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

Gane 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://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/2026-09/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/enterprise/index.md

**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

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-catalyst-sd-wan/index.md) | 45% | 12% | 51 |
| 2 | [Fortinet Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 27% | 9% | 54 |
| 3 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 11% | 10% | 20 |
| 4 | [HPE Aruba EdgeConnect](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hpe-aruba-edgeconnect/index.md) | 7% | 12% | 33 |
| 5 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sd-wan/index.md) | 5% | 12% | 43 |
| 6 | [Cisco](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco/index.md) | 5% | 27% | 15 |
| 7 | [Versa Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/versa-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 31 |
| 8 | [Aryaka](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aryaka/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 16 |
| 27 | [Cisco Meraki SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-meraki-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 46% | 13 |
| 33 | [VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-velocloud-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 47% | 45 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 33 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## 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 SASE Cloud; 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 SASE Cloud, 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 4.20: 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 SASE Cloud, 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: 48 answers, 65 citations
- interfacesystems.com: 33 answers, 34 citations
- cisco.com: 30 answers, 69 citations
- fortinet.com: 25 answers, 50 citations
- guideflow.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- stlpartners.com: 25 answers, 25 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 (44 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors (33 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/sd-wan-software (25 answers)
- https://stlpartners.com/articles/network-innovation/sd-wan-providers (25 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 (18 answers)
- https://technologymatch.com/blog/cisco-vs-fortinet-vs-palo-alto-vs-hpe-aruba-edgeconnect-an-sd-wan-comparison-guide-for-2026 (15 answers)
- https://cisco.com/site/us/en/products/networking/sdwan-routers/sdwan-competitive-comparison.html (12 answers)
- https://megaport.com/blog/comparing-major-sd-wan-vendors (12 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 4.20, negative prompt)
- Fortinet Secure SD-WAN: 5 of 54 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://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.