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Meraki SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 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

Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (7th), WAN Edge (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (11th)
 

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.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 10.5% mindshare, up 8.6% 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.
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

"Meraki Solutions setups make it one of the best products I have ever worked with."
"The centralized console manageable from the cloud is one of the advantages."
"It is easy to monitor and manage."
"The solution is a whole vertical solution, so it doesn't need any other components in order to provide basic features."
"This product contributed to a huge benefit in our bottom line on operational costs."
"I'm not directly involved in SD-WAN monitoring and maintenance, but based on what I've heard from our infrastructure team, it's working well."
"We can control and monitor everything."
"It is secure, and some features, like work device management, are very useful."
"There are 400 functionalities of the system."
"I find the application-aware routing feature to be the most valuable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is manageability."
"Increases the performance of applications and is easy to deploy."
"The most valuable feature of VMware SD-WAN is the virtualization platform. You can use the software on any hardware. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"Proactively detects where problems might arise."
"The biggest feature is called D.M.P.O., or Dynamic Multipath Optimization, which is one of the technologies that they use to deliver or ensure data integrity."
"It is very simple to configure. When you use the cloud to configure the equipment, it has zero-touch provisioning."
 

Cons

"The configuration from the firewall side could be improved a little bit more."
"Meraki SD-WAN could improve by adding wireless access time-scheduled and overall capabilities."
"The tool has challenges with features like multiple-link support, which currently only supports up to three links. Additionally, it doesn't offer router integration, and forward error correction is another missing feature. The scalability of Meraki SD-WAN is good, but there are limitations to the performance of the concentrator devices, especially in larger deployments. While the cloud scale is not an issue, the performance of the devices in branches and data centres is limited."
"It should be easier to install BGP and it should have a better backup."
"There should be a few more options for security parameters. It is currently not very customizable. It should be a little bit more customizable."
"Meraki SD-WAN had trouble prioritizing traffic for VoIP calls."
"The only problem occurs when users are not paying attention and turn on the wrong switches, like power switches, in places they should not."
"The default classes should be expanded."
"The firewall can be more advanced."
"There might be potential enhancements in better integration with other platforms, increased stability, and heightened security."
"I would like to improve the tool’s cloud security features. I would like to see high-throughput hardware requests in the product’s next release. The solution should also support multiple gigs which could be around ten."
"VMware SD-WAN can improve on the security features."
"VMware SD-WAN could improve by having more partnerships with other vendors."
"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."
"This solution can be improved by integrating other security solutions."
"Security is a challenge. I would like to see VMware add things like IPS, IDS, and web filtering. These features are the future of security, and most competing firewalls have them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is not expensive."
"If you purchase a Meeraki box, you have to purchase a license, and it's already the basic license, you will have you SD-WAN included."
"The license model may need improvement."
"The licensing fees are approximately $1,000 USD annually."
"Regarding pricing, Meraki SD-WAN is quite competitive, especially compared to solutions like Fortinet. However, it's essential to consider that Meraki requires cloud orchestration, which adds to the overall cost. Overall, it's one of the most competitive solutions from Cisco for SD-WAN."
"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."
"I am not aware of the licensing fees."
"The tool is costly. I rate the tool's price as a ten out of ten since it is very expensive."
"There is only a standard fee for the solution."
"Price would be a challenge for customers, because it is expensive."
"My understanding is that the pricing is in the same range as other solutions."
"The price of the solution could be reduced."
"We make monthly payments toward the licensing costs of the solution."
"VMware SD-WAN provides competitive pricing."
"The price of this solution is higher than that of other SD-WAN vendors."
"We pay about $500 USD, or 700,000 Korean won."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Retailer
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
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 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 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

No data available
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

École Jeannine Manuel
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 Cisco, Aviatrix, TP-Link and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: March 2025.
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