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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Prisma SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Users reported reduced WAN costs, improved service reliability, and significant savings with potential ROI within a year.
Sentiment score
7.6
Transitioning to Prisma SD-WAN reduced costs by 50%, improved stability, and replaced expensive MPLS links with affordable broadband.
Sentiment score
4.9
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN enhances bandwidth and deployment speed but poses challenges in quantifying exact ROI and productivity gains.
They are now back to do that with the remainder of their company, so they've realized the value in 12 months and are willing to invest in the remainder of their organization.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
Prisma SD-WAN helps reduce network costs.
Senior IT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The deployment time with VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN saves 50 percent compared to traditional MPLS networks.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN support is generally praised for responsiveness and efficiency, despite occasional delay issues, rated highly by users.
Sentiment score
6.7
Palo Alto's Prisma SD-WAN support is effective but occasionally slow, with a need for training and faster responses.
Sentiment score
6.2
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN support is generally knowledgeable, with varied responsiveness and options from basic to mission-critical support models.
The principal third-level support is very good.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
I would consider Cisco support a 10 out of 10.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
I would rate Cisco's support, their customer service, and technical support as excellent.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
They respond promptly and are good at finding issues.
I would rate the support at minimum eight plus.
Senior IT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Since we are at a premium level, customer service is rated at eight or 8.9 out of ten.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I appreciate having dedicated service engineers who manage our account and ensure any technical issues are addressed efficiently.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is scalable, supporting extensive networks and preferred for seamless scaling in complex environments across various sectors.
Sentiment score
7.6
Prisma SD-WAN efficiently supports scalable complex networks, praised for ease of deployment and site addition despite documentation concerns.
Sentiment score
7.1
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is praised for scalability, suitable for all business sizes, despite higher complexity and cost as it expands.
Cisco SD-WAN is highly scalable and can be expanded to more than 10,000 sites.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
The ease of configuration and features like zero-touch provisioning enhance the scalability of Cisco SD-WAN, especially in disaster recovery situations.
Engineer at Routz
It is done through static whitelisting of the IPs, which is not a scalable solution since IPs can change at any time.
Network Manager at HPCL
Everything is managed by the service provider, Palo Alto Networks, allowing me to manage my infrastructure without overheads or extra costs to adapt the management infrastructure to the actual needs of the field.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
I rate it a ten out of ten since we can easily scale by just paying for additional licenses as needed.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Scalability is a significant concern for us due to the poor documentation that limits our ability to understand and utilize their system effectively.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 201-500 employees
The customer base for VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN has been growing 30 to 40 percent per year when transitioning from traditional MPLS networks.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is reliable overall, with stability varying by configuration, despite minor bugs and integration challenges.
Sentiment score
7.8
Prisma SD-WAN is noted for high stability and reliability, with improved performance and rare downtime, despite complex setup.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is praised for stability, reliability, and support, with some minor issues related to updates and internet connectivity.
While some software-related issues and bugs were encountered, they did not cause the whole environment to crash.
Engineer at Routz
A simple issue in the control connections between the fabric causes numerous complexities.
Network Manager at HPCL
Stability is high, I rate it 9.8 out of ten.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Prisma SD-WAN is an absolutely stable solution.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
Our engineers make the system appear stable through effective management.
At Messer Manager, Network & Communications (Americas) at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The technical team from VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN addresses these issues promptly, making us very happy with their support.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
Overall, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is a stable solution.
Senior Network Engineer at evolved systems
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN suffers from high costs, complex configuration, and lacks user-friendly features, hindered by complicated licensing.
Prisma SD-WAN needs better usability, technical support, integration, and competitively priced features, with improvements in security and automation.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN requires improved security, integrations, cost efficiency, support, scalability, and more user-friendly reports for better access.
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Including more features like integrating with Splunk for monitoring vulnerabilities would help eliminate the need for other SOC solutions.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
The negative, or the downside of Cisco is the knowledge base; you need to be a little bit more tech-savvy and network-savvy to work with Cisco, while Juniper is a lot more user-friendly from what I can see, especially in terms of configuration and any kind of roll back.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
Scalability is a significant concern for us due to the poor documentation that limits our ability to understand and utilize their system effectively.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 201-500 employees
If there were an option to extend management to other firewalls, users could perform staggered migrations.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
I would like to see improved security features, such as adding more SASE functions.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
Unlike the comprehensive reports we receive from Palo Alto for our firewalls, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN doesn't offer detailed reports that effectively convey the solution's benefits to management.
At Messer Manager, Network & Communications (Americas) at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is costly with hidden fees, prompting a shift from Capex to Opex to manage expenses.
Prisma SD-WAN offers premium pricing but valued functionality and integration, ideal for medium to large enterprises, with package discounts.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN pricing is comparable to competitors but considered high due to complex licensing and additional fees.
Its pricing is justifiable due to the comprehensive solution it offers.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller businesses when using the Meraki version.
