Aruba Orchestrator vs Prisma SD-WAN comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.8, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.7. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 0.7% mindshare in SDW, compared to Palo Alto Networks’s 6.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Prisma SD-WAN and Aruba Orchestrator compete in the SD-WAN solution category. Prisma SD-WAN appears to have the upper hand in handling complex networks due to its advanced analytics and integration capabilities.

Features: Prisma SD-WAN provides VPN tunnel creation, deep application visibility, and integration with various security vendors. It offers Zero Touch Provisioning, dynamic routing, and Layer 7 traffic manipulation for complex network environments. Aruba Orchestrator focuses on WAN optimization with a unified dashboard for simplified management, supports full REST API access, and integrates with ClearPass for network access control.

Room for Improvement: Prisma SD-WAN users report issues with technical documentation, alerting capabilities, and integration with monitoring software. Manual intervention in updates is also noted. Aruba Orchestrator could improve dynamic certificate changes, analytics, and management menus. Its on-premises deployments require significant effort, complicating hardware scenarios.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Prisma SD-WAN is widely deployed across hybrid environments with good support dynamics, though some users experience support delays. Under Palo Alto, support remains robust compared to its CloudGenix phase. Aruba Orchestrator offers competent support but lacks historical support efficiency, particularly during its competitive phase with CloudGenix.

Pricing and ROI: Prisma SD-WAN is a premium solution with higher costs than competitors like Zscaler or Fortinet, offering advanced features and integration benefits for existing Palo Alto users. Despite the cost, users report significant savings and improved performance leading to faster ROI. Aruba Orchestrator offers a mid-range pricing model with reasonable returns, acknowledged for its low-cost structure and free software aspect, though some feel its feature set may not justify the price compared to others.

To learn more, read our detailed Aruba Orchestrator vs. Prisma SD-WAN Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Orchestrator vs. Prisma SD-WAN

April 2025

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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 May 2025, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 20.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba Orchestrator is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma SD-WAN is 6.0%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Aneesh K

IT Solution Analyst II at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting

Aruba has plenty of solutions showcased at this event. Perhaps they offer their firewall, which we are not currently utilizing—the LAN switching, ClearPass, and Wi-Fi. ClearPass is is still on-premises, but the switching, Wi-Fi, and security features are included. It has some capabilities, like automation intelligence, which they call AI operations. So it is helpful. Our time spent on troubleshooting will be significantly reduced with it. Another useful feature is that we can inquire about the health data from Aruba Central and receive the necessary answers. Aruba Central simplifies management. Yes, deployment will be much faster than on-premises setups, where you need many hardware gateways. With just an access point or minimal hardware, deployment will be quicker. Troubleshooting with it has also made it much more straightforward. A group of ten people should be more than sufficient to manage an extensive infrastructure. Aruba is providing better support. They are also improving their email services. They are up to market standards, so we choose to go with them. We were looking for a direct vendor, but they didn't meet our requirements. Aruba Orchestrator is meeting our current expectations and standards, so we are sticking with them. We don't have any issues because we have been with Aruba for many years. We don't mind moving from one vendor to another. We are simply transitioning from one rental type to another with Aruba. I prioritize enhancements in AI functionality over other features. There are several implementations, with AI being the primary focus. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

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Engineerinfosec67

Senior Information Security Engineer at Westcon-Comstor

Centralized management streamlines global network traffic control

Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access. Although there has been improvement, further steps can be taken. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls, as they currently do not align.

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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

"Offers good security and filtering."

"I appreciate FortiGate's flexibility, which allows for centralized management through FortiManager."

"The inspection and web security features are most valuable."

"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."

"Some of the key features of the solution is that it has good reporting, you can receive many details from the connection, for example, clients and website information."

"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."

"Security, SD-WAN, and Streetscape are valuable features."

"The product is easy to use and is stable. The SV1 functionality is a benefit."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We had to deal with separate management models for Wi-Fi and switches. With Aruba Orchestrator, it's now a unified solution, making things much easier for us. We log in and manage everything from a single console. It provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting. The management process is much quicker and more streamlined."

"Aruba Orchestrator has notably reduced enrollment setup times from several hours to within an hour if prepared and planned."

"The most valuable feature is optimization."

"The solution has a single pane of glass view that allows you to see everything happening in your SD-WAN world."

"The Business Intent Overlay is a great feature."

"The most important feature is WAN optimization."

"The technical support services are excellent."

"The product has reduced OpEx expenditure."

"It is flexible to use the internet connection via local breakouts without going to data centers."

"The security offered by the solution is pretty good."

"The product's initial setup phase is straightforward."

"Overall, I would rate Prisma SD-WAN an eight out of ten."

"Prisma SD-WAN is an absolutely stable solution."

"The gateway is available on the cloud which allows you access from anywhere and still connects to your home gateway."

"Prisma SD-WAN offers capabilities such as path selection based on Layer 7 attributes and application quality of service at the application level."

"I like the link monitoring and analytics. These are the features that set Prisma apart from other products. Prisma works well with large, complex networks. One of my clients is a top bank in the United States, and Prisma has performed well for that customer."

