SD-WAN
Asked as “SD-WAN platform”, and as “software-defined WAN solution”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 52 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
50%
Clear leader
50Fortinet Secure SD-WAN19Cisco Meraki SD-WAN10Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN21others
50% of first choices, clear leader.
Since September 2026▲+7Since September 2026: 41% → 48%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Fortinet Secure SD-WAN held the lead, +7 points on 41%, inside the 11-point floor.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small business
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN42%Clear leader=heldSince September 2026: 40% → 39%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →Mid-market
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN50%Clear leader▲+7Since September 2026: 41% → 48%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.This pageEnterprise
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN50%Clear leader▲+6Since September 2026: 45% → 51%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN42%Clear leader=heldSince September 2026: 40% → 39%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →Mid-marketFortinet Secure SD-WAN50%Clear leader▲+7Since September 2026: 41% → 48%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.This pageEnterpriseCisco Catalyst SD-WAN50%Clear leader▲+6Since September 2026: 45% → 51%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01Fortinet Secure SD-WAN50%3%64endorsed leader▲+7Since September 2026: 41% → 48%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.41% → 48%
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN50%3%64endorsed leader▲+7Since September 2026: 41% → 48%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.41% → 48%02Cisco Meraki SD-WAN19%19%43accepted challenger▼−11Since September 2026: 30% → 18%, −11 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.30% → 18%
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN19%19%43accepted challenger▼−11Since September 2026: 30% → 18%, −11 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.30% → 18%03Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10%32%40criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 9% → 9%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.9% → 9%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10%32%40criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 9% → 9%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.9% → 9%04
Cato SASE Cloud6%0%27accepted challenger▲+7Since September 2026: 0% → 7%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 7%
Cato SASE Cloud6%0%27accepted challenger▲+7Since September 2026: 0% → 7%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 7%05
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect4%13%30accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 5%
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect4%13%30accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 5%06
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN4%32%53criticized challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 5%
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN4%32%53criticized challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 5%07
Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN2%17%35accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN2%17%35accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
10
FatPipe SD-WAN0%30%10criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
FatPipe SD-WAN0%30%10criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%09
Cisco0%20%10accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%
Cisco0%20%10accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%08
Versa Secure SD-WAN0%14%22accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%
Versa Secure SD-WAN0%14%22accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to head
All twenty-one head-to-head pages: the top seven products, each against each
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN vs HPE Aruba EdgeConnectFortinet Secure SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WAN vs Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WAN vs Cato SASE CloudCisco Meraki SD-WAN vs HPE Aruba EdgeConnectCisco Meraki SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WAN vs Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANCisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Cato SASE CloudCisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs HPE Aruba EdgeConnectCisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WANCisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANCato SASE Cloud vs HPE Aruba EdgeConnectCato SASE Cloud vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WANCato SASE Cloud vs Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANHPE Aruba EdgeConnect vs VMware VeloCloud SD-WANHPE Aruba EdgeConnect vs Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANVMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01020304050607080910Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01Fortinet Secure SD-WAN50%
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN50%02Cisco Meraki SD-WAN19%
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN19%03Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10%04Cato SASE Cloud6%
Cato SASE Cloud6%05HPE Aruba EdgeConnect4%
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect4%06VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN4%
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN4%07Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN2%
Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN2%08Versa Secure SD-WAN0%
Versa Secure SD-WAN0%09Cisco0%
Cisco0%10FatPipe SD-WAN0%
FatPipe SD-WAN0%What they warned about
Three of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, GLM 4.7 FlashX, MiniMax M2.5, GPT-6 Luna and Muse Glimmer 30B changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN32%
13 of 40 labels negative · 11 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“Some network engineers advise avoiding it entirely ("wouldn't recommend Viptela to my worst enemy")” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN32%
17 of 53 labels negative · 11 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“**High Caution: Broadcom/VMware (VeloCloud)** ... Existing VeloCloud customers should evaluate migration paths; new buyers should wait” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN19%
8 of 43 labels negative · 6 of 14 models
“Unlike competitors (like Cisco Meraki or VeloCloud), you do not need to pay a premium bandwidth-based or SD-WAN-specific license” Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt
Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN17%
6 of 35 labels negative · 5 of 14 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid ... Prisma SD-WAN due to quality, support, or flexibility concerns.” Mistral Small, negative prompt
What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the fourteen in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.
