Best Software for 2025 is now live!
Show rating breakdown
Save to My Lists
Claimed
Claimed

Top Rated SteelHead Alternatives

SteelHead Reviews & Product Details

SteelHead Overview

What is SteelHead?

The performance of networks and applications directly impacts business productivity. Riverbed draws from nearly two decades of experience in driving network and application performance over Wide Area Networks with its flagship offering, SteelHead. SteelHead delivers the underlying technology that helps enterprises of all sizes maximize the efficiency and performance of the networks and applications used to run modern business. In today’s hybrid world of cloud workloads, SaaS applications, Internet Broadband and MPLS, the SteelHead family of products and solutions is built upon 4 core principles required for any organization interested in making sure networks and apps perform reliably and securely while enhancing the user experience.

SteelHead Details
Show LessShow More
Product Description

SteelHead offers industry leading secure optimization of all applications, across hybrid networks to users everywhere so you can leverage global resources and access applications and data from anywhere - all while reducing the cost of running your business.


Seller Details
Year Founded
2002
HQ Location
San Francisco, CA
Twitter
@RIVERBED
24,700 Twitter followers
LinkedIn® Page
www.linkedin.com
1,716 employees on LinkedIn®

Mike M.
MM
Overview Provided by:
Vice President of Product Marketing, Riverbed | The Unified Observability Company

Recent SteelHead Reviews

Parvej A.
PA
Parvej A.Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
5.0 out of 5
"this the world best WAN optimaization Riverbed tool that reduce bandwidth"
Its completly user fraiednly WAn optimazation tool which worlds most enterprizes are using this technology and
Syed Mohammad Azharuddin I.
SI
Syed Mohammad Azharuddin I.Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
4.5 out of 5
"Best WAN optimizer"
Ease of deployment and configuration. Also the support and documentation.
Saad u.
SU
Saad u.Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
5.0 out of 5
"A device that can do a big thing"
Brilliant performance with very minimal configurations that can perform high reduction for all kinds of applications and databases and can use in d...
Security Badge
This seller hasn't added their security information yet. Let them know that you'd like them to add it.
0 people requested security information

SteelHead Media

Answer a few questions to help the SteelHead community
Have you used SteelHead before?
Yes

13 SteelHead Reviews

4.5 out of 5
The next elements are filters and will change the displayed results once they are selected.
Search reviews
Popular Mentions
The next elements are radio elements and sort the displayed results by the item selected and will update the results displayed.
Hide FiltersMore Filters
The next elements are filters and will change the displayed results once they are selected.
The next elements are filters and will change the displayed results once they are selected.
13 SteelHead Reviews
4.5 out of 5
13 SteelHead Reviews
4.5 out of 5

Overall Review Sentiment for SteelHeadQuestion

Time to Implement
<1 day
>12 months
Return on Investment
<6 months
48+ months
Ease of Setup
0 (Difficult)
10 (Easy)
Log In
Want to see more insights from verified reviewers?
Log in to view review sentiment.
G2 reviews are authentic and verified.
Saad u.
SU
Network Engineer
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Brilliant performance with very minimal configurations that can perform high reduction for all kinds of applications and databases and can use in different scenarios and I have personally used almost types of designs whether it is Datacenter and DR-SITE replication, Hub and spoke, physical in-path, out-of-path scenarios Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

The least helpful about steelhead is sometimes about reporting, which is limited to 30 days if you do not have the controller and the other aspect is that you need to be more technical if you wish to troubleshoot yourself that is very technical. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SteelHead:

Steelhead is a brilliant device when performing reduction in traffic. I have experienced the majority of applications that can be easily optimized. Also shared those applications/databases that already performed deduplication like data domain. Overall it is the best option to perform WAN Optimization between Hub and Hub, Hub and spoke. It will help you in making your business productive with fast convergence of application Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

Steelhead reduces traffic for layer1, layer4, and layer7 traffic. The not only reduction in traffic, but it also accelerates and reduces the lags in the traffic. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Alex T.
AT
Systems Administrator
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

I like that they are easy to set up, they work decent, and the support is good. The best though is they are easy to set up. You can deploy to remote offices fairly quickly, the longest part is the initial sync. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

I dont like that if you make changes, you have to resync the data sometimes. And some file types do not work the best with them as far as speeding up the speed that much. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

We had multiple larger files that we used at remote locations and this sped up how fast the other remote sites saw the files' changes. It helped with larger CAD drawings the most Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Niketan S.
NS
Lead Administrator
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Steelhead over years has become the most efficient and stable solution for WAN optimization, acceleration as well as automation related solutions. Great service, amazing ROE, scalability are just a few topics. Whatever angle we look at it, it surfaces to be the best in class today Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

So far, just the delayed updates, nothing else Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SteelHead:

Ensure you go for a third party support, it's cheaper Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

It's a very scalable solution, easy to manage and deploy. Has a great interface to work with.

I have also realised that training a complete fresher on installation of a steelhead is not that difficult either. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Syed Mohammad Azharuddin I.
SI
Technical Specialist
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Ease of deployment and configuration. Also the support and documentation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

Need more helping hand on deciding the right products considering the environment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SteelHead:

Evaluate your network, identify the key issues faced due to legacy applications, then, look for right product at steelhead to solve your issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

Applications that eats lot of bandwidth are now optimized to get the best use of WAN circuits. Also, the latency of other applications has also improved significantly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

BK
aspiring CTP
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

We had a specific use case where we host MS files on premises and the users who are overseas were struggling with bad performance. The Steelhead mobile client did a great job accelerating this traffic to improve the users experience and shortened file open times from 60 seconds to 10-15 seconds. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

It doesnt accelerate much else as almost all other apps and file stores are in the cloud and there's limited opportunity to do anything with both encrypted and cloud hosted data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

Slow file opening and saving. We recognized 40-80% speed improvements. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Parvej A.
PA
Senior Network Engineer
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Its completly user fraiednly WAn optimazation tool which worlds most enterprizes are using this technology and Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

In the current Market there is very advanced WAn optimaation tool came into the market Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

WAN Report and confiration change and monitioring Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mohammad Hassan M.
MM
Network Services Specialist
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Its Performance, we were used in Number of companies. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

Nothing it is best product for WAN optimization Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

We mostly taking TAC support whenever we are facing any problem Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Gopal Krishan M.
GM
Manager Network Engineering & Architect
Information Technology and Services
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Data, Application & Transport streamlining with elastic performance Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

Non-intuitive and difficult to understand technologies and configurations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SteelHead:

Ensure your tech staff is adequately trained with the free KT they provide while delivering the product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

WAN acceleration for poor applications and much faster delivery. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mohammad I.
MI
Network Security Engineer
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.
What do you like best about SteelHead?

Products works excellently even with very low bandwidth links. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

In beginning it was little hard to setup as the product was not having much tutorials on youtube and other forums. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering SteelHead:

Highly recommended for wan optimization.. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

It will help you if you have offices with lower wan links then it will assist you to boost up the wan speed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JS
Technology Support
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: G2 invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SteelHead?

A very straight forward interface to use for administration of our Riverbed device(s). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SteelHead?

Not too intuitive. Took me a while to learn the different commands. Definitely not for someone new to the field. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SteelHead solving and how is that benefiting you?

Administration and optimisation of Riverbed devices. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.