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Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Juniper Session Smart Router comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

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

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 (3rd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (15th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (10th), WAN Edge (8th), ZTNA as a Service (9th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (5th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (3rd)
Juniper Session Smart Router
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Routers (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 6.9%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper Session Smart Router is 2.1%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Juniper Session Smart Router2.1%
Cato SASE Cloud Platform6.9%
Other91.0%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Esther Sultaana - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Consultant Storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Secure healthcare connectivity has protected patient data and supports reliable telemedicine
Everything can be improved. It could improve its security stack with malware detection, particularly in healthcare because of ransomware. Now you have IoT vulnerabilities, so something like advanced malware detection or threat analysis would help. This is something I worked with around 2016 to 2017. Perhaps they have added those features, but I know they didn't have it then. Some security profiles for specific medical devices would be helpful. Sandboxing would be good. Dedicated telemedicine routing profiles would be beneficial because we have a lot of telemedicine going on. Real-time sessions for clinicians may need pre-built templates for EHR and EMR. I think those would be good if they're not already there. I don't know what the latest router has, but I know they didn't have those features then. There can always be improvements because technology is constantly advancing. It is a very solid router, and that is one of many industries that could utilize it. Healthcare is one such industry, and if it works for healthcare, then that is a major plus for that router.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"The query and the SD-WAN are useful features of the solution."
"The ability for this system to handle outages on one circuit out of four meant that we didn't have any downtime because of one of our circuits going down or having a performance issue."
"When we went to Cato Networks it was an always-on automatic VPN, it reduced our help desk calls by about 10 percent."
"Cato Networks works; I haven't had any trouble and practically forget that I'm using it."
"The feature that I find to be the most valuable is the bandwidth aggregation."
"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."
"Additionally, Cato has a global point of presence, which means instead of using other technologies to connect branches and provide access for a retail organization or any organization with branches, we can utilize Cato's backbone. Furthermore, by consolidating different technologies into one solution, there are additional cost savings from that perspective."
"Juniper Session Smart Router's real-time analytics and visibility features are easily accessible."
"I can share specific numbers; we achieved a 30 to 60% WAN cost reduction by reducing MPLS usage."
"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."
"Because we are talking directly to engineers in the US, the support is usually the best you can possibly get."
"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."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
"The best feature is the easiest way to deploy configuration and also back up them, and also to roll back quickly if there's an incident."
"Juniper Session Smart Router has positively impacted my organization by achieving a 30% to 40% reduction in WAN cost, which means less reliance on MPLS, with a 40% faster failover with near-zero user impact during link issues, and 20% to 30% less time spent on troubleshooting, along with fewer outages due to dynamic path selection, which facilitates fast branch deployment."
 

Cons

"The product's technical support could be more responsive."
"They can't do one-to-one NAT (Network Address Translation) in AP (their access point), and that is something that Palo Alto can do."
"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 product may be complex for users with few years of experience."
"There isn't much to improve as we have a close relationship with them, providing information for research and development."
"Cato Networks could improve their intrusion detection. There is not a lot in place."
"The platform lacks strong security features on the edge. All security features are on the cloud."
"The tool needs to be more granular. Its reports are not very in-depth."
"Juniper Session Smart Router should have a more user-friendly graphical interface because the user interface is complex, and some upgrade operations are sometimes difficult."
"My overall rating for Juniper Session Smart Router as a product is that earlier it was good, but currently, the replacement of the devices is very difficult, and the staff is also a challenge."
"Everything can be improved. It could improve its security stack with malware detection, particularly in healthcare because of ransomware."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in several areas such as the steep learning curve because the session-based model is different from traditional networking."
"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."
"A key area for improvement in Juniper Session Smart Router is its security stack, which is not as robust as Fortinet."
"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"Cato Networks seems more expensive than Cisco Meraki."
"I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."
"The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."
"The pricing is on the higher side, almost an eight out of ten."
"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."
"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."
"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
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Session Smart Router?
I personally did not do the pricing. I imagine it was okay because the company did purchase it. In a lot of instances, particularly as it pertains to healthcare, they don't want to spend too much. ...
What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?
I think the current Juniper focuses more on switching rather than routing, which is a weak point in the product. Currently, I and my customers have not utilized the Session Awareness feature of Jun...
What is your primary use case for Juniper Session Smart Router?
I have been running my own company and working with Juniper Session Smart Router for almost 10 to 12 years because Larsen & Toubro is my client who will use Juniper devices for switching and fi...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
Revation Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Juniper Session Smart Router and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,262 professionals have used our research since 2012.