# SD-WAN for small business 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 a small B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/sd-wan/smb/

**Standing:** Cisco Meraki SD-WAN leads with 40% of first choices; verdict contested. 48 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cisco Meraki SD-WAN | 40% | 19% | 57 |
| 2 | Fortinet Secure SD-WAN | 31% | 6% | 63 |
| 3 | Peplink | 10% | 5% | 22 |
| 4 | Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN | 10% | 33% | 33 |
| 5 | Ubiquiti UniFi | 2% | 18% | 11 |
| 6 | Aryaka | 0% | 20% | 10 |
| 7 | HPE Aruba EdgeConnect | 0% | 40% | 10 |
| 8 | Versa Secure SD-WAN | 0% | 50% | 10 |
| 9 | Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN | 0% | 56% | 16 |
| 10 | VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN | 0% | 60% | 35 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Citrix SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- GPT-5.4 mini: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Ubiquiti UniFi, Versa Titan
- Perplexity Sonar: Bigleaf Networks; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Peplink
- Mistral Small: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Peplink; alternatives Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato Networks, Comcast Business, Windstream
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
- Kimi K2: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- MiniMax M2.5: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Peplink, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN

## Sources the answers cite

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

- gartner.com: 38 answers, 46 citations
- reddit.com: 37 answers, 84 citations
- g2.com: 33 answers, 48 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 31 answers, 35 citations
- costbench.com: 30 answers, 40 citations
- trustradius.com: 23 answers, 27 citations
- interfacesystems.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- fortinet.com: 22 answers, 48 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/sd-wan (37 answers)
- https://reddit.com/r/networking/comments/1kuoatj/best_sdwan_providers_to_offer_small_businesses (34 answers)
- https://costbench.com/best/sd-wan-for-small-business (30 answers)
- https://us.fitgap.com/search/sd-wan-solutions/small-business (30 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/sd-wan/small-business (28 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors (23 answers)
- https://stlpartners.com/articles/network-innovation/sd-wan-providers (22 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-sd-wan-vendors (18 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/solutions/small-business/security-sd-wan (16 answers)
- https://trustradius.com/software-defined-wan?company-size=small-business (16 answers)

## Warned against

- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 21 of 35 labels negative. "You should avoid heavy enterprise tools (like Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN/Viptela, VMware SD-WAN/VeloCloud, or Palo Alto Prisma)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt)
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 11 of 57 labels negative. "it's premium-priced compared to some alternatives, its reliability, comprehensive security, and streamlined management make it an ideal choice for small organizations" (Claude Haiku 4.5, budget prompt)
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 11 of 33 labels negative. "Small businesses should avoid or be cautious about SD-WAN platforms designed for large enterprises, such as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Versa Networks, and VMware SD-WAN" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Windstream: 5 of 6 labels negative. "Vendors like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Windstream, Masergy, and other carrier-managed offerings carry significant risks" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative 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.