Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

The compared Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Meraki SD-WAN solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is ranked #6 in NMA , with an average rating of 8.1. Meraki SD-WAN is ranked #1 in SDN , with an average rating of 8.8, and holds a 23.2% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Meraki SD-WAN users who would recommend it.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Read 94 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reviews

129 Views
67 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Meraki SD-WAN

Read 77 Meraki SD-WAN reviews

1,592 Views
1,029 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Meraki SD-WAN

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Meraki SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Network Management Applications

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

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)

Meraki SD-WAN

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)

Featured Reviews

Igor Van Den Ouden

Engineer at Routz

Enables secure and flexible branch connectivity with application-aware routing

The valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include its security policies and zone-based firewall that are applied to every site, as well as application-aware routing. Security is standard compliant, eliminating config drift that was prevalent before manual configurations. Application-aware routing offers flexibility in using different lines for traffic, depending on the policy implemented.

Read full review

Martyn Walker

Business development manager at Virgin Media

Enables productivity in terms of users and has ease of management

Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like creating policies. This way, we can better utilize our WAN circuit and get better rates. Its GUI is user-friendly, and the CLI is also great."

"I like the feature that lets you transfer from old devices to new devices without changing the hardware and subscription."

"It's a scalable solution."

"If one of your ISPs goes down or has latency in your environment, Cisco SD-WAN will detect the issue and explain why the ISP is down."

"One of the most valuable features is that they have multiple SD-WAN options: you have Meraki for simple management solutions, you have Viptela, and you have the option of having any type of WAN interfaces. Presently, you can also have a single combined solution for both WAN as well as for voice, so you can have a voice bundle as well. These are major unique points of this solution."

"Customizing SD-WAN is very easy because you can define two colors. You can define two different operators. You can deploy a partial mesh, a full mesh, or hub-and-spoke totally differently. If you want to do this on a DMVPN solution, that's really hard."

"The solution sufficiently provides ISPs."

"Cisco SD-WAN is valued for its operational efficiency and ease of operation."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pros

"The most valuable feature for me is the security functionality."

"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."

"Zero touch configuration onsite based on the manager system's pre-configuration and the VPN automation set."

"The features of SD-WAN are very appealing because you have a centralized dashboard and multiple options to terminate. You have an internet leased line, which means that you can connect your broadband and 3G and 4G cellular networks on the same router. This makes it easy for us to manage everything on a single dashboard. That is, you can integrate multiple stacks in such a way that you do not have to maintain any other dashboard. You get single-pane-of-glass accessibility with Meraki."

"What I found most valuable in Meraki SD-WAN is its simplicity. I also like its manageability."

"The solution operates via zero-touch configuration."

"Meraki SD-WAN is a very stable and scalable solution with good technical support."

"I like the entire set of features and the analytics."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

"One of the major areas that Cisco can improve on with their SD-WAN offering is their security features. When compared with Fortinet, who have what they call their 'security pillars' (e.g. firewall and security features built-in to their SD-WAN solutions), Cisco generally comes up short. With Cisco, if you need a security component, you have to pay more to get it done. So if they could add more security features that come part and parcel with their existing solutions, then I think Cisco could be very aggressive in the market."

"We have found that their SD-WAN has a lot of scope for improvement."

"The deployment is complex."

"The solution should not be so bound to ISPs."

"The bandwidth limitations would be good to remove, but it is a policy and license situation for Cisco because the cost is very high. It would be good to have OTP implemented with VRF. It can have support for EIGRP Over the Top (OTP) VRF. I saw some limitations in regards to the VRF protocol and the advertisement between VRF configuration. EIGRP Over the Top basically was quite limited with the VRF configuration. If you wanted to do rollback in VRF by using the EIGRP OTP protocol, the formation was not populated across. Cisco got back and confirmed that it is a configuration that I need to wait for until the next release, which is going to happen in one year. Cisco documentation is not the way it used to be before. It just gives an easy way to configure, but it doesn't go into the details of the configuration. The information that you need is there, but sometimes you want to go further and get more information, but the information is quite limited. It would be good to cover a few business cases or configuration cases. They used to be there in the past."

"This solution could be improved with a simpler implementation process and licensing model."

"The solution is expensive and could be cheaper."

