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Aruba Orchestrator vs Juniper Session Smart Router comparison

 

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:
 

Categories and Ranking

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
Juniper Session Smart Router
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Routers (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Aruba Orchestrator is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper Session Smart Router is 2.3%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Orchestrator1.5%
Juniper Session Smart Router2.3%
Other96.2%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

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.
worksoft757854 - PeerSpot reviewer
Worksoft Certify Sr.Consultant at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Session-based routing has reduced WAN costs and delivers faster failovers with app-aware paths
The best features of Juniper Session Smart Router that offer me value are the ones I use daily, including session-based routing and core features that route traffic per session instead of tunnels, giving better performance, seamless failovers, and application-aware path selection. It selects the best link, whether MPLS, broadband, or LTE. It also has built-in zero-trust security which means it controls segmentation without needing a separate VPN setup and advanced visibility and analysis, providing strong insight into traffic, session, and performance. This provides simple branch management. Juniper Session Smart Router has positively impacted my organization by achieving a 30% to 40% reduction in WAN cost, which means less reliance on MPLS. There is also a 40% faster failover with near-zero user impact during link issues, and 20% to 30% less time spent on troubleshooting. Additionally, I experience fewer outages due to dynamic path selection, which facilitates fast branch deployment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If you compare the solution to Cisco, I believe when it comes to security and of course optimization, Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator is much better and recommendable compared to Cisco."
"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."
"Silver Peak provided the best support from a vendor that we have experienced."
"The best features of Aruba Orchestrator are that it's basically a management product, so it's everything that is integrated in the SD-WAN in SASE; it's really great that it connects today all the gateways and SD-WAN solution with the SASE and the zero trust network access."
"We had to deal with separate management models for Wi-Fi and switches. With Aruba Orchestrator, it's now a unified solution, making things much easier for us. We log in and manage everything from a single console. It provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting. The management process is much quicker and more streamlined."
"The Business Intent Overlay is a great feature."
"The technical support services are excellent."
"The product has reduced OpEx expenditure."
"Customer service is very prompt."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
"Juniper Session Smart Router has positively impacted my organization by achieving a 30% to 40% reduction in WAN cost, which means less reliance on MPLS, with a 40% faster failover with near-zero user impact during link issues, and 20% to 30% less time spent on troubleshooting, along with fewer outages due to dynamic path selection, which facilitates fast branch deployment."
"Because we are talking directly to engineers in the US, the support is usually the best you can possibly get."
"As compared to the other major vendors in the SD-WAN market, such as VeloCloud, Cisco, and others, the tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, which gives plenty of room to discuss with the customer why IPSec from 1998 is a bit outdated."
"For telecom companies, I think zero-trust segmentation is the way to go because if you allow anything that you do not understand, then it becomes a problem."
"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."
 

Cons

"The solution lacks sufficient security features."
"Aruba Orchestrator should implement dynamic certificate changes for security."
"The initial setup is complex, depending on the overall planning for the entire environment."
"They could provide essential training to understand the product functionality."
"The solution can be improved by lowering the cost and making it more user-friendly for first-time users."
"We don't see return on investment, but we love the technology, so we purchase because of the technology."
"The solution lacks sufficient security features."
"The price should be improved as it is very high. The Aruba products are expensive."
"I found some weaknesses on their hardware. They are sometimes breaking very often."
"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."
"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I feel should not be that way."
"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in several areas such as the steep learning curve because the session-based model is different from traditional networking."
"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the platform’s pricing a five out of ten."
"The solution's licensing costs are yearly. It is not expensive, and I rate it around three to four out of ten."
"Aruba Orchestrator is free to use."
"I think it is quite expensive compared to other vendors in the market because it depends on what kind of features you really want to acquire in the product."
"We are currently renegotiating the offer for the licenses and the license bundle model. The license for an ISP has to be different from the license for an end customer. This is something we are currently renegotiating with Juniper, but, of course, the pricing for the licensing is always an issue when you want to get more customers."
"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Media Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
22%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?
Regarding my experience with the pricing and setup costs, I find it expensive software compared to others.
What needs improvement with Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?
It would be great if they would have a fully multi-tenant solution on their Orchestrator. Aruba SD-WAN solutions are always expensive. I don't think that it will change. It's an argument for many y...
What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I fe...
What is your primary use case for Juniper Session Smart Router?
I have not tested Sophos on a larger scale, as I use Sophos in a very office environment and Juniper in telecom. Because we have Juniper switches and Juniper firewalls, we have not centralized them...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router is a controller for managing devices. We have real-time analytics through the IBA Probes. For troubleshooting, we have direct access to them. As we use other vendors, w...
 

Also Known As

Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator, Unity Orchestrator
128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Revation Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Orchestrator vs. Juniper Session Smart Router and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.