Aviatrix vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

Aviatrix and Cisco are both solutions in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category. Aviatrix is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8, while Cisco is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Aviatrix holds a 5.0% mindshare in SDN, compared to Cisco’s 22.8% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Aviatrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Aviatrix

Read 6 Aviatrix reviews

355 Views
131 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Meraki SD-WAN

Read 77 Meraki SD-WAN reviews

1,383 Views
596 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Aviatrix

Meraki SD-WAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Meraki SD-WAN and Aviatrix are competitors in the SD-WAN sector, each offering unique advantages. Although Meraki SD-WAN is appreciated for its cost-effectiveness and exceptional customer support, Aviatrix stands out with its advanced features, making it preferable for businesses requiring sophisticated functionalities despite a higher price point.

Features: Meraki SD-WAN provides centralized management, seamless cloud integration, and robust security protocols. Aviatrix offers extensive multi-cloud networking capabilities, advanced traffic engineering, and comprehensive analytics.

Room for Improvement: Meraki SD-WAN could enhance its capabilities in handling complex multi-cloud environments and improve its analytics offerings. Aviatrix might benefit from streamlining its deployment process to reduce the learning curve and enhancing cost-efficiency for smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Meraki SD-WAN offers a simple deployment process coupled with strong customer service, making ongoing management straightforward. Aviatrix provides a flexible, highly customizable deployment model suited for complex environments, supported by customer service that aligns with its architectural flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: Meraki SD-WAN is attractive for its lower initial expenses, offering significant ROI through efficient resource utilization. Aviatrix requires a larger investment, justified by enhanced network performance and agility, delivering a solid ROI despite its higher setup costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN

June 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

Aviatrix

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

4th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Meraki SD-WAN

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Aviatrix is 5.0%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki SD-WAN is 22.8%, down from 25.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Featured Reviews

Bharadhwaj Bathini

System Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Seamless integration features for multi-cloud environments with significant challenges regarding security and support

There is room for improvement regarding enhancing its security features in response to modern cybersecurity challenges. This includes implementing advanced security measures like multi-factor authentication when connecting with various technologies and during login processes. Additionally, the user experience could be improved by offering more practical training courses, helping users understand the purpose and capabilities of Aviatrix, especially in scenarios like archiving systems. Offering temporary subscriptions to external users could boost adoption and usage. Clear communication of policies, terms, and conditions is also recommended to ensure users are well-informed about what can and cannot be done. These enhancements would provide a more user-friendly experience.

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Premnath Jaganathan

Product Manager at Uop Ipl

Manage enterprise network traffic seamlessly but security features need enhancement

The security integration in Meraki SD-WAN is not as good as the competition, such as Fortinet. Customers are moving away due to this reason, as Meraki lacks in offering advanced security features, which is crucial for many enterprise clients. Cisco's AI capabilities and Meraki are about seventy percent caught up with competitors like Juniper Mist in terms of AI integration.

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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

"The product has greatly improved our organization by saving costs for multiple direct connections and simpler cloud configurations."

"The most valuable feature of Aviatrix is that it saves us a lot of time."

"This tool resolves the overlapping of CIDR’s IP addresses in a multi-cloud environment, which is its best feature. The product also gives packet-level details on the data that has been put from one cloud to another. Currently, no other solution in the market can give this kind of detail. There is also the high VPN connectivity which gives high throughput. Internet service providers have a limitation on large migrations like 10 Gigabytes or 2 to 2.3 GBPS. However, this tool gives you a functionality where you can bundle multiple tunnels into one tunnel. Thereafter, you can transfer the data from one environment to another or from on-prem to the cloud."

"Within the Aviatrix ecosystem, you could connect different clouds, and the intricacies of low-level commands and configurations were abstracted away."

"The connections are seamless, and we can access the static clouds on the platform itself. We are also able to trace the issues. The most valuable features of the solution are security, user interface, and performance."

"Its exceptional capability to seamlessly integrate with various cloud services makes it the preferred choice for multi-cloud deployments."

"Meraki can react fast to emerging trends."

"The integration of security features is important, although there is room for improvement."

"t is very stable based on our experience and the application performance has been superb."

"The most valuable feature is the single management plane dashboard. Our organization has a global site, we have separated the area, and we have more than five hundred small sites around the world."

"It is secure, and some features, like work device management, are very useful."

"The most valuable feature is application awareness."

"The solution operates via zero-touch configuration."

"The solution's technical support is good."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

"The solution needs to improve the onboarding architecture."

"There could be an easy availability of multiple features in the profile."

"The tool has a very limited local presence in the GCC market. I am based in Dubai, UAE and it would be very difficult for me to reach out to US staff for technical discussion during the tool’s implementation. The tool needs to focus on the GCC market which includes UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc. There is nobody to help you out in this region."

"There can be a steep learning curve for users who are not familiar with it or multi-cloud networking concepts"

"There is room for improvement regarding enhancing its security features in response to modern cybersecurity challenges."

"Aviatrix should include more integrated security features like intrusion detection and lateral movement detection."

"Technical support could be more knowledgeable and responsive."

"The solution lacks controllers."

"In some cases, like an Internet outage, this can make the solution unmanageable."

"People are struggling a little bit with the lead times right now. It’s hard to actually get the hardware."

"We'd like features that provide more transparency when there are issues. Right now, it's hard to get clarity on problems. We need more visibility."

"They stopped doing WAN optimization as a feature set, which is lacking. They need to relook at that and consider WAN optimization as an option."

"There could be more options for integration between other devices — sort of being able to more easily make everything integrated in one solution."

"With Meraki, it's more of a basic connectivity. It doesn't have all the feature sets that a Cisco SD-WAN solution has. It's limited."

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is quite expensive."

"It operates on a consumption-based model and the expenses depend on factors such as the number of virtual machines you use and the resources consumed."

"Aviatrix is a pretty expensive solution."

"During the initial phase, it operates as an open-source and it's a free tool."

"The price of this solution is good, it is not expensive."

"The tool offers term licenses. You have the same term licensing model available for all of your equipment, which is good for management."

"From the perspective of the customer, the price is not terribly cost-effective."

"like everything else, it's negotiable."

"This solution is more expensive than competitors."

"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."

"For a pure SD-WAN solution, the pricing is competitive. However, our clients are on the lower tier in terms of budget, viewing IT more as a necessary expense rather than integral to their business. While Meraki's solution might be pricey for them, there aren't many cheaper, reliable options."

"The product's price falls under the mid-range category, especially if we consider the new licensing model. The tool is not cheap anymore."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aviatrix?

The most valuable feature of Aviatrix is that it saves us a lot of time.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aviatrix?

Aviatrix is a pretty expensive solution. Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution and the support. You can't buy the product without support.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Aviatrix?

Aviatrix should include more integrated security features like intrusion detection and lateral movement detection.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

May 2025

Download Aviatrix product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

May 2025

Download Meraki SD-WAN product report

Overview

The Aviatrix solution consists of two components: the Aviatrix Gateway, which is deployed on-premises or in the cloud; and the Aviatrix Cloud Controller, which orchestrates and manages one or more Gateways.

Aviatrix

Software-defined WAN is a new approach to network connectivity that lowers operational costs and improves resource usage for multi-site deployments, allowing network administrators to use bandwidth more efficiently and ensure the highest possible level of performance for critical applications without sacrificing security or data privacy. For more information on deploying and configuring SD-WAN on the Meraki MX Security Appliance, see the Meraki SD-WAN Deployment Guide.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Hyatt, Robert Half, GREE

École Jeannine Manuel

Buyer's Guide

Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN

June 2025

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