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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Steelhead comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.0
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reduces costs, downtime, MPLS reliance, and ensures swift financial returns, enhancing flexibility and deployment speed.
Sentiment score
4.8
Steelhead optimized WAN usage, saving £50,000 in costs, improving bandwidth efficiency, and enhancing user experience without extra investments.
With Zero Trust provisioning via the Catalyst Center and Meraki dashboard, new branch offices are configured in hours instead of weeks, freeing engineering teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual deployment.
Network engineer at Inniti Network Solutions
They are now back to do that with the remainder of their company, so they've realized the value in 12 months and are willing to invest in the remainder of their organization.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
There are many scenarios where we replace MPLS with the internet because now we have the flexibility to migrate to Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and we do not need private connectivity such as MPLS.
Regional Manager at Orange
Without Steelhead, we would have spent much more on bandwidth costs.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN support is responsive and effective, though some users cite delays and prefer handling troubleshooting themselves.
Sentiment score
7.0
Steelhead's customer service is efficient and knowledgeable, but local support and handling complex issues need improvement.
The principal third-level support is very good.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
I would consider Cisco support a 10 out of 10.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
I would rate Cisco's support, their customer service, and technical support as excellent.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
Steelhead's support is generally good for typical issues yet can be time-consuming during complex problem-solving across teams, particularly for Active Directory integration.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
I have no issues with technical support from Riverbed.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Riverbed's customer service and technical support would be rated an eight.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is scalable and adaptable, ideal for large-scale enterprise deployments with flexible configurations and robust architecture.
Sentiment score
6.9
Feedback on Steelhead scaling varies, with easy deployment praised, but licensing and bandwidth limitations noted by some users.
Its controller architecture is highly matured, making it one of the most valuable and reliable LAN platforms for large enterprises.
Network engineer at Inniti Network Solutions
Cisco SD-WAN is highly scalable and can be expanded to more than 10,000 sites.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
The ease of configuration and features like zero-touch provisioning enhance the scalability of Cisco SD-WAN, especially in disaster recovery situations.
Engineer at Routz
If a customer has 1 GB traffic, they will only be able to utilize 600 MB of traffic with Steelhead.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
It allows us to maximize use from our MPLS providers by handling traffic efficiently across phased deployments.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is reliable with good performance, but some users face software bugs and complexities after acquisition.
Sentiment score
8.6
Steelhead offers reliable network optimization with stability, smooth upgrades, and effective technical support for seamless traffic flow and high availability.
For example, with zero-touch provisioning, if we are adding new sites, we can do it with a few simple clicks.
Regional Manager at Orange
While some software-related issues and bugs were encountered, they did not cause the whole environment to crash.
Engineer at Routz
A simple issue in the control connections between the fabric causes numerous complexities.
Network Manager at HPCL
It's quite stable and provides all necessary alerts if something is wrong.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
For instance, even if there is a power failure, Riverbed still works.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Steelhead helps significantly with large data transfers.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN needs improved flexibility, user interface, cloud integration, and support, plus enhanced analytics, AI, and scalability.
Steelhead users desire improved traffic handling, integration, scalability, security features, intuitive setup, and comprehensive monitoring amid cost concerns.
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Better documentation with real-world examples, improved third-party integration, and more detailed monitoring dashboards would make Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN even more effective.
Network engineer at Inniti Network Solutions
Including more features like integrating with Splunk for monitoring vulnerabilities would help eliminate the need for other SOC solutions.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
Steelhead is very expensive, and the vendor should work on handling Oracle type of traffic better.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
It would help if Riverbed could prevent such drastic impacts during updates.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
It could still be useful in places with satellite communications, such as the south of Chile, or in the mining industry.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is considered expensive, with complex licensing and additional costs, despite discounts and robust features.
Steelhead is costly but valued for performance and support, with complex licensing and varied pricing by usage.
Its pricing is justifiable due to the comprehensive solution it offers.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller businesses when using the Meraki version.
