# SD-WAN: 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 a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/index.md

**Standing:** Fortinet Secure SD-WAN leads with 50% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 52 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Fortinet Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 50% | 3% | 64 |
| 2 | [Cisco Meraki SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-meraki-sd-wan/index.md) | 19% | 19% | 43 |
| 3 | [Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-catalyst-sd-wan/index.md) | 10% | 32% | 40 |
| 4 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 6% | 0% | 27 |
| 5 | [HPE Aruba EdgeConnect](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hpe-aruba-edgeconnect/index.md) | 4% | 13% | 30 |
| 6 | [VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-velocloud-sd-wan/index.md) | 4% | 32% | 53 |
| 8 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sd-wan/index.md) | 2% | 17% | 35 |
| 10 | [Versa Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/versa-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 14% | 22 |
| 11 | [Cisco](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |
| 15 | [FatPipe SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fatpipe-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 30% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 73 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: Cato SASE Cloud; alternatives Aryaka, Comcast Business, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, MetTel
- GPT-5.4 mini: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Perplexity Sonar: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Grok 4.20: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Mistral Small: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Kimi K2: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cato SASE Cloud; alternatives Barracuda SecureEdge SD-WAN, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- MiniMax M2.5: HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- GPT-6 Luna: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, FatPipe SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect

## Sources the answers cite

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

- guideflow.com: 49 answers, 49 citations
- cisco.com: 28 answers, 39 citations
- fortinet.com: 27 answers, 48 citations
- interfacesystems.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- gartner.com: 21 answers, 23 citations
- datacipher.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- myhospitalnow.com: 20 answers, 23 citations
- zpesystems.com: 18 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/sd-wan-software (49 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors (25 answers)
- https://datacipher.com/10-top-sd-wan-solutions-for-enterprises (20 answers)
- https://zpesystems.com/sd-wan-leaders-zs (17 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/sd-wan (16 answers)
- https://myhospitalnow.com/blog/top-10-sd-wan-management-platforms-features-pros-cons-comparison-2 (15 answers)
- https://em360tech.com/top-10/SD-WAN-Providers (13 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/enterprise (12 answers)
- https://checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/network-security/what-is-sd-wan/top-5-sd-wan-providers-to-consider-in-2025 (11 answers)
- https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tools/top-7-sd-wan-solutions-for-enterprises/129683536 (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 13 of 40 labels negative. "Some network engineers advise avoiding it entirely ("wouldn't recommend Viptela to my worst enemy")" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 17 of 53 labels negative. "High Caution: Broadcom/VMware (VeloCloud) ... Existing VeloCloud customers should evaluate migration paths; new buyers should wait" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 8 of 43 labels negative. "Unlike competitors (like Cisco Meraki or VeloCloud), you do not need to pay a premium bandwidth-based or SD-WAN-specific license" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 6 of 35 labels negative. "Avoid ... Prisma SD-WAN due to quality, support, or flexibility concerns." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN at 48%.

- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 30% to 18%, −12. Cleared the floor by 1 point · rank 2 of 67, unchanged.
- Fortinet Secure SD-WAN: 41% to 48%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 1 of 67, unchanged.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 0% to 7%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 12 → 4 of 67.
- Peplink: 0% to 5%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 17 → 7 of 67.
- Aryaka: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 4 → 12 of 67.
- HPE Aruba EdgeConnect: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 5 of 67, unchanged.
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 8 → 6 of 67.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 13 → 8 of 67.
- Versa Secure SD-WAN: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 10 of 67.
- Cisco: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 11 of 67.
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 9% to 9%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 3 of 67, unchanged.

## 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.