Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] vs Prisma SD-WAN comparison

Citrix and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Additionally, 90% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

Citrix SD-WAN and Prisma SD-WAN compete in the enterprise network management category. Prisma SD-WAN seems to have the upper hand due to its advanced analytics and integration capabilities, offering a comprehensive solution for complex networks.

Features: Citrix SD-WAN is known for its scalability, zero-touch deployment, and load balancing, which facilitate ease of use and management. Prisma SD-WAN distinguishes itself by providing deep application visibility, Layer 7 intelligence, and seamless integration with Palo Alto products, enhancing its ability to handle complex environments.

Room for Improvement: Citrix SD-WAN could strengthen its reporting capabilities, firewall features, and pricing structures. Prisma SD-WAN might enhance its documentation, technical support, and deployment processes. Both could improve communication of lifecycle changes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix SD-WAN primarily supports on-premises deployments, which can limit cloud integration, while feedback on its customer service varies. Prisma SD-WAN excels with hybrid cloud deployment options, offering scalability and adaptability, though initial technical support could be improved.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix SD-WAN offers diverse pricing but can be costly, with favorable ROI from MPLS savings. Prisma SD-WAN's premium pricing is justified by its high functionality and control, appealing more to larger enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

August 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

Fortinet FortiGate

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Sammy Mukuna

Network Admin at Naivas Ltd

Seamlessly combines Internet and MPLS

Citrix has made my work easier and more cost-effective. It lowered our Internet costs and gave me the flexibility to choose providers based on each location's connectivity. Unlike before, I'm not tied to a specific provider. The central deployment feature allows easy configuration updates for all boxes from the head office, streamlining network management. This simplification has been a big plus for our operations.

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Engineerinfosec67

Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor

Centralized management streamlines global network traffic control

Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access. Although there has been improvement, further steps can be taken. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls, as they currently do not align.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiGate has led to a reduction in our security budget."

"The most valuable feature is the bundled subscription, which is IPS, TV and web filtering."

"The most valuable features are the policies, filtering, and configuration."

"The most important features of Fortinet FortiGate are the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and firewall control applications."

"Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls."

"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."

"The primary feature I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is the ease of setup."

"Generally, every aspect of it being a next-generation firewall provides good value."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Downtime for branch offices is now almost zero. We have 100% real-time visibility into all of our lines. MPLS links have been replaced with lower-cost links, saving a larger percentage of line costs. Overall, I see SD-WAN as a must. And the Citrix SD-WAN product has delivered on expectations and exceeded them. (With later firmware updates we now have good firewall capabilities in the product too)."

"The main advantage of Citrix SD-WAN is that it enables fast communication between our branches and data centers. And, with its cloud management features, it also makes the process of adding new branches into our company network much easier."

"The zero-touch deployment is most valuable for us."

"The stability is the main feature of Citrix SD-WAN. You can also upgrade the data packages or have less transmission."

"The solution is brilliant, the way it calculates its paths and trails is great."

"It lowered our Internet costs and gave me the flexibility to choose providers based on each location's connectivity."

"The tool is quite cost-effective because it replaces the need for MPLS, which is a bit expensive...Citrix SD-WAN doesn't need much maintenance."

"They have a zero downtime failover mechanism, where, when there's a link failure or a link weakness, or bad link conditions, they provide the ability to fail back seamlessly."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] pros

"Overall, I would rate Prisma SD-WAN an eight out of ten."

"The product provides efficient stability, security, and reliability features."

"Prisma's analytics provide a lot of valuable data. I like the internet health chart that shows latency, dropped packets, MOS for data quality, etc. It also runs a continuous speed test in the background. I've used it multiple times to troubleshoot internet connections when the service provider has attempted to claim nothing is wrong with the circuit. It gives me data to send them showing we're not getting the speed we should, or there is constant packet loss."

"The biggest benefit for us is that we've seen a reduction in incidents."

"I like the link monitoring and analytics. These are the features that set Prisma apart from other products. Prisma works well with large, complex networks. One of my clients is a top bank in the United States, and Prisma has performed well for that customer."

"Prisma supports all of the applications we're currently using."

"Prisma SD-WAN is intuitive. We have a better idea of the different tools we can use and jump between the menus quickly."

"Prisma SD-WAN is recommended due to its comprehensive capabilities."

More Prisma SD-WAN pros

Cons

"It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco."

"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."

"It should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier."

"The SD-WAN functionality is a bit overly complicated and not fully documented."

"It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server."

"The logging details need to be improved."

"There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs."

"One drawback of Fortinet FortiGate is that they provide two types of models: one with a hard disk and another without. The model without a hard disk has very low ROM where you can store very few logs, after which you need to upload it to the cloud or purchase a firewall with SSD."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Enhancements are needed to improve the stability."

"The price could be improved, it's an expensive solution."

"Citrix SD-WAN's knowledge base has a few missing things, so you may need to seek help from support."

"I would like to see support for additional reporting."

"The price is the only thing that could be improved. Citrix is not a cheap solution."

"Citrix should continue to offer a perpetual licensing model because it is very important to us."

"The reports need to be improved. We need to have them customized but they don't have that right now. I would like for them to have better system predictions. We don't have that right now. My system may be working fine right now but after making some changes, that can change."

"Even though the monitoring is pretty good, there is some room for improvement there."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] cons

"The only con is the pricing because it's more premium."

"If Palo Alto could open the platform to manage other SD-WANs, it would be beneficial."

