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Meraki SD-WAN vs VMware NSX 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:
 

Customer Service

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
7.9
VMware NSX support is generally reliable but varies in responsiveness and expertise, with improvement needed in certain regions.
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
 

Room For Improvement

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
4.9
VMware NSX needs enhancements in integration, automation, deployment, and support to address complexity, pricing, and user-friendliness challenges.
 

Scalability Issues

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
7.8
VMware NSX is scalable across large infrastructures, praised for adaptability, hardware independence, and seamless integration in various environments.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
4.8
VMware NSX pricing is higher than competitors, complex, and may discourage smaller organizations due to potentially unused features.
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
 

Stability Issues

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.0
VMware NSX is stable and mature, praised for robust performance and dependability, despite occasional minor upgrade issues.
 

Valuable Features

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.0
VMware NSX offers micro-segmentation, automation, scalability, and integration, enhancing security and flexibility across virtual environments and clouds.
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
 

Categories and Ranking

Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
VMware NSX
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (1st), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (8th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (7th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

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.
VMware NSX, on the other hand, focuses on Network Virtualization, holds 46.2% mindshare, up 45.9% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Network Virtualization
 

Q&A Highlights

PW
Jul 06, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

Daniel Brunnquell - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Chris Nixon - PeerSpot reviewer
Overly complex, initial setup could be simplified, but the migration methods are good
The on-premises version of VMware NSX is not scalable. The cloud version is most likely fine. I couldn't really say, but after the on-premise system was implemented, everyone was afraid of change. It was really flaky. We don't have a large number of users. It is not used as such by people; it is a piece of infrastructure software. There would have been less than half a dozen, not very many.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions are best for your needs.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

PW
Jul 6, 2020
Jul 6, 2020
We are currently reviewing various SD-WAN vendors for our infrastructure and what I found lacking with Cisco Meraki is that you cannot use Active/Active HA with two MX devices. Only HA is available with one device which introduces a single point of failure for any network. There is also up to 5 minute failover time for Active/Active circuits which in my opinion is quite long compared to other s...
2 out of 6 answers
GaurangPatel - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 12, 2020
Well, both products are very good but if you are looking for only SD-WAN Feafure than Cisco Meraki is the perfect solution: it's easy to manage, easy to deploy and deep insight at the packet level. VMware NSX is the complete package of comprehensive features like Application Load Balancing, routing, switching, micro-segmentation and many more but at a cost! It's very easy to manage from a single pane of glass. in a nutshell, if you want Application-Aware Load balancing and wan optimization which should be easy to manage and deploy than Cisco Meraki is the right product and if you are looking for a fully integrated solution and have a deep pocket then you should choose VMware NSX.
DF
Mar 12, 2020
VMware NSX is all about Software Defined Networking ie virtualizing the 7 layers of switches/routers that we know in the physical HW world. VMware is very successful with this technology acquired from NICERA. SD-WAN stands for Software-Defined WAN which is about networking but NOT at the local level, it is a wide area network. For this VMware made another acquisition which is VeloCloud. Cisco Meraki SD-WAN and VeloCloud are both in the magic quadrant and therefore competing.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Construction Company
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
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 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 are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What do you like most about VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Learn More

Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

École Jeannine Manuel
City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki SD-WAN vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: May 2020.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.