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Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Aruba Airwave provides long-term ROI with efficient troubleshooting, significant cost savings, and improved productivity despite initial hardware costs.
Sentiment score
5.8
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers significant cost savings and scalability, replacing MPLS with internet, reducing WAN costs by 80%.
With Zero Trust provisioning via the Catalyst Center and Meraki dashboard, new branch offices are configured in hours instead of weeks, freeing engineering teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual deployment.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
They are now back to do that with the remainder of their company, so they've realized the value in 12 months and are willing to invest in the remainder of their organization.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
There are many scenarios where we replace MPLS with the internet because now we have the flexibility to migrate to Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and we do not need private connectivity such as MPLS.
Regional Manager at Orange
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Aruba Airwave technical support is praised for effective service, knowledgeable staff, and multilingual communication, despite occasional slower responses.
Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN support is mixed, with praise for responsiveness but critiques on slow responses and outsourcing affecting quality.
I would rate their technical support as a nine or ten, as it's quite good.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Angie was very kind and communicated well in both Spanish and English, making it pleasant to connect with her.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The principal third-level support is very good.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
I would consider Cisco support a 10 out of 10.
Information Technology Consultant at Island Networks
I would rate Cisco's support, their customer service, and technical support as excellent.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Aruba Airwave is scalable, supporting different user counts and environments, often used with Cisco tools, rated highly for scalability.
Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN offers excellent scalability and centralized management, ideal for diverse sectors despite licensing budget constraints.
Aruba Airwave is fully scalable, as we have a large number of tenants using the network with approximately six thousand end users.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
Aruba Airwave gives good information about SNR value, signal value, and you can get extensive information.
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
Its controller architecture is highly matured, making it one of the most valuable and reliable LAN platforms for large enterprises.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Cisco SD-WAN is highly scalable and can be expanded to more than 10,000 sites.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
The ease of configuration and features like zero-touch provisioning enhance the scalability of Cisco SD-WAN, especially in disaster recovery situations.
Engineer at Routz
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Aruba Airwave is stable, reliable, and highly rated, with minor manageable issues during high usage and integration.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is stable and reliable, praised for performance, despite minor setup issues and software bugs.
I have found Aruba Airwave to be stable.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
As it is centralized, sometimes it disconnects from the cloud, and I need to reboot.
Server Administrator at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
For example, with zero-touch provisioning, if we are adding new sites, we can do it with a few simple clicks.
Regional Manager at Orange
While some software-related issues and bugs were encountered, they did not cause the whole environment to crash.
Engineer at Routz
A simple issue in the control connections between the fabric causes numerous complexities.
Network Manager at HPCL
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Airwave requires cost reduction, system integration, UI simplification, pricing changes, and better synchronization, support, and compatibility.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN needs simplified costs, better security, user interface, cloud integration, AI features, and enhanced support.
The end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive.
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
When upgrading hardware, there were technical issues with network interfaces and Red Hat, which required escalation to developers.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Now, they change frequently, making it difficult to obtain long-term support.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Better documentation with real-world examples, improved third-party integration, and more detailed monitoring dashboards would make Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN even more effective.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Including more features like integrating with Splunk for monitoring vulnerabilities would help eliminate the need for other SOC solutions.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Airwave licensing is seen as complex and costly, yet often cheaper than Cisco, with variable pricing flexibility.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is often deemed expensive due to complex licensing, confusing pricing, and higher costs than competitors.
The pricing for Aruba Airwave is acceptable because compared to Cisco, it's slightly cheaper, but not significantly - maybe 5% or 7% less expensive.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Its pricing is justifiable due to the comprehensive solution it offers.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller businesses when using the Meraki version.
Engineer at Routz
The pricing of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is rated between eight and nine out of ten, where ten is the most expensive.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Airwave provides multivendor support, robust reporting, real-time analysis, and easy network management with zero-touch provisioning and Visual RF.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN excels in ease of use, scalability, security, and efficient network performance with cloud integration and cost reduction.
It provides near real-time monitoring using AIMON and AURO protocols, which is robust with multiple models and brand support.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aruba Airwave provides good visibility, offering extensive data on network dynamics, such as access point connections, usage, signal strengths, and potential interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
The most helpful feature I noticed, yet did not utilize, allowed us to add our Cisco switches for monitoring.
IT Network Operations Manager at KEDS
It also provides robust security features, including port security, analysis, mirroring, and multiple other security solutions.
Technology supervisor at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN has integrated security features which include base firewall, URL filtering, IPS, and secure segmentation.
Solution Architect at Sonda S.A.
The centralized dashboard gives me a clear view of all branch sites, making it easy to manage and monitor tunnel health, bandwidth usage, and device status from one place.
Network engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Network Management Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 3.1%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 2.3%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN2.3%
Aruba Airwave3.1%
Other94.6%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Edward Zeng - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Troubleshooting obstacles occur but technical support excels
My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco. We didn't use Aruba much, but once you set it up, you probably don't need to worry about it too much. The version we are using is quite old now, probably around version four. I can't remember the version exactly because a lot of the products require Aruba Central, but we haven't used Aruba Central yet. I face challenges with Aruba Airwave, particularly with troubleshooting. When someone has a problem, we try troubleshooting, but the end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website. If Aruba Airwave can apply AI capabilities, that would be even more perfect. I'd appreciate integration with Aruba Central; it would be great if they could incorporate it into Airwave.
Ashwani-Tyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Manager at Orange
Centralized control has simplified cloud access and has improved operational visibility
If they can have better firewall features as their competitors have, such as Fortinet and Versa, that would help to place this solution better so that we can address security related things. If they can have all the IPS, IDS, everything built on all the edge devices, whether physical or virtual, that could be one improvement. Actually, if customers are existing Cisco customers, if Cisco can be more flexible to leverage the existing investment, that could be another important aspect to save on cost and be more competitive from a pricing perspective. Overall, the pricing or the segment that Cisco deals with is a bit premium, which they charge a bit premium against the competition on the licensing, hardware, and services. The implementation is not straightforward. You need a specialized partner or specialized people who can implement this. It can be simplified a bit from that perspective as well. Mostly the way we implement the policies for a big environment requires a lot of things that we need to take care of. If that can somehow be improved, because they have different components, like they have vManage, they have vSmart, and vBond and all these components have to work with a certain flow that they need to follow.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Government
7%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise50
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
They have other sensors which can manage and control all the sites. There is an IoT component where we can restrict internet services such as Facebook and YouTube. These things can also be managed....
What is your primary use case for Aruba Airwave?
For Aruba Airwave, I am using the wireless devices for the Wi-Fi for the full company with access points. This is the top product I feel, and I see in the Gartner also. It is a good product and eas...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco offers premium enterprise capabilities, but its pricing, setup cost, and licensing models represent the most significant hurdles for IT organizations. Cisco hardware commands a premium price ...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
I cannot speak to programming-side improvements since that is not my area of expertise. On a base level, improvements could include a better interface, more AI capabilities, better pricing, and bet...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
The primary use case is for network management and routers we have for WAN connectivity.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco SD-WAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.