Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Citrix SD-WAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cato SASE Cloud Platform and Citrix SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two WAN Optimization solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Citrix SD-WAN Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It's a cloud-based solution that integrates well with everything.""The most valuable features of Cato Networks are the always-on VPN for remote workers and centralized management. Additionally, web filtering and antivirus are good.""It is a stable solution...it is a scalable solution.""The WAN aggregation feature is the most valuable.""We appreciate the optimization and acceleration of the performance of SDP users.""The visibility control and security aspects are amazing.""The query and the SD-WAN are useful features of the solution.""The product is very simple, and everything can be done very quickly."

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"It allows us to use additional VPNs, offering more options compared to other VPN solutions.""It lowered our Internet costs and gave me the flexibility to choose providers based on each location's connectivity.""The best feature is the backup capability, where all of the users' computers are tied into a central data repository.""The most valuable feature of Citrix SD-WAN is customization. You are able to customize the solution to your needs.""The tool is quite cost-effective because it replaces the need for MPLS, which is a bit expensive...Citrix SD-WAN doesn't need much maintenance.""The main advantage of Citrix SD-WAN is that it enables fast communication between our branches and data centers. And, with its cloud management features, it also makes the process of adding new branches into our company network much easier.""It allows you to combine two asymmetrical connections.""They have a zero downtime failover mechanism, where, when there's a link failure or a link weakness, or bad link conditions, they provide the ability to fail back seamlessly."

More Citrix SD-WAN Pros →

Cons
"The solution is not cheap.""Cato Networks could improve their intrusion detection. There is not a lot in place.""There's no principal in Malaysia, only a distributor.""I am located in South Korea, and I can say that most people here have no idea about Cato Networks. I think Cato Networks should promote its network services in various countries.""The tool needs to be more granular. Its reports are not very in-depth.""Its functionality is a bit limited in some areas as compared to a Cisco solution. It is not as granular. It doesn't have the manageability, feature set, and capabilities of a larger or an enterprise-level solution. It just needs a more robust feature set and granularity.""They can't do one-to-one NAT (Network Address Translation) in AP (their access point), and that is something that Palo Alto can do.""Cato Networks security could be better."

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"The price is the only thing that could be improved. Citrix is not a cheap solution.""Citrix SD-WAN does not have the SD-WAN with one optimization in a single license. Other competitors have this option and it should be added to this solution.""Enhancements are needed to improve the stability.""I would like to see support for additional reporting.""The initial setup could be a bit easier.""I would like to see more customization to adjust for the WAN lock-out due to our unexpected power outages.""I am happy with this product. If anything, its price can be reduced. It is a bit expensive.""Even though the monitoring is pretty good, there is some room for improvement there."

More Citrix SD-WAN Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."
  • "If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."
  • "You pay yearly based on the speed of your network. If you increase the speed of your network, you increase the cost for your throughput. It is by bandwidth for the most part and then licenses for VPN. There is some per-seat licensing for VPN access, but the majority of it is minimal. It is like $30 a year per client. The rest is based on how much bandwidth you'll use. You pay for that upfront for the year, and if you have to increase it, you increase it, and then they let you send more data through. There are no additional costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
  • "Cato Networks seems more expensive than Cisco Meraki."
  • "The pricing of this solution depends on what you need. It is based on bandwidth."
  • "I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."
  • "Cato Networks is an expensive product, but it works out of the box, so that's the usual trade-off, make versus buy. If you decide to buy a product that doesn't require much programming, then you'd want to go for Cato Networks, which will work naturally, and immediately without any complex setup. However, the product is a little bit more expensive than the competitors. On a scale of one to five, I'd rate the pricing for Cato Networks as four."
  • "The product is very competitively priced, and that's compelling. They don't charge the customer based on the operational cost like other brands such as Palo Alto. Cato has its own fully-fledged cloud, with their own data centers, equipment, and so on, which is an advantage. I rate the solution five out of five for affordability."
  • More Cato SASE Cloud Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It's a little bit on the high side compared to the other products."
  • "As NetScaler is now, I find it quite pricey."
  • "The price of the subscription should be cheaper."
  • "It is a bit expensive. A cheaper product would be good, but everybody likes things to be cheaper. We bought the devices up front, and then we pay for the annual support."
  • "The license was a one-time purchase. It's expensive."
  • "It depends on the scale. In our case, it would have been better if we had known about the life cycling steps, but otherwise, it is worth the money."
  • "I believe that Citrix SD-WAN is a good investment, but I do not have the information to be more specific."
  • "I'm not quite sure of the price ranges. Roughly, the hidden devices can scale up to $20K for one appliance. However, the branch CPs are USD $1,000 to $2,500."
  • More Citrix SD-WAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The solution is a simple WAN solution. We've onboarded the socket on the Cato platform, and it provides connectivity. There is no complex routing.
    Top Answer:We use the solution as a WAN, but we plan to optimize it by incorporating security features like zero trust for enhanced insights.
    Top Answer:In terms of security, we are planning to deploy more features and our current usage is primarily focused on branch networking. I rate the tool a nine out of ten. I rate the product a nine out of ten… more »
    Top Answer:It lowered our Internet costs and gave me the flexibility to choose providers based on each location's connectivity.
    Top Answer:It is on the expensive side. I would give it an eight out of ten in terms of costliness. In my region, the approximate cost for the Citrix SD-WAN license is around $150 per user per year. However, the… more »
    Top Answer:The only improvement for Citrix SD-WAN would be to lower its cost.
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 15 in WAN Optimization
    Views
    778
    Comparisons
    451
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    500
    Rating
    8.8
    3rd
    out of 15 in WAN Optimization
    Views
    510
    Comparisons
    373
    Reviews
    11
    Average Words per Review
    547
    Rating
    7.8
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Cato Networks
    Citrix CloudBridge, WOC, NetScaler SD-WAN
    Learn More
    Overview

