# SD-WAN for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "SD-WAN platform" and as "software-defined WAN solution", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/sd-wan/enterprise/

**Standing:** Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN leads with 45% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 44 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN | 45% | 12% | 50 |
| 2 | Fortinet Secure SD-WAN | 27% | 9% | 53 |
| 3 | Cato Networks | 11% | 10% | 20 |
| 4 | HPE Aruba EdgeConnect | 7% | 12% | 33 |
| 5 | Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN | 5% | 12% | 43 |
| 6 | Cisco | 5% | 27% | 15 |
| 7 | Versa Secure SD-WAN | 0% | 6% | 31 |
| 8 | Aryaka | 0% | 12% | 16 |
| 9 | Cisco Meraki SD-WAN | 0% | 46% | 13 |
| 10 | VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN | 0% | 47% | 45 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cato Networks; alternatives Aryaka, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Cato Networks, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
- Perplexity Sonar: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Cisco; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Mistral Small: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
- Kimi K2: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Cato Networks, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- MiniMax M2.5: Cisco, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect

## Sources the answers cite

66 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- gartner.com: 45 answers, 59 citations
- interfacesystems.com: 28 answers, 28 citations
- cisco.com: 27 answers, 66 citations
- guideflow.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- stlpartners.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- fortinet.com: 22 answers, 47 citations
- zpesystems.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- costbench.com: 20 answers, 25 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/sd-wan (42 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors (28 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/sd-wan-software (24 answers)
- https://stlpartners.com/articles/network-innovation/sd-wan-providers (23 answers)
- https://zpesystems.com/sd-wan-leaders-zs (20 answers)
- https://costbench.com/best/sd-wan-for-enterprise (19 answers)
- https://digitalcarbon.io/blog/sd-wan-leaders-in-the-2024 (17 answers)
- https://technologymatch.com/blog/cisco-vs-fortinet-vs-palo-alto-vs-hpe-aruba-edgeconnect-an-sd-wan-comparison-guide-for-2026 (13 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-sd-wan-vendors (11 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/sd-wan/enterprise (11 answers)

## Warned against

- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 21 of 45 labels negative. "has created uncertainty regarding pricing models, support structures, and the future roadmap for legacy products like VeloCloud" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 6 of 13 labels negative. "High Caution/Avoid for Large Enterprises ... Cloud-only management ... lacks CLI access and BGP support ... Scales poorly beyond mid-market" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt)
- Fortinet Secure SD-WAN: 5 of 53 labels negative. "Pure software vendors—such as Cisco Viptela, VMware VeloCloud, and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN—supply the SD-WAN software platform ... but do not own or operate any underlying network infrastructure." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 5 of 43 labels negative. "consistently one of the most expensive platforms on the market, and its tiering structures make estimating total long-term costs complex" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.