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Aruba Orchestrator vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective, robust security, reducing expenses, enhancing efficiency, easy implementation, quick ROI, and improved network management.
Sentiment score
6.8
ROI occurs by year four via savings in MPLS, Unity Edge Connect investments, and reduced internet expenses with Aruba Orchestrator.
Sentiment score
6.4
Users reported reduced WAN costs, improved service reliability, and significant savings with potential ROI within a year.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems
I have seen a return on investment and financial benefit from using Aruba Orchestrator.
Systems and support engineer at Lan to Wan
We don't see return on investment, but we love the technology, so we purchase because of the technology.
CTO, Co founder at IT-Guru
They are now back to do that with the remainder of their company, so they've realized the value in 12 months and are willing to invest in the remainder of their organization.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Fortinet FortiGate's customer service is generally praised for responsiveness, though some users experience delays in critical situations.
Sentiment score
6.7
Aruba Orchestrator offers highly rated customer service, with efficient support, though expertise can be challenging for complex issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN support is generally praised for responsiveness and efficiency, despite occasional delay issues, rated highly by users.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
The technical support of Aruba is very supportive and excellent.
Systems and support engineer at Lan to Wan
I would rate my experience with technical support from Aruba as eight out of ten.
Senior IT Officer at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
The principal third-level support is very good.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
I would consider Cisco support a 10 out of 10.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
I would rate Cisco's support, their customer service, and technical support as excellent.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable and popular for SMEs but requires careful design and may incur scaling costs and licensing constraints.
Sentiment score
7.8
Aruba Orchestrator is scalable, managing numerous devices efficiently, suitable for enterprises, but some suggest simpler scaling.
Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is scalable, supporting extensive networks and preferred for seamless scaling in complex environments across various sectors.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
Cewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo
Cisco SD-WAN is highly scalable and can be expanded to more than 10,000 sites.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
The ease of configuration and features like zero-touch provisioning enhance the scalability of Cisco SD-WAN, especially in disaster recovery situations.
Engineer at Routz
It is done through static whitelisting of the IPs, which is not a scalable solution since IPs can change at any time.
Network Manager at HPCL
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its stability, with effective long-term performance and improvements in newer firmware versions.
Sentiment score
8.7
Users report Aruba Orchestrator's enhanced stability, improved performance, and high satisfaction after switching from Cisco, with no significant issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is reliable overall, with stability varying by configuration, despite minor bugs and integration challenges.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
Manager, Information Technology at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
CISO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
We had Cisco infrastructure in the past before we replaced it with Aruba, and our experience is much better with Aruba compared to Cisco—far, far better.
Senior IT Officer at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
While some software-related issues and bugs were encountered, they did not cause the whole environment to crash.
Engineer at Routz
A simple issue in the control connections between the fabric causes numerous complexities.
Network Manager at HPCL
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs enhanced UI, simplified licensing, improved performance, reporting, third-party integration, and expanded automation features.
Aruba Orchestrator needs improved security, cost effectiveness, training, and user-friendly features, particularly in deployment and analytics.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN suffers from high costs, complex configuration, and lacks user-friendly features, hindered by complicated licensing.
These sessions should be around five to ten minutes long, allowing users and partners to quickly grasp the information without disrupting their daily tasks.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The solution should be able to implement machine learning and analytics of all the logs for threat detection and protection.
Senior Systems Engineer at Caribbean Development Company
It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The price should be improved as it is very high.
Systems and support engineer at Lan to Wan
It would be great if they would have a fully multi-tenant solution on their Orchestrator.
CTO, Co founder at IT-Guru
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Including more features like integrating with Splunk for monitoring vulnerabilities would help eliminate the need for other SOC solutions.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
The negative, or the downside of Cisco is the knowledge base; you need to be a little bit more tech-savvy and network-savvy to work with Cisco, while Juniper is a lot more user-friendly from what I can see, especially in terms of configuration and any kind of roll back.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Fortinet FortiGate costly initially, but cheaper overall, despite some high renewal and setup costs.
Aruba Orchestrator's pricing is mid-range and variable, rated between three and eight out of ten by users.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is costly with hidden fees, prompting a shift from Capex to Opex to manage expenses.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
Network & System Admin at Invoke Studios
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
IT Infrastructure Architect at Apotek 1
It is about 20% cheaper.
Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX
Regarding my experience with the pricing and setup costs, I find it expensive software compared to others.
Systems and support engineer at Lan to Wan
Its pricing is justifiable due to the comprehensive solution it offers.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller businesses when using the Meraki version.
Engineer at Routz
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate provides robust, flexible security solutions with key features like web filtering, SSL VPN, SD-WAN, and centralized management.
