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Meraki SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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

Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (3rd), WAN Edge (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Meraki SD-WAN is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 23.2%, down 25.1% compared to last year.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 10.3% mindshare, up 8.8% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Martyn Walker - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables productivity in terms of users and has ease of management
Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off.
Sami-Isoaho - PeerSpot reviewer
To fully utilize cloud vendors' hardware networking, Microsoft and VMware support everything
To improve the product, the company, alone or with a good partner, should manufacture their own hardware brand with boxes to make the product more shippable. Implementing VMware is much more difficult, time-consuming, and expensive than implementing Fortinet or Check Point. With Fortinet, you pay a couple of hundred dollars for hosting and a low-cost firewall, there's only one box to ship to each site, and it's much easier to manage. Moreover, it would be easy for the large telecom operators and system integrators to sell the solution. It would also be a good fit for customers with multiple small offices, who I currently advise to choose hardware-vendor SD-WAN solutions over VMware.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"Using Meraki just solves a lot of problems."
"The solution is a whole vertical solution, so it doesn't need any other components in order to provide basic features."
"This is a high availability solution that is easy to configure and has a nice GUI."
"The solution has many features available."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is application awareness."
"I appreciate the cloud-based management feature the most. It's a crucial aspect for me because it allows me to manage the configuration remotely without having to visit the on-premise location. The ability to do this from my home is a major benefit. Additionally, security is good."
"VMware SD-WAN is a complete solution."
"One of the key use cases for VMware SD-WAN was assisting a customer in the industrial zone. They required virtualized servers and wanted to enable VMware SD-WAN to connect their sites in Japan or China. We assisted in building the system by integrating VMware servers and utilizing the Cisco suite."
"It is very simple to configure. When you use the cloud to configure the equipment, it has zero-touch provisioning."
"The most valuable features are the orchestration layer, plug and play capabilities, and also the fact that you can either configure it as a full mesh or hard install."
"Initially, we had a scattered environment, but VMware SD-WAN helped us achieve centralization, which was beneficial."
"VeloCloud developed DMPO to increase performance and connectivity."
"They make use of a combination of different internet lines, which improves quality."
"Proactively detects where problems might arise."
 

Cons

"The adoption of endpoint services or endpoint security should be developed in future releases."
"If Meraki obtains the technology to provide network assistance, then it can implement it manually in Meraki SD-WAN."
"They need to offer proper integration of the security features."
"The solution is scalable for mid-tier deployments, but not for major ones."
"The granularity could be improved."
"Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off."
"The product should be able to support more than three internet lines."
"People are struggling a little bit with the lead times right now. It’s hard to actually get the hardware."
"The initial setup could be simplified for beginners."
"VMware SD-WAN is harder than Cisco. It is complex, and we must take many steps to get the service. I think it would be beneficial if obtaining licenses could be simplified. Currently, numerous options and integrations are bundled together, which can make it quite complex."
"Can't execute commands quickly when troubleshooting. The graphic user interface is slow."
"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."
"There should be more automation and self-service features."
"They need to start focusing on the security functionality. They should find a way to embed the next-generation firewall functionality within the architecture. They should move more into applying SASE tenants to what they're doing."
"There might be potential enhancements in better integration with other platforms, increased stability, and heightened security."
"Technical support is in need of improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is not very expensive."
"One of the most valuable aspects of Meraki SD-WAN is the price. It is highly cost-effective."
"The licenses cost a fortune."
"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."
"There are no licensing costs for the product subscription."
"I don't have information on the exact cost of Meraki SD-WAN, but I'd rate it a three out of five just because the licensing model is very much associated with the Meraki solution."
"The price can vary depending on the challenges that you need to address. When you look at the stability and reliability against the price, you absolutely get the value for the price."
"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."
"We pay about $500 USD, or 700,000 Korean won."
"The price of VMware SD-WAN is less expensive than some solutions, such as Cisco."
"VeloCloud performs as well as the Cisco SD-WAN but it is cheaper in price."
"There is only a standard fee for the solution."
"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."
"The solution's price combines the license and the bandwidth you used."
"We make monthly payments toward the licensing costs of the solution."
"My understanding is that the pricing is in the same range as other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Meraki SD-WAN?
The auto VPN feature is important because it automates many tasks, making things simpler and faster. It helps with setting up devices and changing configurations without manual effort.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki SD-WAN?
The price is a little bit higher than local vendors, for example, Huawei ZTE or H3C. However, some customers require the best quality and performance, thus needing solutions and products from Cisco.
What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?
They have to ask us many questions about configurations. It could be improved with some automation to trigger, for example, telemetry data, so we can determine the state of the deployment as of day...
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 do you like most about VMware SD-WAN?
One of the key use cases for VMware SD-WAN was assisting a customer in the industrial zone. They required virtualized servers and wanted to enable VMware SD-WAN to connect their sites in Japan or C...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware SD-WAN?
The pricing is high, making the margin thin, which limits mark-up opportunities from the wholesale price.
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

École Jeannine Manuel
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, TP-Link and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: April 2025.
850,671 professionals have used our research since 2012.