We use the solution as a router.
Network Engineer at 0
A router solution with customer-friendly support but is expensive
Pros and Cons
- "The product is stable."
- "The tool is very expensive."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Cisco is very secure and very fast, and its work is ongoing. They give the commands to what they want.
What is most valuable?
Everything is on one disk. I need to do anything from one end.
What needs improvement?
The solution could be cheaper.
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for about two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. Over 600 users are using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
Support is fast and customer-friendly.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is complex and takes about 30 minutes to complete.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is very expensive. It has a five-year subscription.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Cisco and Juniper are very costly.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate the solution a six or seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Manager at Systems Limited
Comes with OMP routing but licensing costs are expensive
Pros and Cons
- "Cisco SD-WAN has separate OMP routing."
- "The solution is very costly."
What is most valuable?
Cisco SD-WAN has separate OMP routing.
What needs improvement?
The solution is very costly.
For how long have I used the solution?
.I have been working with the solution for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, and you need good connectivity.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco SD-WAN is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Cisco SD-WAN's support was good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You can get subscriptions for three or five years.
What other advice do I have?
You need expert engineers to handle Cisco SD-WAN. I rate it a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head of Cisco Department at MUK
Good segmentation, high security, and flexible
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is straightforward and easy to deploy."
- "The UI has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
Cisco SD-WAN is used to connect users to network applications securely.
What is most valuable?
The segmentation, high security, and flexibility of the Cisco SD-WAN are the most valuable features.
What needs improvement?
The cost of Cisco SD-WAN is high and has room for improvement compared to competitors such as Fortinet which has similar functionality.
The technical support has room for improvement.
The UI has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for a couple of years.
How are customer service and support?
Our engineers dislike dealing with Cisco technical support as they frequently face redirection and have to wait for months to get their issues resolved.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and easy to deploy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is based on the types of routers being used as well as the product licenses.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Fortinet FortiGate has a more comfortable UI and better logic than Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
I give Cisco SD-WAN an eight out of ten.
Cisco SD-WAN is mainly intended for medium to large enterprises as it provides significant benefits for organizations with distributed offices across different regions or countries.
I recommend that new users become familiar with all the features that Cisco SD-WAN offers, to enable them to complete their tasks effectively.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Chief technology officer at Winncom Technologies
An easy-to-set-up solution, is scalable, stable and helpful for our customers
Pros and Cons
- "It is a very scalable solution."
- "The solution is expensive and could be cheaper."
What is our primary use case?
We are an IT integration company that implements this solution for customers and clients. We deploy the solution on-premises.
What is most valuable?
The solution is stable.
What needs improvement?
The solution is expensive and could be cheaper.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a very scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
We have experience with customer service and support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward in a laboratory environment, but when we started implementing it in the field, we had some problems. We are deploying a pilot of the solution for a few branches.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a subscription and a three-year license.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution a nine out of ten and I would recommend it to others.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Director at Globe Internet Limited
Can establish connections easily, can be managed remotely, and is stable and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "With other routing protocols, we have had to send team members to perform installations and configurations. There is a lot of work involved. However with SD-WAN, once it is installed it is fully automated, and we can do all other tasks remotely. We don't have to send staff out to the client's location. It's very independent, and we can establish SD-WAN connectivity easily. It is secure as well."
- "The cost is too high for certain countries, for example, those in Africa. The solution needs to be more cost-effective."
What is most valuable?
With other routing protocols, we have had to send team members to perform installations and configurations. There is a lot of work involved. However with SD-WAN, once it is installed it is fully automated, and we can do all other tasks remotely. We don't have to send staff out to the client's location.
It's very independent, and we can establish SD-WAN connectivity easily. It is secure as well.
What needs improvement?
The cost is too high for certain countries, for example, those in Africa. The solution needs to be more cost-effective.
I would like to see AI functionalities added to future releases. I would also like to see endpoint protection features with encryption technology to prevent data from being copied from different locations.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with Cisco SD-WAN for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Cisco SD-WAN is a stable solution. I have not seen any issues with stability. If you do the preventive management exercises, ensure that you have the right temperature, regularly perform inspections, and monitor the solution properly, then everything will work perfectly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is certainly a scalable solution. For example, you could start with the 10G module and upgrade to 40G, 100G, or DWDM. It is handled on a module basis.
