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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN 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:
 

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 (6th)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
7th
Ranking in WAN Edge
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (11th)
 

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.
Sami-Isoaho - PeerSpot reviewer
To fully utilize cloud vendors' hardware networking, Microsoft and VMware support everything
To improve the product, the company, alone or with a good partner, should manufacture their own hardware brand with boxes to make the product more shippable. Implementing VMware is much more difficult, time-consuming, and expensive than implementing Fortinet or Check Point. With Fortinet, you pay a couple of hundred dollars for hosting and a low-cost firewall, there's only one box to ship to each site, and it's much easier to manage. Moreover, it would be easy for the large telecom operators and system integrators to sell the solution. It would also be a good fit for customers with multiple small offices, who I currently advise to choose hardware-vendor SD-WAN solutions over VMware.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is great at aggregating the traffic and then sending it in one direction."
"It's very easy to manage and monitor the network's health and security using the solution."
"Using SD-WAN to combine services can result in better up time, higher speeds, and much lower costs."
"The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include the DIA and its integration with Cisco Umbrella for DNS security."
"Cisco SD-WAN's collaborative features are unique and sustainable. I also like the protocols, which use two SD-WAN."
"The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN are reliability and scalability."
"The first part that we like is that we can reuse certain hardware, which is a valuable asset. You can use hardware SKUs that already exist in the network. The second part that we like is the integration with the cloud and the measurement of the cloud's quality. These are the two values that this solution gives as compared to other implementations that we have seen."
"I have found the solution's main features are its ability to be customized, network traffic classification, and has a wide range of features that can be set."
"I love the solution because of its many features like cluster and cloud VPN."
"They make use of a combination of different internet lines, which improves quality."
"VMware is the only SD-WAN solution that integrates with Azure Virtual WAN."
"It's scalable."
"Has an optimization feature that acts to ensure the quality of the services running on the overlay to be most valuable."
"The most valuable feature for one of our customers is the ability to stage cloud workloads from the local network."
"One of the key use cases for VMware SD-WAN was assisting a customer in the industrial zone. They required virtualized servers and wanted to enable VMware SD-WAN to connect their sites in Japan or China. We assisted in building the system by integrating VMware servers and utilizing the Cisco suite."
"VMware SD-WAN is scalable."
 

Cons

"The price could be better. From a technical side, and everything's working smoothly. Cisco SD-WAN could be cheaper."
"I would like to see revision cycles to be more stable."
"The client portal needs to be improved in order to make the solution much better."
"The initial setup is complex and can be improved."
"It should also be much more affordable for a larger number of customers."
"In the next release, Cisco should focus on simplifying the configuration of SD-WAN. SD-WAN has a lot of room to grow."
"They should enhance the reporting because, as it is today, they need more executive-level reports."
"We don't have any issues with this solution other than the price."
"The product should have on-demand tunnels instead of fixed tunnels."
"Can't execute commands quickly when troubleshooting. The graphic user interface is slow."
"There is still room for improvement in support and security, especially in enhancing the SASE aspect of the platform."
"VMware SD-WAN is harder than Cisco. It is complex, and we must take many steps to get the service. I think it would be beneficial if obtaining licenses could be simplified. Currently, numerous options and integrations are bundled together, which can make it quite complex."
"They need to start focusing on the security functionality. They should find a way to embed the next-generation firewall functionality within the architecture. They should move more into applying SASE tenants to what they're doing."
"The solution doesn't offer failover between their own devices. If I want to, I should be able to put the two devices at the side, so there can be a failover."
"In an upcoming release, the solution can be more functional and have additional features."
"The cost of VeloCloud could be lowered."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is going to be on a yearly basis. There are no additional costs."
"The initial cost is quite significant, but the investment is worthwhile."
"It's costly. The cost is high compared to competitors."
"It is expensive. The license limitation is there in terms of bandwidth. Basically, Cisco is always good in terms of performance and related things. However, if you want to have a license, for example, for 100 Mbps, they charge you because of their 100 Mbps. If you want to go without the license of 300 Mbps, it is a bandwidth license as well. This is not happening with other vendors. That is the reason why we moved away from Cisco. The bill gets a little bit high. I do remember that one time we were trying to increase the bandwidth for at least five devices, and the license got as high as 20-grand for five devices, only for the license. It was expensive for us at the time. Our company is not a big company, but it is a solid company. The price was very high, and we moved away from Cisco because of the price."
"The price of Cisco SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive. The cost of the solution is approximately 30 percent higher than competitors."
"The license consists of an annual fee."
"There is a monthly subscription to use this solution."
"In the Russian market where we operate, this solution is expensive."
"VMware SD-WAN provides competitive pricing."
"The price of this solution should be lower."
"We make monthly payments toward the licensing costs of the solution."
"Price would be a challenge for customers, because it is expensive."
"We pay about $500 USD, or 700,000 Korean won."
"The price is reasonable for this solution, but the only challenge for us is that the Rand currency fluctuates to the dollar and provides some complexities. The price might go up just because the Rand has actually lost value."
"My understanding is that the pricing is in the same range as other solutions."
"I would rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten since the license is costly."
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Answers from the Community

SM
Aug 16, 2022
Aug 16, 2022
@Diyaspino,​ all three are overpriced. Depending on what are you looking for, you may look at Fortinet or even check the latest Sophos offering. There is a number of different postings on SD-WAN in the last few years. Once people learned that SD-WAN is an old VPN with a new user interface, they moved to a new buzzword.
See 2 answers
EB
Jul 25, 2022
Hi @Malith Chandrasekara, @TEDDY LLANO, @reviewer1657632, @Dániel Halmai, @Paul Woods, @Lipaz Hessel ​and @MohamedArshath, Can you please chime in and help @Diyaspino ​with this question? We appreciate your help.  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​
DI
Aug 16, 2022
@Diyaspino,​ all three are overpriced.  Depending on what are you looking for, you may look at Fortinet or even check the latest Sophos offering.  There is a number of different postings on SD-WAN in the last few years. Once people learned that SD-WAN is an old VPN with a new user interface, they moved to a new buzzword. 
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
45%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

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 Fortinet Fortigate and VMware SD-WAN?
One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. It is a very stable, reliable, and consistent solution. We like that we can manage the entire...
What do you like most about VMware SD-WAN?
One of the key use cases for VMware SD-WAN was assisting a customer in the industrial zone. They required virtualized servers and wanted to enable VMware SD-WAN to connect their sites in Japan or C...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Redmond, Coca Cola, Roka Bioscience, MetTel, Deutsche Telekom, Rockford Construction,  The Bay Club, tru Independence, Triton Management Services, DevCon, AXPM
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.