Nawaf Alluqmani

SD-WAN vs. MPLS

September 14, 2025 • by Nawaf Alluqmani

alt SD-WAN vs. MPLS

SD-WAN vs. MPLS: Which Network Solution Is Best for Your Business?

As organizations evolve—moving toward cloud-services, remote work, and geographically distributed teams—deciding on the right wide-area network (WAN) strategy is crucial. Two of the most common approaches are MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) and SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN). Each has its strengths and trade-offs. This article explains what each is, compares them, and helps you decide which is best (or whether a hybrid may be ideal).

What Are MPLS and SD-WAN?

MPLS

  • MPLS is a WAN technology that uses private circuits with predetermined paths (labels) to route traffic across a provider’s network. It is designed to give reliable, predictable performance, often with strong SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
  • MPLS is “traditional” in the WAN space. It works well especially for branch-office to data-center connectivity or where consistent performance and latency are required.

SD-WAN

  • SD-WAN is a software-defined overlay that manages WAN traffic across different underlying transport methods (e.g. broadband internet, LTE/5G, MPLS). It abstracts the control plane from physical links, allowing centralized policies, dynamic path selection, and more flexible management.
  • It is especially well suited to modern use cases: cloud/SaaS/IaaS applications, remote or hybrid work, and rapid scaling or adding of sites.

Pros and Cons: SD-WAN

Pros

Drawing from LogicMonitor and other sources, here are the main advantages of SD-WAN:

  • Cost efficiency: SD-WAN can leverage cheaper broadband or Internet links rather than exclusively relying on private MPLS circuits. Reduced hardware costs, lower maintenance, and more flexible billing make total cost of ownership (TCO) lower.
  • Scalability and agility: Rapid deployment of new sites is easier (fewer or no physical private circuits), and adjusting bandwidth or paths dynamically in response to demand or site connectivity is more possible.
  • Flexibility of transport: SD-WAN can combine multiple underlay transport types—MPLS, broadband, LTE/5G—and select the best path per application/traffic type.
  • Application optimization: Ability to prioritize business-critical or latency-sensitive traffic (VoIP, video conferencing etc.), routing them via the best link. Also better suited for cloud‐based traffic, avoiding backhauling via data centers when unnecessary.
  • Centralized management and visibility: With a single pane of glass, orchestration, policy control, monitoring, and troubleshooting tend to be simpler.

Cons

  • Quality-of-Service / Reliability Variability: Internet links (used in SD-WAN) may have packet loss, jitter, latency variation. Even though SD-WAN mechanisms can mitigate this, it may not always match the deterministic performance of a dedicated MPLS circuit.
  • Security considerations: While SD-WAN can include encryption, segmentation, and integrate security tools (firewalls, etc.), some deployments require extra configurations or services. MPLS being private helps for certain compliance or regulatory environments.
  • Vendor maturity and support: Differences among vendors in features, especially for hybrid or edge-security, and sometimes concerns about interoperability or the robustness of “overlay” infrastructure.

Pros and Cons: MPLS

Pros

  • Predictability and SLA guarantees: Low latency, more consistent performance, well-defined SLAs for uptime, latency, packet loss. Critical for real-time applications.
  • Reliability: Because the circuits are private and managed, there tends to be more control and fewer surprises (congestion, unplanned routing delays).
  • Security (inherent to private links): The fact that traffic travels over private provider infrastructure offers security advantages, though encryption or other controls may still be needed in some contexts.

Cons

  • Cost: MPLS circuits are expensive, both for bandwidth and for installation/maintenance. Scaling up is costly.
  • Inflexibility / slower changes: Provisioning new MPLS links can take weeks or months. Adjusting circuits, adding bandwidth, changing paths is less agile.
  • Cloud inefficiencies: Since MPLS often routes via central data centers, when many applications are in the cloud, performance may suffer (backhauling increases latency) unless special arrangements are made.

Hybrid Approaches

Many businesses are not choosing strictly one or the other but using a hybrid model:

  • Use MPLS for sites/applications where performance, latency, and reliability are non-negotiable (e.g. core data center, finance, real-time systems).
  • Use SD-WAN (overlay) for more distributed or remote sites, cloud-first traffic, or for failover / redundancy.
  • Sometimes SD-WAN is layered over existing MPLS links, so you get benefits of both.

Key Decision Factors: How to Choose

Here are some criteria to guide your decision, distilled from LogicMonitor and other sources:

Decision Factor What to Consider
Application types Do you have latency-sensitive or mission-critical apps (VoIP, video, real-time)? Do you primarily use SaaS / cloud apps?
Geographic distribution Number of remote offices, global presence, connectivity in various locations. If many branch sites or poor infrastructure in some regions, SD-WAN’s flexibility can help.
Budget & TCO Upfront vs ongoing costs. Cost of MPLS circuits, vs cost savings switching to or supplementing with SD-WAN. Also operational and maintenance costs.
Performance & SLA requirements How critical are uptime, latency, packet loss? What are acceptable thresholds?
Security & compliance Data sensitivity, regulatory requirements. Do you need private links, encryption, segmentation, etc.?
Scalability & future growth Will your business grow, add more sites, need to support cloud expansion or remote/hybrid work?
Operational complexity / management capacity Do you have staff or vendor support to manage MPLS, or do you prefer centralized, software-defined tools?

Use Case Scenarios

Here are a few illustrative cases to show which solution may be better in practical settings:

Scenario Recommended Approach
A financial services firm with major trading operations that require ultra-low latency and strict SLAs at central locations MPLS (or hybrid with MPLS for critical paths)
A company with many small branch offices, lots of cloud-based apps, remote users, and desire to reduce WAN costs SD-WAN
A global enterprise that has some sites in regions where MPLS is expensive or slow to provision Hybrid: MPLS for core sites, SD-WAN overlays (or broadband/4G/5G) for remote ones
Regulatory or compliance-sensitive business (e.g. healthcare, government) with high security demands MPLS or SD-WAN with strong security + possibly private circuits; selection depends on whether SD-WAN can meet regulatory controls

Summary: SD-WAN vs. MPLS — What’s Best for You

  • If cost savings, flexibility, rapid expansion, cloud-first or remote work are priorities, SD-WAN often offers more advantages.
  • If high reliability, strict SLAs, low latency for real-time systems matter most, MPLS still shines.
  • Many businesses will benefit from a hybrid model, balancing the performance/security of MPLS where needed with the cost-effectiveness, agility, and reach of SD-WAN.

Final Thoughts

The WAN landscape is changing. SD-WAN represents the modern evolution, especially in a cloud-centric, hybrid/hybrid-work world. MPLS remains relevant, particularly where performance and reliability are non-negotiable requirements. The best solution often is not strictly one or the other, but a thoughtful combination that aligns with your business goals, application mix, budget, and growth plan.