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Aruba Remote Access Points vs Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Remote Access Points
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Prisma Access by Palo Alto ...
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (4th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (1st), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Aruba Remote Access Points is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is 5.9%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks5.9%
Aruba Remote Access Points1.0%
Other93.1%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Theesula Majuwanagamage - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient Setup and Strong Performance Highlight Versatile Capabilities
In terms of areas for improvement in Aruba Remote Access Points, when planning for the customer's end, you need to highlight the precautions against EMF emissions and environmental emissions, as well as power management limitations. If the user is in one direction and you're transmitting everywhere, that's not good power management. Currently, all access points provide the same power requirement to the client, but we should explore what extra mile we can go. We are facing energy crises and climate issues, along with GHG and SDGs protocols. If we highlight the alignment with these protocols, it can enhance the product quality as an environmentally friendly option. Apart from that, service-wise, every unit is the same. Users can only distinguish those requirements using spectrum analyzers; otherwise, minor data delays of one or two seconds do not matter, but for high-security or high-speed needs, it becomes significant.
Roberto Pastorino - PeerSpot reviewer
Have supported client adoption of security solutions but need more control over infrastructure
It's a working solution. It's not the easiest, but no DLP solution is easy. With Netskope, the whole infrastructure is proprietary. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is using a service in AWS, and it's not totally a proprietary infrastructure. Sometimes a third-party outage could impact the whole operability. I'm not certain if the vendor is moving towards sovereignty of infrastructure at this moment, but from what I saw in the past, there was this reliance on third parties for the infrastructure: AWS, GCP, Oracle, and others. This is one point of attention for me. I would prefer more proprietary infrastructure.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It provides good Spectrum Analysis and troubleshooting."
"I can use the solution from my home or any remote office to access printers, servers, etc."
"The platform has the most valuable advanced filtering feature."
"Aruba Remote Access Points provide a level of protection for our IPs."
"It is a very stable tool."
"What I like best about Aruba Remote Access Points is that it's pretty easy to set up."
"The authentication features are valuable."
"The stability and performance of Aruba Remote Access Points with minimal issues in an IT environment are worth a recommendation."
"Prisma Access is very stable, and I am very much satisfied with its stability, rating it nine to ten out of ten."
"Prisma Access provides comprehensive security. It provides URL filtering, application control, SSL, DLP, etc. It provides complete security for the cloud environment."
"It's quite reliable and performs well for users."
"The always-on feature is fantastic for the users. They don't have to think about it. When they go to a coffee shop to do work, there's no need to remember to toggle the VPN on. We'll protect them. URL filtering is the same at home as it is in the office."
"I like it because it's very easy to use. You install the client and you have to know your gateway, but that's something we give to our users. Beyond that, it takes about three seconds to train them on how to use it. And it just works well. That's great for us because it means less administrative time."
"The performance is good."
"The scalability of the solution is excellent."
"The solution has all its capabilities in a single cloud delivery platform which is great and it provides overall good protection."
 

