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

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "SD-WAN platform" and as "software-defined WAN solution", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/2026-10/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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 50% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 46 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) | 50% | 14% | 63 |
| 2 | [Fortinet Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 28% | 2% | 60 |
| 3 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 9% | 10% | 21 |
| 4 | [HPE Aruba EdgeConnect](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hpe-aruba-edgeconnect/index.md) | 4% | 5% | 37 |
| 6 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sd-wan/index.md) | 2% | 4% | 46 |
| 7 | [Aryaka](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aryaka/index.md) | 2% | 6% | 16 |
| 8 | [Versa Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/versa-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 16% | 25 |
| 32 | [VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-velocloud-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 42% | 40 |
| 49 | [Cisco Meraki SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-meraki-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 47% | 17 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 51 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: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Perplexity Sonar: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Grok 4.20: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Mistral Small: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Kimi K2: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- MiniMax M2.5: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- GPT-6 Luna: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN

## Sources the answers cite

81 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- guideflow.com: 54 answers, 54 citations
- cisco.com: 44 answers, 81 citations
- fortinet.com: 36 answers, 59 citations
- gartner.com: 34 answers, 46 citations
- cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com: 31 answers, 31 citations
- gane.ai/index: 28 answers, 43 citations
- datacipher.com: 26 answers, 26 citations
- g2.com: 25 answers, 30 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/sd-wan-software (54 answers)
- https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tools/top-7-sd-wan-solutions-for-enterprises/129683536 (30 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/sd-wan (30 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/enterprise (27 answers)
- https://datacipher.com/10-top-sd-wan-solutions-for-enterprises (26 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors (22 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/sd-wan/enterprise (20 answers)
- https://cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/enterprise-networks/sd-wan/gartner-magic-quadrant.html (18 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/products/sd-wan (17 answers)
- https://peerspot.com/categories/software-defined-wan-sd-wan-solutions (16 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 8 of 17 labels negative. "The clearest examples to avoid or scrutinize heavily are:

- Cisco Meraki: It is repeatedly described as better suited to small-to-medium deployments" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt)
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 17 of 40 labels negative. "There is significant uncertainty regarding its future roadmap, pricing models, and support structures... This makes it risky for long-term enterprise commitments." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 9 of 63 labels negative. "Large enterprises should be particularly cautious about Cisco's current offering." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Peplink: 4 of 4 labels negative. "designed specifically for small businesses, so it is likely not the right fit for large enterprise requirements" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN at 51%.

- HPE Aruba EdgeConnect: 7% to 0%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 4 → 7 of 47.
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 45% to 51%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 47, unchanged.
- Aryaka: 0% to 3%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 8 → 6 of 47.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 5% to 3%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 of 47, unchanged.
- Fortinet Secure SD-WAN: 27% to 28%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 2 of 47, unchanged.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 11% to 10%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 of 47, unchanged.
- Cisco: 5% to 5%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 4 of 47.
- Versa Secure SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 8 of 47.
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 33 → 42 of 47.
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 27 → 47 of 47.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.