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Juniper Contrail Networking vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN 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

Juniper Contrail Networking
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (5th)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (6th), WAN Edge (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Juniper Contrail Networking is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 8.3%, up 6.6% compared to last year.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 7.5% mindshare, down 8.7% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Juniper Contrail Networking8.3%
Meraki SD-WAN10.0%
Cisco ACI8.9%
Other72.8%
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN7.5%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN11.1%
Fortinet FortiGate8.2%
Other73.2%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

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.
KH
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
User-friendly deployment optimizes network infrastructure for global carriers
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is recognized as an SD-WAN leader, offering user-friendly solutions that help end customers and enterprises solve network optimization issues efficiently. Its proprietary Dynamic Multipath Optimization (DMP) technology is regarded as the most powerful and valuable function by VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN. I see customer transformation to VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN networks showing a 30 to 40 percent increment per year.

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."
"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."
"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough."
"Contrail automates the excellent communication between virtual appliances."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is a stable solution."
"I find the application-aware routing feature to be the most valuable."
"Increases the performance of applications and is easy to deploy."
"The most valuable features of VMware SD-WAN are the overall capabilities and ease of use."
"There are 400 functionalities of the system."
"It's easy to deploy and manage. Even a small group of people can manage a large environment. It's stable, easy to deploy, easy to install—all the stuff."
"It is fairly similar to other solutions. It has the capability for testing link connectivity, which is its unique feature from a control perspective."
"The impact of VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN's Dynamic Multi-Path Optimization on network application performance has been significant; we have tested this feature multiple times, and it was really powerful for steering traffic and packet regeneration, resulting in better flow."
"This solution is as stable as most firewalls. VMware is a reputable vendor."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"Technical support for VeloCloud needs to be improved."
"Some of the service providers that use VeloCloud as their SD-WAN should be enabled to have better global visibility."
"The product should have on-demand tunnels instead of fixed tunnels."
"Technical support is in need of improvement."
"In an upcoming release, they should allow customers the flexibility to use mobile applications where they can go and check on the information about their networks. A lot of vendors, such as Meraki, have a lot more integration with the use of portals to a mobile application. Having this feature as an alternative to logging into a laptop would be beneficial. If you are a SaaS-based company why not make a mobile application as well. You might not be able to do configurations but at least monitor while away or on vacation."
"I would like to improve the tool’s cloud security features. I would like to see high-throughput hardware requests in the product’s next release. The solution should also support multiple gigs which could be around ten."
"The initial setup of VMware SD-WAN was simple. However, it took six days to complete."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing."
 

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."
"VMware SD-WAN provides competitive pricing."
"The cost of VMware SD-WAN is high, but I think you can still get better pricing if your volume is high."
"We pay about $500 USD, or 700,000 Korean won."
"The licensing model of VMware SD-WAN could be improved, it is not always that competitive. The biggest concern is to be competitive against other solutions. However, the way that the licensing model is designed is not corresponding to the real use cases of my customers."
"My understanding is that the pricing is in the same range as other solutions."
"The pricing is very comparable to Fortinet."
"The minimum cost is $10,000 a month to have a monitoring station set up."
"The solution's price combines the license and the bandwidth you used."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Retailer
11%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

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What are the biggest differences between Fortinet Fortigate and VMware SD-WAN?
One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. It is a very stable, reliable, and consistent solution. We like that we can manage the entire...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware SD-WAN?
When it comes to setup cost and licensing cost for VMware, it is on the expensive side relative to the market. We are struggling to sell VMware as Fortinet offers SD-WAN with no additional costs. T...
What needs improvement with VMware SD-WAN?
The improvement needed for VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is in the security area. The security part is the main issue for us when selling VeloCloud compared to Fortinet and Cisco.
 

Also Known As

Contrail Networking
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lithium Technologies, Orange Business Services, Cloudwatt, Symantec, Cloud Dynamics, CloudSeeds
Redmond, Coca Cola, Roka Bioscience, MetTel, Deutsche Telekom, Rockford Construction,  The Bay Club, tru Independence, Triton Management Services, DevCon, AXPM
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Aviatrix, Megaport and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.