Comparing the Top 8 SD-WAN Solutions: Meraki, VeloCloud, ...

July 31, 2025 Minh Le

Your company is in the market for an SD-WAN or SASE solution, but there are a lot of solutions out there. You’ve heard a lot of big names, like Cisco, VeloCloud, Cato, Versa, Zscaler, etc. but how do they compare?

In this video, I compare 8 of the top SD-WAN/SASE Solutions.

Want my recommendations on the best SD-WAN/SASE vendors that your company should quote? Ask me today.

About Me

Mike Smith has been helping companies select the best telecom, WAN, security, and cloud services since 1999. He founded AeroCom in 2003, and has been the recipient of numerous business telecommunications industry awards, including being recognized as one of the top 40 business people in tech-heavy Orange County, CA. Follow Mike on YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit and SpiceWorks.

Transcript

your company is in the market for an SD WAN or a SASE solution and simply said there’s a lot of options out there. So you’ve heard of the big company names like Cisco, Meraki, Cato Networks, Aryaka versus Velo, Cloud Zscaler Fortinet. You know, there’s Palo Alto. So many different options out there, right? So what how do these companies compare? How do these different solutions compare? So, hey, I’m a broker for all the major SD WAN solutions out there. I’m doing this for a long time. So I wanted to make a video on my opinion on how to compare all these different options. My name’s Mike Smith. I’m the president of Aerocom. Let’s put our heads together on this

My Recommendations

But first, if you’d like to get a quote or a demo on any of the providers that I mention in this video and any of these Sd-Wan solutions or SASE solutions, or you just want to know the best SD WAN solutions that your company should be quoting. Reach out, send me an email or give me a call (714.593.0011). Join the thousands of other I.T. departments who have used me to help them make a lot better decision in a fraction of the time. I’ve been a broker in this industry working with all the major sd-wan service providers for over 20 years, so I know the industry inside and out. And based on your company’s requirements, like how many locations do you have? What type of applications are you running across the network? Where are the locations located globally? How large of the of bandwidth you need? Like stuff like that. I can tell you which vendors you should be quoting and why and help you get in touch with the right people at those vendors and make sure you get the best pricing from those vendors. Again, don’t reach out to these vendors directly. Don’t Google it. Just contact me, send me an email, give me a call. It’s the reason why I do these videos and if you end up getting something from this video, it’s a great way to say thank you. Just come to me for quotes. All right. So do that. And then also, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. So you don’t miss any of my future weekly videos that I put out.

Comparing the top 8 SD-WAN Solutions

Okay, so let’s get right into it. I’m going to list out the top SD WAN vendors that you might have heard of. And I’m going to list them alphabetically and kind of go through what I think about each one, kind of what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, what you need to know about each vendor. Now, I’m not going to tell you every single thing about each vendor, and I know I’m going to miss some things about these vendor So if you really want an in-depth tutorial on these vendors, send me an email, give me a call. Let’s talk about it if you’re companies in the market for this type of stuff. But this is a brief overview of kind of stuff right off the top of my head. What I think about each vendor

Aryaka

Okay, let’s start with Aryaka. Aryaka is what I call a cloud enabled SD WAN solution. So if you don’t know what that is, go look at my video of the main types of SD WAN solutions out there and you’ll see what I mean by that. But there are cloud enabled SD WAN solution with a global IP back IP backbone with global pops. That’s their architecture and how they’re set up. And they offer SD When they offer SASE, they also offer CA’s be Aryaka does a really great job and they’re really known kind of as a NOC, as a service and A.C. NOC as a service. So they do a really good job. But overall, my experience with Aryaka is they’re really pricey. So if it’s something you need, if you need if you have global sites and you’re looking to really reduce latency between sites and you’re sending large files, you need a global provider and you kind of need that NOC as a service type of solution that offers CA’s vs SAS SD WAN and that might be a good fit again, but it’s pretty pricey. So that’s my take on Aryaka.

Cato Networks

Cato Networks, similar to Aryaka is also a cloud enabled solution with global pops and a private IP backbone connecting all those pops together. Cato, also like Aryaka, also offers SD when SASE and Casspi. I’d say in terms of pricing, Cato is kind of middle of the road. They’re not one of the least expensive service providers out there for us to WAN, but they’re not one of the most expensive service providers out there. Like I’ll mention some providers in this video are pretty expensive. The nice thing about Cato is just it’s a super user friendly interface. It’s very easy to administer. It’s very simple and clean. and they have some nice add on features like digital experience monitoring. And if you want to know more about that, look at my review that I do, the video I do on Cato where I’m reviewing them. I’ll get a little bit more in depth on them on that

