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Aruba Airwave vs ExtremeCloud IQ 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Aruba Airwave provides long-term ROI with efficient troubleshooting, significant cost savings, and improved productivity despite initial hardware costs.
Sentiment score
6.4
ExtremeCloud IQ boosts productivity, reduces costs, enhances stability, and offers centralized network management with minimal expertise required.
I managed to support and deploy ExtremeCloud IQ and handle network management without requiring external staffing, thus saving on external hiring costs.
Technical Coordinator at Yildiz Technical University
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Aruba Airwave technical support is praised for effective service, knowledgeable staff, and multilingual communication, despite occasional slower responses.
Sentiment score
7.9
ExtremeCloud IQ's customer service is highly rated for responsiveness, but some users desire more experienced initial support.
I would rate their technical support as a nine or ten, as it's quite good.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Angie was very kind and communicated well in both Spanish and English, making it pleasant to connect with her.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
GTAC receives a score of ten out of ten.
Ingeniero De Preventa at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
totally satisfied with the quality of support
Management Board Member And Network Engineer at NewLogics
I experienced effective help mainly remotely, though for some issues, a technical person had to assist on-site.
Technical Coordinator at Yildiz Technical University
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Aruba Airwave is scalable, supporting different user counts and environments, often used with Cisco tools, rated highly for scalability.
Sentiment score
7.8
ExtremeCloud IQ efficiently scales large networks without issues, featuring flexible pricing and automatic adjustments for high-density areas.
Aruba Airwave gives good information about SNR value, signal value, and you can get extensive information.
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
Aruba Airwave is fully scalable, as we have a large number of tenants using the network with approximately six thousand end users.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Aruba Airwave is stable, reliable, and highly rated, with minor manageable issues during high usage and integration.
Sentiment score
7.4
ExtremeCloud IQ is stable, with occasional issues quickly resolved; users appreciate ongoing updates enhancing reliability and performance.
As it is centralized, sometimes it disconnects from the cloud, and I need to reboot.
Server Administrator at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
I have found Aruba Airwave to be stable.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
It requires some time to update, which affects real-time management.
Technical Coordinator at Yildiz Technical University
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Airwave requires cost reduction, system integration, UI simplification, pricing changes, and better synchronization, support, and compatibility.
ExtremeCloud IQ faces challenges with setup complexity, support, feature gaps, integration issues, pricing, and advanced feature limitations.
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.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive.
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
This integration aids in resolving problems and issues found in the network and enhances support with the GTAC team of Extreme Networks.
Ingeniero De Preventa at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
This needs a huge improvement for the latency and for the updates.
Management Board Member And Network Engineer at NewLogics
Improving documentation with more detailed videos and resources would be beneficial.
Technical Coordinator at Yildiz Technical University
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Airwave licensing is seen as complex and costly, yet often cheaper than Cisco, with variable pricing flexibility.
ExtremeCloud IQ pricing ranges from $400-$1200 per AP, with mixed opinions on cost, value, and licensing renewals.
The pricing for Aruba Airwave is acceptable because compared to Cisco, it's slightly cheaper, but not significantly - maybe 5% or 7% less expensive.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period.
Technical Coordinator at Yildiz Technical University
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Airwave provides multivendor support, robust reporting, real-time analysis, and easy network management with zero-touch provisioning and Visual RF.
ExtremeCloud IQ provides scalable, reliable cloud management with automation, security, and AI analytics, eliminating on-site controller needs.
Aruba Airwave provides good visibility, offering extensive data on network dynamics, such as access point connections, usage, signal strengths, and potential interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
It provides near real-time monitoring using AIMON and AURO protocols, which is robust with multiple models and brand support.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The feature that proved most beneficial for our organization's network monitoring is the virtual four, which we use frequently when working with Aruba.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
For networking and access points, it acts as a controller in a cloud environment, eliminating the need for an appliance controller or wireless LAN controller, thus saving on investment and reducing TCO costs.
Ingeniero De Preventa at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I have a single license that includes everything: the support, the package of location-based solutions, the analytics, the AI features, everything with just one license.
Management Board Member And Network Engineer at NewLogics
The automation and information provided by ExtremeCloud IQ, such as connection status and logs, were very beneficial.
Technical Coordinator at Yildiz Technical University
 

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
ExtremeCloud IQ
Ranking in Network Management Applications
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (10th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (18th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 3.1%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeCloud IQ is 2.8%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Airwave3.1%
ExtremeCloud IQ2.8%
Other94.1%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmet Bulbul - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
Reports generation remains efficient while support and updates require attention
The biggest problem for not using Aruba Airwave extensively now is that HP is not upgrading this tool. They're not investing money and time into it, which is why we're not using it. I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive. Customers start to complain and get annoyed about the license price. For example, when customers have 500 access points and features about access point licenses, moving to Central requires purchasing new licenses. This makes customers annoyed and complaining about this situation. It's hard to move from on-premises to Central because they always compare costs. If Aruba gave free licenses, they could move. But going to cloud and Central means more investment, and their budget doesn't cover the new investment. This creates problems for local partner companies.
Wael Awni - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Board Member And Network Engineer at NewLogics
Unified licensing and AI-driven control have simplified multi-site management and boosted automation
There is a little bit of delay for the analytics in ExtremeCloud IQ, but it is acceptable. The response time in ExtremeCloud IQ is a little slow. The system response time is slow, and the updates on the system, such as the updates for the analytics or for the location-based services, are slow. For example, if I want to update the location-based solution, it takes about one minute to update my location. This is too much time. It's not an accurate location over one minute. They should enhance the response of the system part of location-based services, such as Extreme LPS or Extreme Location Essentials. This needs a huge improvement for the latency and for the updates.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
9%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise24
 

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...
What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeCloud IQ?
The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period. The documentation and training courses were also costly, impacting how easily I c...
What advice do you have for others considering ExtremeCloud IQ?
I use ExtremeCloud IQ's real-time analytics. In the cloud solution, I get reports, and it works together with machine learning and artificial intelligence for those reports. This tool permits the c...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Aerohive Networks, Aerohive HiveManager, HiveManager, ExtremeCloud , ExtremeSecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. ExtremeCloud IQ and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.