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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
5.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN improves ROI through cost savings, efficient management, and scalability, achieving breakeven within a year.
Sentiment score
3.7
Users find Versa SASE enhances experience with better speed and reliability, but financial savings remain uncertain due to costs.
With Zero Trust provisioning via the Catalyst Center and Meraki dashboard, new branch offices are configured in hours instead of weeks, freeing engineering teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual deployment.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
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
There are many scenarios where we replace MPLS with the internet because now we have the flexibility to migrate to Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and we do not need private connectivity such as MPLS.
Regional Manager at Orange
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN's support is praised for expertise but occasionally criticized for response times and needing more innovation.
Sentiment score
6.7
Versa SASE's customer service is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though improvement is needed in escalation and response speed.
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.
The customer support is excellent because there is 24/7 customer support.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I work with a partner, not directly with the OEM, which makes getting technical support on call very challenging.
Assistant Vice President at icici lombard
I would rate Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform's technical support around eight out of ten.
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers scalability and centralized management, supporting large deployments across multiple locations despite some pricing concerns.
Sentiment score
7.3
The Versa Unified SASE Platform offers scalable, flexible deployment for various business sizes, efficiently managing users and high throughput needs.
Its controller architecture is highly matured, making it one of the most valuable and reliable LAN platforms for large enterprises.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
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
The scalability from a performance point of view is good, but from a commercial perspective, it is low.
Assistant Vice President at icici lombard
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is praised for robust stability, superior hardware, seamless integration, minimal downtime, and reliable performance.
Sentiment score
7.4
Versa SASE Platform is praised for stability, reliability, and adaptability, despite occasional issues in complex deployments.
For example, with zero-touch provisioning, if we are adding new sites, we can do it with a few simple clicks.
Regional Manager at Orange
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
I have not observed any challenges in Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform since I am working on it.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN must reduce costs, simplify licensing, enhance security, and improve interface, support, stability, and integration.
Versa Unified faces UI, cost, and stability issues, needing better integration, support, firewall, SD-WAN, and UTM features.
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Better documentation with real-world examples, improved third-party integration, and more detailed monitoring dashboards would make Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN even more effective.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 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
There should be more technical materials and certifications available to improve awareness and skills in the industry.
Assistant Vice President at icici lombard
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform could possibly be improved if they can integrate it with their own SD-WAN.
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
They could promote Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform more because when we talk of SASE, it's Prisma that comes to the customer's mind, and if they can position it in a more aggressive manner, it will certainly help them.
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is considered costly, with high setup expenses despite its enterprise features, leading customers to explore alternatives.
Versa SASE is cost-effective and competitive, offering integrated features that reduce long-term expenses compared to other brands.
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 very expensive, costing above one crore Indian rupees for our setup, which spans around twenty five branches.
Assistant Vice President at icici lombard
As a reseller, I see their pricing as competitive.
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
Pricing for Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is competitive.
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers centralized management, security, scalability, real-time visibility, and operational efficiency with robust support and API integration.
Versa Unified SASE Platform offers advanced security, SD-WAN, multi-tenancy, and scalability for enhanced network performance and remote access.
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.
The centralized dashboard gives me a clear view of all branch sites, making it easy to manage and monitor tunnel health, bandwidth usage, and device status from one place.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
SD-WAN has further enhanced the aspect of security on the open internet link, which has helped my customers in protecting sensitive data.
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform Cloud provides the network capability to all pan-India locations, and in this product, it also provides advanced security features.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The most valuable features of Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) are application prioritization, advanced routing features, and network gateway firewall capabilities.
Assistant Vice President at icici lombard
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
1st
Ranking in WAN Edge
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (6th)
Versa Unified Secure Access...
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
11th
Ranking in WAN Edge
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 11.1%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is 4.3%, down from 5.5% 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-WAN11.1%
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform4.3%
Other84.6%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Ashwani-Tyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Manager at Orange
Centralized control has simplified cloud access and has improved operational visibility
If they can have better firewall features as their competitors have, such as Fortinet and Versa, that would help to place this solution better so that we can address security related things. If they can have all the IPS, IDS, everything built on all the edge devices, whether physical or virtual, that could be one improvement. Actually, if customers are existing Cisco customers, if Cisco can be more flexible to leverage the existing investment, that could be another important aspect to save on cost and be more competitive from a pricing perspective. Overall, the pricing or the segment that Cisco deals with is a bit premium, which they charge a bit premium against the competition on the licensing, hardware, and services. The implementation is not straightforward. You need a specialized partner or specialized people who can implement this. It can be simplified a bit from that perspective as well. Mostly the way we implement the policies for a big environment requires a lot of things that we need to take care of. If that can somehow be improved, because they have different components, like they have vManage, they have vSmart, and vBond and all these components have to work with a certain flow that they need to follow.
AS
Senior Client Partner at NTT DATA
Integrated security and connectivity have simplified customer offerings but still require stronger market positioning and maturity
So far, none of my customers have delved into much detail about Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform's threat intelligence capabilities because it's more of a focus on manufacturing and small and medium enterprise organizations, and the basic security and threat landscape is what they have been more keen on. I assess Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform's real-time analytics and machine learning for improving threat detection as pretty common nowadays, so that is not a differentiator anymore. I cannot think of areas where Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform could be improved as of now. I cannot analyze additional features I would like to see in the next release of Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform at this point, because whatever functionality is offered at this moment is something that I have not been able to sell completely to the end customers yet. They could promote Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform more because when we talk of SASE, it's Prisma that comes to the customer's mind, and if they can position it in a more aggressive manner, it will certainly help them. The advantage that Palo Alto SASE has is because Palo Alto is a born-in-security organization, which gives it an edge; Versa is still conceived as more of a networking-related organization, so their footprint on security is still to be proven at par with Palo Alto in that sense. I agree that Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is not mature enough yet.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business52
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The pricing for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is something I don't know as the tender is not in my department or at my level, but I know it is very expensive.
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
I cannot speak to programming-side improvements since that is not my area of expertise. On a base level, improvements could include a better interface, more AI capabilities, better pricing, and bet...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
The primary use case is for network management and routers we have for WAN connectivity.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Versa Titan?
I do not have an idea about the license, but I have an idea about the cost. The cost and setup of this product is in the customer's hands.
What needs improvement with Versa Titan?
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform recently came into our organization. I have recently been working on this product for the last six months. This product is very smooth and e...
What is your primary use case for Versa Titan?
I have been working on secure access service for the last one year on Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform. This product provides the security and networking capability to enhan...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
Versa FlexVNF, FlexVNF, Versa Titan
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
CenturyLink, RCN Business, Colt Technology Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.