Sites the answers cite
75 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1039 links across 240 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 59 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.
vendor site · Guideflow49 answers · 49 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Cisco28 answers · 39 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Fortinet27 answers · 48 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 25 citations · 11 models
21 answers · 23 citations · 8 models
21 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
20 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
18 answers · 18 citations · 10 models
16 answers · 24 citations · 10 models
14 answers · 18 citations · 6 models
13 answers · 41 citations · 9 models
vendor site · G213 answers · 20 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
49 answers · 12 models
25 answers · 11 models
20 answers · 8 models
17 answers · 9 models
16 answers · 6 models
15 answers · 10 models
13 answers · 6 models
12 answers · 8 models
11 answers · 4 models
11 answers · 5 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best sd-wan platform”, “sd-wan platform”, “sd-wan platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortinet parent site Fortinet Secure SD-WAN 50% | 50% | 174 | 49,500 | 2,339 | ||||
| Cisco parent site Cisco Meraki SD-WAN 19%, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN 10% | 29% | 129 | 165,000 | 48,352 | ||||
| Cato catonetworks.com Cato SASE Cloud 6% | 6% | 121 | 30 | 1 | 20,161 company | 10 | 2 | |
| HPE arubanetworks.com HPE Aruba EdgeConnect 4% | 4% | 95 | 27,100 | 5,522 | 2,865 | |||
| VMware parent site VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN 4% | 4% | 122 | 74,000 | 17,842 | ||||
| Peplink peplink.com | 4% | 28 | 5,400 | 451 | 18,246 | |||
| Palo Alto Networks parent site Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN 2% | 2% | 101 | 40,500 | 1,088 | ||||
| Ubiquiti ubiquiti.com Ubiquiti UniFi 2% | 2% | 41 | 9,900 | 450 | 15,584 company | |||
| Versa versa-networks.com Versa Secure SD-WAN 0% | 0% | 59 | 20 | 1 | 14,861 company | $85 | 49 | 3 |
| Cisco cisco.com | 0% | 199 | 165,000 | 48,352 | 5,114,808 | $683 | 91 | 2 |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 23 sites; 5 of them are among the sites the models cited here (cisco.com, g2.com, gartner.com, peerspot.com, reddit.com). The first result for “best sd-wan platform” is g2.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best SD-WAN platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which software-defined WAN solution would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top SD-WAN platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best SD-WAN platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a SD-WAN platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which SD-WAN platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Cato SASE Cloudno first choiceChangedno first choiceCisco Meraki SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Five alternatives
Aryaka, Comcast Business, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, MetTel, WindstreamFive alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANFour alternatives
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Juniper Session Smart Routing, NetGate pfSense SD-WAN, VyOS SD-WANGPT-5.4 miniFortinet Secure SD-WANPalo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANChangedno first choiceFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: HPE Aruba EdgeConnectno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
One alternative
Cisco Catalyst SD-WANThree alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANGemini 3.5 FlashFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANHeldFortinet Secure SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WAN, Ubiquiti UniFiagainst: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Check Point, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco iWAN, Citrix SD-WAN, FortiGate 40Fs, Riverbed SteelConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Three alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WANFive alternatives
Cisco, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WANTwo alternatives
Peplink, flexiWANFour alternatives
Arista, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANPerplexity SonarFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WANChangedno first choiceCisco Catalyst SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, ISP-managed / carrier-branded SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
Four alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANThree alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, FortiGate Secure SD-WANOne alternative
Fortinet Secure SD-WANGrok 4.1 FastCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WANChangedagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WANno first choiceFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Barracuda, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Cradlepoint, FatPipe SD-WAN, Nuage, Peplink, Riverbed SteelConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Three alternatives
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANThree alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANSix alternatives
Cisco, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WANOne alternative
PeplinkMistral SmallHPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANno first choiceChangedno first choiceFortinet Secure SD-WAN, Peplinkno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Masergy, New Horizon Communications, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Spectrotel, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Windstream
One alternative
Fortinet Secure SD-WANSix alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Networks FlexVNFDeepSeek V4 FlashCato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANChangedno first choiceagainst: Broadcom (VMware) VeloCloud / AristaFortinet Secure SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Masergy, New Horizon, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Spectrotel, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Windstream
Two alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WANFour alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Peplink, flexiWANFive alternatives
Aryaka, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WANLlama 4 Maverickno first choiceCisco Catalyst SD-WANChangedno first choiceCisco Catalyst SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Two alternatives
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANQwen 3.7 FlashCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: VMware VeloCloud SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WANHeldno first choiceCisco Meraki SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WANagainst: Alcatel-Lucent / Lucent, Brocade, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Classic Cisco, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN, Riverbed SteelConnect, Rivis, Versa Secure SD-WAN
Two alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANOne alternative
