Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Aruba Boost Unified WAN Optimization vs Steelhead comparison

Sponsored
 

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

Cloudflare
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
CDN (1st), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (1st), Managed DNS (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (12th)
Aruba Boost Unified WAN Opt...
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (8th)
Steelhead
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (3rd), WAN Edge (14th)
 

Featured Reviews

Carlos Alam Hernandez Baruch - PeerSpot reviewer
Fast and secure deployments simplify operations for government and fintech clients
It is a fast and secure DNS. It is very easy to deploy, and my customers are happy with this tool. Additionally, the CDN performance in Mexico is excellent, providing fast service and tools. It offers reliability during high-traffic periods, ensuring no impact on the environment. It helps my clients avoid using on-premise boxes, simplifying operations as they only use the prices on Cloudflare.
WaqasNaeem - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy-to-deploy with valuable features for web optimization
The platform’s features for latency mitigation help optimize user experience. There are multiple techniques one could follow to enhance the application's performance. To optimize cloud connectivity, they provide strategies such as local internet breakout. In the context of cloud services, particularly Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, deploying virtual appliances contributes to reducing costs associated with express route links. This approach enhances web optimization. The traffic shaping features play a crucial role in optimizing web operations and enhancing WAN efficiency. It can be integrated with most of the applications. I rate it a nine out of ten.
Raj Metkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency & bandwidth saving, best layer 7 QoS shaping policy can be achieved with ease
There are several features specific to branches, like keeping data hot and active on Steelhead devices. These features prevent unnecessary data travel across the international MPLS. Additionally, functions like acting as an NTP server, DNS, DHCP for branches and auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency along with really good QoS for bandwidth shaping.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the web application firewall."
"It's very user-friendly."
"The solution is very good at mitigating threats."
"Centralized, full-featured DNS."
"When using services like Heroku, Cloudflare is very useful for CNAME flattening. I also use it for their end-to-end SSL with TLS authentication on nginx for securing servers."
"DDoS attacks target unprotected machines. Cloudflare detects and stops these attacks using internal systems. It identifies incoming DDoS attacks, issuing challenges or blocking them immediately."
"Cloudflare DNS is widely used, and it's good for websites. If we use Cloudflare DNS and update one record, it updates in their office instantly."
"The overall experience with Cloudflare is positive, with a rating of eight out of ten."
"The platform’s features for latency mitigation help optimize user experience."
"The compression of Riverbed is very powerful. It can also handle large quantities of traffic."
"Steelhead is stable, and it can even help you avoid service interruption in the event of a power outage. If your hardware fails, technical support will replace your device quickly."
"TCP optimization... caches a particular TCP connection and the next time a user uses that connection he will reach the destination easily."
"One of our most valuable features is Steelhead's cloud migration optimization. Moving to the cloud helped optimize our workflow, improving performance for end-users."
"Scalable data referencing is a great feature."
"I find the most valuable to be the compression and exchange replication."
"It is very easy to install the solution."
"Steelhead's most valuable feature is its ability to hash and send only the important parts of the information, avoiding the resending of data."
 

Cons

"Sometimes their more advanced caching tools can cause higher first-byte times and problems with JavaScript."
"The tool needs to improve caching of servers. The product needs to include PFX certificate as well."
"It should have easier documentation for the configuration. It's very technical and people who aren't technical should also be able to do the configuration."
"There could be more courses with engineers. I like e-learning, however, having a specialist in a classroom is more comfortable for me."
"They lack a good way to manage DNS as a company, since everything is relegated to single account logins until you get to the higher levels. They have come out with a paid feature to remedy this, but I have not had a chance to fully review it yet to know if it fixes the access problem."
"There could be more courses with engineers. I like e-learning, however, having a specialist in a classroom is more comfortable for me."
"I would like Cloudflare to offer a dedicated account manager for large enterprise clients like us."
"The analytics, basically the dashboard, doesn't have much to it."
"Currently, we encounter challenges in terms of the functioning of compression, deduplication, and other features even after uploading the certificate for encrypted traffic."
"They should include a network switch in a future release."
"Application response time and network performance could be improved."
"The solution needs to have alert notifications."
"There was a significant challenge when moving from an older version to a newer one due to changed quality of service policies."
"The application response time of the solution can be improved."
"Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country. On a scale of one to ten for expense, it would be rated an eight."
"The product should offer more integration capabilities."
"One area for improvement is related to monitoring and visibility."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost primarily depends on the size of the organization."
"The tool is a premium product, so it is very expensive."
"Cloudflare's pricing is not much higher and is good for middle-level organizations."
"That is one of the great features. I was able to access the majority of the features and services for free."
"The product's pricing is cheap."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"The solution is expensive when compared to other products but offers unlimited bandwidth."
"When you compare Cloudflare DNS to other solutions, such as Akamai, the price is reasonable."
"The product has flexible pricing models."
"Across our 12 data centers, we spend around $150k annually."
"The solution is expensive and the service contacts are costly too. The cost of the device makes the value proposition borderline acceptable for us. The service contract fees we pay is approximately $30,000 annually."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which WAN Optimization solutions are best for your needs.
873,085 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise25
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
Cloudflare. We are moving from Akamai prolexic to Cloudflare. Cloudflare anycast network outperforms Akamai static GR...
Which would you choose - Cloudflare DNS or Quad9?
Cloudflare DNS is a very fast, very reliable public DNS resolver. It is an enterprise-grade authoritative DNS service...
What do you like most about Cloudflare?
Cloudflare offers CDN and DDoS protection. We have the front end, API, and database in how you structure applications.
What do you like most about Aruba Boost Unified WAN Optimization?
The platform’s features for latency mitigation help optimize user experience.
What needs improvement with Aruba Boost Unified WAN Optimization?
They could provide a unified management platform for their entire Secure Edge Services (SES) portfolio. In the next r...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We just did an assessment for our 47 datacenters around North America. The top two enterprise-level network monitorin...
What do you like most about Riverbed Steelhead?
One of our most valuable features is Steelhead's cloud migration optimization. Moving to the cloud helped optimize ou...
What is your primary use case for Riverbed Steelhead?
In the past, we have sold a lot of Steelhead ( /products/steelhead-reviews ) for retail companies, insurance companie...
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS
Silver Peak Unity Boost, Unity Boost
RIverbed Steelhead
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trusted by over 9,000,000 Internet Applications and APIs, including Nasdaq, Zendesk, Crunchbase, Steve Madden, OkCupid, Cisco, Quizlet, Discord and more.
Information Not Available
ElAraby, SFK Leblanc, Bobst Group, Northwest Pipe Company, Halkbank, Tradebridge, EFG Hermes
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Riverbed and others in WAN Optimization. Updated: October 2025.
873,085 professionals have used our research since 2012.