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

Gane Index, November 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/2026-11/enterprise

**Standing:** Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN leads with 45% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 49 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% | 18% | 66 |
| 2 | [Fortinet Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 39% | 3% | 68 |
| 3 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sd-wan/index.md) | 6% | 14% | 56 |
| 4 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 4% | 7% | 29 |
| 5 | [HPE Aruba EdgeConnect](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hpe-aruba-edgeconnect/index.md) | 2% | 10% | 40 |
| 6 | [VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-velocloud-sd-wan/index.md) | 2% | 32% | 50 |
| 8 | [Versa Secure SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/versa-secure-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 35 |
| 9 | [Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/juniper-session-smart-routing-ssr-mist-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 10 | [Cisco Meraki SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-meraki-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 30% | 20 |
| 11 | [Cisco](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 11 |
| 12 | [Aryaka](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aryaka/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 61 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 Aryaka, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Perplexity Sonar: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Grok 4.20: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- Mistral Small: VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- Kimi K2: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives HPE Aruba EdgeConnect, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- MiniMax M2.5: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- GPT-6 Luna: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, HPE Aruba EdgeConnect

## Sources the answers cite

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

- fortinet.com: 40 answers, 74 citations
- cisco.com: 39 answers, 73 citations
- netify.co.uk: 23 answers, 29 citations
- interfacesystems.com: 22 answers, 24 citations
- guideflow.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- ciopages.com: 20 answers, 20 citations
- g2.com: 19 answers, 22 citations
- hpe.com: 17 answers, 25 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://ciopages.com/buyer-guides/cloud-networking-sd-wan (20 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/sd-wan-software (19 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/sd-wan/enterprise (15 answers)
- https://networkdevicesinc.com/community/blog/sd-wan-is-the-future-top-5-solutions-in-2024 (15 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/enterprise (13 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors-in-2024-how-to-select-one-for-your-enterprise (13 answers)
- https://peerspot.com/categories/software-defined-wan-sd-wan-solutions (13 answers)
- https://research.oz.spotlightar.com/reports/magic-quadrant-sd-wan-2024/leaders (13 answers)
- https://datacipher.com/10-top-sd-wan-solutions-for-enterprises (12 answers)
- https://em360tech.com/top-10/SD-WAN-Providers (12 answers)

## Warned against

- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 16 of 50 labels negative. "Proceed with extreme caution... This is a platform in transition, not a solid foundation for a multi-year WAN transformation." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 12 of 66 labels negative. "Zero-day exploitation tied to Volt Typhoon... security patch urgency, high exposure from the current exploitation wave, and management complexity" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 8 of 56 labels negative. "Some users advise against using Prisma, citing issues with the knowledge base, settings, and technical support." (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 6 of 20 labels negative. "better suited for small-to-medium deployments rather than large enterprises due to scalability and management limitations at scale" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN at 45%.

- Fortinet Secure SD-WAN: 28% to 39%, +11. Inside the floor by 0 points · rank 2 of 61, unchanged.
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 50% to 45%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 61, unchanged.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 9% to 4%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 4 of 61.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 2% to 6%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 6 → 3 of 61.
- Cisco: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 5 → 11 of 61.
- HPE Aruba EdgeConnect: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 5 of 61.
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 32 → 6 of 61.
- Aryaka: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 12 of 61.
- Versa Secure SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 of 61, unchanged.
- Juniper Session Smart Routing (SSR) / Mist SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 of 61, unchanged.
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 49 → 10 of 61.

## Record

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