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Juniper Contrail Networking vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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

Juniper Contrail Networking
Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)
6th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Meraki SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Juniper Contrail Networking is 7.6%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki SD-WAN is 11.7%, down from 22.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki SD-WAN11.7%
Juniper Contrail Networking7.6%
Other80.7%
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer2771085 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant - International Business at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Has simplified cloud deployments for retail environments but needs more advanced features and better pricing
The pricing of Meraki SD-WAN depends compared to which vendors, because it's a bit pricey, so not all retail would go for it unless it's a big retail company, but it depends on your comparison. I usually recommend multiple vendors in mind because it depends on the customer's requirements; you have Fortinet, you have Aruba, you have Huawei, and you have multiple options that may be cheaper than Cisco. Regarding Meraki SD-WAN functionality, it depends on the situation, but I would recommend this product if they have the money. It all comes down to the requirements first because I try to fit the best solution for them. It doesn't depend only if I'm carrying only Cisco, it depends on what their exact requirements are. Cisco is one of the top vendors with the most stable performance in many solutions, but it all comes down to the customer requirements. Mainly the pricing is a concern, and it doesn't fit enterprise customers. For enterprise-grade customers, it's not going to fit; it's not possible to use Meraki SD-WAN. It's not just because of the price; it's for enterprise because of the limitation in features and capabilities. Meraki SD-WAN is not fit for enterprise-grade customers or big deployments.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Contrail automates the excellent communication between virtual appliances."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is a stable solution."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses, and Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."
"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."
"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough."
"Meraki SD-WAN is a perfect fit for those customers who want to implement SD-WAN with competitive pricing."
"The solution is easy to use."
"It is very user-friendly, and it doesn't take much time to configure the simple dashboard."
"If you have the technical knowledge, there is very little chance of making mistakes."
"Technical support is good. When we have encountered problems, technical support has been quick to respond."
"Meraki SD-WAN is scalable."
"The solution is a whole vertical solution, so it doesn't need any other components in order to provide basic features."
"The Meraki SD-WAN solution is simple to deploy."
 

Cons

"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."
"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 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."
"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."
"The blocklist on the Cisco Meraki side isn't complete or very large. We'd like to see them update and expand this."
"There is a point in a very large organization where you hit the VPN limit, or tunnel limit."
"We have a lot of problems with distribution. The late deliveries likely have to do with the time it takes for the fabrication of components. It is a principal problem at this moment."
"From the vice perspective, they just are not as robust as some of the other vendors."
"There have been issues around NAT-unfriendly situations; in some cases, it is a little bit sad that you have to use manual NAT instead of using automatic channels."
"It's a matter of cost and expenses that we may take some issue with."
"The area I think this solution should improve is the pricing."
"This solution can only support up to two WAN ports."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are many vendors in the wireless market that offer better pricing, solutions, and management skills compared to Juniper."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses. Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."
"From the perspective of the customer, the price is not terribly cost-effective."
"The product's price falls under the mid-range category, especially if we consider the new licensing model. The tool is not cheap anymore."
"Regarding pricing, Meraki SD-WAN is quite competitive, especially compared to solutions like Fortinet. However, it's essential to consider that Meraki requires cloud orchestration, which adds to the overall cost. Overall, it's one of the most competitive solutions from Cisco for SD-WAN."
"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 offers yearly licenses and product lines or prices are readily available on their website."
"The tool offers term licenses. You have the same term licensing model available for all of your equipment, which is good for management."
"Our clients pay Meraki an annual licensing fee and the pricing is not too bad when compared to other products in the Cisco portfolio."
"The solution's pricing is in line with what we expected."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki SD-WAN?
When compared for the long run, it is reasonable, but for the short term, such as one year, it is costlier, especially compared to other OEMs such as FortiGate. If the license expires in FortiGate,...
What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?
The pricing of Meraki SD-WAN depends compared to which vendors, because it's a bit pricey, so not all retail would go for it unless it's a big retail company, but it depends on your comparison. I u...
What is your primary use case for Meraki SD-WAN?
For Meraki SD-WAN, I always go with retail companies.
 

Also Known As

Contrail Networking
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lithium Technologies, Orange Business Services, Cloudwatt, Symantec, Cloud Dynamics, CloudSeeds
École Jeannine Manuel
Find out what your peers are saying about Juniper Contrail Networking vs. Meraki SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.