Cisco Meraki

Cisco Meraki. Cisco Meraki is an on prem only SD one solution. And really I consider Cisco Meraki kind of like just a firewall. I don’t really consider them much of an SD one solution. It’s really kind of just more of a glorified firewall. So do they offer SASE solutions? Yeah, kind of. It’s kind of a SASE solution. You can kind of bolt on some additional services there. Is it a CASB No. Cisco Meraki. It’s it’s a popular solution. So a lot of companies already have Cisco equipment. They they have faith in the product in terms of firewalls. So you have that going for you. But it’s not a zero trust solution, which is not great for remote users. So overall it’s a decent solution. But I think there are better solutions out there for SD WAN, especially definitely for SASE and Cosby than Cisco Meraki

Fortinet

Fortinet, very popular solution. It’s an on prem only solution and it’s an SD WAN solution. It’s a SASE solution and it’s kind of a Kazmi solution as well. They have some Cosby services as well. Fortinet’s known for being inexpensive, but the downside of Fortinet is they’ve had a lot of ransomware hacking that’s been taking place. It’s really taken advantage of some of the vulnerabilities the known vulnerabilities in their software. So just something about Fortinet,

Palo Alto

Palo Alto is an on prem only solution, and their prison solution is a very good SC WAN solution. It’s very good safety solution. It’s a very good Casspi solution overall, very good. It’s also very easy to layer on those. SC When SASE and Casspi solutions if your company already has Palo Alto currently for your firewalls everywhere, it’s just very easy to layer on those solutions as opposed to going and getting a different SD WAN vendor. The downside of Palo Alto, as you might know, if you’re familiar with the industry, is Palo Alto is very expensive.

VeloCloud

Okay, let’s talk about Velo Cloud, a very popular SD WAN solution out there. It is a cloud enabled solution with possibly global pops, but not a private backbone typically. Now I say possibly because sometimes you can get a Velo cloud solution from a company that is wholesale doing it, that they’re buying wholesale and reselling it, and they’re using their own pops to power the Velo cloud solution. But if you’re buying it directly from Velo Cloud, they do not have Global Pops. So it’s kind of depends on who you’re buying it from. But Velo Cloud is definitely a an SD WAN solution, but it is not a sales solution and definitely not a Casspi solution. Velo Cloud is typically SD when by itself and if you want to add a firewall solution to it, they do have a built in stateful firewall, which is just the basics. So they do have that option. But I don’t know many mid-sized large companies that just want a stateful firewall. They usually want next gen firewall, which is SASE. So that’s what they do. Overall, I’d say mid priced there a lot like I mentioned earlier with Cato, they’re not really cheap, but they’re not really expensive. They’re just kind of right in the middle. Overall, I’d say Velo Cloud has a very good SD WAN solution, but the problem is, is VLOOKUP really hasn’t changed since it launched in maybe 2016 or so. It’s been bought a couple of different times by different companies. I just don’t know if there’s a lot of R&D going into that product, so it’s good for us to WAN, but I think the market’s kind of grown and added more things. DST WANs, so I don’t think they quite offer as many things as some of the other vendors offer.

Versa

Versa is an on prem only solution. It’s a very capable SD WAN SASE and Cosby solution. The downside of versa is it’s known for being very complicated. It’s not that easy to set up and configure, and it also gets kind of expensive.

Zscaler

And lastly, let’s talk about Zscaler. Zscaler is a cloud enabled solution, and it’s more of a security solution than it is an SD WAN solution. They’re trying to push into the WANd space and trying to go into actually when, but really it’s more of a security solution. It’s a very good security solution for like, you know, for next gen security for cars, B services, but it’s also very expensive and a little bit complicated to set up and manage. So very expensive solution. A little bit complicated. Very good security solution. Not as much of an SD WAN solution, though.

What are the best SD-WAN vendors that your company should quote?

All right. So that’s my break down on the top. SD WAN SASE Solutions out there that you might have heard of. I hope you got something from that. But again, if you’d like more information on any of these vendors, don’t reach out to them directly. Actually contact me, reach out, send me an email or give me a call (714.593.0011). I’m a broker for all the major SD WANs, SASE and Cosby Solutions and Marketplace. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, so join the thousands of other companies who have used me to help their company make a lot better decision in the fraction of the time. I’ll introduce you to the best vendors you should be talking to all introduce you to the best people to work with that those vendors all get you on a call to do a great demo and have you see all the things that you need to see about the vendor and also oversee the coding process to make sure you guys get the best pricing possible from the vendor of your choice. And if you like what you see, I’ll help you purchase it directly from that vendor. And the nice thing is, on top of all that, I don’t charge your company a dime for working with me. The service providers pay my company, my broker fee so I don’t have to charge you guys anything. So there’s no excuse not to at least reach out and get my opinion on the stuff. If your company is in the market for an SD WAN solution. All right, so send me an email. Give me a call. I’d love to help you.