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

Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
Versa Unified Secure Access...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (9th), WAN Edge (10th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (14th)
 

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 23.9%, down 24.5% 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 4.7% mindshare, down 5.2% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Martyn Walker - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables productivity in terms of users and has ease of management
Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off.
PriyankDubey - PeerSpot reviewer
A flexible, stable and scalable solution
I don't have issues with the hardware, as the requisite capacity is visible in the data sheets. All the details in the data sheets are accounted for. But, I find myself confused when it comes to combining this with the software. I have not come across documentation on the Versa website which would provide information about the parameters for selecting the appropriate license. For this we are assisted by the solution's design engineer and the Versa team. I do what I can as a project manager and make the best suggestions I am capable of concerning the competition. Future releases should contain AI for the voice feature. SSL VPN is lacking in the solution. I wish to see this in the near future.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The dashboard is user-friendly. It's very simple to use."
"The advantage you have with Cisco Meraki is that they take a lot of that complexity out of the backend."
"Meraki SD-WAN is user friendly."
"The most interesting feature is the amount of information you can get from overseeing the system from a centralized place."
"This is a high availability solution that is easy to configure and has a nice GUI."
"We have found the scalability to be good."
"The solution is stable."
"The Meraki interface is really well driven and very mature."
"The initial setup is simple."
"Versa is a good centralized solution, where you're setting up your infrastructure in a data center type thing."
"The granularity when it comes to configuration and security features are valuable."
"It's very powerful, especially for engineering teams."
"The most valuable features are the main steering and the firewall. The security features and SD-WAN features are also quite good."
"Our organization finds the application routing features extremely useful."
"It is very easy to deploy. The GUI interface is really good, and the security features are also very good. It is also stable and scalable, and their support is also good."
"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."
 

Cons

"The security and upgrading could improve in this solution."
"The solution needs a multi-use provider portal."
"Sometimes we face issues with VPN connections when someone connects from a different time zone, like from Georgia to the Middle East."
"I would not recommend this tool to very large-scale organizations."
"We have a lot of problems with distribution. The late deliveries likely have to do with the time it takes for the fabrication of components. It is a principal problem at this moment."
"The integration with other tools must be improved."
"Meraki SD-WAN could improve by adding wireless access time-scheduled and overall capabilities."
"Meraki is more or less intelligent load balancing, although a lot of features are missing that our SD-WAN solutions will have."
"Another thing that should be improved in Versa are their firewall features."
"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."
"The cost of Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is higher than other solutions available in the market."
"The support needs to be improved."
"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."
"Versa provides analytics, but the reporting features have some shortcomings."
"With the pandemic and changing work models, it would be ideal if the product more accessibility options or more diversity within the solution itself."
"Future releases should contain AI for the voice feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price can vary depending on the challenges that you need to address. When you look at the stability and reliability against the price, you absolutely get the value for the price."
"From the perspective of the customer, the price is not terribly cost-effective."
"The license model may need improvement."
"The solution offers yearly licenses and product lines or prices are readily available on their website."
"This solution is more expensive than competitors."
"I am not aware of the licensing fees."
"The product is not expensive."
"One of the most valuable aspects of Meraki SD-WAN is the price. It is highly cost-effective."
"I find Versa a little more expensive than VMware in terms of remote access and secure web gateway elements."
"While I cannot provide too much commentary on the price, I feel it to be fair for the moment."
"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."
"We provide subscriptions for our customers on a yearly, not monthly, basis."
"The price is expensive but it makes sense for the market."
"Price wise, it's more expensive than is the competition. I would give pricing a rating of three out of five."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
 

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 price is a little bit higher than local vendors, for example, Huawei ZTE or H3C. However, some customers require the best quality and performance, thus needing solutions and products from Cisco.
What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?
They have to ask us many questions about configurations. It could be improved with some automation to trigger, for example, telemetry data, so we can determine the state of the deployment as of day...
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
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

École Jeannine Manuel
CenturyLink, RCN Business, Colt Technology Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Aviatrix, TP-Link and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: April 2025.
848,989 professionals have used our research since 2012.