Juniper Session Smart Router vs Meraki SD-WAN comparison

The compared Juniper and Cisco solutions aren't in the same category. Juniper is ranked #6 in R , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 0.7% mindshare in the category. Cisco is ranked #1 in SDN , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 22.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Juniper users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Juniper Session Smart Router

Read 4 Juniper Session Smart Router reviews

70 Views
41 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Meraki SD-WAN

Read 79 Meraki SD-WAN reviews

1,364 Views
597 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Juniper Session Smart Router

Meraki SD-WAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Juniper Session Smart Router and Meraki SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about MikroTik, Cisco, Juniper and others in Routers.

To learn more, read our detailed Routers Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Routers

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 860,168 peers since 2012

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

Juniper Session Smart Router

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Routers (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (12th)

Meraki SD-WAN

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Juniper Session Smart Router is designed for Routers and holds a mindshare of 0.7%, up 0.3% compared to last year.
Meraki SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined Networking (SDN), holds 22.5% mindshare, down 24.8% since last year.

Routers

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Featured Reviews

SRI GANESH PHANIYAPPA

Sub Divisional Engineer NOC Bangalore at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

Delivered tailored features and meets requirements effectively

We are using it as a DNG. This means all subscriber PPPoE sessions or ILS Smart VPN connections are terminated through the access network to this BNG, Uniphore BNG. From there, they are managed Everything has been fine. Although we did not explore much about the solution, they provided us with a…

Read full review

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at airtel

Experienced streamlined network management with enhanced usability and room for improved security features

On the security features, when compared to Fortinet, they have more patterns and AI-generated ones. Meraki SD-WAN is slowly implementing AI, but it is not yet full-fledged. If AI comes into the picture, it will be helpful. I work with Fortinet where with a single command you can deploy the entire SD-WAN along with FortiGuard within minutes. For AI, it can discover and connect, but currently, we are doing it manually. In Meraki SD-WAN, some features require additional licenses and subscriptions. If these were bundled together, such as 10 or 20 licenses, it would be very helpful for a mini branch or small campus area coverage.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Customer service is very prompt."

"The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel."

"As compared to the other major vendors in the SD-WAN market, such as VeloCloud, Cisco, and others, the tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, which gives plenty of room to discuss with the customer why IPSec from 1998 is a bit outdated."

"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."

"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."

"The tool is easy to use."

"The solution is easy to use."

"We have found the scalability to be good."

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

"The best feature we're using is the packet shaping."

"The most valuable features of this solution are load balancing and the security possibilities you have."

"Because it's a cloud-based network infrastructure, everything is done in the cloud, so I don't need to be on-site physically to be able to troubleshoot or resolve an issue. I can be anywhere and resolve an issue."

"Meraki SD-WAN is stable and the performance is good."

More Meraki SD-WAN pros

Cons

"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."

"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."

"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."

"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen."

"Meraki offers the client basic security, it is not the same as what FortiGate is offering."

"I would like improved stability in Meraki SD-WAN."

"The solution could be improved if it added more features, especially monitoring and reporting features."

"From the vice perspective, they just are not as robust as some of the other vendors. They have limitations in throughput and the number of circuits that they can support on a wide area network. Their higher-end security is all cloud-based. They have some capability with the premise-based solutions, but the higher ends are all cloud-based, and that's via Cisco Umbrella."

"Some systems use some applications with the wrong data application. It bypasses the network, and you need to block that application on Meraki. We first try to put in passwords to do it and the network is not really safe. It's not 100%, the network can be bypassed."

"In Meraki SD-WAN, we have some limitations with the traffic shaping capabilities."

"People are struggling a little bit with the lead times right now. It’s hard to actually get the hardware."

"We have had some problems doing the implementation."

More Meraki SD-WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are currently renegotiating the offer for the licenses and the license bundle model. The license for an ISP has to be different from the license for an end customer. This is something we are currently renegotiating with Juniper, but, of course, the pricing for the licensing is always an issue when you want to get more customers."

"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."

"like everything else, it's negotiable."

"The license model may need improvement."

"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 product is not very expensive."

"The solution's pricing is in line with what we expected."

"If you purchase a Meeraki box, you have to purchase a license, and it's already the basic license, you will have you SD-WAN included."

"The tool is costly. I rate the tool's price as a ten out of ten since it is very expensive."

"The licensing model is a fair one, although having the hardware means nothing without the license. You need to continue to pay licensing fees."

More Meraki SD-WAN pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Routers solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Juniper Session Smart Router?

The most valuable feature of Juniper Session Smart Router is its unique SDR channel.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Session Smart Router?

Juniper Session Smart Router is not significantly cheaper than, for example, Cisco.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?

I did not find any problem with Juniper. Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do.

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.

See all answers

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 Catalyst SD-WAN vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 27% of the time

NFX Series Network Services Platform vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 14% of the time

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 12% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Juniper Session Smart Router

Compared 6% of the time

More Juniper Session Smart Router Competitors

Omada Cloud SDN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 22% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 19% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Meraki SD-WAN

Compared 13% of the time

More Meraki SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Routers

June 2025

Download Juniper Session Smart Router product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki SD-WAN

June 2025

Download Meraki SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series

No data available

Overview

The 128T Networking Platform (128T) natively provides network-based security, control, and insight across data centers, wide-area networks (WAN), and edge locations for enterprises, service providers, and cloud companies alike. 128T is reshaping the way organizations design, deploy, and operate real-world networks by making them dramatically simpler, smarter, and more secure — it’s going to fix the router — and ultimately the network — as we know it.

Juniper

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

Revation Systems

École Jeannine Manuel

Find out what your peers are saying about MikroTik, Cisco, Juniper and others in Routers. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.

We monitor all Routers reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.