Cons

"Its scalability capabilities should be improved."
"The solution's technical support has some shortcomings that need improvement."
"The security side of Aruba Remote Access Points could be improved."
"The solution is costly for medium-sized companies."
"It would help if the remote APs had some kind of SoHo environment with built-in firewall features. That way it could connect directly in a client-to-site type of environment, or a site-to-site VPN environment. That way users could have a complete office setup without coming to the private cloud."
"To make the solution better, the cloud solution should be more integrated as it has too many different menus, and it would be preferable to have it more cohesive in one solution."
"I don't really have any critiques at this time."
"Our difficulty with Aruba is that the product and the license are two different items. So, if we are adding an access point, we have to pay for two items. We have to pay to add the access point in the controller and we have to pay for the license."
"Their next release should provide solutions for the mobile environment."
"The price can be reduced to make it more competitive."
"The product's current price is an area of shortcoming where improvements are required."
"We are using the SaaS offering. We use our applications for microservices. We use Twistlock to scan containers, and it displays these results in Prisma, which is a good feature because we can see vulnerabilities with respect to these containers. We can see everything in a very detailed manner. However, when you have different environments for a single application, such as DEV, QA, PROD, and TEST, all these environments run multiple containers, which can lead to a very high number of containers. In such a scenario, it shows you the alerts for all those containers that have vulnerabilities. If you show the results of all the containers that share the same image, it is not going to add any value. Therefore, they should narrow down the alerts based on a container. It should show information for a single container. Otherwise, the person who is looking at the results gets the impression that he has to fix all these issues. This is something that they can improve."
"When we deploy firewall rules via Panorama, we find it's a little bit slow. We have a global environment and might have 100 gateways or VPNs in the cloud. When we deploy something, it tries to deploy it one-by-one, and that can be slow."
"Dependencies of applications sometimes is a bit confusing."
"They could add more flexibility and improve product performance."
"The licensing model isn't flexible enough. It's an all-or-nothing model. Other providers in the market allow you to buy modules or add-ons separately. With Prisma Access, you have to purchase the same module for all users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Aruba pricing is not very high. They offer competitive pricing for what they provide."
"Price-wise, Aruba Remote Access Points is in the middle, so my rating for its pricing is three out of five."
"You require no separate licensing to convert an access point to RAP."
"In terms of pricing, we've found Aruba's offerings to be very competitive."
"The price of Aruba Remote Access Points could be better. It is a little expensive."
"There are no other expenses than standard licenses for the product."
"Aruba Remote Access Points' pricing is good and affordable."
"The licensing model for this product is complicated and changes all the time, making it very hard for the user to comprehend the configuration."
"Compared to other products, the price is slightly high."
"There's no reason not to buy the enterprise version that gives you unlimited PoPs, but you must understand the limitations you impose on yourself if you do that. If you go crazy, that allowlist will be too big for Kubernetes clusters."
"It is a little expensive. Because it is one of the best in the market, it is a little bit more expensive than other vendors."
"Prisma Access is one of the best compared to other products on the market. The cost is favorable, and Palo Alto provides a simple architecture, so I recommend the solution to anyone using a different product. There are no hidden costs besides the license; what you see is what you get."
"The price has been good for the ROI during these difficult times for the cruise industry. There are no hidden costs; what the product offers is what you get."
"It is not cheap. It is expensive. The good thing is that you are able to pay for what you need, but overall, it is not cheap. The pricing is not based on packages. You pay based on the features. If you want DLP, you only pay for DLP. They are very flexible. It is not cheap, but the licensing is flexible. There are no additional costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis and for what we get, the price is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Remote Access Points?
This solution is widely adopted and involves both technology and non-technical devices. It is robust, except in cases of significant power outages.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Remote Access Points?
The pricing is adequate. It is available in every range, from medium range to high range and enterprise level. Thus, it is not an issue.
What needs improvement with Aruba Remote Access Points?
In terms of areas for improvement in Aruba Remote Access Points, when planning for the customer's end, you need to highlight the precautions against EMF emissions and environmental emissions, as we...
What is the better solution - Prisma Access or Zscaler Private Access?
We looked into Prisma Access before choosing Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). Palo Alto’s Prisma Access is a secure access service edge (SASE) designed to deliver network security in a cloud-deliver...
What do you like most about Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks?
The most valuable features of the solution are in the areas of the secure remote access it provides while also being user-friendly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks?
From my experience, Palo Alto is more expensive compared to solutions like Netskope and Triscale.
 

Also Known As

Aruba RAP
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Prisma Access, GlobalProtect, Palo Alto GlobalProtect Mobile Security Manager, Prisma SaaS by Palo Alto Networks, Prisma Access
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trafford Metropolitan Borough
Concord Hospital, State of Colorado, Essilor International, RheinLand Versicherungsgruppe, University of Westminster, Universidade Nove de Julho, SPAR Austria, CAME Group, ZipRealty, Greenhill & Co., IKT Agder, Aviva Stadium, Animal Logic, Management & Training Corporation, Brigham Young University Hawaii, School District of Chilliwack
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Remote Access Points vs. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
873,085 professionals have used our research since 2012.