"The pricing model could be improved to make it more affordable for smaller companies."

"Prisma could be a little cheaper."

"Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access."

"We are incorporating their zone-based firewalls. Prisma SD-WAN has limited documentation on how it manipulates traffic, e.g., how it is interacting with TCP and UDP. We recently had some traffic that was black holing. We literally had to do packet captures to see that the new zone-based firewall, which runs on top of Prisma SD-WAN, was causing issues."

"The documentation tends to be outdated, often directing us to resources that are no longer accurate or available, and this is one of the reasons we are potentially looking at alternatives."

"The tool needs to work on price and complexity."

More Prisma SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As far as I'm aware, in our case, it's just a yearly pricing arrangement with no additional licensing costs."

"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto. In terms of pricing, it's probably a better-priced firewall solution overall."

"FortiGate's pricing falls within the mid-range when compared to other leading firewall solutions."

"If you compare Fortinet FortiGate with Sophos and other firewall products available in the market, this solution is affordable."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."

"Fortinet Secure SD-WAN delivered the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) per Mbps among all other vendors."

"The price is highly competitive when compared to other brands that offer similar functionality."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"I'm not quite sure of the price ranges. Roughly, the hidden devices can scale up to $20K for one appliance. However, the branch CPs are USD $1,000 to $2,500."

"The price of the subscription should be cheaper."

"It would be helpful to have a demo license available for customers who want to prove the concept and conduct a proof of concept (POC) before committing to the solution. This is particularly important for customers in Egypt who often require a demonstration of the solution's features and compatibility with their needs before making any investment or incurring costs. Providing a demo license would allow customers to assess whether the solution would meet their needs or not."

"The license was a one-time purchase. It's expensive."

"It depends on the scale. In our case, it would have been better if we had known about the life cycling steps, but otherwise, it is worth the money."

"Citrix SD-WAN is quite an affordable product."

"It is a bit expensive. A cheaper product would be good, but everybody likes things to be cheaper. We bought the devices up front, and then we pay for the annual support."

"I believe that Citrix SD-WAN is a good investment, but I do not have the information to be more specific."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"Prisma SD-WAN is a pretty expensive solution."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"If you're already invested in a Palo Alto product, it would be logical to use this solution. If not, there might be some other solutions that are more viable in terms of pricing."

"This solution stood out because it cost considerably less than the other SD-WAN solutions out there from Cisco."

"It is more expensive than Fortinet."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

29%

Government

Educational Organization

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What do you like most about Citrix SD-WAN?

It lowered our Internet costs and gave me the flexibility to choose providers based on each location's connectivity.

See all answers

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

It is on the expensive side. I would give it an eight out of ten in terms of costliness. In my region, the approximat...

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What needs improvement with Citrix SD-WAN?

The solution's licensing model could be improved. Citrix SD-WAN is a good product from a technical point of view. How...

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What do you like most about Prisma SD-WAN?

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

See all answers

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

The costs seem crazy to me since I'm relatively new to the pricing world of enterprise security solutions, but compar...

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What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?

I used to have notes about areas that could be improved. It is widely known that Palo Alto is quite expensive. The li...

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

FatPipe WAN Optimization vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 35% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 32% of the time

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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 20% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 19% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 11% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Prisma SD-WAN

Compared 7% of the time

More Prisma SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

August 2025

Download Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Prisma SD-WAN

August 2025

Download Prisma SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

Citrix CloudBridge, WOC, NetScaler SD-WAN

CloudGenix

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] enhances network stability, redundancy, and reliability, supporting connectivity between branches, optimizing internet access, and enabling secure, redundant networks, both on-premises and cloud-based.

Corporations utilize Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] to improve network performance, minimize downtime, and ensure high availability. Combining communication methods and supporting interbranch internet routing, it assists businesses in transitioning from MPLS, centralizing monitoring, and optimizing bandwidth use. Its functionality includes secure connections, cost reductions, and effective management of internet access. The support for multiple communication methods, application reliability, and ease of implementation make it a valuable tool for modern network management.

What key features does Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] offer?

Security: Enhanced protection to safeguard network data
IPv6 layering over IPv4: Ensures compatibility and future-proofing
Active-Active bandwidth use: Maximizes bandwidth utilization
Zero downtime failover: Maintains continuous operation during failures
Zero-touch deployment: Simplifies the installation process
Application reliability: Ensures high performance for critical applications
Cost-effectiveness: Reduces overall networking expenses
Central deployment: Facilitates easy configuration updates and management

What benefits should users look for in Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] reviews?

Enhanced performance: Improved application and connectivity speed
Increased reliability: Minimized network downtime and interruptions
Centralized monitoring: Streamlined network oversight and control
Scalable security: Adaptable protection for evolving network needs
Cost savings: Lower operational costs compared to traditional MPLS
Flexibility: Ability to handle multiple network functions effectively

Industries implement Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] to replace costly MPLS setups with more flexible VPN and NetScaler options, benefiting sectors like finance, healthcare, and retail that require robust, secure, and scalable network solutions. Organizations achieve better device management and efficient connectivity across multiple branches, enhancing their operational effectiveness.

Citrix

Simplify management, enable app-defined SD-WAN policies and deliver a secure, cloud-delivered branch today with the Industry’s first next-generation SD-WAN.

Palo Alto Networks

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., Dallara, ecVision, Essar, Eurofred, Groupe Promutuel, HMSHost Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd, Royal Caribbean International

Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola

Buyer's Guide

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August 2025

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