Aviatrix vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

The compared Aviatrix and Cisco solutions aren't in the same category. Aviatrix is ranked #4 in SDN , with an average rating of 10.0, and holds a 5.2% mindshare in the category. Cisco is ranked #5 in NMA , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Aviatrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Aviatrix

Read 7 Aviatrix reviews

825 Views
429 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Read 98 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reviews

6,828 Views
341 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Aviatrix

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Aviatrix and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, TP-Link, Aviatrix and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN).

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined Networking (SDN) Report (Updated: January 2026).

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Software Defined Networking (SDN)

January 2026

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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

Aviatrix

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Networking (SDN) (4th)

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (5th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Aviatrix is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 5.2%, up 4.6% compared to last year.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Network Management Applications, holds 2.4% mindshare, up 0.6% since last year.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Aviatrix	5.2%
Meraki SD-WAN	15.8%
Cisco ACI	11.7%
Other	67.3%

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN	2.4%
Cisco DNA Center	14.4%
Cisco Catalyst Center	7.9%
Other	75.3%

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

Jeff Hazel

Technical Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

A cloud-agnostic solution that simplifies multi-cloud connectivity and enhances security

One of the aspects I found most valuable is its ability to make changes and roll them back quickly. In an AWS context, you could connect a couple of virtual private clouds, even if they weren't originally meant to be linked. What I particularly appreciated was that it was cloud-agnostic, so it didn't matter if you were working with AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud; it seamlessly operated across different cloud providers. Within the Aviatrix ecosystem, you could connect different clouds, and the intricacies of low-level commands and configurations were abstracted away.

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Danish Nazir

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product has greatly improved our organization by saving costs for multiple direct connections and simpler cloud configurations."

"The most valuable feature of Aviatrix is that it saves us a lot of time."

"Its exceptional capability to seamlessly integrate with various cloud services makes it the preferred choice for multi-cloud deployments."

"The connections are seamless, and we can access the static clouds on the platform itself. We are also able to trace the issues. The most valuable features of the solution are security, user interface, and performance."

"Within the Aviatrix ecosystem, you could connect different clouds, and the intricacies of low-level commands and configurations were abstracted away."

"It has enhanced the way I can deploy and manage VPCs and other connectivity services, provided valuable insights into latency, ports used, and top talkers, and offered effective troubleshooting tools."

"This tool resolves the overlapping of CIDR’s IP addresses in a multi-cloud environment, which is its best feature. The product also gives packet-level details on the data that has been put from one cloud to another. Currently, no other solution in the market can give this kind of detail. There is also the high VPN connectivity which gives high throughput. Internet service providers have a limitation on large migrations like 10 Gigabytes or 2 to 2.3 GBPS. However, this tool gives you a functionality where you can bundle multiple tunnels into one tunnel. Thereafter, you can transfer the data from one environment to another or from on-prem to the cloud."

"The initial setup is quite simple."

"The cloud environment, including cloud security integration, is very valuable because of the many API integrations with the SD-WAN."

"I like creating policies. This way, we can better utilize our WAN circuit and get better rates. Its GUI is user-friendly, and the CLI is also great."

"The reliability is high and we have only had to restart it once or twice over the years."

"The initial setup is straightforward and easy to deploy."

"It's a scalable solution."

"The most valuable feature is the application-level routing."

"Cisco products are rated to handle the heat and are very rugged, making them a good corporate standard."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pros

Cons

"Aviatrix should include more integrated security features like intrusion detection and lateral movement detection."

"There is room for improvement regarding enhancing its security features in response to modern cybersecurity challenges."

"The tool has a very limited local presence in the GCC market. I am based in Dubai, UAE and it would be very difficult for me to reach out to US staff for technical discussion during the tool’s implementation. The tool needs to focus on the GCC market which includes UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc. There is nobody to help you out in this region."

"The solution needs to improve the onboarding architecture."

"There could be an easy availability of multiple features in the profile."

"There can be a steep learning curve for users who are not familiar with it or multi-cloud networking concepts"

"Technical support could be more helpful and responsive."

"Since most user-data is going through the solution, we are concerned about security, as all the information is in the cloud and not on-premises. The user data authentification should be higher to better prevent malicious attacks."

"The bandwidth limitations would be good to remove, but it is a policy and license situation for Cisco because the cost is very high. It would be good to have OTP implemented with VRF. It can have support for EIGRP Over the Top (OTP) VRF. I saw some limitations in regards to the VRF protocol and the advertisement between VRF configuration. EIGRP Over the Top basically was quite limited with the VRF configuration. If you wanted to do rollback in VRF by using the EIGRP OTP protocol, the formation was not populated across. Cisco got back and confirmed that it is a configuration that I need to wait for until the next release, which is going to happen in one year. Cisco documentation is not the way it used to be before. It just gives an easy way to configure, but it doesn't go into the details of the configuration. The information that you need is there, but sometimes you want to go further and get more information, but the information is quite limited. It would be good to cover a few business cases or configuration cases. They used to be there in the past."

"The process of onboarding the vSmart, vBond, and vManage should be improved to make it easier to manage in general."

"The solution could be a bit cheaper."

"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."

"This solution should include a fully functional firewall at no extra charge."

"All of the configurations are based on templates, and we need to spend a lot of time doing the templates. It's good because that means that all of the configurations will be equal in the network. However, we need to spend a lot of time implementing the templates and doing the customizations."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"During the initial phase, it operates as an open-source and it's a free tool."

