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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pros and cons

Vendor: Cisco
4.0 out of 5
Badge Leader
806 followers
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Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is highly scalable and trusted for its reliability and stability, making it ideal for small businesses to large enterprises.
The ease of central management and monitoring of network health and security are some of the most valuable aspects of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN.
The integration of cloud services and on-premises functionality with Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN enhances flexibility and deployment speed, benefiting hybrid cloud environments.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers strong support for application-level routing and traffic steering, providing significant performance and efficiency improvements.
Exceptional technical and customer support is a hallmark of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, ensuring effective deployment and operational use.

CONS

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is expensive and could benefit from more competitive pricing.
Technical support for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is slow and could be more responsive.
The complexity of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's initial setup process can be improved.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN lacks robust security features compared to competitors.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's license model is overly complex and needs simplification.
 

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Pros review quotes

OM
May 15, 2021
It is very stable with very good firmware.
Samuel Romero - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 17, 2023
Cisco products are rated to handle the heat and are very rugged, making them a good corporate standard.
reviewer1295121 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 23, 2020
Using SD-WAN to combine services can result in better up time, higher speeds, and much lower costs.
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
HN
Aug 17, 2023
The cloud environment, including cloud security integration, is very valuable because of the many API integrations with the SD-WAN.
UH
Dec 28, 2022
The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include the DIA and its integration with Cisco Umbrella for DNS security.
VENKATESHREDDY - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 10, 2022
It is very stable.
Ehsan Emad - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 25, 2021
Customizing SD-WAN is very easy because you can define two colors. You can define two different operators. You can deploy a partial mesh, a full mesh, or hub-and-spoke totally differently. If you want to do this on a DMVPN solution, that's really hard.
Malith Chandrasekara - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 3, 2021
From my observations, Cisco has been rolling out new features every other day, so I would say their speed of innovation is one of the most valuable aspects for me.
it_user1273860 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 2, 2020
The segmented traffic it provides is the best in the industry right now.
reviewer1281732 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 5, 2020
Cisco is an industry leader, so customers have a high level of trust with the brand more-so than with some newcomers that might have some more revolutionary solutions, but no name recognition.
 

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Cons review quotes

OM
May 15, 2021
Some competitors are much faster in providing out-of-the-box solutions, more innovative solutions. In terms of innovation, in many cases, they're lagging behind.
Samuel Romero - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 17, 2023
The initial setup is complex and can be improved.
reviewer1295121 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 23, 2020
Cisco could do more to offer bundling of the SD-WAN and other solutions.
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
HN
Aug 17, 2023
I would like to see revision cycles to be more stable.
UH
Dec 28, 2022
One area for improvement in Cisco SD-WAN is reporting. The report needs to give more visibility to the customer. The security feature in Cisco SD-WAN also needs improvement, particularly if Cisco wants to challenge other brands, such as Fortinet.
VENKATESHREDDY - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 10, 2022
We need them to start focusing on the SD-WAN compatibility with other environments and not being so vendor locked with Cisco environments.
Ehsan Emad - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 25, 2021
In the next release, Cisco should focus on simplifying the configuration of SD-WAN. SD-WAN has a lot of room to grow.
Malith Chandrasekara - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 3, 2021
One of the major areas that Cisco can improve on with their SD-WAN offering is their security features. When compared with Fortinet, who have what they call their 'security pillars' (e.g. firewall and security features built-in to their SD-WAN solutions), Cisco generally comes up short. With Cisco, if you need a security component, you have to pay more to get it done. So if they could add more security features that come part and parcel with their existing solutions, then I think Cisco could be very aggressive in the market.
it_user1273860 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 2, 2020
Cisco's router and voice gateway has not been available since the launch of SD-WAN.
reviewer1281732 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 5, 2020
The client portal needs to be improved in order to make the solution much better.