# Fortinet Secure SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: which do AI models recommend for SD-WAN, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, SD-WAN. Nine of fourteen models named Fortinet Secure SD-WAN first on the direct prompt; zero named Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/sd-wan/fortinet-secure-sd-wan-vs-cisco-catalyst-sd-wan/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortinet Secure SD-WAN | 50% | #1 of 10 | 3% | 64 | 14 of 14 |
| Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN | 10% | #3 of 10 | 32% | 40 | 13 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- GPT-5.4 mini: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN)
- Perplexity Sonar: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN)
- Grok 4.20: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN)
- Kimi K2: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN)
- GPT-6 Luna: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: fortinet secure sd-wan first (first choices: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, FatPipe SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Cato SASE Cloud) (alternatives: Aryaka, Comcast Business, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, MetTel, Windstream)
- Mistral Small: neither first, one named (first choices: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN) (alternatives: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Cato 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)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN) (alternatives: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN)

## What the models said about Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

- "Requires more configuration expertise for advanced features, has a larger upfront learning curve, higher hardware footprint" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "warns about vendor lock-in and limited third-party integrations" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Fortinet Secure SD-WAN is frequently highlighted as the "budget champion,"... If you need both networking and security in one, Fortinet may be the best fit." (Mistral Small, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Fortinet Secure SD-WAN (Best Overall Value & Security Integration) ... widely considered the market leader for mid-market organizations" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, direct prompt, first choice)
- "If your primary goal is consolidating security and networking onto a single cost-effective firewall appliance, choose Fortinet." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, comparative prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

- "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)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.