Aviatrix vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

Aviatrix and Cisco are both solutions in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category. Aviatrix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8, while Cisco is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Aviatrix holds a 4.6% mindshare in SDN, compared to Cisco’s 23.9% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Aviatrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Aviatrix

Read 6 Aviatrix reviews

336 Views
172 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Meraki SD-WAN

Read 77 Meraki SD-WAN reviews

1,592 Views
1,029 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Aviatrix

Meraki SD-WAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Meraki SD-WAN and Aviatrix are competitors in the SD-WAN sector, each offering unique advantages. Although Meraki SD-WAN is appreciated for its cost-effectiveness and exceptional customer support, Aviatrix stands out with its advanced features, making it preferable for businesses requiring sophisticated functionalities despite a higher price point.

Features: Meraki SD-WAN provides centralized management, seamless cloud integration, and robust security protocols. Aviatrix offers extensive multi-cloud networking capabilities, advanced traffic engineering, and comprehensive analytics.

Room for Improvement: Meraki SD-WAN could enhance its capabilities in handling complex multi-cloud environments and improve its analytics offerings. Aviatrix might benefit from streamlining its deployment process to reduce the learning curve and enhancing cost-efficiency for smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Meraki SD-WAN offers a simple deployment process coupled with strong customer service, making ongoing management straightforward. Aviatrix provides a flexible, highly customizable deployment model suited for complex environments, supported by customer service that aligns with its architectural flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: Meraki SD-WAN is attractive for its lower initial expenses, offering significant ROI through efficient resource utilization. Aviatrix requires a larger investment, justified by enhanced network performance and agility, delivering a solid ROI despite its higher setup costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN

February 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 845,406 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

3rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Meraki SD-WAN

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Aviatrix is 4.6%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki SD-WAN is 23.9%, down from 24.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Featured Reviews

Govinda Mengji

Specialist Master | Manager at Deloitte

Has multiple capabilities which are not present in other products in the market

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.

Read full review

Martyn Walker

Business development manager at Virgin Media

Enables productivity in terms of users and has ease of management

Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off.

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 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."

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

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

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

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

"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 most valuable feature is the single management plane dashboard. Our organization has a global site, we have separated the area, and we have more than five hundred small sites around the world."

"The most valuable feature is application performance monitoring and being able to browse packets dynamically based on priorities."

"t is very stable based on our experience and the application performance has been superb."

"The solution is a whole vertical solution, so it doesn't need any other components in order to provide basic features."

"If you have the technical knowledge, there is very little chance of making mistakes."

"Meraki SD-WAN saves costs for our customers and provides better connectivity."

"I like the entire set of features and the analytics."

"Meraki can react fast to emerging trends."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

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

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

"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"

"The solution needs to improve the onboarding architecture."

"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."

"They need to offer proper integration of the security features."

"The configuration from the firewall side could be improved a little bit more."

"The solution could be improved if it added more features, especially monitoring and reporting features."

"In Meraki SD-WAN, we have some limitations with the traffic shaping capabilities."

"The deployment time of Meraki SD-WAN can vary. For someone new to the process, it could take a couple of hours. However, for someone with hands-on experience, such as myself, it only takes approximately two to three hours to set up the entire configuration."

"Meraki SD-WAN could improve on the lead time, but this is not a problem only with Cisco. there's a global shortage of chipsets. Additionally, the solution has limited features. It's quite a standard product and not very easily upgradeable or stackable."

"There could be more options for integration between other devices — sort of being able to more easily make everything integrated in one solution."

"Sometimes we face issues with VPN connections when someone connects from a different time zone, like from Georgia to the Middle East."

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"The tool is quite expensive."

"The tool offers term licenses. You have the same term licensing model available for all of your equipment, which is good for management."

"like everything else, it's negotiable."

"The product is not expensive."

"The licensing model is a fair one, although having the hardware means nothing without the license. You need to continue to pay licensing fees."

"The tool is costly. I rate the tool's price as a ten out of ten since it is very expensive."

"I don't have information on the exact cost of Meraki SD-WAN, but I'd rate it a three out of five just because the licensing model is very much associated with the Meraki solution."

"Meraki's pricing is on the higher side, which may limit who can afford to use them."

"Pricing is a significant concern for me. Amongst all the firewall brands, Cisco is one of the most expensive options. Despite its reputation and security features, many customers opt for other brands, such as SonicWall because of their lower prices. These other brands offer similar features to Cisco but at a lower cost. Cisco's pricing is something that could be improved to attract more customers. The brand has a good reputation, but when it comes to budgeting and pricing, it is not always the first choice."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aviatrix?

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

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aviatrix?

Aviatrix is a pretty expensive solution. Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution and the support. You can't buy the product without support.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Aviatrix?

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

See all answers

What do you like most about Meraki SD-WAN?

The auto VPN feature is important because it automates many tasks, making things simpler and faster. It helps with setting up devices and changing configurations without manual effort.

See all answers

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

The price is a little bit higher than local vendors, for example, Huawei ZTE or H3C. However, some customers require the best quality and performance, thus needing solutions and products from Cisco.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Meraki SD-WAN?

They have to ask us many questions about configurations. It could be improved with some automation to trigger, for example, telemetry data, so we can determine the state of the deployment as of day...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Aviatrix

Compared 32% of the time

VMware NSX vs Aviatrix

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco ACI vs Aviatrix

Compared 15% of the time

Megaport vs Aviatrix

Compared 11% of the time

More Aviatrix Competitors

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 22% of the time

Omada Cloud SDN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 20% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 16% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 14% of the time

Megaport vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 2% of the time

More Meraki SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

March 2025

Download Aviatrix product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

March 2025

Download Meraki SD-WAN product report

Overview

The Aviatrix solution consists of two components: the Aviatrix Gateway, which is deployed on-premises or in the cloud; and the Aviatrix Cloud Controller, which orchestrates and manages one or more Gateways.

Aviatrix

Software-defined WAN is a new approach to network connectivity that lowers operational costs and improves resource usage for multi-site deployments, allowing network administrators to use bandwidth more efficiently and ensure the highest possible level of performance for critical applications without sacrificing security or data privacy. For more information on deploying and configuring SD-WAN on the Meraki MX Security Appliance, see the Meraki SD-WAN Deployment Guide.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Hyatt, Robert Half, GREE

École Jeannine Manuel

Buyer's Guide

Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN

February 2025

Free Report: Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN

Find out what your peers are saying about Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Aviatrix vs. Meraki SD-WAN report.

See our list of best Software Defined Networking (SDN) vendors.

We monitor all Software Defined Networking (SDN) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.