management, making it easier to handle networks across multiple locations.

Cisco

Software-defined WAN is a new approach to network connectivity that lowers operational costs and improves resource usage for multi-site deployments, allowing network administrators to use bandwidth more efficiently and ensure the highest possible level of performance for critical applications without sacrificing security or data privacy. For more information on deploying and configuring SD-WAN on the Meraki MX Security Appliance, see the Meraki SD-WAN Deployment Guide.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates

École Jeannine Manuel

Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

March 2025

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