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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Juniper Contrail Networking comparison

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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
6.5
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (2nd)
Juniper Contrail Networking
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (5th)
 

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 2.3%, down 2.7% compared to last year.
Juniper Contrail Networking, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined Networking (SDN), holds 8.3% mindshare, up 6.6% since last year.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN2.3%
Cisco DNA Center7.2%
DX Spectrum5.5%
Other85.0%
Network Management Applications
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Juniper Contrail Networking8.3%
Meraki SD-WAN10.0%
Cisco ACI8.9%
Other72.8%
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
 

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.
TA
Solution Architect at ConnX Inc.
Smart configuration management eliminates the need to worry about managing the network's configurations
Based on my experience in the Indian market, there are four to five areas that need improvement. First, there is a lack of marketing and awareness about Juniper, making it difficult to reach end-users and deliver solutions. Second, Juniper's education and awareness centers are costly and not easily accessible like Cisco's resources and their understanding of users' requirements. The information is not easily available on online channels like Youtube. Third, Juniper needs to promote its Mist integration better, and pricing is also a significant factor. Finally, Juniper needs to address the market's specific requirements, such as the SME sector, and offer more lower-priced products like a lower-end segment switch. In summary, improving marketing and sales, education and awareness, Mist integration, pricing, and catering to specific market requirements are areas that need improvement. I just want a good feature in the SD-WAN. Juniper should consider integrating its firewall experience with its SD-WAN devices to create a complete package. With everything moving to the cloud, companies require intelligence and security solutions for their on-prem infrastructure. Moreover, Juniper should integrate its SOC solution into its Mist portal and SD-WAN devices, including IPs, IDS, web and content filters, and messaging. This would provide a complete product and give Juniper an advantage over competitors such as Cisco. I believe that with a bundle that includes SOC and UTM flavors in their Mist portal, Juniper can make a significant impact in the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Huge companies use SD-WAN. It is largely scalable."
"Troubleshooting is swift, allowing for fast turnaround times whenever we encounter an issue."
"The features that I like the most about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN are that it is secure, cheaper, and once you know it, it's easy to deploy."
"The most valuable features are manageability, scalability, and simplicity."
"Cisco is definitely cutting edge, absolutely cutting edge in terms of robustness on the capability of the network to be very stable with very low delay."
"SD-WAN provides a range of common benefits, including cost reduction, increased visibility, and scalability"
"The most valuable feature of Cisco SD-WAN is its compatibility and integration with the rest of the infrastructure."
"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough."
"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough. Still, we never tested it in a real environment, so we don't have enough information to say whether it's stable with a given number of users and appliances. We have tested it in a lab environment, but we haven't tested enough to say that the platform is stable."
"It provides proactive alerting in a single dashboard solution."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is a stable solution."
"Contrail automates the excellent communication between virtual appliances."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses, and Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is really complex."
"If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult."
"Cisco should focus more on making products that are convenient for users. Sadly, I think they are more interested in making money rather than making reliable products."
"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 cost of the solution is very high, when taking into account the customer location and the existence of a single router for routing purposes and security, with a single firewall and license."
"The integration to the LAN could be improved. It should be an end-to-end solution, not only on the WAN side but also on the LAN and wifi, so a full end-to-end solution."
"The process of onboarding the vSmart, vBond, and vManage should be improved to make it easier to manage in general."
"This solution could be improved with a simpler implementation process and licensing model."
"Juniper needs to address the market's specific requirements, such as the SME sector, and offer more lower-priced products like a lower-end segment switch."
"Concerns were raised about the complexity of involving networking components like MX routers, which often required expertise beyond the scope of software engineers. As a result, users encountered challenges in achieving comprehensive understanding and troubleshooting of networking issues within the Contrail environment."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is difficult if you do not have a certificate for Juniper. Juniper is a different type of configuration or operation than Cisco."
"Visibility, especially for the top of the platform, is a nightmare. The top was documented incorrectly and really complex to complete. In the end, it worked but only after several weeks of work with the support of a Juniper solution engineer in Holland."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Cisco SD-WAN is expensive. We pay approximately $50 monthly for the use of the solution."
"It's expensive. If you compare Cisco with Fortinet and Juniper, you'll find that Cisco is more expensive than other vendors."
"Cisco SD-WAN is more expensive than its competitors."
"The price of Cisco SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive. The cost of the solution is approximately 30 percent higher than competitors."
"Cloud subscription management must be paid for, although this does not incur a perpetual fee."
"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."
"The costs are a bit on the high side."
"I give the price a seven out of ten."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses. Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."
"There are many vendors in the wireless market that offer better pricing, solutions, and management skills compared to Juniper."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Retailer
11%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business52
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise52
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The pricing for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is something I don't know as the tender is not in my department or at my level, but I know it is very expensive.
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
I cannot speak to programming-side improvements since that is not my area of expertise. On a base level, improvements could include a better interface, more AI capabilities, better pricing, and bet...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
The primary use case is for network management and routers we have for WAN connectivity.
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Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
Contrail Networking
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Lithium Technologies, Orange Business Services, Cloudwatt, Symantec, Cloud Dynamics, CloudSeeds
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Skyline Communications and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: October 2026.
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