Cisco ACI vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

Cisco ACI and Meraki SD-WAN are both solutions in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category. Cisco ACI is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while Meraki SD-WAN is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Cisco ACI holds a 15.5% mindshare in SDN, compared to Meraki SD-WAN’s 23.2% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Cisco ACI users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Meraki SD-WAN users who would recommend it.

Cisco ACI

Read 101 Cisco ACI reviews

1,577 Views
468 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Meraki SD-WAN

Read 77 Meraki SD-WAN reviews

1,484 Views
994 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Cisco ACI

Meraki SD-WAN

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Cisco ACI and Meraki SD-WAN are key competitors in the field of network management solutions. While both products have strengths, Cisco ACI offers advanced integration and scalability, giving it an edge in complex IT environments.

Features: Cisco ACI excels with centralized management, scalability, and extensive automation capabilities. It integrates with various virtual environments, supporting multi-tenancy and network segmentation. Meraki SD-WAN stands out for its ease of configuration through a cloud-based dashboard, Auto VPN, and traffic shaping, focusing on simplicity and quick integration.

Room for Improvement: Cisco ACI can improve its user-friendliness and reduce complexity and costs as its features might not be fully utilized by all users. It could also benefit from better multi-cloud capabilities. Meraki SD-WAN could enhance its security features and bolster integration capabilities to match enterprise-level solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco ACI's on-premises deployment often requires professional setup, increasing deployment time. Customer service is generally positive but varies with complexity. Meraki SD-WAN offers flexible deployment across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments, focusing on simplicity and efficient customer support for straightforward assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco ACI is often seen as expensive due to smart licensing, although it offers returns through operational efficiency. Meraki SD-WAN provides a more budget-friendly solution with flexible licensing, appealing to cost-conscious clients while delivering effective network management. Both demonstrate ROI through operational improvements, with Meraki being particularly cost-effective.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco ACI vs. Meraki SD-WAN Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI vs. Meraki SD-WAN

April 2025

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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

Cisco ACI

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (1st), Cloud and Data Center Security (6th)

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 May 2025, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 15.5%, up from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki SD-WAN is 23.2%, down from 25.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Featured Reviews

Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Provides scalability, ease of migration for future DC moves, multi-tenancy and programmability

Cisco's MSO (Multi-Site Orchestrator) or NDO has room for improvement. Cisco monitors ACI through a product called NDI. I find it very frustrating that Cisco has multiple monitoring platforms. It has DNAC for monitoring Cisco NX-OS, campus switches, and any other routers and switches you would have in the environment. That same thing does not work for Cisco ACI monitoring. MEraki cloudbasd platform for Meraki which will get extended to Campus monitoring, to be honest Cisco never got Monitoring 100% right from days of CiscoWorks to Prime to current platforms. To monitor and manage Cisco ACI, you need to have another platform called NDI and Cisco Dashboard Insights. What frustrates me about Cisco is that it never has a central, single pane of glass platform for all its solutions. It has one thing for Cisco ACI and another thing for campus switches. I would really appreciate it if Cisco came up with something centralized to monitor everything. I haven't thought about anything since the Cisco NDO is quite advanced, and you can deploy your cloud networking through it. I don't know how many people use it. I might explore it as my cloud orchestration tool in the future. We do a lot of cloud automation using our scripts like TerraForm, but I would like to see people using NDO more. We could have more case studies on how many people use NDO for their cloud orchestration. That might be a much easier journey for people when they move from an on-premises data center into a cloud and move from one cloud to another cloud. That is where I personally see an orchestrator being effectively used for multiple deployments.

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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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution allows you to do everything quicker and more efficiently."

"In legacy networks, managing changes requires individual tickets for each device. ACI's single pane of glass management through APIC is a big advantage. So, single-tenant management is a plus."

"The centralized management of the entire network data center, in this case with ACI, is the most valuable feature. By having access to some powerful APIs you can build your own tool to speak to the ACI controller, then with that, you can deploy things really fast. Having the option to build your own tools and then using the centralized management of the ACI to push the configuration to the network devices is very valuable."

"The straightforward migration of all of the applications and loop balancing are the two most valuable features. Also, the measurement of their customer-wide sources is very straightforward. It's another dimension of the networks."

"Cisco ACI was the first product in the market, offering stability with a significant install base."

"It has reduced our day-to-day operations by at least half."

"The stability is quite good."

"It improves security and automation."

More Cisco ACI pros

"Meraki SD-WAN is a scalable solution because changes are being made to the solution, enabling it to work in different environments."

"The product's most valuable features include templating, central administration, single-pane remote administration, and integration with other Cisco products."

"Meraki makes you believe that anything is possible."

"The most interesting feature is the amount of information you can get from overseeing the system from a centralized place."

"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 of Meraki SD-WAN is the Auto VPN."

"I'm not directly involved in SD-WAN monitoring and maintenance, but based on what I've heard from our infrastructure team, it's working well."

"Meraki SD-WAN is a very stable and scalable solution with good technical support."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

"Cisco ACI is a highly complex solution. The initial deployment is just a few clicks, but understanding how an ACI works and interacts with routing, switching, and virtualization takes a lot of knowledge. The interface isn't necessarily hard to use, but the technology is complicated. If you want to understand how it works and how to configure it, you should study hard."

"There were issues when upgrading venues and registering devices."

"I would like this solution to be integrated with Pure Storage."

