SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform comparison

Riverbed and Versa Networks are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Riverbed is ranked #24, while Versa Networks is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.7. Riverbed holds a 0.7% mindshare in SDW, compared to Versa Networks’s 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 50% of Riverbed users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Versa Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN and Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Broadcom and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: October 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

October 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.9%, down from 20.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is 5.8%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	16.9%
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform	5.8%
SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN	0.7%
Other	76.6%

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Jason Best

Data center network architect at Cloudwire

Analytics feature is very granular and comprehensive, although complicated to use

It's like an SD-WAN project basically. You really need to make sure that the product matches the needs of what the customer's trying to achieve and their overall strategy to meet their core business requirements. I think a certain customer made a mistake in choosing this solution because a large part of their network was Cisco and they had firewalls that were from Fortinet. I think they would have been better off and it would have been better from a CAPEX, OPEX point of view. It would've been more advantageous for them to have maybe chosen a Cisco or Fortinet solution based on their existing environment. Make sure you understand your network correctly before you try to implement any SD-WAN solution. That was one of the good lessons I learned about SD-WANs with this specific product. I wouldn't say it was a fault of the product. I would say it's more a fault of the CTO who tries to do things quickly without taking into account the existing environment or give the internal faculties the time to provide real low-level design implementation. It was more of a management mistake than from their technical team. In the next release, I would like to see things like integrated security but with local internet breakout instead of using third party solutions like NetScaler or Palo Alto. I would also like to see the integration of things like a VPN so that if you have remote sites where you might have remote workers that need to access the site from home or something, there's a VPN solution. Those are two key features and hotspots in the sort of global crisis. I would rate Riverbed a seven out of ten. I could never give any solution a 10 cause they all have good and bad points. To get any solution to a ten is pretty much impossible. If I was to rate it against others like Fortinet, I would probably give Fortinet an eight or nine. Again, I think you have to be careful because it's very subjective. I think it really depends on the type of environment, the type of customer you're deploying the SD-WAN solution for, and from which perspective you're looking at like if you an operator, if you're a large enterprise, if you're looking for a plug and play type solution. If you're looking for more of a security solution, I would go for Fortinet. It's kind of tough to say. I'd probably put the clouds a little bit ahead of the game because it does what it's supposed to do and easily. It's a little more of a plug and play type solution. Fortinet, for example, is more complex. I put it in a close second place, it's better from a security perspective. It has integration with FortiGuard. After that, I would put Riverbed in third place.

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PranavGupta

Assistant Manager at Shyam Telecom Group

A cloud-managed, cloud-delivered private access service efficiently connecting distributed users with. distributed applications without compromising on security or user experience.

Certainly, there are areas that require enhancement, and the current focus is on improvements. Presently, I believe that the emphasis should be on enhancing user interface (UI) features, particularly over end devices. The issue arises when attempting to log in to Versa from other devices, as the UI is not device-specific. Consequently, guiding someone to log in to Versa antivirus becomes challenging. Despite the absence of issues on the website, the lack of a login scope impedes graphical representation of user data or databases. Since work databases support only a limited range of features, I recommend augmenting features for end devices to address these limitations.

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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 of this solution is Quota."

"I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good."

"The solution is user-friendly."

"It's an easy solution to set up."

"The interface is user-friendly, so it's easy to add policies and block traffic."

"The feature that I find most valuable is its protection of the websites."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the IPS or IDS implementation. I appreciate most the agility or the flexibility to create hashes to block incoming threats, and I can integrate with third-party threat intelligence with our FortiGate."

"We are a visual effects company, and there have been a number of high profile security issues in our industry. This has brought us to a higher standard of security, which our clients are very keen on these days."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The analytics is the most valuable feature because it was very granular and very comprehensive, although a little complicated to use. If you're really interested in knowing what's happening on your network, it's a very good solution. That was the .NET Profiler part of the solution."

"Versa is a good centralized solution, where you're setting up your infrastructure in a data center type thing."

"Their dashboard is also a good point for us and the customer. The solution is very clean and easy."

"Our customers are very satisfied with this solution. They have not mentioned any areas for improvement."

"Overall, it's nice and very user friendly. That's what makes it so successful. They give you complicated features but with a very simple user interface, and that's been a big success for them."

"The solution is stable and suitable."

"The necessary enhancement pertains to the controller segment, specifically addressing the issue of frequent flapping when a link is left. In the case of Versa Unified, if a link experiences frequent flapping within an entire branch, it triggers instability. Hence, it is imperative that the overall routing system is not contingent solely upon the active dial branches."

"The initial setup is simple."

"There are great security and ops features without the need for having a different box for security."

More Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform pros

Cons

"FortGate's IPS reporting could be made better by giving more details regarding the source and destination of network traffic when it comes to the overview section. This would allow me to more easily follow the flow of traffic based on IP addresses, without having to integrate the IPS with other products that perform more sophisticated traffic analysis."

"More SD-WAN features can be integrated into the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall"

"I feel that the reporting needs to be improved."

