Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) are two methods for sending data via an optimal routing over a network. They allow you to connect different sites of a company with each other. Yet technically, they are two very different things.
MPLS connections are intended only for the users of those connections. They are direct, stable, and reliable, but require more expensive hardware and are less flexible.
SD-WAN uses a software layer to control data traffic efficiently. The software can perfectly thrive on different types of underlying connections (such as fiber, 4G or Wi-Fi) and allows the entire network to be managed and secured centrally. Among other things, SD-WAN makes it possible to give business-critical applications priority within a specific type of connectivity.
Does an organization have various Internet connections or MPLS and a broadband connection? Then SD-WAN will spread the traffic over those possibilities in a smart way. The SD-WAN model does not rule out the use of MPLS. MPLS can be one of the network methods that you control via SD-WAN.