Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Cisco are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.1, while Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 5.7% mindshare in NMA, compared to Cisco’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Cisco users who would recommend it.
Aruba Airwave
Read 26 Aruba Airwave reviews
  • 1,387 Views
  • 1,318 Comparison Views
92% willing to recommend
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Read 96 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reviews
  • 8,142 Views
  • 244 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Aruba Airwave and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN compete in the network management and orchestration category. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN appears to have the upper hand with superior networking and security features, ideal for large enterprises.

Features: Aruba Airwave offers Clarity and Visual RF for valuable network insights and multivendor support. It's known for orchestration features that enhance monitoring and troubleshooting. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN provides hybrid networking, application-level routing, and centralized management, ideal for a reliable and secure network environment.

Room for Improvement: Aruba Airwave could improve integration with other platforms and reduce costs with better error diagnostics. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN requires improved security features and simplified integration, with calls for an improved licensing model for more straightforward use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Aruba Airwave primarily operates on-premises, offering consistent service quality but faces limitations in varied environments. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN provides flexibility with hybrid and cloud options, making deployment more varied. Both have strong customer support, with Cisco's support being regarded as quicker.

Pricing and ROI: Aruba Airwave is seen as high-cost but sometimes cheaper than Cisco, offering ROI through reduced troubleshooting time. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is one of the more expensive solutions, with a complex pricing model requiring extended licenses for better deals. Both are long-term investments; Aruba offers cost-effective multivendor management, while Cisco's expense is justified by extensive features and reliability.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
July 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Aruba Airwave provides long-term ROI with efficient troubleshooting, significant cost savings, and improved productivity despite initial hardware costs.
Sentiment score
7.0
Organizations achieve up to 80% WAN cost reduction with Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, enhancing scalability, flexibility, and connectivity efficiency.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
They are now back to do that with the remainder of their company, so they've realized the value in 12 months and are willing to invest in the remainder of their organization.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Aruba Airwave technical support is praised for effective service, knowledgeable staff, and multilingual communication, despite occasional slower responses.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's customer service is praised for its responsiveness, expertise, and superior support compared to competitors.
I would rate their technical support as a nine or ten, as it's quite good.
Angie was very kind and communicated well in both Spanish and English, making it pleasant to connect with her.
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
The principal third-level support is very good.
I would consider Cisco support a 10 out of 10.
I would rate Cisco's support, their customer service, and technical support as excellent.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
EZ
reviewer1877184 - PeerSpot reviewer
MF
WK
Henry Rosenstiehl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Aruba Airwave is scalable, supporting different user counts and environments, often used with Cisco tools, rated highly for scalability.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is scalable, integrates with Cisco products, offers flexible licensing, and is ideal for complex networks.
Aruba Airwave gives good information about SNR value, signal value, and you can get extensive information.
Aruba Airwave is fully scalable, as we have a large number of tenants using the network with approximately six thousand end users.
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
Cisco SD-WAN is highly scalable and can be expanded to more than 10,000 sites.
The ease of configuration and features like zero-touch provisioning enhance the scalability of Cisco SD-WAN, especially in disaster recovery situations.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
Ahmet Bulbul - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer1854369 - PeerSpot reviewerSreejeshSoman - PeerSpot reviewerIgor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Aruba Airwave is stable, reliable, and highly rated, with minor manageable issues during high usage and integration.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is stable and reliable, with improvements, though some challenges arise in complex setups and transitions.
As it is centralized, sometimes it disconnects from the cloud, and I need to reboot.
I have found Aruba Airwave to be stable.
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
While some software-related issues and bugs were encountered, they did not cause the whole environment to crash.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
AM
reviewer1854369 - PeerSpot reviewerIgor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Airwave requires cost reduction, system integration, UI simplification, pricing changes, and better synchronization, support, and compatibility.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is expensive with complex licensing, needs better security, management, documentation, UI, and improved support.
The end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website.
I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive.
When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls.
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
The negative, or the downside of Cisco is the knowledge base; you need to be a little bit more tech-savvy and network-savvy to work with Cisco, while Juniper is a lot more user-friendly from what I can see, especially in terms of configuration and any kind of roll back.
Cisco can improve Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN by simplifying licensing and platform integration with other Cisco products such as Catalyst Center or solutions with Meraki.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
EZ
Ahmet Bulbul - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer1854369 - PeerSpot reviewer
MF
WK
Henry Rosenstiehl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Airwave licensing is seen as complex and costly, yet often cheaper than Cisco, with variable pricing flexibility.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is costly due to complex licensing and high pricing, favored by large enterprises for its features.
The pricing for Aruba Airwave is acceptable because compared to Cisco, it's slightly cheaper, but not significantly - maybe 5% or 7% less expensive.
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
Its pricing is justifiable due to the comprehensive solution it offers.
It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller businesses when using the Meraki version.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
EZ
MF
SreejeshSoman - PeerSpot reviewerIgor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Airwave provides multivendor support, robust reporting, real-time analysis, and easy network management with zero-touch provisioning and Visual RF.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers centralized management, robust security, scalability, and seamless integration, enhancing performance and security for enterprises.
Aruba Airwave provides good visibility, offering extensive data on network dynamics, such as access point connections, usage, signal strengths, and potential interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks.
It provides near real-time monitoring using AIMON and AURO protocols, which is robust with multiple models and brand support.
The feature that proved most beneficial for our organization's network monitoring is the virtual four, which we use frequently when working with Aruba.
For more quotes and insights, download the Aruba Airwave report
It also provides robust security features, including port security, analysis, mirroring, and multiple other security solutions.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation.
The most useful feature for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is the single pane of glass management because we also use Meraki onsite.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report
reviewer1854369 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer1877184 - PeerSpot reviewer
EZ
MF
Henry Rosenstiehl - PeerSpot reviewer
WK
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Network Management Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 5.7%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 2.6%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmet Bulbul - PeerSpot reviewer
Reports generation remains efficient while support and updates require attention
The biggest problem for not using Aruba Airwave extensively now is that HP is not upgrading this tool. They're not investing money and time into it, which is why we're not using it. I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive. Customers start to complain and get annoyed about the license price. For example, when customers have 500 access points and features about access point licenses, moving to Central requires purchasing new licenses. This makes customers annoyed and complaining about this situation. It's hard to move from on-premises to Central because they always compare costs. If Aruba gave free licenses, they could move. But going to cloud and Central means more investment, and their budget doesn't cover the new investment. This creates problems for local partner companies.
Read full review
Henry Rosenstiehl - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive support and ease of implementation enhance operational efficiency
With Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, I have centralized orchestration and management. The transport independence of MPLS or connectivity and internet connectivity is another excellent feature. End-to-end segmentation is also provided. I use the application-aware routing feature. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN supports dynamic police-based routing decisions based on application type or different performance metrics such as jitter or latency. The benefit of that feature is that it improves user experience. The principal benefit of application-aware routing is that critical applications are prioritized or routed over the best performing paths to reduce outages and service degradation. There is full visibility of applications. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation, and it supports integration with other Cisco products such as Umbrella or Snort. This feature is beneficial for the client because the information is secure. It is important that Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN supports cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments for my organization because it allows for scalability and faster deployment in the cloud. It reduces operational needs because I don't need to manage physical controller hardware, and updates and maintenance can be centralized and automated. The zero-touch provisioning feature is very important for the speed of deploying new branch locations. I can deliver the device to the branch, and it is important because simplified deployment makes the implementation start more easily since devices are auto-configured and authenticate without manual intervention.
Read full review
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Management Applications solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Airwave?
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Airwave?
The pricing for Aruba Airwave is acceptable because compared to Cisco, it's slightly cheaper, but not significantly - maybe 5% or 7% less expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
The biggest problem for not using Aruba Airwave extensively now is that HP is not upgrading this tool. They're not investing money and time into it, which is why we're not using it. I find the pric...
See all answers
What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?
When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco can improve Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN by simplifying licensing and platform integration with other Cisco products such as Catalyst Center or solutions with Meraki. A license needs to be permanent...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Cisco DNA Center vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Cisco DNA Center vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 32% of the time
HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Aruba Airwave Logo
HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 21% of the time
Aruba ClearPass vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Aruba ClearPass vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 11% of the time
Cisco Catalyst Center vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Cisco Catalyst Center vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 9% of the time
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 9% of the time
More Aruba Airwave Competitors
Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Logo
Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Compared 14% of the time
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Logo
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Compared 10% of the time
Prisma SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Logo
Prisma SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Compared 8% of the time
Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Logo
Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Compared 8% of the time
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Logo
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Compared 7% of the time
More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Aruba Airwave
August 2025
Aruba Airwave reportDownload Aruba Airwave product report
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
August 2025
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reportDownload Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco SD-WAN
 