"The tool is quite expensive."

"Aviatrix is a pretty expensive solution."

"It operates on a consumption-based model and the expenses depend on factors such as the number of virtual machines you use and the resources consumed."

"For 600 links, the license for Cisco SD-WAN costs us US$250k a year."

"The cost is reasonable. I would rate the price as seven out of ten."

"The initial cost is quite significant, but the investment is worthwhile."

"Licensing is on a subscription basis."

"In the Russian market where we operate, this solution is expensive."

"It is expensive. The license limitation is there in terms of bandwidth. Basically, Cisco is always good in terms of performance and related things. However, if you want to have a license, for example, for 100 Mbps, they charge you because of their 100 Mbps. If you want to go without the license of 300 Mbps, it is a bandwidth license as well. This is not happening with other vendors. That is the reason why we moved away from Cisco. The bill gets a little bit high. I do remember that one time we were trying to increase the bandwidth for at least five devices, and the license got as high as 20-grand for five devices, only for the license. It was expensive for us at the time. Our company is not a big company, but it is a solid company. The price was very high, and we moved away from Cisco because of the price."

"Cisco's pricing is not entirely satisfactory when you compare the SD-WAN solutions in Asian markets — like the South Asian market in Sri Lanka — because there are several competing brands including Fortinet and Citrix, who provide much the same product for a generally lower price. And when it comes to firewall vendors like Palo Alto and SonicWall, they're also selling here. It's the same with VMware, too; they have much the same features."

"The Cisco SD-WAN licensing model needs to be simplified. There are currently three types of licenses: enterprise agreements, individual licenses, and DNA subscriptions. This can confuse customers, requiring a dedicated person to determine which type of license is right for their organization."

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	44

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aviatrix?

The cost should be compared to the pricing of native services, which often include a data processing component.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Aviatrix?

One area that could use improvement is IPv6 support.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Aviatrix?

I am leveraging additional connectivity features, applying zero trust within the cloud network, simplifying cloud network management, and gaining more insights into what is happening within the env...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?

When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?

The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?

More or less, it's the same with Cisco in terms of complexity and pricing, so there's not much of a difference. They might want to consider incorporating features seen in Versa or other competitors...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 23% of the time

Cisco ACI vs Aviatrix

Compared 19% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Aviatrix

Compared 16% of the time

Alkira Cloud Services Exchange (CSX) vs Aviatrix

Compared 12% of the time

Megaport vs Aviatrix

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 8% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 7% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 6% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

January 2026

Download Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

Aviatrix Enterprise Contract

Cisco SD-WAN

Overview

Aviatrix specializes in solving CIDR IP overlap issues in multi-cloud environments while providing superior packet-level data insights and high VPN connectivity capabilities.

Aviatrix delivers seamless integration with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, ensuring efficient connectivity across major platforms. Its robust security, intuitive usage, and cloud-agnostic nature help manage network constraints while automating processes and adopting zero trust principles. With real-time topology views, consistent Terraform modules, and efficient troubleshooting tools, it simplifies cloud network management. Desired improvements include strengthened presence in the GCC market, enhanced security features, better user training, and improved onboarding processes. Advances in integrated security measures and effective training could reduce the learning curve.

What are Aviatrix's most important features?

CIDR IP Overlap Resolution: Address overlapping IP issues in multi-cloud setups.
High VPN Connectivity: Ensures robust connectivity for migrations.
Cloud Service Integration: Seamless integration across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Real-Time Topology: Offers a dynamic view of network architecture.
Security: Implements robust security protocols for data safety.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Aviatrix?

Time-Saving: Streamlines processes to save valuable time.
Enhanced Security: Strengthens network protection across platforms.
Ease of Use: Simplifies cloud network management with a user-friendly interface.
Connectivity: Ensures high connectivity between cloud providers.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and technology, Aviatrix is employed to manage cloud environments with enhanced security and connectivity. Organizations automate networking processes, applying zero trust principles while maximizing management efficiencies. Effective implementation allows for streamlined operations and valuable insights.

Aviatrix

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers centralized management and integrates seamlessly with existing Cisco ecosystems. It simplifies deployment with zero-touch provisioning, delivering robust security and optimized application routing.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN provides essential capabilities for organizations seeking secure remote connectivity and cost reduction, notably through its support of hybrid environments. While pricing and complexity present challenges, its advanced application control and cloud compatibility make it a valuable asset for connecting branches and data centers. Users benefit from enhanced security, network assurance, and simplified management, driving operational efficiency.

What are the key features of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN?

Centralized Management: Streamlines network operations through a single interface.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Simplifies deployment, reducing manual setup efforts.
Application-Aware Routing: Enhances performance by prioritizing critical applications.
Robust Security: Integrates strong security measures for data protection.
Hybrid Environment Support: Facilitates connectivity across various environments.
Integration with Cisco Products: Ensures seamless operation within existing networks.

What benefits can users expect from Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces networking expenses by optimizing resource usage.
Operational Simplicity: Streamlines processes, reducing resource strain.
Enhanced Security: Strengthens defenses with integrated security features.
Improved Connectivity: Ensures reliable communication for remote sites.
Scalability: Supports varying enterprise sizes with tailored solutions.

In banking, retail, and enterprise sectors, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN facilitates effective network management by enhancing connectivity between branches and data centers. Its security features and zero-touch deployment are particularly valued, providing scalable solutions for locations that demand reliable, application-prioritized networking.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Hyatt, Robert Half, GREE

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

January 2026

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