Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs VMware SD-WAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on May 30, 2023

We performed a comparison between Cato Networks and VMware SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Both Cato Networks and VMware SD-WAN have easy initial setups, but Cato requires minimal programming effort while VMware may need more work during registration. Cato has a faster deployment time ranging from a few minutes to a few hours, while VMware can take several weeks to a couple of months.
  • Features: Cato Networks has web filtering, antivirus capabilities, always-on VPN, and centralized management at a cost-effective price. They also provide traffic optimization and acceleration for challenging countries. VMware SD-WAN has Dynamic Multipath Optimization, cybersecurity, and a flexible virtualization platform. Users find it easy to use with many features.
  • Pricing: Cato Networks is priced reasonably with various security options, while VMware SD-WAN is expensive and comes with a minimum cost of $10,000 a month due to licensing costs. Cato Networks' pricing varies based on bandwidth and socket type, making it competitive with other solutions, while VMware SD-WAN is rated as average to slightly above average in terms of setup cost.
  • Service and Support: Cato Networks has reliable customer service, although communication and consistency could be improved. VMware SD-WAN's customer service is a mixed bag, with knowledgeable technical support but some users feel it could be more responsive and friendly.
  • ROI: Cato Networks has proven to be cost-effective with significant reductions in network maintenance expenses observed within a year. On the other hand, VMware SD-WAN's return on investment is uncertain, as some users have not seen any benefit while others have reported productivity gains.

Comparison Results: Cato Networks is praised for its affordability, web filtering, antivirus capabilities, and always-on VPN for remote workers. They also offer centralized management and traffic acceleration for difficult countries. On the other hand, VMware SD-WAN has more advanced firewall and security features, better flexibility for customers, and improved reporting and monitoring. Customer service and support are mixed for both, but setup is rated highly for both.

To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. VMware SD-WAN Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The protection offered by the product is the most valuable feature. It detects vulnerabilities or traps on our users' phones and then prompts them to clean up their devices. Tools we used previously would only discover, which required us to gather information on the backend, so Lookout is a welcome upgrade.""The most valuable features are the antivirus as a whole, the anti-malware, and all of the protection features that scan our enterprise devices.""The solution is stable.""On the outside, the main differentiation is because Lookout ingest. They have ingested basically all of the apps for the last ten years and all the versions of all the apps, and we have that in a corporate database that allows us to do very large-scale machine learning and analysis on that data set. That's not something that any of the competitors really have the capability to do because they don't have access to the data set. A lot of the apps you can no longer get them because that version of the app is five or six years old, and it just doesn't exist anywhere anymore, except within our infrastructure. So, the ability to have that very rich dataset and learn from that dataset is a real differentiator."

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"The solution is stable.""The most valuable feature of Cato Networks is the CASB and the documentation is useful.""The product is efficient and easy to use.""The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity. There is no complex routing.""The WAN aggregation feature is the most valuable.""The most valuable features of Cato Networks are the always-on VPN for remote workers and centralized management. Additionally, web filtering and antivirus are good.""It is quite simple and easy to use.""We appreciate the optimization and acceleration of the performance of SDP users."

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"It is fairly similar to other solutions. It has the capability for testing link connectivity, which is its unique feature from a control perspective.""The most valuable feature of VMware SD-WAN is security. Additionally, the integration and configuration are easier to do than with other solutions, such as Cisco.""VMware has been chosen by many of our customers who do not want to do a lot of complex routing in their environment and want a very easy-to-use solution. The most valuable features are simple troubleshooting, Dynamic Multipath Optimization (DMPO), and cybersecurity.""VMware SD-WAN is easy-to-use.""I like VMware SD-WAN's automation and zero-touch provisioning. Its main advantage is simplicity. Anyone can use this gateway.""SD-WAN is cloud-based and you can manage multiple sites within one single pane of glass.""Has an optimization feature that acts to ensure the quality of the services running on the overlay to be most valuable.""I would absolutely recommend VeloCloud because it's user-friendly and because the integration is easier than with other solutions."

More VMware SD-WAN Pros →

Cons
"Lookout was moving into the SSE space. And so their work on SecureWeb Gateway and SD-WAN is still sort of evolving.""From the analysis that we've done, they do seem to be maybe a step behind in trying to enter the market with a new solution. But when they do pick up, they do come out with some good products.""The stability depends on the service from where you access it. Because sometimes, the place you are in, you have Gateway. You don't have Gateway. The gateway is overutilized. At the end, you need to go through their gateways. And this is the key point here. You have a tracking point. If it's not well orchestrated, and it scales up as you add more to the existing team, you will suffer""We just submitted an enhancement request reflecting the main area we want to see improvement in; the APIs. Currently, we're able to build dashboards, but it's somewhat backward because we use our MDM API to create them. Lookout should provide API to customers so we can query our data and use it in our cloud, and this is the only outstanding area for improvement with the product right now."