"All of the configurations are based on templates, and we need to spend a lot of time doing the templates. It's good because that means that all of the configurations will be equal in the network. However, we need to spend a lot of time implementing the templates and doing the customizations."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN cons

"When there is an issue, I find it difficult to figure out what is going wrong because the logs do not provide as much information as solutions from HP."

"It should be easier to install BGP and it should have a better backup."

"An area for improvement would be to add 4G bonding and allow Meraki devices to support dual 4G SIM cards."

"The only area for improvement in Meraki SD-WAN is its licensing model, as well as its cost structure."

"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."

"Meraki is lagging behind in using a single pipe from service providers. That is, it would be good if they could use both the internet leased line and broadband connectivity."

"This solution can only support up to two WAN ports."

"I would like to see more flexibility in our choices of customization for our needs."

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is going to be on a yearly basis. There are no additional costs."

"Cisco's pricing is not entirely satisfactory when you compare the SD-WAN solutions in Asian markets — like the South Asian market in Sri Lanka — because there are several competing brands including Fortinet and Citrix, who provide much the same product for a generally lower price. And when it comes to firewall vendors like Palo Alto and SonicWall, they're also selling here. It's the same with VMware, too; they have much the same features."

"The solution is quite expensive so it is important to enhance its cost efficiency."

"You can get subscriptions for three or five years."

"The price of Cisco SD-WAN is expensive. We pay approximately $50 monthly for the use of the solution."

"The cost of Cisco SD-WAN is high and has room for improvement compared to competitors such as Fortinet which has similar functionality."

"The pricing of this solution is very expensive."

"When purchasing, there are so many features available that it's quite confusing deciding which to choose. And some of the devices force you to buy licenses you don't want."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

"Any license you buy until January 2021 gets you an extra year for that purchase."

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

"They have a baseline software license, and then they've got an SD-WAN software license, and then they've got an advanced security software license. They're low cost, and they'll provide any amount of flexibility that you want from a modeling perspective for payment. Typically, it's either annually or multi-year, but they are a lower-cost company. They're not the most expensive by far."

"The solution is a bit expensive when compared to other products."

"Meraki's pricing is on the higher side, which may limit who can afford to use them."

"The licensing model is a fair one, although having the hardware means nothing without the license. You need to continue to pay licensing fees."

"The license model may need improvement."

"The licensing fees are approximately $1,000 USD annually."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

43%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?

When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.

See all answers

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

The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?

The durability of the switches could be improved. In the past, Cisco devices had a longer lifespan. Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.

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

Comparisons

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Compared 15% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 12% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 10% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Competitors

Omada Cloud SDN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 21% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 16% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 15% of the time

Cradlepoint NetCloud vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 7% of the time

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Meraki SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

April 2025

Download Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

April 2025

Download Meraki SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN

No data available

Overview

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN serves to connect remote offices, reduce MPLS costs, and facilitate cloud and internet access while providing secure connectivity and centralized management for hybrid networks.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is leveraged for secure connectivity, load balancing, VPN, centralized network management, and migrating from traditional networks to SD-WAN. It supports hybrid networks, enabling centralized management across branches and data centers, improving security, and optimizing bandwidth usage. Industries such as banking and retail benefit from its capabilities for secure and efficient network management.

What are the main features of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN?

Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations and administration.
Application-Level Routing: Enhances performance for critical applications.
Segmentation: Provides robust network segmentation for security.
Policy Configuration: Customizable policies for traffic management.
Real-Time Traffic Visibility: Enables monitoring for better insights.
Load Balancing: Distributes network traffic efficiently.
Hybrid Cloud Connectivity: Seamless integration with cloud services.
Deep Packet Inspection: Detailed traffic analysis for security.
High Security: Offers strong security protocols to protect the network.
Ease of Deployment: Features like zero-touch provisioning simplify setup.

What benefits should be considered in reviews?

Cost Savings: Reduces operational expenses through efficient network management.
Reliability: Proven performance and uptime for critical operations.
Scalability: Grows with the organization's needs.
Integrated Health Monitoring: Proactively identifies and resolves issues.
Industry Trust: Cisco's reputation for quality and support.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's implementation in banking enhances secure transaction communication between branches and data centers. Retailers utilize it to ensure steady connectivity for point-of-sale systems and inventory management. Organizations benefit from centralized management, making it easier to handle networks across multiple locations.

Cisco

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

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates

École Jeannine Manuel

Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

April 2025

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