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Juniper Session Smart Router vs Meraki SD-WAN 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Juniper Session Smart Router
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Routers (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (14th)
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 1.9%, up 0.5% compared to last year.
Meraki SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined Networking (SDN), holds 15.1% mindshare, down 23.9% since last year.
Routers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Juniper Session Smart Router1.9%
MikroTik Routers and Switches20.4%
Cisco Enterprise Routers15.0%
Other62.7%
Routers
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki SD-WAN15.1%
Cisco ACI11.4%
Juniper Contrail Networking7.6%
Other65.9%
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
 

Featured Reviews

Bashir Bashir - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Vegol
Real-time visibility has strengthened network control and supports long-term enterprise use
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. Otherwise, functionality-wise, I feel it is perfect. It is way high and expensive; that is why most of my clients on the lower end, I cannot suggest Juniper. It is too pricey. Of late, I am seeing them changing the interface; the UI is changing, and that is a good thing. But still, I feel you can standardize the syntax to be in line with the rest of them.
reviewer2771085 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant - International Business at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Has simplified cloud deployments for retail environments but needs more advanced features and better pricing
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 usually recommend multiple vendors in mind because it depends on the customer's requirements; you have Fortinet, you have Aruba, you have Huawei, and you have multiple options that may be cheaper than Cisco. Regarding Meraki SD-WAN functionality, it depends on the situation, but I would recommend this product if they have the money. It all comes down to the requirements first because I try to fit the best solution for them. It doesn't depend only if I'm carrying only Cisco, it depends on what their exact requirements are. Cisco is one of the top vendors with the most stable performance in many solutions, but it all comes down to the customer requirements. Mainly the pricing is a concern, and it doesn't fit enterprise customers. For enterprise-grade customers, it's not going to fit; it's not possible to use Meraki SD-WAN. It's not just because of the price; it's for enterprise because of the limitation in features and capabilities. Meraki SD-WAN is not fit for enterprise-grade customers or big deployments.

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."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."
"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."
"Customer service is very prompt."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
"For telecom companies, I think zero-trust segmentation is the way to go because if you allow anything that you do not understand, then it becomes a problem."
"The most valuable feature of Meraki SD-WAN is the Auto VPN."
"The product's most valuable features include templating, central administration, single-pane remote administration, and integration with other Cisco products."
"The redundancy feature of Meraki SD-WAN has most significantly enhanced network performance."
"They're known for their ease of use and ubiquitous management platform that covers everything. Meraki really excels in plug-and-play solutions. You just plug it up, and everything works. All of the components—the firewall/router, the switches, the access points, the cameras—work very nicely together, and they all can be managed from one platform. That is probably their biggest selling point. Everything comes in one ubiquitous package, and you don't have to manage different components from different platforms. You can see everything from one platform."
"The most valuable feature is application performance monitoring and being able to browse packets dynamically based on priorities."
"The most valuable feature is application awareness."
"The solution is easy to use."
"Meraki SD-WAN is scalable."
 

Cons

"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."
"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."
"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."
"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. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen."
"The port density should be improved because this solution is limited to two."
"Some of the on-premise security features of Meraki SD-WAN are on the cloud and some of my customers do not want to use the cloud. They should have on-premise security features for those that do not want to use the cloud."
"Meraki offers the client basic security, it is not the same as what FortiGate is offering."
"The product should be able to support more than three internet lines."
"In Meraki SD-WAN, we have some limitations with the traffic shaping capabilities."
"Meraki SD-WAN has to significantly improve the company's network performance."
"I would like improved stability in Meraki SD-WAN."
"Meraki is more or less intelligent load balancing, although a lot of features are missing that our SD-WAN solutions will have."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."
"The tool offers term licenses. You have the same term licensing model available for all of your equipment, which is good for management."
"The price of Meraki SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive when compared to other solutions on the market, such as Aruba."
"The pricing is reasonable and we can choose the software or the feature."
"The solution is a bit expensive when compared to other products."
"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."
"This solution is more expensive than competitors."
"They have a baseline software license, and then they've got an SD-WAN software license, and then they've got an advanced security software license. They're low cost, and they'll provide any amount of flexibility that you want from a modeling perspective for payment. Typically, it's either annually or multi-year, but they are a lower-cost company. They're not the most expensive by far."
"The pricing is fair, but if they can make it less it would be even more attractive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?
I did not find any problem with Juniper. Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do.
What is your primary use case for Juniper Session Smart Router?
We are using it as a DNG. This means all subscriber PPPoE sessions or ILS Smart VPN connections are terminated through the access network to this BNG, Uniphore BNG. From there, they are managed.
What do you like most about Meraki SD-WAN?
The auto VPN feature is important because it automates many tasks, making things simpler and faster. It helps with setting up devices and changing configurations without manual effort.
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...
 

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, Huawei and others in Routers. Updated: March 2026.
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