Overview

Offering granular visibility into wired and wireless networks, AirWave is the only management platform designed with mobile devices and apps in mind. By proactively monitoring the health and performance of all things connected, AirWave lets IT gain the insights they need to support the digital workplace.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers centralized management and integrates seamlessly with existing Cisco ecosystems. It simplifies deployment with zero-touch provisioning, delivering robust security and optimized application routing.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN provides essential capabilities for organizations seeking secure remote connectivity and cost reduction, notably through its support of hybrid environments. While pricing and complexity present challenges, its advanced application control and cloud compatibility make it a valuable asset for connecting branches and data centers. Users benefit from enhanced security, network assurance, and simplified management, driving operational efficiency.

What are the key features of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN?
  • Centralized Management: Streamlines network operations through a single interface.
  • Zero-Touch Provisioning: Simplifies deployment, reducing manual setup efforts.
  • Application-Aware Routing: Enhances performance by prioritizing critical applications.
  • Robust Security: Integrates strong security measures for data protection.
  • Hybrid Environment Support: Facilitates connectivity across various environments.
  • Integration with Cisco Products: Ensures seamless operation within existing networks.
What benefits can users expect from Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN?
  • Cost Efficiency: Reduces networking expenses by optimizing resource usage.
  • Operational Simplicity: Streamlines processes, reducing resource strain.
  • Enhanced Security: Strengthens defenses with integrated security features.
  • Improved Connectivity: Ensures reliable communication for remote sites.
  • Scalability: Supports varying enterprise sizes with tailored solutions.

In banking, retail, and enterprise sectors, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN facilitates effective network management by enhancing connectivity between branches and data centers. Its security features and zero-touch deployment are particularly valued, providing scalable solutions for locations that demand reliable, application-prioritized networking.

Cisco
 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Buyer's Guide
Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
July 2025
Free Report: Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN report.
See our list of best Network Management Applications vendors.

We monitor all Network Management Applications reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.