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Meraki SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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

Meraki SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (1st)
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (3rd), WAN Edge (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Meraki SD-WAN is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 23.2%, down 25.1% compared to last year.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 10.3% mindshare, up 8.8% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Martyn Walker - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables productivity in terms of users and has ease of management
Scalability could be improved. Yes, you can add more than 300 or 400 sites onto it, but because it's not a true SD-WAN and, effectively, it's just a Multi-VRF, it's all hub and spoke at that point. That's the nature of the design, but that's what keeps it simple to administer. So, it's a trade off.
Sami-Isoaho - PeerSpot reviewer
To fully utilize cloud vendors' hardware networking, Microsoft and VMware support everything
To improve the product, the company, alone or with a good partner, should manufacture their own hardware brand with boxes to make the product more shippable. Implementing VMware is much more difficult, time-consuming, and expensive than implementing Fortinet or Check Point. With Fortinet, you pay a couple of hundred dollars for hosting and a low-cost firewall, there's only one box to ship to each site, and it's much easier to manage. Moreover, it would be easy for the large telecom operators and system integrators to sell the solution. It would also be a good fit for customers with multiple small offices, who I currently advise to choose hardware-vendor SD-WAN solutions over VMware.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In my experience, Meraki is very easy, simple, and clear to set up and use."
"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."
"The solution operates via zero-touch configuration."
"We have found the scalability to be good."
"Meraki SD-WAN saves costs for our customers and provides better connectivity."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of setting up Meraki SD-WAN."
"This product contributed to a huge benefit in our bottom line on operational costs."
"If you have the technical knowledge, there is very little chance of making mistakes."
"In my experience, the setup process has been fairly straightforward."
"It's easy to deploy and manage. Even a small group of people can manage a large environment. It's stable, easy to deploy, easy to install—all the stuff."
"I like VMware SD-WAN's automation and zero-touch provisioning. Its main advantage is simplicity. Anyone can use this gateway."
"The initial configuration and deployment are quite easy."
"Feature-wise, VMware SD-WAN is a really strong cloud web security product."
"VMware is the only SD-WAN solution that integrates with Azure Virtual WAN."
"We define the quality of service layer to improve their application service experience globally."
"The most valuable feature is the Dynamic Multipath Optimization (DMPO), which allows the customer to maintain and monitor their link quality in real-time."
 

Cons

"Meraki SD-WAN could improve by adding wireless access time-scheduled and overall capabilities."
"They need to offer proper integration of the security features."
"The configuration from the firewall side could be improved a little bit more."
"The security and upgrading could improve in this solution."
"The interface in the VPN management system can be a bit complex for users to understand."
"The integration with other tools must be improved."
"An area for improvement would be to add 4G bonding and allow Meraki devices to support dual 4G SIM cards."
"Perimetral security for new requirements on financial networks and DRP systems, like SAP."
"They need to start focusing on the security functionality. They should find a way to embed the next-generation firewall functionality within the architecture. They should move more into applying SASE tenants to what they're doing."
"There is still room for improvement in support and security, especially in enhancing the SASE aspect of the platform."
"The cost is a little bit high."
"I would like to see improved security features, such as adding more SASE functions."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing."
"They should provide us with the flexibility to scale up."
"The only thing that I'm having issues with is on one of the sites, I can't see the location on the map."
"VMware SD-WAN is complicated to configure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing fees are approximately $1,000 USD annually."
"The pricing is fair, but if they can make it less it would be even more attractive."
"From the perspective of the customer, the price is not terribly cost-effective."
"like everything else, it's negotiable."
"One of the most valuable aspects of Meraki SD-WAN is the price. It is highly cost-effective."
"This solution is more expensive than competitors."
"I don't have information on the exact cost of Meraki SD-WAN, but I'd rate it a three out of five just because the licensing model is very much associated with the Meraki solution."
"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."
"VMware SD-WAN provides competitive pricing."
"The licensing model of VMware SD-WAN could be improved, it is not always that competitive. The biggest concern is to be competitive against other solutions. However, the way that the licensing model is designed is not corresponding to the real use cases of my customers."
"There is only a standard fee for the solution."
"I would rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten since the license is costly."
"We make monthly payments toward the licensing costs of the solution."
"The price of this solution should be lower."
"Overall pricing could be lower. It is much more expensive than traditional hardware vendor pricing."
"VeloCloud performs as well as the Cisco SD-WAN but it is cheaper in price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
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.
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...
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 stable, reliable, and consistent solution. We like that we can manage the entire...
What do you like most about VMware SD-WAN?
One of the key use cases for VMware SD-WAN was assisting a customer in the industrial zone. They required virtualized servers and wanted to enable VMware SD-WAN to connect their sites in Japan or C...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware SD-WAN?
The pricing involves licensing for the VeloCloud gateway based on the bandwidth used. The license is required to use both circuits effectively. Although having a 10 gig circuit and a one gig circui...
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware SD-WAN, VeloCloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

École Jeannine Manuel
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 Cisco, Aviatrix, TP-Link and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.