More Lookout Cons →

"I am located in South Korea, and I can say that most people here have no idea about Cato Networks. I think Cato Networks should promote its network services in various countries.""The solution could be made more user friendly for the administrator to use the portal. It is difficult to use it for people who are not experienced with Cato Networks.""Cato Networks could improve their intrusion detection. There is not a lot in place.""The product may be complex for users with few years of experience.""We would like the product to continue to improve its security.""There's no principal in Malaysia, only a distributor.""Cato Networks security could be better.""The product must evolve into the endpoint domain."

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"They should provide us with the flexibility to scale up.""Technical support is in need of improvement.""Reports could be simplified.""In an upcoming release, they should allow customers the flexibility to use mobile applications where they can go and check on the information about their networks. A lot of vendors, such as Meraki, have a lot more integration with the use of portals to a mobile application. Having this feature as an alternative to logging into a laptop would be beneficial. If you are a SaaS-based company why not make a mobile application as well. You might not be able to do configurations but at least monitor while away or on vacation.""The solution is pricey. It could be cheaper.""Can't execute commands quickly when troubleshooting. The graphic user interface is slow.""VMware SD-WAN can improve on the security features.""VeloCloud needs improvement in terms of its security features."

More VMware SD-WAN Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The pricing is fair; it's comparable to our previous solution, and we carried out multiple POCs and POVs (proof of value). The product is worth the money we pay for it."
  • "Lookout is definitely on the lower end when it comes to price point and that seems to be the only differentiator. The technology is in place in this space and it's really about who is coming in at the better price point now."
  • "In terms of feature performance versus cost, they're a good value."
  • "The licensing costs are good. Prisma has much more options and support for security, but it has a higher cost. For example, Lookout costs 2/3rd of Prisma's licensing price."
  • More Lookout Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."
  • "If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."
  • "You pay yearly based on the speed of your network. If you increase the speed of your network, you increase the cost for your throughput. It is by bandwidth for the most part and then licenses for VPN. There is some per-seat licensing for VPN access, but the majority of it is minimal. It is like $30 a year per client. The rest is based on how much bandwidth you'll use. You pay for that upfront for the year, and if you have to increase it, you increase it, and then they let you send more data through. There are no additional costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
  • "Cato Networks seems more expensive than Cisco Meraki."
  • "The pricing of this solution depends on what you need. It is based on bandwidth."
  • "I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."
  • "Cato Networks is an expensive product, but it works out of the box, so that's the usual trade-off, make versus buy. If you decide to buy a product that doesn't require much programming, then you'd want to go for Cato Networks, which will work naturally, and immediately without any complex setup. However, the product is a little bit more expensive than the competitors. On a scale of one to five, I'd rate the pricing for Cato Networks as four."
  • "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."
  • More Cato SASE Cloud Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "VeloCloud performs as well as the Cisco SD-WAN but it is cheaper in price."
  • "The price of this solution is higher than that of other SD-WAN vendors."
  • "The price of this solution should be lower."
  • "The pricing is very comparable to Fortinet."
  • "The price is reasonable for this solution, but the only challenge for us is that the Rand currency fluctuates to the dollar and provides some complexities. The price might go up just because the Rand has actually lost value."
  • "The cost of VMware SD-WAN is high, but I think you can still get better pricing if your volume is high."
  • "The price of the solution could be reduced."
  • "My understanding is that the pricing is in the same range as other solutions."
  • More VMware SD-WAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The licensing costs are good. Prisma has much more options and support for security, but it has a higher cost. For… more »
    Top Answer:The solution could improve identity integration as well. Zero trust, it's a good start as a zero-trust solution… more »
    Top Answer:The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity… more »
    Top Answer:We use the solution as a WAN, but we plan to optimize it by incorporating security features like zero trust for enhanced… more »
    Top Answer:In terms of security, we are planning to deploy more features and our current usage is primarily focused on branch… more »
    Top Answer:One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. It is a very… more »
    Top Answer:One of the standout features is its ability to dynamically manage enterprise networks based on applications.
    Top Answer:VMware SD-WAN provides competitive pricing. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    CipherCloud
    Cato Networks
    VeloCloud
    Learn More
    Overview

    Lookout is a well-established and powerful secure web gateway (SWG) solution that protects more than 200 million users from threats that can result from the penetration of unsecured web traffic into their networks. Lookout is designed to enable organizations to work remotely while maintaining a tight blanket of security over their confidential business data. It provides administrators with security that extends from their endpoints to the cloud service that they are using to run their organization’s network. 