Engineer at Routz
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
The solution is not cost-effective for smaller environments and is more suitable for medium to large companies.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
The price for Prisma is a bit high.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product could be a bit cheaper for the services it provides.
CTO at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing is high, making the margin thin, which limits mark-up opportunities from the wholesale price.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
The pricing involves licensing for the VeloCloud gateway based on the bandwidth used.
At Messer Manager, Network & Communications (Americas) at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is praised for its centralized management, integrated security, zero-touch provisioning, scalability, and cloud cost savings.
Prisma SD-WAN enhances network resilience with seamless integration, intelligent routing, centralized management, and optimal connectivity across multiple sites.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN offers easy setup, advanced security, cloud integration, and real-time monitoring for improved connectivity and scalability.
It also provides robust security features, including port security, analysis, mirroring, and multiple other security solutions.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
Integration capabilities provide comprehensive security.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
By reducing the need for expensive internet connections, Prisma SD-WAN allows customers to achieve cost savings.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
Prisma is a mature platform in terms of security.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass, especially since we have Palo Alto firewalls.
CTO at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Its proprietary Dynamic Multipath Optimization (DMP) technology is regarded as the most powerful and valuable function by VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN.
Senior Manager at NOVA Global
Previously, organizations used MPLS links for 1 MB at around $200, but now they can use 4G or 5G SIM cards for half that price while achieving more bandwidth.
Senior Network Engineer at evolved systems
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN has truly transformed our environment, providing significantly more bandwidth at lower costs, which is essential for tasks like Teams calls.
At Messer Manager, Network & Communications (Americas) at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 10.4%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma SD-WAN is 5.7%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is 7.7%, down from 10.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10.4%
Prisma SD-WAN5.7%
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN7.7%
Other76.2%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

ND
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.
reviewer2706744 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 201-500 employees
Navigating documentation challenges leads to reduced incidents with strong setup
The areas that need improvement include documentation/customer support and cross-communication between the support teams. The documentation tends to be outdated, often directing us to resources that are no longer accurate or available, and this is one of the reasons we are potentially looking at alternatives. In terms of the Prisma SD-WAN security integrations, we have seen some benefits, but part of our difficulty is trying to get all of that information on what it does and set up properly. Because we've had issues in the past with getting devices set up properly, scalability is a significant concern for us due to the poor documentation that limits our ability to understand and utilize their system effectively.
Mohammed Gawas - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at evolved systems
Enhancements in deployment and monitoring simplify network implementation experience
We are dealing with VMware products including VMware VeloCloud, Cisco Catalyst, and Fortinet FortiGate as a system integrator, handling customer requests.We utilize VeloCloud's centralized orchestration for traffic prioritization. The impact of VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN's Dynamic Multi-Path Optimization on network application performance has been significant. We have tested this feature multiple times, and it was really powerful for steering traffic and packet regeneration, resulting in better flow. We have leveraged the automatic link resiliency feature in VeloCloud SD-WAN, conducting a VoIP test scenario that involved disconnecting link A and seamlessly shifting traffic to link B without any packet loss. However, we have not sold any CPE for VeloCloud in the last one and a half years due to the impact of Broadcom's acquisition. The significance of VeloCloud SD-WAN's deployment flexibility in an organization's network strategy is critical now, as every organization needs to reduce costs and undergo digitalization. SD-WAN provides security and quality of service without needing costly links such as MPLS, and using this CPE from VMware meets the SLA the customer needs. I evaluate VeloCloud's comprehensive visibility into network traffic as enhancing the network security posture. It provides detailed information such as user IP addresses, MAC addresses, and operating systems, giving us visibility for everything related to which customer, end user, application, and link are involved. On a scale of one to ten, I rate VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN a nine.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Legal Firm
6%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise46
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
I have found some other solutions more insightful and user-friendly as compared to Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, but the bas...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
I have used Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN as a customer. I am a customer of Cisco, and I have been a customer rather than a p...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma SD-WAN?
Regarding whether Prisma SD-WAN is an expensive solution, I would say the price is competitively high. Everything dep...
What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?
I am still working on what should be improved in Prisma SD-WAN to make this product better, and I cannot give any upd...
What is your primary use case for Prisma SD-WAN?
Our customers' main use cases for Prisma SD-WAN are to connect multiple branches since they have numerous locations t...
What are the biggest differences between Fortinet Fortigate and VMware SD-WAN?
One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. It is a very ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware SD-WAN?
When it comes to setup cost and licensing cost for VMware, it is on the expensive side relative to the market. We are...
What needs improvement with VMware SD-WAN?
The improvement needed for VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN is in the security area. The security part is the main issue for u...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
CloudGenix
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola
Redmond, Coca Cola, Roka Bioscience, MetTel, Deutsche Telekom, Rockford Construction,  The Bay Club, tru Independence, Triton Management Services, DevCon, AXPM
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions. Updated: May 2026.
895,891 professionals have used our research since 2012.