Engineer at Routz
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Buying the hardware initially is costly, but yearly maintenance and licenses are not as expensive.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN provides centralized management, seamless integration, security, and advanced analytics for optimized and scalable network performance.
Steelhead enhances WAN efficiency with data compression, TCP optimization, and caching, benefiting performance, bandwidth, and cloud migration cost savings.
It also provides robust security features, including port security, analysis, mirroring, and multiple other security solutions.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
The centralized dashboard gives me a clear view of all branch sites, making it easy to manage and monitor tunnel health, bandwidth usage, and device status from one place.
Network engineer at Inniti Network Solutions
Functions like acting as an NTP server, DNS, DHCP, and auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
My actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB. All the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Steelhead's most valuable feature is its ability to hash and send only the important parts of the information, avoiding the resending of data.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in WAN Edge
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (4th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st)
Steelhead
Ranking in WAN Edge
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the WAN Edge category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 12.9%, down from 14.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Steelhead is 2.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
WAN Edge Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN12.9%
Steelhead2.4%
Other84.7%
WAN Edge
 

Featured Reviews

Ashwani-Tyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Manager at Orange
Centralized control has simplified cloud access and has improved operational visibility
If they can have better firewall features as their competitors have, such as Fortinet and Versa, that would help to place this solution better so that we can address security related things. If they can have all the IPS, IDS, everything built on all the edge devices, whether physical or virtual, that could be one improvement. Actually, if customers are existing Cisco customers, if Cisco can be more flexible to leverage the existing investment, that could be another important aspect to save on cost and be more competitive from a pricing perspective. Overall, the pricing or the segment that Cisco deals with is a bit premium, which they charge a bit premium against the competition on the licensing, hardware, and services. The implementation is not straightforward. You need a specialized partner or specialized people who can implement this. It can be simplified a bit from that perspective as well. Mostly the way we implement the policies for a big environment requires a lot of things that we need to take care of. If that can somehow be improved, because they have different components, like they have vManage, they have vSmart, and vBond and all these components have to work with a certain flow that they need to follow.
Chaudhary Muhammad Moez Manzar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reduces operational costs through bandwidth optimization but struggles with high traffic licensing and complex deployments
The logs in Steelhead are fantastic. There is a deep level of logs such as top 10 docker and top 50 docker. I can check from the top 50 docker which type of application is optimizing well and which type of traffic is not optimized. Steelhead provides logs and percentage levels, which is good. I can see any type of log report, report security, different types of report availability, but it is not customizable. Overall, this is a good feature. Steelhead provides real-time optimization with graphs and tables on real-time optimization, informing us packet by packet including port, source IP, destination IP, and destination port number. This reporting and real-time monitoring is fantastic, although I faced a problem in Oracle. Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs. My actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB. All the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Outsourcing Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business48
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco offers premium enterprise capabilities, but its pricing, setup cost, and licensing models represent the most significant hurdles for IT organizations. Cisco hardware commands a premium price ...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN can be improved in minimal ways, because they have updated it now, and the updated version is really good. The only concern is the cost; compared to others, the cost is higher...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
We are a system integrator and a Cisco Select Partner, deploying all the Cisco portfolios like SD-WAN, switching, firewall, access point, and then Secure Access, our cybersecurity product. We have ...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We just did an assessment for our 47 datacenters around North America. The top two enterprise-level network monitoring solutions were ExtraHop first, Riverbed SteelCenter second. Their negotiated c...
What is your primary use case for Riverbed Steelhead?
I am currently working with Riverbed for replication between PR to DR for synchronization purposes, and for WAN optimization between replication from one data center to another data center. The mai...
What advice do you have for others considering Riverbed Steelhead?
Application performance may improve with Steelhead, but it varies application to application. Some applications, such as Oracle traffic, are not working well, but other traffic performs fine. The t...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
RIverbed Steelhead
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
ElAraby, SFK Leblanc, Bobst Group, Northwest Pipe Company, Halkbank, Tradebridge, EFG Hermes
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Steelhead and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.