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Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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

Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
7th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (4th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (15th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (11th), WAN Edge (7th), ZTNA as a Service (9th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (5th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is 0.5%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 6.5%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cato SASE Cloud Platform6.5%
Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms0.5%
Other93.0%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

IgnitiusMolepo - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IP Network Defense at MTN
Network operations have become intelligent, secure, and efficient for large-scale growth
The only improvement I can suggest for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is that in the AI era, it will be important to embed machine learning capabilities. It will be important to embed some agencies within that technology and ensure that the technology is able to manage the traffic coming from the agent and also from the robots. Nowadays, companies are starting to adopt new technology with robot agents. I believe that there will be a lot of traffic coming from those agencies. We need to understand the capabilities on how we can onboard them on our technology, on our network on Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms.
reviewer2697738 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Cloud security has unified global network design and has simplified threat visibility
I think all of the functionalities, such as the secure web gateway feature, are quite good. I also believe Cato SASE Cloud Platform is one of the only solutions that has not only a software firewall solution but also a physical software solution where you can change the company's firewalls and put in sockets from Cato SASE Cloud Platform, which I see as an advantage for them. The single-pass architecture has improved user experience with Cato SASE Cloud Platform as it provides security teams in companies a platform where they can easily obtain information if there are breaches or security issues. I assess the benefit of integrating WAN optimization as good. There is ease in making rules between WAN optimization, especially when it comes to global connections because of all their points of presence that are spread over the world. I think the real-time threat protection of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is also good. Their points of presence are quite efficient, and I do not see any delays in that area.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Everything is good, and I very much enjoy this product."
"As a customer, the biggest advantage of Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms that I think of is its reliability, which makes me really confident to use it."
"Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms positively impacts my organization because, although we were using Meraki MX for a long time with no new model from them, we were concerned about supporting the increasing bandwidth requirement for our sites, and Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms helps with this, as we understand it is a newer platform with many optimizations under the hood that can be done to make it more powerful and able to support larger bandwidth requirements."
"The great thing about Cisco Catalyst is the performance and how it can handle so much traffic and information at the same time, forwarding using CEF technology compared with other brands."
"Compared to other vendors, such as Huawei and others, Cisco switches are more powerful and very intelligent."
"Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is a very good product, and with this, we can do so many things, including integrating with the firewall, URL filtering, VPN, IPsec segmentation, and other capabilities."
"The flexibility of the models in Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms helps my organization because it is easier to add any Catalyst 8000 series to Catalyst Center for management, and it is also easy to add to the SD-WAN manager if needed, which makes operations very easy from both an intuitive and operational handling perspective."
"Overall, it is a solid platform that ensures reliability and scalability for network edge connectivity."
"Cato SASE Cloud Platform's self-healing model is the most valuable feature."
"My rating for Cato Networks is eight out of ten because it's an excellent product, especially for what it offers."
"It's a pretty straightforward solution."
"When I first encountered Cato, I didn't know how to use it, but after a week of training, I could onboard our systems to it, so the solution was easy to learn and navigate."
"When we went to Cato Networks it was an always-on automatic VPN, it reduced our help desk calls by about 10 percent."
"The solution is stable."
"The product is efficient and easy to use."
"This solution has allowed us to have more points of presence around the world, improved bandwidth across different areas, and provided data leak prevention, CASB, a better dashboard, and the ability to drill down into security problems in a few clicks."
 

