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Juniper Session Smart Router vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

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
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
13th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Routers (7th)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
WAN Edge (5th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Juniper Session Smart Router is 3.1%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is 10.4%, up from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Sascha Bülow - PeerSpot reviewer
Tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, and as a partner, we get good support from them
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. Besides that, there are so many things we are discussing with the engineers and the product management of 128T or Juniper. I'm pretty sure that every feature that will come in the next half-year or three-quarters of a year would be influenced directly by us.
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

"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."
"Customer service is very prompt."
"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."
"I like VMware SD-WAN's automation and zero-touch provisioning. Its main advantage is simplicity. Anyone can use this gateway."
"They have a lot of built-ins. There are so many applications defined inside the solution. It makes it so that we don't have to create some policies. Each and every application is already defined in it."
"In my experience, the setup process has been fairly straightforward."
"VMware SD-WAN is easy-to-use."
"The initial configuration and deployment are quite easy."
"Increases the performance of applications and is easy to deploy."
"VeloCloud developed DMPO to increase performance and connectivity."
"When extra capacity is needed, we can get it very quickly."
 

Cons

"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."
"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. 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."
"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."
"The initial setup of VMware SD-WAN was simple. However, it took six days to complete."
"The dashboards could be improved."
"The firewall can be more advanced."
"There are a number of customers we have that require a fully mashed SD-WAN on VeloCloud that is not available currently."
"If you don't have an Internet connection, you can’t control it."
"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."
"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."
"VMware SD-WAN could improve by having more partnerships with other vendors."
 

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 price of this solution should be lower."
"Overall pricing could be lower. It is much more expensive than traditional hardware vendor pricing."
"There is only a standard fee for the solution."
"The solution's price combines the license and the bandwidth you used."
"My understanding is that the pricing is in the same range as other solutions."
"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."
"VeloCloud performs as well as the Cisco SD-WAN but it is cheaper in price."
"The price of VMware SD-WAN is less expensive than some solutions, such as Cisco."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Juniper Session Smart Router?
The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router is not significantly cheaper than, for example, Cisco.
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 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

128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Revation Systems
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 Juniper Session Smart Router vs. VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,651 professionals have used our research since 2012.