SD-WAN · October 2026 Edition
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Cato SASE Cloud
Zero of fourteen models named Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN first on the direct prompt; three named Cato SASE Cloud. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN was named by thirteen of the fourteen models and Cato SASE Cloud by twelve and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN carries 40 labels and Cato SASE Cloud 27, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share10%6%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate32%0%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#3#4A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels4027A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Fortinet Secure SD-WAN was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN · Fortinet Secure SD-WAN vs Cato SASE Cloud · Cisco Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
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; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the SD-WAN page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WANFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCato SASE Cloud
Direct031 against Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Paraphrase101 against Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Comparative10
Budget-constrained30
Scale-constrained001 against Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Negative0110 against Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Cato SASE Cloud were named in the same answer forty-four times, of the 134 answers naming Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and the 126 naming Cato SASE Cloud. In those answers Cato SASE Cloud took the first choice seven times and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN nine.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Cato SASE Cloud stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | |||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | |||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | |||||
| Mistral Small | | | ||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | ||||
| Kimi K2 | | | ||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | ||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | |
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Cato SASE Cloud first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN on the left and Cato SASE Cloud on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Cato SASE Cloud stood in it.
Cato SASE Cloud first, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN an alternative
3 of 14 modelsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Cato SASE Cloud alternatives: Aryaka, Comcast Business, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, MetTel, Windstream
DeepSeek V4 FlashCato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
GLM 4.7 FlashXCato SASE Cloud alternatives: Barracuda SecureEdge SD-WAN, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Neither was the first choice, one was named
7 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.GPT-5.4 miniFortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Gemini 3.5 FlashFortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Perplexity SonarFortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Qwen 3.7 FlashCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
Kimi K2Fortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
GPT-6 LunaFortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Muse Glimmer 30BCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, FatPipe SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
Neither was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Grok 4.1 FastCisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN alternatives: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
Mistral SmallHPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN alternatives: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
MiniMax M2.5HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN alternatives: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN leads by four points.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN6%#4 of 9Cato SASE Cloud2%#5 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN leads by four points.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10%#3 of 10Cato SASE Cloud6%#4 of 10Enterprise
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN leads by forty-one points.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN50%#1 of 9Cato SASE Cloud9%#3 of 9What the models said about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Some network engineers advise avoiding it entirely ("wouldn't recommend Viptela to my worst enemy")” MiniMax M2.5 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Several industry sources now advise against Viptela, citing declining quality and poor support” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“one Reddit user advises against exploring Viptela” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · hard negative
“Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: An enterprise-grade software-defined WAN platform that simplifies wide-area networking across distributed environments.” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Cisco SD-WAN: A cloud-managed or on-premise solution that offers comprehensive routing, security, and policy control” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“the best SD-WAN choice is often Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela), because it is listed as the lowest-cost option” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Cato SASE Cloud
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of three in this category shown.
“For most mid-market B2B companies, Cato Networks and Fortinet are the two names that come up most consistently as the strongest fits” DeepSeek V4 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“Cato Networks offers a cloud-native SASE platform that's been scored as the easiest-to-use platform by Netify for the third year running” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“1) Cato Networks - Why it fits mid-market: A single converged SD-WAN + SASE platform with a cloud-native private backbone.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · direct prompt · first choice
Also compared
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WANFortinet Secure SD-WAN vs Cato SASE CloudCisco Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WANCisco Meraki 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-WANAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full SD-WAN standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.