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Juniper Contrail Networking vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

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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)
5th
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 November 2026, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Juniper Contrail Networking is 8.3%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki SD-WAN is 10.0%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki SD-WAN10.0%
Juniper Contrail Networking8.3%
Other81.7%
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.
Mageshwaran S - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at airtel
Experienced streamlined network management with enhanced usability and room for improved security features
On the security features, when compared to Fortinet, they have more patterns and AI-generated ones. Meraki SD-WAN is slowly implementing AI, but it is not yet full-fledged. If AI comes into the picture, it will be helpful. I work with Fortinet where with a single command you can deploy the entire SD-WAN along with FortiGuard within minutes. For AI, it can discover and connect, but currently, we are doing it manually. In Meraki SD-WAN, some features require additional licenses and subscriptions. If these were bundled together, such as 10 or 20 licenses, it would be very helpful for a mini branch or small campus area coverage.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It provides proactive alerting in a single dashboard solution."
"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."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses, and Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."
"Contrail automates the excellent communication between virtual appliances."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is a stable solution."
"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough."
"Meraki SD-WAN is a very stable and scalable solution with good technical support."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The technical support for this solution is absolutely superb."
"For medium-sized and larger enterprises, Meraki is a very good choice."
"With Meraki's centralized dashboard, we've streamlined configuration and monitoring across all sites in day 0 and day 1, reducing administrative overhead and minimizing potential human errors."
"Tech support is willing to go the extra mile to resolve issues."
"The integration of security features is important, although there is room for improvement."
"Everything is under one umbrella."
 

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."
"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."
"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."
"The only problem occurs when users are not paying attention and turn on the wrong switches, like power switches, in places they should not."
"There is a point in a very large organization where you hit the VPN limit, or tunnel limit."
"The only area for improvement in Meraki SD-WAN is its licensing model, as well as its cost structure."
"I think Meracki still has some work to do in terms of catching up with other companies when it comes to AI."
"The deployment time of Meraki SD-WAN can vary. For someone new to the process, it could take a couple of hours. However, for someone with hands-on experience, such as myself, it only takes approximately two to three hours to set up the entire configuration."
"The granularity could be improved."
"When there is an issue, I find it difficult to figure out what is going wrong because the logs do not provide as much information as solutions from HP."
"I would like to see more functions added to the next release of Meraki SD-WAN."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The licenses cost a fortune."
"The product is not expensive."
"The price of Meraki SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive when compared to other solutions on the market, such as Aruba."
"The solution offers yearly licenses and product lines or prices are readily available on their website."
"This solution is more expensive than competitors."
"The pricing is fair, but if they can make it less it would be even more attractive."
"For a pure SD-WAN solution, the pricing is competitive. However, our clients are on the lower tier in terms of budget, viewing IT more as a necessary expense rather than integral to their business. While Meraki's solution might be pricey for them, there aren't many cheaper, reliable options."
"The tool is costly. I rate the tool's price as a ten out of ten since it is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Retailer
11%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
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: November 2026.
921,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.