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 94 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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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

"There have been no issues with stability."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"It is very stable."

"There is minimum blind space in this solution."

"The most valuable feature is the application-level routing."

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

"Cisco SD-WAN is a highly stable solution."

"The user experience is pretty good."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pros

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

"As long as the LAN is well structured, installations and setup can be complete within forty-five minutes."

"We have found the scalability to be good."

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

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

"If you have the technical knowledge, there is very little chance of making mistakes."

"What I found most valuable in Meraki SD-WAN is its simplicity. I also like its manageability."

"I like the entire set of features and the analytics."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

"It should also be much more affordable for a larger number of customers."

"This solution could be improved with a simpler implementation process and licensing model."

"The solution is very costly."

"The solution is expensive and could be cheaper."

"It would be very helpful if we had better access to a knowledge base, or online documentation, to help both us and our customers learn to use this solution."

"The main area for improvement in Cisco SD-WAN is the lack of documentation, which often lags behind the software releases."

"If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult."

"I would like them to add some more SD-WAN ports. We have seen one implementation where there were four ISPs. Currently, we have a maximum of two ports for ISP in this device. Therefore, we cannot connect directly, and we need other switches. There should be some option to have more than two ports for SD-WAN."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN cons

"There could be more options for integration between other devices — sort of being able to more easily make everything integrated in one solution."

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

"The blocklist on the Cisco Meraki side isn't complete or very large. We'd like to see them update and expand this."

"The deployment time of Meraki SD-WAN can vary. For someone new to the process, it could take a couple of hours. However, for someone with hands-on experience, such as myself, it only takes approximately two to three hours to set up the entire configuration."

"The adoption of endpoint services or endpoint security should be developed in future releases."

"Meraki SD-WAN had trouble prioritizing traffic for VoIP calls."

"When there is an issue, I find it difficult to figure out what is going wrong because the logs do not provide as much information as solutions from HP."

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

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco SD-WAN is more expensive than its competitors."

"SD-WAN as a service is probably something in the neighborhood of $100 to $200 a month per location."

"There is a monthly subscription to use this solution."

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

"The solution is quite expensive so it is important to enhance its cost efficiency."

"80 percent reduction in WAN costs. There are no MPLS or P2P circuits left in the organization."

"We pay for the Cisco Customer Care support, which is a couple of hundred dollars."

"You have to pay between 3000 and 10,000 euros, or something in that range. The core switches Nexus cost me between 10,000 and 20,000 euros."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

"Meraki's pricing is on the higher side, which may limit who can afford to use them."

"The tool is costly. I rate the tool's price as a ten out of ten since it is very expensive."

"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."

"The licenses cost a fortune."

"The solution's pricing is in line with what we expected."

"The solution offers yearly licenses and product lines or prices are readily available on their website."

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

"I don't have information on the exact cost of Meraki SD-WAN, but I'd rate it a three out of five just because the licensing model is very much associated with the Meraki solution."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

44%

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 14% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 12% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 10% of the time

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

Compared 8% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 7% 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

April 2025

Download Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

April 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

April 2025

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