Broadband Trader

SD-WAN

An SD-WAN quote has two halves that providers like to present as one: the overlay licence and appliance at each site, and the underlay circuits carrying the traffic. Price them separately, because the saving almost always comes from the half nobody leads with.

Bidsnot one quote

Term & NRCwhere rates move

Directyou sign with the carrier

No feethe channel pays, not you

What moves the price

What actually sets your SD-WAN rate

Priced per site

The shape of your estate drives the total more than any single rate. A per-site figure that reads fine across two locations is the number you will be paying at twenty, so model the estate you expect rather than the one you have today.

The saving is in the underlay

SD-WAN earns its keep by letting ordinary broadband do work that used to need a private circuit. That means the circuit bid matters as much as the platform bid, and quoting them together hides where the money actually moved.

Managed or self-managed

This moves the number more than any feature comparison will. A managed service means someone else holds the configuration, which is worth real money with no network team and dead weight with one.

Running the bid

Putting your SD-WAN out to bid

1Post the requirement once. Address, bandwidth, sites, and the date you need it live. That is enough for carriers to price.
2Carriers that reach you bid against each other. They know they are in a competitive bid, which is the single biggest reason a first number comes in lower.
3Compare the spread, then counter. Line the offers up on rate, term, install, and SLA. The gap between high and low bid is your negotiating room.

Reading the offers

Where the room usually is

✓ Levers worth pushing

Per-site rate at the volume you expect rather than today's count, underlay circuits bid separately, appliances totalled across the full term rather than accepted as a bundle, hardware refresh written in, and a defined change-request turnaround. Terms are typically shorter than the MPLS deals SD-WAN replaces, so do not accept an MPLS-length commitment out of habit.

● What a padded quote looks like

Overlay and underlay quoted as a single monthly with no breakout, a per-site rate priced for your current footprint with no volume tier, appliance rental that continues after the hardware is paid off, and no answer on who makes configuration changes or how fast.

Pricing questions

SD-WAN pricing, straight answers

How is SD-WAN actually priced?

Per site, usually a licence plus an appliance, with the underlay circuits priced separately. Ask for both halves itemised, because two quotes are not comparable until you can see which half each one discounted.

Does it replace MPLS?

For most buyers it does the same job on cheaper transport, and plenty run both during migration. Price the pair rather than assuming a clean swap, and check what the overlap period costs.

Where does the saving come from?

The underlay. Replacing private circuits with ordinary broadband is what moves the number, which is why bidding the circuits hard matters more than negotiating the licence.

Should I buy the appliances or bundle them?

Bundling usually wins over three years and buying over five. Total both across the term you will actually sign, and get hardware refresh terms in writing either way.

Run the numbers →