More Prisma SD-WAN pros

Cons

"With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."

"Stability and technical support are the two major issues I have found with Fortinet."

"I would like to see a more intuitive dashboard."

"The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate."

"At this moment, we believe that Fortinet FortiGate should be improved by injecting more AI because the kind of threats we are seeing are more ransomware threats. Fortinet FortiGate is able to ensure these threats do not enter, but we would prefer to see more proactive alerting mechanisms come out."

"There are mainly two areas of improvement in Fortinet FortiGate— the licensing cost and the timing of upgrading licenses for boxes."

"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."

"Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The solution lacks sufficient security features."

"The solution can be improved by lowering the cost and making it more user-friendly for first-time users."

"The management menu should be simplified."

"Aruba Orchestrator should implement dynamic certificate changes for security."

"They could provide essential training to understand the product functionality."

"The initial setup is complex, depending on the overall planning for the entire environment."

"I would also like to see improvement in the product training for customers. Palo Alto has not initiated very much training but they have to do so because this is a new product. If you have experience in a legacy environment, and you are moving to Prisma SD-WAN, you don't have a training framework. That is one of the disadvantages."

"If Palo Alto could open the platform to manage other SD-WANs, it would be beneficial."

"The product could be a bit cheaper for the services it provides."

"Accessibility could be improved. Any new person attempting to access Prisma will have difficulty. It doesn't have CLI available."

"Event correlation and analysis capabilities do not help minimize the number of alarms from a single event. That is the problem. We are getting a lot of incidents, and there is some issue with the correlation. That is still a drawback."

"The solution should include custom ports and group voice connections."

"We are incorporating their zone-based firewalls. Prisma SD-WAN has limited documentation on how it manipulates traffic, e.g., how it is interacting with TCP and UDP. We recently had some traffic that was black holing. We literally had to do packet captures to see that the new zone-based firewall, which runs on top of Prisma SD-WAN, was causing issues."

"If Palo Alto could open the platform to manage other SD-WANs, it would be beneficial."

More Prisma SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."

"The price is fair for what we get with FortiGate."

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"It is more affordable than Check Point and Palo Alto. Another thing is that all the features and the OS remain the same irrespective of the size of the device. Pricing-wise, Fortinet typically provides one-year support with the firewall appliance. There is also an option for three years which is how their licensing works."

"Other firewalls are more expensive than Fortinet FortiGate, such as the Azure firewall."

"The Indian market is different than the European and American markets. When you compare they need to be a bit more aggressive on pricing."

"If you compare Fortinet FortiGate with Sophos and other firewall products available in the market, this solution is affordable."

"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"I think it is quite expensive compared to other vendors in the market because it depends on what kind of features you really want to acquire in the product."

"I rate the platform’s pricing a five out of ten."

"The solution's licensing costs are yearly. It is not expensive, and I rate it around three to four out of ten."

"Aruba Orchestrator is free to use."

"Prisma SD-WAN is a pretty expensive solution."

"If you're already invested in a Palo Alto product, it would be logical to use this solution. If not, there might be some other solutions that are more viable in terms of pricing."

"It is more expensive than Fortinet."

"This solution stood out because it cost considerably less than the other SD-WAN solutions out there from Cisco."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

20%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?

The most important feature is WAN optimization.

See all answers

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

Aruba Orchestrator is free to use.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?

The management menu should be simplified.

See all answers

What do you like most about Prisma SD-WAN?

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma SD-WAN?

The product could be a bit cheaper for the services it provides.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?

I think the product could be a bit cheaper, but otherwise, I am satisfied with it.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Aruba Orchestrator

Compared 64% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Aruba Orchestrator

Compared 36% of the time

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Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 22% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 21% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 15% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 10% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

More Prisma SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Orchestrator

April 2025

Download Aruba Orchestrator product report

Buyer's Guide

Prisma SD-WAN

April 2025

Download Prisma SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator, Unity Orchestrator

CloudGenix

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Aruba Orchestrator has an intuitive interface that allows you to centrally define, assign, and enforce policies across the WAN. Network managers experience the highest quality of experience to:

Centrally define, assign and enforce policies based on business intent to secure and control all application traffic across the WAN.

Orchestrator dashboards provide real time visibility into SD-WAN health and performance in a single screen, monitoring traffic throughput along with loss, latency and jitter across overlays and underlays.

Maintain the highest levels of application performance by automatically assigning application and security policies across 100s or 1000s of sites, including automated orchestration with cloud security services.

Central orchestration of network functions including SD-WAN routing, firewall, segmentation, WAN optimization, application visibility and control, and automated orchestration with cloud security services.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Simplify management, enable app-defined SD-WAN policies and deliver a secure, cloud-delivered branch today with the Industry’s first next-generation SD-WAN.

Palo Alto Networks

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

Information Not Available

Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Orchestrator vs. Prisma SD-WAN

April 2025

Free Report: Aruba Orchestrator vs. Prisma SD-WAN

Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Orchestrator vs. Prisma SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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