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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SonicWall SMA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
6.8
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)
SonicWall SMA
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd), SSL VPN (6th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 2.8%, up 0.2% compared to last year.
SonicWall SMA, on the other hand, focuses on Universal Access Gateways, holds 47.7% mindshare, up 42.1% since last year.
Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN2.8%
Cisco DNA Center21.8%
Cisco Catalyst Center9.9%
Other65.5%
Network Management Applications
Universal Access Gateways Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SonicWall SMA47.7%
Citrix Gateway47.7%
Other4.599999999999994%
Universal Access Gateways
 

Featured Reviews

Henry Rosenstiehl - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive support and ease of implementation enhance operational efficiency
With Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, I have centralized orchestration and management. The transport independence of MPLS or connectivity and internet connectivity is another excellent feature. End-to-end segmentation is also provided. I use the application-aware routing feature. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN supports dynamic police-based routing decisions based on application type or different performance metrics such as jitter or latency. The benefit of that feature is that it improves user experience. The principal benefit of application-aware routing is that critical applications are prioritized or routed over the best performing paths to reduce outages and service degradation. There is full visibility of applications. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation, and it supports integration with other Cisco products such as Umbrella or Snort. This feature is beneficial for the client because the information is secure. It is important that Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN supports cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments for my organization because it allows for scalability and faster deployment in the cloud. It reduces operational needs because I don't need to manage physical controller hardware, and updates and maintenance can be centralized and automated. The zero-touch provisioning feature is very important for the speed of deploying new branch locations. I can deliver the device to the branch, and it is important because simplified deployment makes the implementation start more easily since devices are auto-configured and authenticate without manual intervention.
Mayur_Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy-to-manage product with efficient features for network security
SonicWall SMA facilitates and protects remote workforce access to corporate resources from any location Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface. We have been using SonicWall…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly."
"The solution is great at aggregating the traffic and then sending it in one direction."
"The most valuable features, application awareness, and failover resilience, stand out as key considerations for users."
"Cisco SD-WAN is a highly stable solution."
"Installation is easy."
"Application-aware routing offers flexibility in using different lines for traffic, depending on the policy implemented."
"You get security, all of the service you need, and it's easy to deploy."
"Cisco SD-WAN has separate OMP routing."
"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."
"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."
"I like the load balancing capability."
"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."
"I am very satisfied with the technical support."
"The performance is good."
"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."
"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."
 

Cons

"The solution is a bit complicated."
"Cisco needs to improve the technical support for this solution."
"Since most user-data is going through the solution, we are concerned about security, as all the information is in the cloud and not on-premises. The user data authentification should be higher to better prevent malicious attacks."
"The durability of the switches could be improved. In the past, Cisco devices had a longer lifespan."
"The integration of Cisco SD-WAN with cloud solutions could improve. For example, if any of the applications are hosted in the Amazon AWS cloud we can use a virtual transit gateway for integrating Cisco SD-WAN."
"The security features could be improved."
"The initial setup is really complex."
"We recently found some bugs."
"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."
"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."
"User interface could be improved."
"The product's technical support services could be improved."
"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."
"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."
"The timed synchronization between the network appliance needs improvement."
"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is the only negative factor, it is much more expensive compared with the Cisco Meraki SD-WAN solution."
"The pricing for Cisco SD-WAN is more expensive than other brands or solutions, such as Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks, so it's one out of ten."
"Cisco is more expensive than FortiGate."
"It is expensive. The license limitation is there in terms of bandwidth. Basically, Cisco is always good in terms of performance and related things. However, if you want to have a license, for example, for 100 Mbps, they charge you because of their 100 Mbps. If you want to go without the license of 300 Mbps, it is a bandwidth license as well. This is not happening with other vendors. That is the reason why we moved away from Cisco. The bill gets a little bit high. I do remember that one time we were trying to increase the bandwidth for at least five devices, and the license got as high as 20-grand for five devices, only for the license. It was expensive for us at the time. Our company is not a big company, but it is a solid company. The price was very high, and we moved away from Cisco because of the price."
"We pay for the Cisco Customer Care support, which is a couple of hundred dollars."
"Licensing is on a subscription basis."
"The price of Cisco SD-WAN is expensive. We pay approximately $50 monthly for the use of the solution."
"The pricing is fair, and it's on par with the market vendors. But based on the competition, Cisco could work on the pricing, go deep on discounts and provide more commercially viable solutions to customers."
"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
 

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.
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.
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco can improve Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN by simplifying licensing and platform integration with other Cisco products such as Catalyst Center or solutions with Meraki. A license needs to be permanent...
What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?
Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.
What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: October 2025.
871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.