Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Juniper Session Smart Router comparison

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs. Juniper Session Smart Router

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 12.3%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is 5.9%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper Session Smart Router is 2.4%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	12.3%
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform	5.9%
Juniper Session Smart Router	2.4%
Other	79.4%

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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SatishKumar13

Deputy Manager at Savex Technologies Pvt Ltd

Reliable features and exceptional tech support enhance user experience

The Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is a fantastic solution based on my experience. The Zero-Touch Provisioning feature is one of the best features I have seen so far. While there are some aspects that need improvement on the technical side, when comparing it with other products and solutions, it performs well but still has room for enhancement.

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Bashir Bashir

IT Manager at Vegol

Real-time visibility has strengthened network control and supports long-term enterprise use

Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I feel should not be that way. Otherwise, functionality-wise, I feel it is perfect. It is way high and expensive; that is why most of my clients on the lower end, I cannot suggest Juniper. It is too pricey. Of late, I am seeing them changing the interface; the UI is changing, and that is a good thing. But still, I feel you can standardize the syntax to be in line with the rest of them.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortigate is very scalable to serve our customers' needs. We have scaled already from fifty to more than a hundred instances of Fortinet FortiGate. Around 20 staff are required for deployment and maintenance, mostly engineers."

"Fortinet FortiGate has many valuable features, such as IDS, and intrusion detection. It has security features that are in part with the technologies that are available in the market."

"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."

"It's a user-friendly and stable firewall."

"Fortinet FortiGate serves as the first line of defense, it is robust and easy to configure, and I haven't seen any breaches happening when configured properly based on best practices."

"The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."

"The solution is used in my company since its management is very comfortable"

"The most useful features are application control, web filtering, and SD-WAN."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"It is a scalable solution."

"The tool's most valuable feature is bandwidth optimization."

"Many features are valuable for automation, connectivity, and throughput."

"The platform is valuable for bandwidth reduction."

"The Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is a fantastic solution based on my experience."

"At the moment, for us, it is a very good solution because it has all the features we need and it is not so expensive."

"The most valuable feature is the support for asymmetric lines."

"I rate the Aruba EdgeConnect solution nine out of ten."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pros

"For telecom companies, I think zero-trust segmentation is the way to go because if you allow anything that you do not understand, then it becomes a problem."

"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."

"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."

"As compared to the other major vendors in the SD-WAN market, such as VeloCloud, Cisco, and others, the tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, which gives plenty of room to discuss with the customer why IPSec from 1998 is a bit outdated."

"Customer service is very prompt."

"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."

Cons

"Improvements for Fortinet FortiGate could be made by making it easier to implement on networks and simpler to add users and accounts that utilize this solution. That's basically the only challenge that I see."

"NGN, reporting and controls."

"From a support perspective, I had more issues that I didn't think the person on my case handled the way I was expecting. We called them for a geolocation issue and we didn't get any proper assistance."

"Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use."

"The solution could be more secure and stable."

"Some of the software stability could improve."

"A disadvantage exists when we are collecting the logs, as it sometimes becomes very difficult to interpret the logs that are generated from the firewall."

"The representative from the vendor seems to know the basics of the product but when it comes to troubleshooting he seems to lack information."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"If compared with Cisco, then Aruba's pricing is very aggressive."

"In future releases, I would like to see security features, so Aruba might need some firewalls, like other vendors."

"When comparing it with Fortinet and Palo Alto, which are top players in the Indian market, we are currently lacking in that aspect."

"The support, which is the direct support from Aruba, has shortcomings and needs to be improved."

"We would like to have better features for path selection. For example, if we know the network is going to go down then we would like to set up an alternate route for data packets in real-time."

"I guess the tool should give you a little more flexibility on what you can show on the main window, which can be an area of improvement."

"I expect automation in the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform's next release."

"They have to implement more security with it. The security, mainly their firewall functions, have to be included in the firewall features."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform cons

"Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I feel should not be that way."