We probably have 400 to 500 users.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can be straightforward if you have experienced staff.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cost-wise, Cisco SD-WAN is comparatively high.
What other advice do I have?
Cisco SD-WAN is a wonderful solution, and I would give it an eight out of ten. I recommend it because it is easy to establish connectivity and is an independent solution that does not require you send staff out to a client's location.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
IT manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
It helps our company implement centralized telephony
Pros and Cons
- "The most useful feature is centralized telephony."
- "The most useful feature is centralized telephony."
- "Cisco needs to improve the technical support for this solution."
- "Cisco needs to improve the technical support for this solution."
What is our primary use case?
Cisco SD-WAN provides centralized telephony for our company.
What is most valuable?
The most useful feature is centralized telephony.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Cisco SD-WAN is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco SD-WAN is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Cisco needs to improve the technical support for this solution. I rate Cisco support eight out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Cisco SD-WAN wasn't complex, and it took about one month.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Cisco SD-WAN 10 out of 10. I recommend it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Product Manager at Uop Ipl
Gives good ROI but setup is complex
Pros and Cons
- "Cisco SD-WAN's most valuable feature is the ease of transition."
- "Cisco SD-WAN's most valuable feature is the ease of transition."
- "If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult."
- "If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult."
What is most valuable?
Cisco SD-WAN's most valuable feature is the ease of transition.
What needs improvement?
Cisco SD-WAN's smart account stuff could be improved. People still think they're using traditional licenses, so customers need a lot of education on using SD-WAN devices, especially on the smart/virtual account side.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Cisco SD-WAN for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Cisco SD-WAN's stability is good - I haven't found any issues at the operational level.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco SD-WAN's scalability is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex and required us to plan ahead. If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult.
What was our ROI?
It takes some time, but Cisco SD-WAN gives a good ROI - for example, we have had some savings in terms of transport.
What other advice do I have?
I'd advise anybody thinking of implementing Cisco SD-WAN to learn the smart and virtual account setup and the staging and installation process very clearly. This isn't just a case of buying a license or device and installing it, you need to create a lot of stuff, so you need to understand the technology before buying it, at least in a test lab or non-production environment. I would give Cisco SD-WAN a rating of seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Lead Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A solution that is easy to set up, offers great scalability, and has a good ROI for long-term growth
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has great scalability."
- "The return on investment, if you ask me, can be seen in the long-term."
- "Cyber security should also be implemented in the solution, along with maybe implementation of AI/ML."
- "Cyber security should also be implemented in the solution, along with maybe implementation of AI/ML."
What is our primary use case?
Our use cases are mostly focused on the application side and any kind of cloud breakout, like local breakout clouds.
What is most valuable?
I'm focusing on using the application ware routing.
What needs improvement?
There's not much that should be improved, but the focus should be on the application side and more cloud applications should be added into the system. Most common sales applications should be supported.
Mostly, I think cutting edge solutions should be included in this product. I'm talking about buzzwords like the cloud, for example. The solution should be more focused on the cloud because, apart from the controllers, everything can be cloud-based and everyone is moving to the cloud. Cyber security should also be implemented in the solution, along with maybe implementation of AI/ML.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is good as of now.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution has great scalability. The people using it are mostly senior management, junior management, and junior engineers. Maintenance for this solution requires about four people: two senior employees and two regular employees.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have been using Cisco since the beginning. I am familiar with it and it's easy to deploy, so I am sticking with it for now. I have no plans to switch to any other products, but we are looking at integrating this product with other solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy and straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment was done in-house and did not take more than two to three days.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment is good. I mean, not when compared to the other solutions on the market, but it is pretty flexible and scalable, so you cannot only consider the cost. The solution has flexibilities that benefit you. The return on investment, if you ask me, can be seen in the long-term. If the organizations who are deploying it are looking to grow for a certain period of time, maybe a longer vision of five to seven years down the road, the solution will be helpful to them.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is slightly on the higher side, but some of the customers are large, so they are willing to pay for it. On a scale of one to five, I would rate Cisco's pricing as a three.
What other advice do I have?
My advice is that there might be some other solutions on the market that are also pretty good, so they need to understand their market and customer requirements. Think about which solution will be easy to deploy and also how scalable it will be. The strategy should be to understand the solution and have an approach and proper plan and roadmap before implementing the solution. Also, compute the information of the devices before implementing the solution.
I would rate this solution as a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner and reseller
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2026
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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