Aruba Orchestrator streamlines network management with advanced features, reducing operational costs and supporting hybrid environments.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is praised for its centralized management, integrated security, zero-touch provisioning, scalability, and cloud cost savings.
The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring.
General Manager Group IT at DART GLOBAL LOGISTICS PTE. LTD.
We got a firewall and gave an SSL VPN to my client to connect to their servers, after which, such kind of activities involving ransomware attacks stopped.
Owner at Mindware Computer Solutions
They put in a thing called the FortiCookbook, which is very easy to read with real-life scenarios that make networking tasks like joining networks very straightforward.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
Integration capabilities with cloud and on-prem environments help my organization maintain a hybrid approach.
Systems and support engineer at Lan to Wan
The security features of Aruba Orchestrator are really good; I don't think there is any issue with security.
Senior IT Officer at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
It's really great that it connects today all the gateways and SD-WAN solution with the SASE and the zero trust network access.
CTO, Co founder at IT-Guru
It also provides robust security features, including port security, analysis, mirroring, and multiple other security solutions.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
Integration capabilities provide comprehensive security.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
581
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Aruba Orchestrator
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (5th), WAN Edge (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 13.2%, down from 19.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba Orchestrator is 1.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 10.5%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate13.2%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10.5%
Aruba Orchestrator1.5%
Other74.8%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2733462 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Officer at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
User interface boosts network management efficiency
I use Aruba Orchestrator's advanced analytics tools. Aruba Orchestrator's analytics tools are great tools to use. We were using Cisco, but when comparing it with Cisco, Aruba is far better. The security features of Aruba Orchestrator are really good; I don't think there is any issue with security. It's a good tool in terms of the security aspects. My experience with Aruba Orchestrator is that it's a great tool to use to manage the network. Its user interface is very user-friendly; in fact, the management interface is very user-friendly. It also gives a lot of troubleshooting ideas when we are trying to troubleshoot any issues with the wireless network or the wired network. It's a very useful tool. I can say that 100% the ROI from Aruba Orchestrator is really good because we have reduced the number of people needed. There is no need to have a team of people to manage the huge network, and with a relatively smaller number of resources, we are able to manage.
ND
Network Manager at HPCL
Faced complex visibility and policy challenges but have improved basic traffic routing control
I have found some other solutions more insightful and user-friendly as compared to Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, but the basic SD-WAN functionality is good enough. I am using it only because it was done as a pilot project, specifically for my 60 to 70 sites. For the majority of the sites, I am using Fortinet's Secure SD-WAN solution and I found that more viable and more in alignment with my requirements. For example, there is not any Internet Service Database available in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN intrinsically. If I want to write a policy based on applications, I am not able to write it, at least in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Viptela deployment that we have done, and that is fairly easy to do in Fortinet. The second issue is the logging capability. I think the visibility that Fortinet Secure SD-WAN has is not even comparable. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN does not provide that sort of insight or control as far as traffic steering is concerned. With respect to the SLAs, I barely know which sort of SLAs are violated in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, so I do not have clear visibility on where the traffic is moving from at my spoke or hub locations. I believe Fortinet gives me a very clear picture of where the traffic is going. Overall visibility, whether it is data traffic or logs, is much better in Fortinet compared to Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. The complexity of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Viptela is noticeable and quite complicated to configure. If something breaks, you have to involve TAC and others to fix it. On the contrary, you can work with underlays. Even if your IPsec overlay tunnel is down, it does not impact your production. Thus, we find Fortinet's solution significantly better than Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN solution. I have used Application-aware Routing in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. However, I found it to be very complicated, especially regarding policy writing. For my breakout of VC traffic, we had to write a bunch of IP addresses for Zoom, Webex, and others. Presently, it can only identify Webex as an application, and I highly doubt whether there is any application identification for Zoom and other platforms, as we were not able to find it during our implementation. It is done through static whitelisting of the IPs, which is not a scalable solution since IPs can change at any time. Overall, the application-aware routing policies are not as flexible and scalable as the Internet Service Database feature of Fortinet provides. The struggles encompass policy writing, logging capabilities, traffic visibility, and complex configuration. There is also the issue of load balancing. We have faced considerable challenges with traffic load balancing between the links. Although the SLA targets are configurable, understanding how traffic flows is challenging, making troubleshooting exceedingly difficult. Overall, I find it a quite complicated solution with not that much operational usability.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise133
Large Enterprise189
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise44
 

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What needs improvement with Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?
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What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
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Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator, Unity Orchestrator
Cisco SD-WAN
 

Overview

 

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
Information Not Available
Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Orchestrator vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
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