# SD-WAN for small business 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 a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Fortinet Secure SD-WAN (tied with Cisco Meraki SD-WAN) leads with 40% 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) | 40% | 4% | 73 |
| 2 | [Cisco Meraki SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-meraki-sd-wan/index.md) | 40% | 8% | 65 |
| 4 | [Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-catalyst-sd-wan/index.md) | 4% | 56% | 39 |
| 10 | [VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-velocloud-sd-wan/index.md) | 2% | 47% | 32 |
| 11 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 34 |
| 12 | Bigleaf Networks | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 70 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sd-wan/index.md) | 0% | 57% | 28 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 70 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 Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Peplink
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Bigleaf Networks, Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Perplexity Sonar: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Bigleaf Networks, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN
- Grok 4.20: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Mistral Small: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Sophos, Ubiquiti UniFi
- Kimi K2: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Versa Secure SD-WAN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Aryaka, Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
- MiniMax M2.5: Fortinet Secure SD-WAN; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN
- GPT-6 Luna: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN; alternatives Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

## Sources the answers cite

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

- g2.com: 42 answers, 62 citations
- reddit.com: 40 answers, 62 citations
- fortinet.com: 27 answers, 51 citations
- sequentur.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- gane.ai/index: 23 answers, 24 citations
- cisco.com: 20 answers, 35 citations
- netify.co.uk: 19 answers, 21 citations
- comparitech.com: 19 answers, 19 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://g2.com/categories/sd-wan/small-business (30 answers)
- https://reddit.com/r/networking/comments/1kuoatj/best_sdwan_providers_to_offer_small_businesses (28 answers)
- https://sequentur.com/sd-wan-for-small-business-is-it-worth-it (24 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/sd-wan/smb (23 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-sd-wan-vendors (19 answers)
- https://costbench.com/best/sd-wan-for-small-business (17 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/sd-wan (14 answers)
- https://interfacesystems.com/blog/top-sd-wan-vendors (14 answers)
- https://netify.co.uk/sase/best/sd-wan-sase-providers-for-small-business (13 answers)
- https://thectoclub.com/tools/best-sd-wan-solutions (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 22 of 39 labels negative. "True enterprise SD-WAN platforms (like Cisco Viptela or Palo Alto Prisma) are far too expensive and complex for small businesses." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 16 of 28 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise-grade platforms (Cisco Viptela/Catalyst, Palo Alto Prisma) that are overkill in cost and complexity" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 15 of 32 labels negative. "Why cautious/avoid? Post-Broadcom acquisition (2023), there's uncertainty around investment, support, and roadmap" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Cato SASE Cloud: 7 of 34 labels negative. "Pricing transparency issues - users report hidden fees and unexpected charges" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Cisco Meraki SD-WAN (42%) to Fortinet Secure SD-WAN (40%). Margin 0 points, within noise.

- Fortinet Secure SD-WAN: 26% to 40%, +14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 2 → 1 of 70.
- Peplink: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 13 of 70.
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN: 42% to 40%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 1 → 2 of 70.
- Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN: 6% to 4%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 4 of 70.
- VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 65 → 10 of 70.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 11 of 70.
- Bigleaf Networks: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 25 → 12 of 70.
- HPE Aruba EdgeConnect: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 16 → 17 of 70.
- Versa Secure SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 69 → 19 of 70.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 70 of 70, unchanged.

## 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.