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Juniper Session Smart Router vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

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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

Juniper Session Smart Router
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Routers (5th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (5th)
Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Juniper Session Smart Router is designed for Routers and holds a mindshare of 3.1%, up 1.0% compared to last year.
Meraki SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined Networking (SDN), holds 10.0% mindshare, down 18.8% since last year.
Routers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Juniper Session Smart Router3.1%
MikroTik Routers and Switches18.4%
Cisco Enterprise Routers16.7%
Other61.8%
Routers
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki SD-WAN10.0%
Cisco ACI8.9%
Juniper Contrail Networking8.3%
Other72.8%
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
 

Featured Reviews

Esther Sultaana - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Secure healthcare connectivity has protected patient data and supports reliable telemedicine
Everything can be improved. It could improve its security stack with malware detection, particularly in healthcare because of ransomware. Now you have IoT vulnerabilities, so something like advanced malware detection or threat analysis would help. This is something I worked with around 2016 to 2017. Perhaps they have added those features, but I know they didn't have it then. Some security profiles for specific medical devices would be helpful. Sandboxing would be good. Dedicated telemedicine routing profiles would be beneficial because we have a lot of telemedicine going on. Real-time sessions for clinicians may need pre-built templates for EHR and EMR. I think those would be good if they're not already there. I don't know what the latest router has, but I know they didn't have those features then. There can always be improvements because technology is constantly advancing. It is a very solid router, and that is one of many industries that could utilize it. Healthcare is one such industry, and if it works for healthcare, then that is a major plus for that router.
Mageshwaran S - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at airtel
Experienced streamlined network management with enhanced usability and room for improved security features
On the security features, when compared to Fortinet, they have more patterns and AI-generated ones. Meraki SD-WAN is slowly implementing AI, but it is not yet full-fledged. If AI comes into the picture, it will be helpful. I work with Fortinet where with a single command you can deploy the entire SD-WAN along with FortiGuard within minutes. For AI, it can discover and connect, but currently, we are doing it manually. In Meraki SD-WAN, some features require additional licenses and subscriptions. If these were bundled together, such as 10 or 20 licenses, it would be very helpful for a mini branch or small campus area coverage.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"As compared to the other major vendors in the SD-WAN market, such as VeloCloud, Cisco, and others, the tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, which gives plenty of room to discuss with the customer why IPSec from 1998 is a bit outdated."
"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."
"The real-time analytics and visibility features are excellent, and its special troubleshooting tool is very strong."
"Because we are talking directly to engineers in the US, the support is usually the best you can possibly get."
"I can share specific numbers; we achieved a 30 to 60% WAN cost reduction by reducing MPLS usage."
"Customer service is very prompt."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
"A lot of our customers really enjoy the Meraki Dashboard. It’s a single pane of glass."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The management system is one of the best available."
"Meraki Solutions setups make it one of the best products I have ever worked with."
"The solution's technical support is good."
"If you have the technical knowledge, there is very little chance of making mistakes."
"This product contributed to a huge benefit in our bottom line on operational costs."
"I believe this solution does a perfect job, it delivers what it's supposed to do and it's secure."
 

Cons

"Juniper Session Smart Router should have a more user-friendly graphical interface because the user interface is complex, and some upgrade operations are sometimes difficult."
"Everything can be improved. It could improve its security stack with malware detection, particularly in healthcare because of ransomware."
"I found some weaknesses on their hardware. They are sometimes breaking very often."
"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."
"One area for improvement that I have observed is related to the VPN, where I frequently notice VPN flaps or disconnections between Juniper Session Smart Router and the SD-WAN hub device in the data center, which should be addressed to prevent users from experiencing any downtime."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I feel should not be that way."
"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."
"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks."
"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."
"The only problem occurs when users are not paying attention and turn on the wrong switches, like power switches, in places they should not."
"If you compare Meraki with other solutions, the level of security is minimal."
"The solution needs to enact more advanced protections."
"The tool has challenges with features like multiple-link support, which currently only supports up to three links. Additionally, it doesn't offer router integration, and forward error correction is another missing feature. The scalability of Meraki SD-WAN is good, but there are limitations to the performance of the concentrator devices, especially in larger deployments. While the cloud scale is not an issue, the performance of the devices in branches and data centres is limited."
"This vendor has issues with the supply chain that need to be improved."
"The solution sometimes drops VoIP calls, which is a nuisance."
"You need to have internet access to configure the solution. You cannot do it locally, there should be a local option."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."
"We are currently renegotiating the offer for the licenses and the license bundle model. The license for an ISP has to be different from the license for an end customer. This is something we are currently renegotiating with Juniper, but, of course, the pricing for the licensing is always an issue when you want to get more customers."
"There are no licensing costs for the product subscription."
"Regarding pricing, Meraki SD-WAN is quite competitive, especially compared to solutions like Fortinet. However, it's essential to consider that Meraki requires cloud orchestration, which adds to the overall cost. Overall, it's one of the most competitive solutions from Cisco for SD-WAN."
"The solution's pricing is in line with what we expected."
"If you purchase a Meeraki box, you have to purchase a license, and it's already the basic license, you will have you SD-WAN included."
"The tool offers term licenses. You have the same term licensing model available for all of your equipment, which is good for management."
"The licensing model is a fair one, although having the hardware means nothing without the license. You need to continue to pay licensing fees."
"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."
"The licenses cost a fortune."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
21%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Session Smart Router?
I personally did not do the pricing. I imagine it was okay because the company did purchase it. In a lot of instances, particularly as it pertains to healthcare, they don't want to spend too much. ...
What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?
I think the current Juniper focuses more on switching rather than routing, which is a weak point in the product. Currently, I and my customers have not utilized the Session Awareness feature of Jun...
What is your primary use case for Juniper Session Smart Router?
I have been running my own company and working with Juniper Session Smart Router for almost 10 to 12 years because Larsen & Toubro is my client who will use Juniper devices for switching and fi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki SD-WAN?
When compared for the long run, it is reasonable, but for the short term, such as one year, it is costlier, especially compared to other OEMs such as FortiGate. If the license expires in FortiGate,...
What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?
The pricing of Meraki SD-WAN depends compared to which vendors, because it's a bit pricey, so not all retail would go for it unless it's a big retail company, but it depends on your comparison. I u...
What is your primary use case for Meraki SD-WAN?
For Meraki SD-WAN, I always go with retail companies.
 

Also Known As

128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Revation Systems
École Jeannine Manuel
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, MikroTik, Juniper and others in Routers. Updated: October 2026.
920,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.