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AWS Direct Connect vs Cisco Meraki vMX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

AWS Direct Connect
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Meraki vMX
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
19th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of AWS Direct Connect is 1.8%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Meraki vMX is 0.9%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
AWS Direct Connect1.8%
Cisco Meraki vMX0.9%
Other97.3%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2231871 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Offers secure high-bandwidth connectivity without internet-related risks
Regarding the benefits from the multiple virtual interfaces in the product, there is no interface for the product; it is just a connection that we have. It is an ethernet connection we offer. The customer, from the customer side to AWS, receives an ethernet point-to-point connection, and that is it. The interface and everything along with the communication with AWS, the customer has to do by themselves to build the routes and everything. The connection speed that our clients are using ranges from 100 megabits up to 10 gigabits. The main concern is the port costs. Clients do not report technical problems, so it is mainly always an issue of money. The solution is nice, but sometimes they avoid it because the port costs are high. This is not a problem AWS has exclusively; Azure has the same costs, and these port costs are quite expensive. I would rate this review as an 8 out of 10.
Eric Liao - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Manager at DYXnet Group
Cloud connectivity has improved secure orchestration and simplified multi-site management
The most valuable features in Cisco Meraki vMX are easy deployment, an easy-to-read dashboard for information, and automatic load balancing for two circuits in the MX. These are the most important key features for our small business customers. I believe you can integrate Cisco Meraki vMX analytics for network performance when deploying it on any public cloud platform. Encryption is important, and Cisco Meraki vMX supports what most customers want, such as AES 256 or 128. The product supports modern encryption functions and features, making the connection more secure, easy to deploy, and monitor. I think the orchestration feature is beneficial. The automated failover capabilities are very important to our customers because the IT department does not need to configure any parameters; they can switch over themselves. If such an event occurs, the system will send the customers an email to notify them when it goes down or when any device is out of order. This is very easy for the IT department.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The platform's most valuable feature for us is its robust network performance."
"AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet."
"AWS VPN is cost-effective and affordable; it has the security regulation with 3DES protocol, and they have the security protocol required to encrypt the information in the link."
"It is a stable solution."
"AWS Direct Connect offers higher security options by avoiding internet-related problems such as DDoS attacks and provides stable bandwidth."
"Direct Connect provides an improved connection quality and a diversified link, which contributes to high availability and failover capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of Direct Connect is its low latency to the users."
"It is a highly scalable solution."
"The Meraki dashboard helps manage our network effectively because it is quite easy; we manage ourselves very well."
"Cisco Meraki vMX offers sufficient features for most customers; it is very easy to handle and proves very efficient, with the main advantages being the visibility it provides and the ease of administration."
"<p>The most valuable features in Cisco Meraki vMX are easy deployment, an easy-to-read dashboard for information, and automatic load balancing for two circuits in the MX, which are the most important key features for our small business customers.</p>"
 

Cons

"We encountered issues with the connection. The VPN was not connecting on multiple occasions."
"AWS Direct Connect should support cross-cloud connections, such as migrations between Azure and AWS, for disaster recovery purposes on different cloud platforms."
"I would like to see better traffic visibility and higher throughput security, especially for organizations that require more than what the current limit allows."
"It is complicated to do additional BGP configuration for the product."
"The platform's stability needs improvement."
"AWS Direct Connect is straightforward and performs well for me."
"It would be good if we could connect AWS Direct Connect from different networks."
"One area that needs improvement is the cost of the ports, which is a concern as these charges are quite high."
"In comparison with Aruba, I find Aruba to be far better in terms of deployment, ClearPass, and everything, which is all very easy."
"In comparison with Aruba, I find Aruba to be far better in terms of deployment, ClearPass, and everything, which is all very easy."
"<p>Cisco Meraki vMX needs to improve its ability to configure complex policy-based routing.</p>"
"It is not the strongest security solution, so if you want to have next-generation firewall features, you always need an additional component."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."
"It has reasonable pricing in terms of the features offered."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
19%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Construction Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise3
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with AWS Direct Connect?
One area that needs improvement is the cost of the ports, which is a concern as these charges are quite high. It is primarily a budget issue because while the solution is effective, the port costs ...
What is your primary use case for AWS Direct Connect?
Our customers primarily use AWS Direct Connect for hybrid cloud solutions. They have parts of their equipment in their on-premise data center, while also using AWS infrastructure for backups, datab...
What advice do you have for others considering AWS Direct Connect?
Regarding the benefits from the multiple virtual interfaces in the product, there is no interface for the product; it is just a connection that we have. It is an ethernet connection we offer. The c...
What needs improvement with Cisco Meraki vMX?
Cisco Meraki vMX needs to improve its ability to configure complex policy-based routing. The product can only be set up via the GUI interface and cannot perform complex tasks like a Cisco router wh...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Meraki vMX?
I am an architect planning for our customers to plan their enterprise connectivity via Cisco Meraki vMX and SASE. This is for internet access for mobile users, and I am a reseller, not using the pr...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Meraki vMX?
I have no idea about additional features that I would like to see in the next release to make it better. My customers will buy it from the AWS Marketplace and Azure. In my opinion, Cisco Meraki vMX...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Direct Connect vs. Cisco Meraki vMX and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.