Cons

"The only improvement I can suggest for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is that in the AI era, it will be important to embed machine learning capabilities."
"I believe Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms could improve the overall management and troubleshooting experience."
"Sometimes it takes a little bit, and sometimes they do not give a lot of information, so it is better to make calls and have meetings with the support team."
"The price for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is somewhat higher compared to Chinese brands, though the difference is not huge."
"Additionally, the firewall management requires significant improvement, as the current behavior resembles firewalls from 25 years ago; it lacks central management policies and objects that modern firewalls possess."
"It could expand its reach into other sectors like professional services and finance, requiringmore specialized tools beyond Cato's current offerings. This includes better integration with third-party providers for more sophisticated tools such as intrusion prevention systems, anti-malware, and data loss prevention. Additionally, enhancing network speed and optimizing last-mile connectivity for managed service providers like us would be beneficial."
"The price could be better. Because of the price, we are considering moving to Cisco Meraki."
"For a packaged solution, needing external intervention or a system integrator to get other features not offered by Cato Networks could be an area for improvement."
"For a packaged solution, needing external intervention or a system integrator to get other features not offered by Cato Networks could be an area for improvement. Cato Networks does what it's meant to do and is even overstretching capabilities when introducing new features. The product can only have very few features added on top of what its currently doing. Managed service providers can deliver the extra features you'd need. It's a set of managed services, and what Cato Networks does is very comprehensive. So, for the time being, when the actual incarnation of the SASE solution is deployed, Cato Networks is a very effective product. Naturally, technology will evolve, so everybody knows that in three, four, or five years, there will be a new kid on the block, a new game. Still, at the moment, Cato Networks only needs to improve a little regarding SASE delivery. The product is doing very well, but one feature the Cato Networks team is doing right is preparing for the future through deploying the SSE 360, so the security service is at that edge. It's an excellent strategy to prepare for the future. SSE 360 is what Cato Networks should invest in the most to keep prospering."
"To improve Cato SASE Cloud Platform, I think they sometimes need more built-in features for security in larger networks when doing local authentication, as they currently leave that to other vendors."
"The different languages in the user interface should be enhanced to include other languages."
"I'd rate Cato SASE Cloud Platform's pricing as about five or six out of ten. It's not the cheapest solution, but it is cheaper than Palo Alto and even VeloCloud."
"Web application firewalling (WAF) is a feature we would like to have in this solution and does not exist yet."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I'd rate Cato SASE Cloud Platform's pricing as about five or six out of ten. It's not the cheapest solution, but it is cheaper than Palo Alto and even VeloCloud. We've been working with them for a while and have significant discounts. Our licensing costs vary because we keep adding sites, but it's about 280 per month per site. This includes additional features beyond the base product, starting at around 200."
"The platform is expensive."
"The solution is reasonably priced since Cato Networks provides features like SASE and monitoring, which I am very happy with currently."
"The solution's pricing is flexible."
"The solution has reasonable pricing. It has a yearly subscription. The pricing depends on the permit to code. Sometimes, we need to increase the permit, and the cost will automatically change. There's no fixed cost. Unless we request additional modules such as DNS security, ELP, and decent features, there will be no additional cost."
"The product is very competitively priced, and that's compelling. They don't charge the customer based on the operational cost like other brands such as Palo Alto. Cato has its own fully-fledged cloud, with their own data centers, equipment, and so on, which is an advantage. I rate the solution five out of five for affordability."
"I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."
"If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?
The only improvement I can suggest for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is that in the AI era, it will be important to embed machine learning capabilities. It will be important to embed some agencies w...
What is your primary use case for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?
Currently, we are using the Cisco 5585 and the Firepowers, and the Firepower IPS, which comes as part of the firewall module, and the switching and the routing. For switching, we have the Catalyst ...
What advice do you have for others considering Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?
I still work with the product, specifically with this solution, but I have low hands-on experience myself. However, I am managing the team which is hands-on. 90% of the time, even now, if you call ...
What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?
I can see that I am a consultant at a reseller and I am the architect of Cato SASE Cloud Platform designs. In the baseline, I usually recommend Cato SASE Cloud Platform for international companies ...
What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?
It is difficult to find types of companies I would not recommend Cato SASE Cloud Platform to, and I believe you can use Cato SASE Cloud Platform in most environments, although there could be some c...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cato Networks?
I do not find it particularly expensive, but for some companies, they may not have the budget to be at that level of security for their networks.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cato Networks
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
Find out what your peers are saying about Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms vs. Cato SASE Cloud Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.