No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Aruba Airwave vs Broadcom Network Flow Analysis comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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 Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Broadcom Network Flow Analysis
Ranking in Network Management Applications
25th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (81st), Network Troubleshooting (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 3.1%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Broadcom Network Flow Analysis is 2.2%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Airwave3.1%
Broadcom Network Flow Analysis2.2%
Other94.7%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Edward Zeng - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Troubleshooting obstacles occur but technical support excels
My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco. We didn't use Aruba much, but once you set it up, you probably don't need to worry about it too much. The version we are using is quite old now, probably around version four. I can't remember the version exactly because a lot of the products require Aruba Central, but we haven't used Aruba Central yet. I face challenges with Aruba Airwave, particularly with troubleshooting. When someone has a problem, we try troubleshooting, but the end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website. If Aruba Airwave can apply AI capabilities, that would be even more perfect. I'd appreciate integration with Aruba Central; it would be great if they could incorporate it into Airwave.
Purneswara Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at KyndleIT Consulting
A stable tool that helps identify the complete flow analysis in a network
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the complete flow analysis can be identified through the tool. The classification of each protocol and how the bandwidth utilization is happening with the protocols while managing to get SLAs, IP protocols, and QoS metrics is possible because of the product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The technical support services are good."
"What I like best about Aruba Airwave is its orchestration feature because it saves configuration time. I also like that it allows you to do ZTP installations for new Aruba equipment."
"The solution is not overly expensive."
"I would rate the overall solution nine out of ten."
"It has improved my organization by increasing troubleshooting opportunities which makes things more efficient."
"AirWave definitely helps us troubleshoot and get to the root cause of the issues. It gives you an excellent indication of what's going on within your network at different locations. You can get to the area, take a look at the AirWave analysis, and make informed decisions."
"The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization."
"We are a solution provider and Aruba Airwave is one of the products that we implement for our customers, and most of our customers use this product to manage and monitor their networks."
"For supporting flow-traffic monitoring, this product is the best option."
"This solution has helped our organization by allowing us to have visibility. We deal with cybersecurity, so visibility is very important."
"It is an overall stable solution."
"The custom report is the most valuable feature."
"Despite the low level of support, I would still fully recommend this product, because even when not all the features are used, the advantage of having such a wealth of useful information about the network traffic in real time, together with such flexibility of its presentation, is undeniable."
"Anomaly Detector - This detects the anomaly flows in infra environment and makes job easy to analyze issue."
 

Cons

"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Pricing for Aruba Airwave could be cheaper, which is an area for improvement in the solution."
"I want a management solution to manage and monitor everything from a single dashboard. This is not there with Airwave."
"Support is good, but it is not as good as Cisco. Cisco's support is faster."
"Whenever you get an error it doesn't immediately tell you what the thing is that is causing the error. You have to sit down and research it. If it could say what error is causing the issue, it would make my troubleshooting a lot quicker."
"My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco."
"More devices or vendors should be onboarded to Aruba Airwave."
"I would like to see an integration of services into one system, rather than having multiple systems to do multiple things."
"I would like to see more security features, like a lost protection package."
"Enhanced support should be given with APIs that work to maintain collected information."
"Sometimes the custom report jammed in the MYSQL database."
"If one is able to find it at all, the documentation is often no help."
"Prefer this product only if the scope of flow analysis is vast and for a limited scope I don’t prefer this product since the product licenses are very costly and it is a waste of money."
"Currently, Broadcom Network Flow Analysis does not support high-availability solutions, making it an area that needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is on an yearly basis."
"It's device-based licensing. One device requires one license."
"The licensing cost for Aruba Airwave increased from $72 to $210 within a few months. It would be better if the pricing for the solution were cheaper."
"Aruba Airwave's licensing cost is not that expensive."
"This product is not expensive."
"Aruba Airwave is an expensive solution."
"The cost is perfect because the devices have a lifetime warranty, and the licensing is good as well."
"We must buy a new license to connect more devices to scale up the solution."
"If you make a DX NetOps-based purchase and the complete suite of products that fall under DX NetOps from Broadcom, then you get Network Flow Analysis along with DX NetOps Performance Management and DX Spectrum."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Management Applications solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Government
7%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Healthcare Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
They have other sensors which can manage and control all the sites. There is an IoT component where we can restrict internet services such as Facebook and YouTube. These things can also be managed....
What is your primary use case for Aruba Airwave?
For Aruba Airwave, I am using the wireless devices for the Wi-Fi for the full company with access points. This is the top product I feel, and I see in the Gartner also. It is a good product and eas...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA NetQoS Reporter Analyzer, CA NFA, CA Network Flow Analysis
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Empowered, BCBST
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. Broadcom Network Flow Analysis and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.