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Cradlepoint NetCloud vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cradlepoint NetCloud
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
17th
Ranking in WAN Edge
12th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (7th)
SteelConnect EX Enterprise ...
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
24th
Ranking in WAN Edge
21st
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Cradlepoint NetCloud is 2.6%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cradlepoint NetCloud2.6%
SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN1.1%
Other96.3%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2142177 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Director at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Wireless connectivity transforms with robust management
There are areas for improvement, particularly at the lower end of the medium enterprise market. Cradlepoint's portfolio is lacking budget-friendly options. The company realizes that there's a need for affordable connectivity products, especially for lower-end medium enterprises or larger small enterprises, and is working on developing entry-level products in terms of functionality and pricing.
Jason Best - PeerSpot reviewer
Data center network architect at Cloudwire
Analytics feature is very granular and comprehensive, although complicated to use
It's like an SD-WAN project basically. You really need to make sure that the product matches the needs of what the customer's trying to achieve and their overall strategy to meet their core business requirements. I think a certain customer made a mistake in choosing this solution because a large part of their network was Cisco and they had firewalls that were from Fortinet. I think they would have been better off and it would have been better from a CAPEX, OPEX point of view. It would've been more advantageous for them to have maybe chosen a Cisco or Fortinet solution based on their existing environment. Make sure you understand your network correctly before you try to implement any SD-WAN solution. That was one of the good lessons I learned about SD-WANs with this specific product. I wouldn't say it was a fault of the product. I would say it's more a fault of the CTO who tries to do things quickly without taking into account the existing environment or give the internal faculties the time to provide real low-level design implementation. It was more of a management mistake than from their technical team. In the next release, I would like to see things like integrated security but with local internet breakout instead of using third party solutions like NetScaler or Palo Alto. I would also like to see the integration of things like a VPN so that if you have remote sites where you might have remote workers that need to access the site from home or something, there's a VPN solution. Those are two key features and hotspots in the sort of global crisis. I would rate Riverbed a seven out of ten. I could never give any solution a 10 cause they all have good and bad points. To get any solution to a ten is pretty much impossible. If I was to rate it against others like Fortinet, I would probably give Fortinet an eight or nine. Again, I think you have to be careful because it's very subjective. I think it really depends on the type of environment, the type of customer you're deploying the SD-WAN solution for, and from which perspective you're looking at like if you an operator, if you're a large enterprise, if you're looking for a plug and play type solution. If you're looking for more of a security solution, I would go for Fortinet. It's kind of tough to say. I'd probably put the clouds a little bit ahead of the game because it does what it's supposed to do and easily. It's a little more of a plug and play type solution. Fortinet, for example, is more complex. I put it in a close second place, it's better from a security perspective. It has integration with FortiGuard. After that, I would put Riverbed in third place.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is easy to set up and requires a single administrator to maintain it."
"Cradlepoint NetCloud is very stable."
"We are administrative partners with Cradlepoint; there are a few things that could change, but they support the business very well."
"I rate the overall solution as ten out of ten."
"Cradlepoint NetCloud is very stable; it's so good that we are starting to roll it out and now support some of our remote offices with them now."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the automatic failover."
"Cradlepoint provides real value in its focus on wireless WAN connectivity."
"The analytics is the most valuable feature because it was very granular and very comprehensive, although a little complicated to use. If you're really interested in knowing what's happening on your network, it's a very good solution. That was the .NET Profiler part of the solution."
"The analytics is the most valuable feature because it was very granular and very comprehensive, although a little complicated to use."
 

Cons

"In our situation, the initial setup was complex."
"In our situation, the initial setup was complex."
"Cradlepoint's portfolio is lacking budget-friendly options."
"The performance of group-based clouds should be enhanced."
"It is missing important settings options."
"The performance of group-based clouds should be enhanced."
"There are areas for improvement, particularly at the lower end of the medium enterprise market."
"The routing scalability needs improvement. We have run into a lot of limitations and also primarily from a routine perspective, things like RSPs line support. It was supportive but not really supportive."
"The routing scalability needs improvement. We have run into a lot of limitations and also primarily from a routing perspective, things like RSPs line support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cradlepoint's prices are on par with similar solutions."
"The annual cost is less than $200,000 yet more than $150,000.00."
"Yearly licenses are available."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cradlepoint NetCloud?
Cradlepoint's pricing is viewed as market competitive, offering good value for the money invested. While some customers are price sensitive, others recognize the efficiency and smooth operation as ...
What needs improvement with Cradlepoint NetCloud?
There are areas for improvement, particularly at the lower end of the medium enterprise market. Cradlepoint's portfolio is lacking budget-friendly options. The company realizes that there's a need ...
What is your primary use case for Cradlepoint NetCloud?
I use Ericsson, the parent company of Cradlepoint, to provide solutions for wireless WAN technology. Customers are seeking connectivity in nontraditional places or mobile applications. Ericsson's p...
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Also Known As

No data available
SteelConnect, Riverbed SteelConnect
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of San Antonio, Statue Cruises, Tour Dubai, St. David's Foundation, JBT, DSC Dredge
Roxtec, Software Solutions Company, Rignet
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.