"FortiLink is the interface on the firewall that allows you to extend switch management across all of your switches in the network. The problem with it is that you can't use multiple interfaces unless you set them up in a lag. Only then you can run them. So, it forces you to use a core type of switch to propagate that management out to the rest of the switches, and then it is running the case at 200. It leaves you with 18 ports on the firewall because it is also a layer-three router that could also be used as a switch, but as soon as you do that, you can't really use them. They could do a little bit more clean up in the way the stacking interface works. Some use cases and the documentation on the FortiLink checking interface are a little outdated. I can find stuff on version 5 or more, but it is hard to find information on some of the newer firmware. The biggest thing I would like to see is some improvement in the switch management feature. I would like to be able to relegate some of the ports, which are on the firewall itself, to act as a switch to take advantage of those ports. Some of these firewalls have clarity ports on them. If I can use those, it would mean that I need to buy two less switches, which saves time. I get why they don't, but I would still like to see it because it would save a little bit of space in the server rack."

"One of the most important areas for improvement for Fortinet FortiGate is the limited resources for tests."

"It claims it does DLP, but the degree and level of controls are very basic."

"The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and for the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function."

"The main area needing improvement is the user-friendliness of FortiGate's integration with other Fortinet tools like FortiAuthenticator and VPN services."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The routing scalability needs improvement. We have run into a lot of limitations and also primarily from a routine perspective, things like RSPs line support. It was supportive but not really supportive."

"I heard about them for the first time just before I started working on Versa. They do have blogs for information, but they could publicize more about the documentation and architecture. It doesn't seem to have that much exposure, and they should work on their customer base more."

"The stability of FlexVNF's controller and devices could be improved."

"The interface could be simpler."

"We are thinking about how to make customers consolidate the loads to an SD-WAN network so that the customers can have bigger chunk from the SD-WAN side so that customers can have critical data be transferred with NPS VPN and non-critical data or some labeled traffic can be transferred by the SD-WAN network. I think it's a very important direction for digital transformation."

"The web interface can be improved."

"With the pandemic and changing work models, it would be ideal if the product more accessibility options or more diversity within the solution itself."

"The cost of Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is higher than other solutions available in the market."

"Versa provides analytics, but the reporting features have some shortcomings."

More Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is okay, so far so good."

"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."

"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS is cheaper than other solutions like Cisco or Check Point."

"The licensing cost is at the intermediate level."

"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."

"Its pricing is good. The advantages of Fortinet FortiGate over its competitors include good pricing and meeting our requirements at a lower cost."

"The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"The price is expensive but it makes sense for the market."

"It is neither cheap nor expensive. I rate the pricing a five out of ten on a scale where one is cheap and ten is expensive."

"While I cannot provide too much commentary on the price, I feel it to be fair for the moment."

"Price wise, it's more expensive than is the competition. I would give pricing a rating of three out of five."

"I find Versa a little more expensive than VMware in terms of remote access and secure web gateway elements."

"It is not very expensive because of the white box support. Its hardware is much cheaper than other products. With the support for x86 and white box, it is one of the most cost-effective platforms that are currently available."

"We provide subscriptions for our customers on a yearly, not monthly, basis."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	9

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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Earn 20 points

What do you like most about Versa Titan?

The necessary enhancement pertains to the controller segment, specifically addressing the issue of frequent flapping ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Versa Titan?

Pricing for Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is competitive. That should not be an issue.

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What needs improvement with Versa Titan?

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform could possibly be improved if they can integrate it with the...

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 8% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 57% of the time

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 43% of the time

More SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN Competitors

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform

Compared 33% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform

Compared 10% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform

Compared 8% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform

Compared 6% of the time

More Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

November 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

October 2025

SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN report

Download SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform

October 2025

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform report

Download Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform product report

Also Known As

No data available

SteelConnect, Riverbed SteelConnect

Versa FlexVNF, FlexVNF, Versa Titan

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Accelerate business velocity with enterprise-class SD-WAN. As enterprises and organizations adopt more cloud and SaaS applications to support an increasingly distributed workforce, the hybrid networks connecting it all have been more complex, less predictable and less secure.

Riverbed SteelConnect EX is a powerful enterprise SD-WAN solution that integrates best-in-class routing, application acceleration, network visibility, and security services – a flexible and complete WAN Edge platform that gives you what you need to modernize your network and propel your business in the digital age.

Riverbed

The Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is a comprehensive solution that provides secure access to cloud applications and services. It combines networking and security functions into a single platform, making it easier for organizations to manage their network infrastructure. The platform includes features such as SD-WAN, VPN, firewall, web filtering, and more. It also offers advanced security capabilities such as intrusion prevention, malware protection, and threat intelligence. With the Versa SASE Platform, organizations can ensure secure access to their cloud applications and services from any location, while also reducing costs and simplifying network management.

Versa Networks

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Roxtec, Software Solutions Company, Rignet

CenturyLink, RCN Business, Colt Technology Services

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

October 2025

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