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Meraki SD-WAN vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
Versa Unified Secure Access...
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (9th), WAN Edge (10th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Meraki SD-WAN is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 25.0%, up 22.5% compared to last year.
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 5.7% mindshare, down 6.9% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Daniel Brunnquell - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 12, 2024
Handles key elements with Dynamic bandwidth allocation
Meraki did the job for what I needed. The key principle to follow is to let the problem drive the solution. Don’t pick a solution and try to force your problem into it. In our case, our needs drove the solution, and Meraki fit those needs best. If I were looking for more throughput, there would be better solutions. For example, Palo Alto and Fortinet can offer higher bandwidth capacities. I sized the solution based on the bandwidth available, which we likely won’t exceed. The main feature we needed was maintaining the system with minimal staff and without outsourcing support. Defining our needs led us to AutoVPN, which fits our requirement for minimal support. Meraki was the right product to meet these needs. If your priority is backend traffic and bandwidth, and you don’t need to filter traffic and scan for malware, geofence, or mesh networks, there are better options with more capacity. But that wasn’t our need. The real issue is that many people pick a solution and try to adapt their business model, which is the wrong approach. In the long run, that limits you.
PranavGupta - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 3, 2023
A cloud-managed, cloud-delivered private access service efficiently connecting distributed users with. distributed applications without compromising on security or user experience.
Certainly, there are areas that require enhancement, and the current focus is on improvements. Presently, I believe that the emphasis should be on enhancing user interface (UI) features, particularly over end devices. The issue arises when attempting to log in to Versa from other devices, as the UI is not device-specific. Consequently, guiding someone to log in to Versa antivirus becomes challenging. Despite the absence of issues on the website, the lack of a login scope impedes graphical representation of user data or databases. Since work databases support only a limited range of features, I recommend augmenting features for end devices to address these limitations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the single management plane dashboard. Our organization has a global site, we have separated the area, and we have more than five hundred small sites around the world."
"Meraki SD-WAN saves costs for our customers and provides better connectivity."
"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."
"This is a high availability solution that is easy to configure and has a nice GUI."
"I like the entire set of features and the analytics."
"It is easy to monitor and manage."
"Meraki SD-WAN is scalable."
"Because it's a cloud-based network infrastructure, everything is done in the cloud, so I don't need to be on-site physically to be able to troubleshoot or resolve an issue. I can be anywhere and resolve an issue."
"Our customers are very satisfied with this solution. They have not mentioned any areas for improvement."
"It's very powerful, especially for engineering teams."
"There are great security and ops features without the need for having a different box for security."
"The division of Control Plane and Data Plane is most valuable. It can be deployed anywhere, and you can control it and configure it from anywhere. This is one of the good features of this solution."
"This integration between SASE and SD-WAN is beneficial, as we have tested it with various customers."
"The product has a dynamic VPN feature for SD-WAN."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the next-generation firewall features and geo-blocking capabilities."
"Versa is a good centralized solution, where you're setting up your infrastructure in a data center type thing."
 

Cons

"The granularity could be improved."
"A run optimization feature is needed to reduce the bandwidth for any uploaded content."
"They need to offer proper integration of the security features."
"The product should be able to support more than three internet lines."
"Meraki SD-WAN could improve on the lead time, but this is not a problem only with Cisco. there's a global shortage of chipsets. Additionally, the solution has limited features. It's quite a standard product and not very easily upgradeable or stackable."
"The solution needs a multi-use provider portal."
"The solution needs to enact more advanced protections."
"If Meraki obtains the technology to provide network assistance, then it can implement it manually in Meraki SD-WAN."
"With the pandemic and changing work models, it would be ideal if the product more accessibility options or more diversity within the solution itself."
"The solution's current customer support is not that good. So, they need to improve that. Also, the solution's UI is quite complex, so they need to simplify it."
"I heard about them for the first time just before I started working on Versa. They do have blogs for information, but they could publicize more about the documentation and architecture. It doesn't seem to have that much exposure, and they should work on their customer base more."
"The web interface can be improved."
"The UTM features can be improved. It should offer better functionality."
"We are thinking about how to make customers consolidate the loads to an SD-WAN network so that the customers can have bigger chunk from the SD-WAN side so that customers can have critical data be transferred with NPS VPN and non-critical data or some labeled traffic can be transferred by the SD-WAN network. I think it's a very important direction for digital transformation."
"There are limitations when you connect from multiple locations. It does not work as expected. If you have more than 400 users, then it will choke. It will not perform as expected."
"The interface could be simpler."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license model may need improvement."
"like everything else, it's negotiable."
"The tool is costly. I rate the tool's price as a ten out of ten since it is very expensive."
"The pricing is reasonable and we can choose the software or the feature."
"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 licensing fees are approximately $1,000 USD annually."
"The licenses cost a fortune."
"The price of this solution is good, it is not expensive."
"I find Versa a little more expensive than VMware in terms of remote access and secure web gateway elements."
"We provide subscriptions for our customers on a yearly, not monthly, basis."
"It is not very expensive because of the white box support. Its hardware is much cheaper than other products. With the support for x86 and white box, it is one of the most cost-effective platforms that are currently available."
"It is neither cheap nor expensive. I rate the pricing a five out of ten on a scale where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"The price is expensive but it makes sense for the market."
"While I cannot provide too much commentary on the price, I feel it to be fair for the moment."
"Price wise, it's more expensive than is the competition. I would give pricing a rating of three out of five."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Retailer
5%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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?
The pricing of Meraki SD-WAN is a little bit on the pricey side. However, it is still a valuable product despite the cost.
What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?
Meraki did the job for what I needed. The key principle to follow is to let the problem drive the solution. Don’t pick a solution and try to force your problem into it. In our case, our needs drove...
What do you like most about Versa FlexVNF?
Versa is a good centralized solution, where you're setting up your infrastructure in a data center type thing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Versa FlexVNF?
Both Versa and VMware are cheap in terms of the router. I find Versa a little more expensive than VMware in terms of remote access and secure web gateway elements.
What needs improvement with Versa FlexVNF?
We've had the odd occasional stability issue with software upgrades, etcetera. They don't support certain other third-party applications, which can be a bit limiting at times, whereas VMware seems ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Versa FlexVNF, FlexVNF, Versa Titan
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

École Jeannine Manuel
CenturyLink, RCN Business, Colt Technology Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Aviatrix, Juniper and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: November 2024.
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