"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."

"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."

"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."

"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although the solution's pricing is high, compared with other products, it may be cheap."

"It is around $50,000 per month."

"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."

"The price is okay, so far so good."

"When comparing the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other solutions it is expensive. The price could be better."

"FortiGate SWG is a cost-effective solution well-suited for organisations of all sizes."

"The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced."

"The solution is offered as an annual license."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The pricing for this product is good."

"The licensing would be cheap if we compare it with the others, like Cisco."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high, I rate the pricing around five to six."

"The license for Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect is paid annually."

"You can get both yearly and monthly options in licensing. It is not expensive."

"The licensing fees depend on the bandwidth. As an example of what we charge our customers, for 100MB without Boost, the price is approximately $2,000. That includes the licensing and the unit."

"You have to negotiate when it comes to pricing and licensing."

"You typically will license the hardware and you license the software to access the hardware capabilities. The price will range anywhere from a hundred to $300 a month. There are no additional costs."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pricing and cost advice

"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."

"We are currently renegotiating the offer for the licenses and the license bundle model. The license for an ISP has to be different from the license for an end customer. This is something we are currently renegotiating with Juniper, but, of course, the pricing for the licensing is always an issue when you want to get more customers."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Legal Firm

Manufacturing Company

20%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	360
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	190

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	10

No data available

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Silver Peak NX?

The pricing is on the higher side compared to the competition when discussing experience with pricing, setup cost, an...

What needs improvement with Silver Peak NX?

The room for improvement for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is pricing, as people are purchasing this product ...

What is your primary use case for Silver Peak NX?

A typical use case for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is high latency connectivity, which is why I or my clien...

What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?

I did not find any problem with Juniper. Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do.

What is your primary use case for Juniper Session Smart Router?

We are using it as a DNG. This means all subscriber PPPoE sessions or ILS Smart VPN connections are terminated throug...

What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Session Smart Router?

On a scale of one to ten, I rate the solution nine.

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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

Compared 26% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 12% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 2% of the time

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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 13% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 8% of the time

Mist WAN Assurance vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 7% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 7% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 5% of the time

More Juniper Session Smart Router Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Download Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform product report

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform report

Routers

Download Juniper Session Smart Router product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Silver Peak NX, Silver Peak VX, Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect

128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

The EdgeConnect SD-WAN platform secures and powers a self-driving wide area network for cloud-first enterprises.

In today’s edge-to-cloud enterprise, user experience and security are not optional

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN provides a secure network foundation for Zero Trust and SASE. It includes a first-class SD-WAN paired with a next-generation firewall delivering unmatched quality of experience and advanced security.

Best-of-breed SASE with no compromise

EdgeConnect SD-WAN enables a best-of-breed SASE architecture that meets the security requirements of today’s digital organizations. It provides comprehensive SD-WAN and security services including next-generation firewall, fine-grained segmentation, IDS/IPS, and tightly integrates with many SSE (Security Service Edge) solutions.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

The 128T Networking Platform (128T) natively provides network-based security, control, and insight across data centers, wide-area networks (WAN), and edge locations for enterprises, service providers, and cloud companies alike. 128T is reshaping the way organizations design, deploy, and operate real-world networks by making them dramatically simpler, smarter, and more secure — it’s going to fix the router — and ultimately the network — as we know it.

Juniper

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Group Dekko, Kingston Technology, American Student Assistance, Ares Management, Charlotte Metro Credit Union, Colonial Savings, Community Bank, Denali Credit Union, Bed Bath & Beyond, Breweries of Cameroon, Carnival Australia, Coastal Beverages, Toshiba Electronics, Tru Blu Beverages, WAXIE Sanitary Supply, Charleston Area Medical Center, Community Health Plan, Healthcare Company, Mercy Health, Linklaters, Miles & Stockbridge, Thomson Snell & Passmore

Revation Systems

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs. Juniper Session Smart Router