    Users of Lookout are able to proactively detect threats and keep themselves secure from a field of threats that constantly evolves. IT teams can protect their organizations without having to rely on any other security solutions. This singular solution can run on multiple kinds of mobile devices. The privacy of individuals is preserved while keeping compliance rules intact. Additionally, users gain access to a number of tools that enable them to prevent security breaches from taking place.

    Lookout Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by deploying Lookout include:

    • Ease of deployment. Lookout is a solution whose design makes it easy for users to deploy it. It provides users with simple, step-by-step instructions that remove the need for organizations to devote extensive amounts of time to make sure that it is properly set up. Anyone can quickly set up the solution without undergoing technical training. 
    • Built-in support. Users of the Lookout application have access to built-in demos that can teach them how to use various solution features. Instead of spending time trying to figure out the application, users can watch the demo that is most relevant to them and see for themselves how that particular feature is used.
    • Easy-to-use user interface. Lookout’s user interface is laid out in an intuitive way that makes it easy for administrators to navigate. This interface is present in both the mobile and desktop versions of this solution. 
    • Settings customization. Lookout has a built-in settings customization menu. This makes it possible for administrators to easily customize their settings so that they best conform to their needs. 

    Lookout Features

    • Activity monitoring and activity tracking. Lookout’s activity monitoring and activity tracking capabilities enable users to keep a close eye on the activities that are taking place in their networks. IT teams and administrators have the ability to watch their networks for any unusual activity. These features ensure that organizations can keep ahead of any potential threats. They provide the kinds of insights and warnings that make the jobs of those IT teams and administrators much easier and more streamlined. 
    • Encryption. Organizations that employ Lookout can encrypt their networks and keep crucial business data from being read by unauthorized parties. This feature keeps the secrets organizations are trying to keep out of the wrong hands.
    • Anti-virus tools. Lookout provides users with tools to block threats from harming their networks. These tools can successfully block 99.6 percent of threats without raising false alarms. 

    Cato Networks is a leading SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform, combining SD-WAN and network security to obtain a cloud-native service. Cato Networks optimizes and secures application access for users and identities. The platform delivers a next-generation secure networking architecture that minimizes legacy IT infrastructures’ complexity, costs, and risks. The goal of Cato Suite is to connect any user to any application securely and optimally.

    Cato Suite runs on a private global network of more than 65 PoPs (points of presence) connected via SLA-backed network providers. The service can connect branches, data centers, users, and clouds. Cato can be deployed in stages to augment legacy network services.

    Cato Suite delivers end-to-end route optimization for WAN and cloud traffic. The architecture is self-healing, enabling a high service uptime.

    Cato Features

    Cato Cloud has a global backbone to deliver a reliable, global network. Here are some key SD-WAN features of Cato Cloud.

    • Optimizes traffic flows: The Cato Suite can individually optimize traffic flows in the last mile - from the customer’s location to the point of presence, and also between PoPs. This feature eliminates the need for internet providers to hand off traffic to each other, avoiding the resulting latency and congestion.
    • Controls and manages bandwidth: The software-defined overlay is encrypted across the entire cloud infrastructure. This overlay uses application-aware routing, analyzing latency and loss data to choose the best route according to network conditions. These features, like protocol priority marking, enable the system to ensure the performance of real-time applications.
    • Delivers redundancy and failover: By connecting the points of presence with multiple Tier-1 IPs, Cato builds the redundancy needed to ensure security and highly available service.
    • Cloud-native: Cato is built as a scalable, resilient, and elastic cloud service.
    • Converged: The platform converges SD-WAN and network security into a single infrastructure framework.
    • Secures all edges: Cato Network can secure and optimize traffic from all users, locations, applications, and clouds.

    What challenges does Cato Network solve?

    • Migration to SD-WAN

    MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) networks are usually expensive and limited in their capacity. Cato simplifies migrating to a faster, higher-capacity internet and SASE cloud. Cato SD-WAN appliances enable customers to improve usable capacity and resiliency.

    • Global connectivity optimization

    Customers who suffer from the challenge of high latency and network inconsistency can use Cato to deliver a consistent connection and user experience to access on-premises and cloud applications.

    • Securing branch internet access

    Cato’s complete network security stack connects all branch locations to the Cato cloud, therefore protecting all traffic, both internet-bound and WAN, with enterprise-grade, cloud-based security services. This capability avoids having to backhaul internet traffic to a data center or hub or having to implement stand-alone cloud security solutions.

    • Cloud acceleration and control

    Organizations using Cato notice an acceleration of cloud traffic. Cato achieves this by routing all traffic from the edges to the PoP closest to the data center. Because of the close distance between the two, the latency is near zero.

