Cradlepoint NetCloud vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN comparison

Ericsson and Riverbed are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Ericsson is ranked #15, while Riverbed is ranked #26. Ericsson holds a 2.9% mindshare in SDW, compared to Riverbed’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 50% of Ericsson users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Riverbed users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cradlepoint NetCloud and SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

March 2026

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 12.3%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cradlepoint NetCloud is 2.9%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN is 0.9%, 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
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	12.3%
Cradlepoint NetCloud	2.9%
SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN	0.9%
Other	83.9%

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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reviewer2142177

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.

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Jason Best

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.

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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

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."

"The most useful features in Fortinet FortiGate are the security features, where we can analyze what kind of traffic is inside our network, and we also utilize ZTNA for limiting and managing our network access."

"The Fortinet FortiGate IPS has a good interface and integration."

"The product offers very good security."

"The product has an inbuilt IPS software. We can configure it to block specific anonymous attacks that are happening."

"The IPS is good. It protect my network from attackers."

"All the features of Fortinet FortiGate are good; when customers have issues, it's very easy to talk them through the interface, and when they've got any support issues and they want to figure them out themselves, it's very easy for them to contact the FortiGate support."

"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Cradlepoint provides real value in its focus on wireless WAN connectivity."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the automatic failover."

"I rate the overall solution as ten out of ten."

"It is easy to set up and requires a single administrator to maintain it."

"Cradlepoint NetCloud is very stable."

"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."

Cons

"I would like to be able to see more log details."

"It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."

"The main area needing improvement is the user-friendliness of FortiGate's integration with other Fortinet tools like FortiAuthenticator and VPN services."

"There is a lot of improvement needed with SSL-VPN."

"They could improve the response time and quality of support."

"Technical support needs to be improved."

"In my case, the 101F is not scalable. I faced problems with scalability related to memory. When we hit 100% memory usage, it stops the internet connection, so we need to control the traffic. We cannot increase the memory."

"Fortinet FortiGate could be improved in terms of user friendliness at the policy level and assigning URL based and keyword based features."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The performance of group-based clouds should be enhanced."

"There are areas for improvement, particularly at the lower end of the medium enterprise market."

"Cradlepoint's portfolio is lacking budget-friendly options."

"In our situation, the initial setup was complex."

"It is missing important settings options."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate FortiGate's pricing a five out of ten."

"Fortinet is the least expensive solution."

"The solution requires a license annually, it is not a user license, you can have as many users as your want. I must renew the license regularly per device."

"The pricing for the product is alright."

"In my opinion, the pricing of the product is reasonable."

"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."

"The pricing is flexible."

"I pay €1,200 per year for the license along with Fortinet's 81E firewall appliance. I would rate this pricing as 3/5 stars, and I believe the price is reasonably similar to its competitors in the market, being somewhere in the middle."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The annual cost is less than $200,000 yet more than $150,000.00."

"Cradlepoint's prices are on par with similar solutions."

"Yearly licenses are available."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

11%

Construction Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	360
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	190

No data available

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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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 custome...

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What needs improvement with Cradlepoint NetCloud?

There are areas for improvement, particularly at the lower end of the medium enterprise market. Cradlepoint's portfol...

See all answers

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 se...

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Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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Peplink SpeedFusion vs Cradlepoint NetCloud

Compared 24% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Cradlepoint NetCloud

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Cradlepoint NetCloud

Compared 8% of the time

Acumera Secure Edge Networking Platform vs Cradlepoint NetCloud

Compared 5% of the time

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform vs Cradlepoint NetCloud

Compared 5% of the time

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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 26% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 25% of the time

Steelhead vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 16% of the time

Teldat SD-WAN vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

March 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

March 2026

Download Cradlepoint NetCloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

March 2026

SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN report

Download SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

SteelConnect, Riverbed SteelConnect

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Cradlepoint’s NetCloud is an integrated platform that connects modern enterprises from the Edge to the cloud to ensure pervasive connectivity and greater availability. It combines advanced Enterprise Software-Defined Network (SDN) and Software-Defined Perimeter (SD-P) technologies that enable dynamic connectivity and network management of fixed branch locations, vehicles, and M2M/IoT deployments within one pane of glass platform.

Ericsson

Accelerate business velocity with enterprise-class SD-WAN. As enterprises and organizations adopt more cloud and SaaS applications to support an increasingly distributed workforce, the hybrid networks connecting it all have been more complex, less predictable and less secure.

Riverbed SteelConnect EX is a powerful enterprise SD-WAN solution that integrates best-in-class routing, application acceleration, network visibility, and security services – a flexible and complete WAN Edge platform that gives you what you need to modernize your network and propel your business in the digital age.

Riverbed

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

City of San Antonio, Statue Cruises, Tour Dubai, St. David's Foundation, JBT, DSC Dredge

Roxtec, Software Solutions Company, Rignet

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

March 2026

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