Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN comparison

Cisco and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.7, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.7. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Read 90 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reviews

13,223 Views
8,685 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Prisma SD-WAN

Read 18 Prisma SD-WAN reviews

2,976 Views
1,492 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Prisma SD-WAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Prisma SD-WAN and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN are two leading solutions in the market. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN seems to have the upper hand due to its robust features despite its higher price.

Features: Prisma SD-WAN reviews highlight easy integration, effective bandwidth management, and extensive security measures. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reviews emphasize advanced routing capabilities, comprehensive analytics, and seamless scalability.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest that Prisma SD-WAN could improve its reporting functions and range of third-party integrations. For Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, the feedback points to a need for better documentation and more user-friendly setup processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Prisma SD-WAN is praised for its straightforward deployment model and responsive customer service. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, although noted for a steeper learning curve during deployment, receives high marks for its knowledgeable support team.

Pricing and ROI: Prisma SD-WAN is noted for its lower setup costs and positive ROI, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious users. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, despite its higher initial investment, is viewed as delivering substantial long-term ROI due to its extensive feature set and scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Prisma SD-WAN Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Prisma SD-WAN

October 2024

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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

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (5th)

Prisma SD-WAN

Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

4th

Ranking in WAN Edge

4th

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)

Featured Reviews

MOHAMEDELSHERIF

Senior Technical Consultant at International Turnkey Systems - ITS

Feb 17, 2023

Good centralization and manageability for edge routers but quite expensive

Our company uses the solution to provide secure connections for customers. We have a hybrid data center model that bridges the gap between cloud and on-premises for customers. It is a mixed design to consolidate resources. We also replace expensive NBLS lines with SDN and the internet to provide…

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Imran Taiyeb Ali

Senior Solutions Specialist at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees

Nov 13, 2023

A stable tool that offers a good uptime and ensures a return on investment

There are some small issues in Prisma SD-WAN's area related to bypass pair or couple ports related to redundancy. Sometimes, during the product's initial setup phase, bypass pair or couple ports don't come up normally, and it requires an hour and a half to troubleshoot to reset the box from Prisma SD-WAN to factory default. Prisma SD-WAN has some minor issues in its physical port, especially in bypass pair or couple ports. Bypass pair or couple ports are not abnormal ports. It is just that the aforementioned ports behave differently. If Prisma SD-WAN can fix bypass pair or couple ports and make them robust enough to work after the initial setup in the first attempt, then it can save a lot of time. The physical device's bypass pair or couple ports generally have issues.

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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."

"When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly."

"The user experience is pretty good."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

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

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

"It is very simple to deploy. It's a point-and-click type of deployment, so it's fairly simple."

"It is very stable with very good firmware."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pros

"The security offered by the solution is pretty good."

"The implementation of the solution is easy."

"Prisma supports all of the applications we're currently using."

"When it comes to supporting large, complex, network architectures, it's a very simple architecture. The main component is the fabric. It's very easy to troubleshoot if there is an issue happening in the underlying network."

"The product provides efficient stability, security, and reliability features."

"The dynamic routing in Prisma SD-WAN is high-speed and valuable because it quickly adjusts, so users do not realize the link is down."

"If the MPLS goes down, there is a really smooth transition for a branch site to take traffic over the Internet. It will advertise the routes of that site in a jiffy."

"The gateway is available on the cloud which allows you access from anywhere and still connects to your home gateway."

More Prisma SD-WAN pros

Cons

"Cisco SD-WAN could improve on the ease of integration, the configuration should be easier. At the moment the process is more command line based and it would be better if it was able to be done through an interface."

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

"The client portal needs to be improved in order to make the solution much better."

"The UI has room for improvement."

"Cisco SD-WAN could improve the integration with the cloud."

"The deployment is complex."

"The product needs to have more understanding staff in their support team. The tool needs to provide support in every stage of deployment. We did not get the expected support from their team. The product is also not easy to use."

"The Cisco way of thinking is to create umbrella-like solutions. I would prefer it if this solution was separate from the entire monstrous Cisco portfolio."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN cons

"The solution should include custom ports and group voice connections."

"I would also like to see improvement in the product training for customers. Palo Alto has not initiated very much training but they have to do so because this is a new product. If you have experience in a legacy environment, and you are moving to Prisma SD-WAN, you don't have a training framework. That is one of the disadvantages."

"Prisma SD-WAN's technical support should be improved."

"Prisma SD-WAN can be built on top of a couple of hardware platforms, including the Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewall or the CloudGenix infrastructure."

"We are incorporating their zone-based firewalls. Prisma SD-WAN has limited documentation on how it manipulates traffic, e.g., how it is interacting with TCP and UDP. We recently had some traffic that was black holing. We literally had to do packet captures to see that the new zone-based firewall, which runs on top of Prisma SD-WAN, was causing issues."

"Prisma SD-WAN should provide more flexibility and scalability on the hardware."

"They could add more advanced security features to the product."

"The pricing model could be improved to make it more affordable for smaller companies."

More Prisma SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Cisco SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive. The cost of the solution is approximately 30 percent higher than competitors."

"Cisco is more expensive than FortiGate."

"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."

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

"It's expensive. If you compare Cisco with Fortinet and Juniper, you'll find that Cisco is more expensive than other vendors."

"For 600 links, the license for Cisco SD-WAN costs us US$250k a year."

"I give the price a seven out of ten."

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

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

"Prisma SD-WAN is a pretty expensive solution."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"This solution stood out because it cost considerably less than the other SD-WAN solutions out there from Cisco."

"It is more expensive than Fortinet."

"If you're already invested in a Palo Alto product, it would be logical to use this solution. If not, there might be some other solutions that are more viable in terms of pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

42%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

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 product pricing is high. Fortinet is cheaper than Cisco. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?

It is expensive.

See all answers

What do you like most about Prisma SD-WAN?

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma SD-WAN?

Pricing can be an issue. Some customers may find it unaffordable due to their budget constraints.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?

The pricing model could be improved to make it more affordable for smaller companies.

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 17% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 13% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 12% of the time

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

Compared 7% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Competitors

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 26% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 16% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 14% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 11% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Prisma SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

November 2024

Download Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Prisma SD-WAN

October 2024

Download Prisma SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN

CloudGenix

Learn More

Cisco

Palo Alto Networks

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.

Simplify management, enable app-defined SD-WAN policies and deliver a secure, cloud-delivered branch today with the Industry’s first next-generation SD-WAN.

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates

Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Prisma SD-WAN

October 2024

Free Report: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Prisma SD-WAN

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Prisma SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

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