"I believe there's room for improvement in terms of ACI's integration with various technologies."

"If I lose the connection from one side to the core, I can't use the other side to go to the core. I hope in the future, this will be fixed."

"They should make it easier for the network people to do automated solutions."

"The ACI setup is in its initial phases is difficult. The learning curve at the beginning is higher than a normal setup."

"I can recommend that Cisco improve its execution."

More Cisco ACI cons

"Some of the on-premise security features of Meraki SD-WAN are on the cloud and some of my customers do not want to use the cloud. They should have on-premise security features for those that do not want to use the cloud."

"It should be easier to install BGP and it should have a better backup."

"Meraki SD-WAN had trouble prioritizing traffic for VoIP calls."

"It's a matter of cost and expenses that we may take some issue with."

"The only area for improvement in Meraki SD-WAN is its licensing model, as well as its cost structure."

"The solution needs to enact more advanced protections."

"The interface in the VPN management system can be a bit complex for users to understand."

"The solution is scalable for mid-tier deployments, but not for major ones."

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It saves time and resources."

"This is an expensive solution."

"Pricing for Cisco ACI could be expensive if you're not a gold partner. If you're a gold partner, you'll get reasonable pricing, but to become a gold partner, you must cross several layers. For example, at least twenty engineers within your organization have to be certified, with each certification priced at £2,000 minimum, so this would make some companies think twice about the product. If you're going for Aruba and Juniper products, on the other hand, you can quickly get the partner status, and you can start selling the product. As a gold partner, you can get up to seventy percent discount on Cisco ACI, for example, while an ordinary partner gets ten percent off. Cisco ACI is expensive for both customers and partners, but I'm rating pricing for the product as four out of five because even if the price is costly, you get a lot of benefits from the product. Cisco ACI isn't the best, price-wise, but it's still a good solution. If you're in a small organization, you may be unable to afford it. Cisco ACI is best for enterprises but not SMBs because Cisco ACI and its required resources are expensive."

"We have saved time on the provisioning and configuration."

"We bought a package for hardware, software, and support. At that time, Cisco was simply selling that package to distributors, then we opted for it directly."

"Yearly, we pay around one point two million for the solution."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"If you compare the licensing and total cost of ACI, it's cheaper than NSX because of the licensing fees. If you are going for full NSX features it will be too expensive, especially the next-generation firewalling feature."

More Cisco ACI pricing and cost advice

"The price can vary depending on the challenges that you need to address. When you look at the stability and reliability against the price, you absolutely get the value for the price."

"The pricing is fair, but if they can make it less it would be even more attractive."

"The license model may need improvement."

"One of the most valuable aspects of Meraki SD-WAN is the price. It is highly cost-effective."

"The pricing is reasonable and we can choose the software or the feature."

"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."

"They have a baseline software license, and then they've got an SD-WAN software license, and then they've got an advanced security software license. They're low cost, and they'll provide any amount of flexibility that you want from a modeling perspective for payment. Typically, it's either annually or multi-year, but they are a lower-cost company. They're not the most expensive by far."

"This solution is more expensive than competitors."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...

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What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco ACI?

The flexibility of adding new components with minimal impact on existing services running in the data center is a key benefit of this ACI-based solution.

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.

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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 Secure Workload vs Cisco ACI

Compared 23% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco ACI

Compared 20% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco ACI

Compared 15% of the time

Illumio vs Cisco ACI

Compared 10% of the time

Aviatrix vs Cisco ACI

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco ACI Competitors

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 21% of the time

Omada Cloud SDN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 21% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 14% of the time

Aviatrix vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 4% of the time

More Meraki SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI

May 2025

Download Cisco ACI product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

May 2025

Download Meraki SD-WAN product report

Overview

Cisco ACI automates data center networking, centralizing management and configuration of diverse network environments. It's used for micro-segmentation, replacing legacy networks, and deploying software-defined networking.

Cisco ACI enables seamless integration with cloud platforms and multi-site connectivity. It ensures high availability and redundancy, supports network-centric applications, enhances security, and facilitates agile service implementations across different regions and data centers. The platform offers high throughput, ease of configuration, centralized management, and programmability. Users find value in its single management interface, policy-based routing, Service Graphs, and simplified deployment. Cisco ACI also excels in scalability, automation, low latency, and supports data center expansion efficiently.

What are the key features of Cisco ACI?

High Throughput: Ensures fast data transmission and network efficiency.
Ease of Configuration: Simplifies setup and changes to network configurations.
Centralized Management: Provides a single interface for managing the entire network.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances security by isolating network segments.
Integration with VMware: Seamlessly integrates with VMware environments.
Scalability: Easily expands to accommodate growing organizational needs.
Automation Capabilities: Reduces manual tasks through advanced automation.
Policy-Based Routing: Optimizes network traffic based on set policies.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating Cisco ACI?

Seamless integration with cloud platforms and multi-site connectivity.
High availability and redundancy ensuring consistent service uptime.
Enhanced security with micro-segmentation and policy-based control.
Agility in service implementations across regions and data centers.
Efficiency in network management with centralized control.

Organizations in industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology implement Cisco ACI to modernize data centers, improve security, and streamline network operations. Its capabilities support expanding infrastructure, integrating with cloud services, and managing complex network architectures with minimal effort.

Cisco

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

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University

École Jeannine Manuel

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI vs. Meraki SD-WAN

April 2025

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