No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Meraki vMX vs Juniper Contrail SD-WAN comparison

Sponsored
 

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

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
588
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Cisco Meraki vMX
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
17th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (22nd)
Juniper Contrail SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
WAN Edge (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Mansukh Bhesania - PeerSpot reviewer
MD and CEO at Aster Networks
Have worked confidently across large deployments and ensured long-term reliability for critical sectors
I have used Cisco Meraki vMX dashboard's orchestration feature with this product. The Meraki dashboard helps manage our network effectively because it is quite easy; we manage ourselves very well. Performance-wise, there is no problem with Cisco Meraki vMX's integrated analytics for network performance, as my 70 to 80 customers use Cisco only. We do business with semi-enterprise customers, and there is no competition against Cisco except for the wireless solutions from Aruba. We find it easy to promote Cisco Meraki vMX because the centralized dashboard is there for management, and the customers accept it without any problem. From a sales point of view, it is easy to integrate, and nowadays, the 93 is also part of the Meraki desktop.
IS
Solution Architect at Posteo
Has automation features but provisioning new branches or making changes to the existing ones is difficult
I've worked with several SD-WAN solutions over the past few years, and the product felt more like an automated provisioning tool. Unlike solutions from Palo Alto or other SD-WANs orchestrated by a SaaS solution, Juniper Contrail SD-WAN already had the files and built their SaaS to orchestrate the configuration. Initially, you didn't do much, but then it started adding some routing capabilities. The automation features do help with network operations. Manually configuring SD-WAN is complicated, so the automation simplifies that. However, the initial SD-WAN solution had many limitations, particularly regarding its features. At some point, the tool began looking for other solutions and bought the 128T, which led to implementing a different SD-WAN approach. It also acquired another company for its session smart router, and then it began to develop the exact SD-WAN solution on the Mist Cloud.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The response from the technical support team has always been excellent."
"Fortinet FortiGate has many functions, and it is one of the best next-generation firewalls with an affordable cost than other vendors."
"Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly and affordable."
"I like Fortinet's cloud management, as it allows me to manage all my devices in different branches for three cloud accounts, and even though I use on-prem devices, I can manage everything on the cloud."
"This solution has a very friendly GUI and CLI as compared to other vendors."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team; it is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"The security for endpoints is the most valuable. It is very secure for our workers. It allows us to secure a transaction and enable security for a specific segment in the workflow."
"FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."
"Cisco Meraki vMX offers sufficient features for most customers; it is very easy to handle and proves very efficient, with the main advantages being the visibility it provides and the ease of administration."
"The Meraki dashboard helps manage our network effectively because it is quite easy; we manage ourselves very well."
"The most valuable features in Cisco Meraki vMX are easy deployment, an easy-to-read dashboard for information, and automatic load balancing for two circuits in the MX, which are the most important key features for our small business customers."
"I would appreciate your thoughts about the security capabilities of Juniper Contrail SD-WAN, particularly its built-in features."
"I would appreciate your thoughts about the security capabilities of Juniper Contrail SD-WAN, particularly its built-in features."
"The support is very good from Juniper and from the local distributors."
"My customers use the solution to have better control and knowledge about the applications inside ONE Access. It also helps them cut costs by reducing MPLs and using better internet access from FTTH."
"It gives you that level of visibility to understand what's going on between layer four and layer seven."
"Juniper has layer four to seven protection; it gives you that level of visibility to understand what's going on between layer four and layer seven and helps us reduce bandwidth compared to competitors' MPLS circuits while providing a strong platform for cloud migration to AWS and GCP without any sort of extra bandwidth from the MPLS circuits."
"JUNIPER CDWAN ROI is excellent as product has long life cycle and therefore supported with no need to buy replacement products."
"I've worked with several SD-WAN solutions over the past few years, and the product felt more like an automated provisioning tool. Unlike solutions from Palo Alto or other SD-WANs orchestrated by a SaaS solution, Juniper Contrail SD-WAN already had the files and built their SaaS to orchestrate the configuration. Initially, you didn't do much, but then it started adding some routing capabilities."
 

