Indian businesses with multiple offices face a critical choice between SD-WAN and traditional MPLS for connecting branches. MPLS has been the enterprise standard for 20 years; SD-WAN is rapidly replacing it. This comparison helps Indian IT managers make the right WAN decision in 2026.
| Feature | SD-WAN | MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost for 10 Branch Network (India) | ₹2,00,000 – ₹5,00,000/month total | ₹8,00,000 – ₹20,00,000/month total |
| Setup Time | 1–3 weeks (zero-touch provisioning) | 4–12 weeks (manual ISP provisioning) |
| Cloud Performance (M365, Zoom, AWS) | Excellent — direct local internet breakout | Poor — cloud traffic backhauled to HQ |
| Internet Transport | Any internet — leased line, broadband, 4G/5G | Dedicated private MPLS circuits only |
| Bandwidth Flexibility | Add bandwidth in hours | Months for circuit upgrade |
| SLA / Uptime | High — dual WAN failover <1 second | Carrier-grade SLA (99.99%) |
| Security | Built-in encryption (IPSec + firewall) | Private network (not encrypted by default) |
| India Availability | All cities — Tata, Airtel, Jio circuits | Metro cities only (reliable coverage) |
| Remote Work Support | Built-in ZTNA / VPN for remote users | Requires separate VPN gateway |
Yes — we migrate branches from MPLS to SD-WAN in phases. The SD-WAN device is installed alongside existing MPLS, traffic is gradually shifted, and MPLS is decommissioned only after SD-WAN is fully stable. This parallel-run approach ensures zero downtime during migration.
The major SD-WAN vendors deployed in India are Fortinet (FortiGate SD-WAN), Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Prisma SD-WAN, and VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud. We specialise in Fortinet and Tata Communications SD-WAN for Indian deployments.
Extremely useful. We configure Jio or Airtel 4G SIM as a secondary WAN link in SD-WAN devices for branch offices. When the primary leased line fails, traffic automatically fails over to 4G in under a second — keeping all branches connected even during ISP outages.
Explore SD-WAN for your multi-branch network — free site assessment and cost comparison vs your current MPLS bill.