    Reviews from Real Users

    An IT manager/project coordinator at a healthcare company says that “[Cato is] a cloud-based solution that integrates well with everything. They are the classic SaaS solution.”

    Yeong-Gi L., a network engineer at Snetsystems, notes that “The solution is very stable. The scalability is quite good. Technical support was always helpful and responsive. The integration capabilities are not a problem at all.”

    "The most valuable feature is that it also works as a next-gen firewall because it has security features," says Lorenzo S., senior solutions consultant Lead at MDI.

    VMware Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a secure access service edge (SASE) platform that combines many types of software-based network technologies in an attempt to enable users to virtualize their wide area networks and reduce their reliance on hardware. In essence, this solution makes it possible for users to reliably access their applications from anywhere in the world by leveraging cloud technologies. Users can simply, efficiently, and completely control their network devices and traffic. It ensures that organizations are always able to use the best possible connection to their data centers. VMware SD-WAN steers traffic so that it is always using the most reliable connections and at the same time takes steps to remediate any problems that it detects in other network links. This guarantees that organizations can access high-priority applications at all times. 

    VMware SD-WAN Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by deploying VMware SD-WAN include:

    • Reduced cost of network management. Organizations that choose to employ VMware SD-WAN can manage their network at a cost that is 2.5 times less expensive than what it costs to use traditional WAN architectures. Its ability to both augment existing hardware and replace said hardware if the user chooses to do so is part of what enables users to reduce their overhead costs. 
    • Ease of deployment. VMware SD-WAN makes it possible for organizations to deploy it without having to rely on the assistance of technical experts. When the device - whether virtual or otherwise - is connected to the internet, it integrates with a central orchestrator that pushes the correct integrations to the device in question. This automates the installation process and makes it so that anybody can initiate and follow the deployment through to the end of the process. 
    • Easily segment networks to improve environmental performance. Users can divide their networks into multiple segments that share a single IP address. These networks can be incorporated into an organization’s IT infrastructure and enable it to run more reliably. One way it does this is by providing multiple potential channels for data to use to travel in the event that one of the data pathways is suffering from some kind of issue. 

    VMware SD-WAN Features

    • Centralized monitoring. VMware SD-WAN is monitored at all times by a centralized orchestrator. From one place, an organization can watch every part of its network. Instead of having to search for the data they need, it can all be found in one location.
    • Integration capabilities. VMware SD-WAN offers users the capability to integrate their network with the environment of their choosing. This enables them to connect their network to the IT environment that best meets their needs. It makes it easy for them to work with multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
    • Real-time data analytics. VMware SD-WAN can analyze network data in real time. This makes it easy for users to monitor their network’s performance. It also allows them to take steps to quickly remediate any issues that arise before they can become worse.

    Reviews from Real Users

    VMware SD-WAN is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its ability to automate the process of creating and maintaining a virtual local area network and its intuitive user dashboard.

    Sami I., principal cloud architect at Loihe, writes, “One of the solution's most valuable features is the VMware core automation stack at an SDDC. It includes NSX, the VMware virtualization layer for the networks (the LAN virtualization), which works extremely well with the VMware SD-WAN solution and is the primary advantage over all the others. None of the other vendors could integrate with the virtual LAN, making it quite complicated and virtualized to be fully automated.”

    Chih S., senior technical consultant at a tech services company,  says, “The product has a very good user dashboard that is simple to navigate.” 

    Sample Customers
    Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
    Redmond, Coca Cola, Roka Bioscience, MetTel, Deutsche Telekom, Rockford Construction,  The Bay Club, tru Independence, Triton Management Services, DevCon, AXPM
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer18%
    Healthcare Company18%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Computer Software Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company28%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider44%
    Manufacturing Company20%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise62%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise45%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise32%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise60%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. VMware SD-WAN
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. VMware SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cato SASE Cloud Platform is ranked 5th in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions with 21 reviews while VMware SD-WAN is ranked 3rd in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions with 50 reviews. Cato SASE Cloud Platform is rated 8.8, while VMware SD-WAN is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cato SASE Cloud Platform writes "Useful remote worker VPN, centralized management, and simple on-boarding process". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VMware SD-WAN writes "To fully utilize cloud vendors' hardware networking, Microsoft and VMware support everything". Cato SASE Cloud Platform is most compared with Zscaler SASE, Cisco SD-WAN, Fortinet FortiGate, Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks and Perimeter 81, whereas VMware SD-WAN is most compared with Cisco SD-WAN, Fortinet FortiGate, Meraki SD-WAN, Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform and Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform. See our Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. VMware SD-WAN report.

    See our list of best Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions vendors, best WAN Edge vendors, and best Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) vendors.

    We monitor all Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions 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.