HPE Aruba EdgeConnectThree alternatives
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Versa Secure SD-WANOne alternative
Fortinet Secure SD-WANKimi K2Fortinet Secure SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANHeldno first choicePeplinkno first choiceagainst: Arista, Cisco, Riverbed SteelConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Two alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WANTwo alternatives
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANFive alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANGLM 4.7 FlashXCato SASE CloudFortinet Secure SD-WANChangedCisco Catalyst SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, WireGuard, ZeroTierno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Citrix SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Masergy, New Horizon Communications, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Spectrotel, TPx Managed Services, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN, Windstream
Five alternatives
Barracuda SecureEdge SD-WAN, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANNine alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Check Point Quantum SD‑WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect SD‑WAN, Juniper SD‑WAN, Netskope One SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware SD‑WAN by VeloCloud, Versa Secure SD‑WANOne alternative
PeplinkMiniMax M2.5HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WANChangedagainst: HPE Aruba EdgeConnectno first choiceFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: Aryaka, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WANagainst: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, FatPipe SD-WAN, Spectrum Business, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Windstream
One alternative
Cisco Meraki SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANOne alternative
Cisco Meraki SD-WANFive alternatives
Citrix SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Juniper Mist SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANGPT-6 LunaFortinet Secure SD-WANagainst: VMware VeloCloud SD-WANCisco Meraki SD-WANChangedno first choiceFortinet Secure SD-WANno first choiceagainst: "VeloCloud SASE secured by Symantec", Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco vEdge hardware, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Two alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WANTwo alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WANEight alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WANOne alternative
Cisco Meraki SD-WANMuse Glimmer 30BCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WANChangedCisco, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WANCisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WANno first choiceagainst: Arista Networks, Barracuda, Cisco, Cradlepoint, Extreme Networks, FatPipe SD-WAN, Nuage, Peplink, Riverbed SteelConnect
Four alternatives
Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, FatPipe SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnectThree alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WANThree alternatives
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WANTwo alternatives
Peplink, flexiWANBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 10:39 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:24 | yes | 2 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 09:04 | yes | 13 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 12:15 | yes | 17 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 08:07 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 13:45 | yes | 9 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 08:58 | yes | 22 | 31 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 08:03 | yes | 5 | 1 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 08:48 | yes | 11 | 54 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 13:22 | yes | 18 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 10:05 | yes | 17 | 125 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 08:16 | yes | 5 | 16 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 11:57 | yes | 4 | 13 s |
| Direct recommendation | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 08:00 | yes | 24 | 28 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 10:39 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:33 | yes | 2 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 12:40 | yes | 10 | 21 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 10:27 | yes | 16 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 07:59 | yes | 22 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 09:26 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 08:09 | yes | 23 | 38 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 12:47 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 11:46 | yes | 12 | 69 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 11:59 | yes | 20 | 22 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 11:46 | yes | 24 | 89 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 11:42 | yes | 10 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 09:29 | yes | 3 | 15 s |
| Paraphrase | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 10:06 | yes | 20 | 20 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 08:00 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 10:51 | yes | 4 | 8 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 09:13 | yes | 16 | 23 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 13:38 | yes | 18 | 6 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 09:06 | yes | 17 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 10:56 | yes | 8 | 7 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 11:54 | yes | 24 | 50 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 12:56 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 09:18 | yes | 5 | 28 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 12:22 | yes | 20 | 33 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 10:33 | yes | 20 | 72 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 10:07 | yes | 18 | 33 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 07:40 | yes | 9 | 42 s |
| Comparative | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 08:14 | yes | 23 | 54 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 12:43 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:35 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 13:02 | yes | 24 | 24 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 08:38 | yes | 16 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 09:14 | yes | 21 | 8 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 11:55 | yes | 16 | 8 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 07:42 | yes | 23 | 30 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 13:35 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 10:49 | no | 0 | 38 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 13:37 | yes | 14 | 23 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 10:00 | yes | 22 | 83 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 11:36 | yes | 5 | 15 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 07:44 | yes | 2 | 13 s |
