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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs VMware NSX comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reduces WAN costs, offering up to 80% savings, improved reliability, and 30% long-term cost reductions.
Sentiment score
7.4
VMware NSX enhances infrastructure, reduces costs, boosts security, and increases satisfaction, offering ROI within a year.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, though some desire faster escalation and more local expertise.
Sentiment score
6.7
VMware NSX customer service is praised for knowledgeable support but faces challenges with accessibility and response times in specific regions.
The principal third-level support is very good.
Cisco's ongoing reorganizations have affected the quality of technical support, which varies depending on the engineer handling cases.
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is praised for scalable integration with existing Cisco products, efficiently supporting large enterprises despite licensing limits.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware NSX is highly scalable, effectively handling large networks with ease, despite potential complexity and cost concerns.
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.
There is a high level of satisfaction with its ability to scale.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is stable, reliable, and robust, with minor bugs but improves with proper management and OS versions.
Sentiment score
8.0
VMware NSX is praised for stability and reliability, despite minor upgrade issues, due to consistent performance and enhancement updates.
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 users seek better cost efficiency, integration, support, and security features to compete in the market.
VMware NSX needs enhancements in integration, performance, automation, security, compatibility, user-friendliness, and deployment for improved functionality.
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
Including more features like integrating with Splunk for monitoring vulnerabilities would help eliminate the need for other SOC solutions.
The initial configuration and integration within our existing environment were not easy.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is considered expensive yet feature-rich, with subscription-based pricing and calls for simpler, flexible licensing.
Enterprise buyers find VMware NSX pricing high due to bundling, complexity, and significant setup costs, seeking flexible options.
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
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.
The cost of VMware NSX is considered high.
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers easy deployment, centralized control, high reliability, scalability, security, and integrates well with cloud services.
NSX enhances security and scalability, offering seamless integration, automation, and efficient performance with flexible, easy-to-use management features.
It also provides robust security features, including port security, analysis, mirroring, and multiple other security solutions.
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.
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
The micro-segmentation feature is beneficial for adhering to strict security regulations from our security department.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)
VMware NSX
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (3rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (8th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (9th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

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.
DanielBass - PeerSpot reviewer
Improves network security with micro-segmentation but setup is complex
I value the ability to dynamically configure our network on the fly using VMware NSX. This flexibility is a huge advantage because it allows us to avoid static configurations that come with traditional hardware setups. Additionally, the micro-segmentation feature is beneficial for adhering to strict security regulations from our security department.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
43%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

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.
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 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 VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetScaler and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.