Cons

"Its price could be better."
"The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"The improvement is related to logs. Instead of the CLI, we should be able to have more insights into the logs of the firewall in the GUI."
"The only challenge that we are facing is that a good internet connection is required for VPN stability."
"I would say 8 out of 10 regarding the stability of Fortinet FortiGate. It requires a lot of bug fixing and what I understand, Fortinet is fast enough to provide bug fixes and patches, but usually I suggest Fortinet should do thorough testing of their releases and software releases and once probably they can reduce the frequency of new releases but make it stable."
"I wish Fortinet FortiGate's UI updates would be done in a more simplified way to improve it."
"Its pricing should also be improved according to Indian market requirements."
"The cloud features can be improved."
"Cisco Meraki vMX needs to improve its ability to configure complex policy-based routing."
"It is not the strongest security solution, so if you want to have next-generation firewall features, you always need an additional component."
"In comparison with Aruba, I find Aruba to be far better in terms of deployment, ClearPass, and everything, which is all very easy."
"The only issue was the switch we got, which was a little problematic because it was PoC equipment, and we had a little problem with that."
"The training could be better. When it comes to the demo dashboard capability, I feel like it could be much easier for our customers to use."
"Areas for improvement in the Juniper Contrail SD-WAN solution include the on-premises deployment process."
"Implementing new branches or changing existing ones in Juniper Contrail SD-WAN wasn't as straightforward as with other solutions like Meraki SD-WAN, which is almost plug-and-play with its zero-touch provisioning. In Juniper Contrail SD-WAN, it was more challenging."
"The training could be better. When it comes to the demo dashboard capability, I feel like it could be much easier for our customers to use. Our last customer complained about this."
"The solution installs similarly to competitors. It is not more difficult or easier. However, it could be easier and take less time for the installation."
"The solution installs similarly to competitors. It is not more difficult or easier. However, it could be easier and take less time for the installation."
"The solution is expensive. Its support can be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
"We have the full license that included all of the features and support."
"In the Asian economy in which we operate, FortiGate is expensive."
"As far as I'm aware, in our case, it's just a yearly pricing arrangement with no additional licensing costs."
"FortiGate SWG is a cost-effective solution well-suited for organisations of all sizes."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model for each IPS in your environment."
"If we have an older version, the support costs get quite high."
"Other firewalls are more expensive than Fortinet FortiGate, such as the Azure firewall."
Information not available
"They are neither very expensive nor cheap. So, we can consider its pricing somewhere in the middle."
"The cost of the solution is a little expensive. The hardware is a one-time purchase fee and the software is purchased on an annual basis. There are additional costs for other software features that are available which are on an annual basis, such as extra capacity."
"The licensing structure is very flexible."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions solutions are best for your needs.
885,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
28%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Healthcare Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Media Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business364
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise191
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Meraki vMX?
Cisco Meraki vMX needs to improve its ability to configure complex policy-based routing. The product can only be set ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Meraki vMX?
I am an architect planning for our customers to plan their enterprise connectivity via Cisco Meraki vMX and SASE. Thi...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Meraki vMX?
I have no idea about additional features that I would like to see in the next release to make it better. My customers...
What do you like most about Juniper Contrail SD-WAN?
I've worked with several SD-WAN solutions over the past few years, and the product felt more like an automated provis...
What needs improvement with Juniper Contrail SD-WAN?
There might be additional features that would be beneficial to have in the Juniper Contrail SD-WAN solution, includin...
What is your primary use case for Juniper Contrail SD-WAN?
Some time back, I conducted research on our website, PeerSpot.com, about IT solutions, specifically about Huawei Wire...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
Contrail SD-WAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Information Not Available
Allied Pinnacle
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki vMX vs. Juniper Contrail SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.