    Cato Networks is a leading SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform, combining SD-WAN and network security to obtain a cloud-native service. Cato Networks optimizes and secures application access for users and identities. The platform delivers a next-generation secure networking architecture that minimizes legacy IT infrastructures’ complexity, costs, and risks. The goal of Cato Suite is to connect any user to any application securely and optimally.

    Cato Suite runs on a private global network of more than 65 PoPs (points of presence) connected via SLA-backed network providers. The service can connect branches, data centers, users, and clouds. Cato can be deployed in stages to augment legacy network services.

    Cato Suite delivers end-to-end route optimization for WAN and cloud traffic. The architecture is self-healing, enabling a high service uptime.

    Cato Features

    Cato Cloud has a global backbone to deliver a reliable, global network. Here are some key SD-WAN features of Cato Cloud.

    • Optimizes traffic flows: The Cato Suite can individually optimize traffic flows in the last mile - from the customer’s location to the point of presence, and also between PoPs. This feature eliminates the need for internet providers to hand off traffic to each other, avoiding the resulting latency and congestion.
    • Controls and manages bandwidth: The software-defined overlay is encrypted across the entire cloud infrastructure. This overlay uses application-aware routing, analyzing latency and loss data to choose the best route according to network conditions. These features, like protocol priority marking, enable the system to ensure the performance of real-time applications.
    • Delivers redundancy and failover: By connecting the points of presence with multiple Tier-1 IPs, Cato builds the redundancy needed to ensure security and highly available service.
    • Cloud-native: Cato is built as a scalable, resilient, and elastic cloud service.
    • Converged: The platform converges SD-WAN and network security into a single infrastructure framework.
    • Secures all edges: Cato Network can secure and optimize traffic from all users, locations, applications, and clouds.

    What challenges does Cato Network solve?

    • Migration to SD-WAN

    MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) networks are usually expensive and limited in their capacity. Cato simplifies migrating to a faster, higher-capacity internet and SASE cloud. Cato SD-WAN appliances enable customers to improve usable capacity and resiliency.

    • Global connectivity optimization

    Customers who suffer from the challenge of high latency and network inconsistency can use Cato to deliver a consistent connection and user experience to access on-premises and cloud applications.

    • Securing branch internet access

    Cato’s complete network security stack connects all branch locations to the Cato cloud, therefore protecting all traffic, both internet-bound and WAN, with enterprise-grade, cloud-based security services. This capability avoids having to backhaul internet traffic to a data center or hub or having to implement stand-alone cloud security solutions.

    • Cloud acceleration and control

    Organizations using Cato notice an acceleration of cloud traffic. Cato achieves this by routing all traffic from the edges to the PoP closest to the data center. Because of the close distance between the two, the latency is near zero.