| Budget constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 13:42 | yes | 10 | 21 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 08:39 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 08:39 | no | 0 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 12:40 | yes | 8 | 23 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 11:49 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 10:10 | yes | 19 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 13:47 | no | 0 | 11 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 10:15 | yes | 25 | 58 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 12:02 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 13:08 | no | 0 | 26 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 11:40 | yes | 19 | 29 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 09:02 | yes | 24 | 39 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 12:20 | yes | 5 | 15 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 07:47 | yes | 2 | 26 s |
| Scale constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 07:59 | yes | 14 | 18 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 12:00 | yes | 17 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 12:18 | yes | 4 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 13:29 | yes | 14 | 47 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 07:57 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 10:26 | yes | 25 | 11 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 12:28 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 12:57 | yes | 23 | 41 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 12:43 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 10:32 | no | 0 | 46 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 10:49 | yes | 23 | 32 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 11:12 | yes | 23 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 08:46 | yes | 15 | 23 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 09:36 | yes | 4 | 20 s |
| Negative framing | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 12:18 | yes | 14 | 21 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
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Category-scoped readings
Broadcom (VMware SD-WAN) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Broadcom/VMware read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Cato read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cato Networks read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cato Networks (Cato SASE Cloud) read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cato Networks SD-WAN read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cato Networks SD‑WAN (Cato Socket) read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cato SD-WAN / SASE read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cato SD-WAN/SASE read as Cato SASE Cloud
Cisco Meraki read as Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Cisco Meraki (Meraki SD-WAN) read as Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Cisco Meraki MX read as Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Cisco Meraki MX Series read as Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Cisco's current Catalyst SD-WAN options read as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Citrix read as Citrix SD-WAN
FatPipe read as FatPipe SD-WAN
Fatpipe read as FatPipe SD-WAN
Fortinet read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet (FortiGate SD-WAN) read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet (FortiGate Secure SD-WAN / Unified SASE) read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet (FortiGate Secure SD-WAN) read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet (FortiGate) read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet (Secure SD-WAN) read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet FortiGate read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Fortinet Secure SD‑WAN read as Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
HPE (Aruba) read as HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
HPE (Aruba/Silver Peak) read as HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
HPE Aruba read as HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
HPE Aruba (EdgeConnect SD-WAN, formerly Silver Peak) read as HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
HPE Aruba (EdgeConnect) read as HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
Juniper (Contrail) read as Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN
Juniper (Viptela) read as Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN
Juniper SD-WAN read as Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN
Juniper SD-WAN (Mist-based offerings) read as Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN
Meraki read as Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Palo Alto read as Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Palo Alto Networks read as Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Palo Alto Networks (Prisma SD-WAN) read as Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Palo Alto Prisma read as Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Peplink SD-WAN read as Peplink
Riverbed read as Riverbed SteelConnect
VMware (Now Broadcom - VMwareSD-WAN by VeloCloud) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware (now part of Broadcom) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware (now part of Broadcom/Cisco) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware VeloCloud read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware VeloCloud (Now Arista VeloCloud) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware VeloCloud (Now Broadcom) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware VeloCloud (now Broadcom) read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware Velocloud read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
VMware/Broadcom read as VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Versa read as Versa Secure SD-WAN
Versa Networks read as Versa Secure SD-WAN
Versa Networks (Versa Secure SD-WAN / VOS) read as Versa Secure SD-WAN
Versa Networks (Versa Secure SD-WAN) read as Versa Secure SD-WAN
Unresolved, counted raw
"VeloCloud SASE secured by Symantec"
Adaptiv Enterprise Connect
Alcatel-Lucent / Lucent
Arya
Barracuda SecureEdge SD-WAN
Broadcom (VMware) VeloCloud / Arista
Broadcom VMware
Brocade (Velsa)
Check Point Quantum SD‑WAN
Cisco iWAN (Intelligent WAN)
Cisco vEdge hardware
Classic Cisco (IOS/IOS-XE based SD-WAN)
EdgeConnect
FortiGate 40Fs
FortiGate Secure SD-WAN
GTT
HPE Aruba EdgeConnect SD‑WAN
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Aruba EdgeConnect
ISP-managed / carrier-branded SD-WAN
Juniper Mist SD-WAN
Juniper SD‑WAN
Juniper Session Smart Routing
NetGate pfSense SD-WAN
New Horizon
Rivis
TPx Managed Services
Tata
VMware SD‑WAN by VeloCloud
Versa Networks FlexVNF
Versa Secure SD‑WAN
Viavi
VorteX (formerly Versa Networks)
VyOS SD-WAN
WireGuard
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.