    Reviews from Real Users

    An IT manager/project coordinator at a healthcare company says that “[Cato is] a cloud-based solution that integrates well with everything. They are the classic SaaS solution.”

    Yeong-Gi L., a network engineer at Snetsystems, notes that “The solution is very stable. The scalability is quite good. Technical support was always helpful and responsive. The integration capabilities are not a problem at all.”

    "The most valuable feature is that it also works as a next-gen firewall because it has security features," says Lorenzo S., senior solutions consultant Lead at MDI.

    Citrix SD-WAN is a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), WAN optimization, and WAN edge solution. Citrix SD-WAN is recognized for providing a robust, trustworthy user experience so that an organization's distributed workforce can deliver the best possible outcomes at all times. Organizations can easily deploy solid security protocols wherever needed and also have the option to choose from a diverse choice of security options with unified security service and seamless integration with today’s top next-gen firewalls.

    Citrix SD-WAN provides a single cloud-based user dashboard that enables organizations to easily manage their WAN, prioritize and audit applications, and configure security protocols. Citrix SD-WAN enables users to easily manage hybrid multi-cloud processes by improving applications and automating connectivity. Citrix SD-WAN gives organizations tremendous flexibility for deployment from public clouds, data centers, home offices, and branches.

    Citrix SD-WAN is the basis of the Citrix consolidated process to SASE (secure access service edge) combined with cloud-delivered security and zero-trust network access to provide organizations with safe, trustworthy, secure access to each and every application anywhere, using any device.

    The Citrix SD-WAN solution is made up of three basic components:

    • Two software editions.
    • Cloud-hosted (or on-premises) orchestrator for clear visibility and unified protocol management.
    • Appliances: data center, home, branch, physical or virtual.

    Citrix SD-WAN Orchestrator

    The Citrix SD-WAN Orchestrator can be on premises or cloud-hosted and is a multi-tenant management service offered to Citrix partners and do-it-yourself enterprise organizations. The dashboard delivers a comprehensive view of your organization’s SD-WAN network concerning the functionality and usage of every site. The intuitive dashboard delivers a summary of uptime of the overlay and underlay paths, usage trends, and network-wide alerts.

    Available application-centric policies: quality of service (QoS), firewall policies, and application-based traffic steering can all be easily configurable globally or per site.

    Reviews from Real Users

    “With SD-WAN, they have all the features and benefits they need to send live streaming information to the database and to headquarters without requiring a server at each site. Our other clients have various sites with just one type of communication, say a radio or a mobile network. SD-WAN helps them to combine and get a better bandwidth to balance all their applications and services.” - Business Consultant at a tech services company

    “We needed to create some kind of network that was distributed through data and media or big files. It was a retail company, so there were branches, and the branches needed to connect to HQ. We provided HQ and each branch with Citrix SD-WAN. We tried to use it, and it worked well. The transmission was good, and they were losing less data.” - Ruslan M., SMB Sales Director, Regional Business Development Department at Softline

    Sample Customers
    Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
    AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., Dallara, ecVision, Essar, Eurofred, Groupe Promutuel, HMSHost Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd, Royal Caribbean International
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer18%
    Healthcare Company18%
    Insurance Company9%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company28%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Insurance Company19%
    Wholesaler/Distributor19%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Retailer9%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Construction Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise45%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise55%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Citrix SD-WAN
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Citrix SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cato SASE Cloud Platform is ranked 2nd in WAN Optimization with 21 reviews while Citrix SD-WAN is ranked 3rd in WAN Optimization with 21 reviews. Cato SASE Cloud Platform is rated 8.8, while Citrix SD-WAN is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cato SASE Cloud Platform writes "Useful remote worker VPN, centralized management, and simple on-boarding process". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Citrix SD-WAN writes " A scalable solution for MCN controller but lacks technical supports, upgrades". Cato SASE Cloud Platform is most compared with Zscaler SASE, Cisco SD-WAN, Fortinet FortiGate, Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks and VMware SD-WAN, whereas Citrix SD-WAN is most compared with Cisco SD-WAN, Fortinet FortiGate, Steelhead, Meraki SD-WAN and Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform. See our Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Citrix SD-WAN report.

    See our list of best WAN Optimization vendors, best Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions vendors, and best WAN Edge vendors.

    We monitor all WAN Optimization reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.