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Aruba ClearPass vs Impulse Point SafeConnect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 ClearPass
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Impulse Point SafeConnect
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Aruba ClearPass is 23.6%, down from 25.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Impulse Point SafeConnect is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Aruba ClearPass23.6%
Impulse Point SafeConnect0.5%
Other75.9%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Abdelhamid Saber - PeerSpot reviewer
Secures the network with flexible controls and excellent support
We use Aruba ClearPass as a network access control solution. It prevents unauthorized access and allows access for users in the internal environment, performing checks and onboarding We use ClearPass to secure our environment. Before ClearPass, our environment wasn't as secure. The most…
CD
Easy to scale, enforces policies well, and has responsive technical support
A lot of campuses use SafeConnect. It gives us good visibility and enforces policies. It helps enforce network security by scanning devices, making sure they have current and valid antivirus solutions with up-to-date antivirus definitions, and steers our end users by enforcing policy groups and steering them to the right access. Technical support is responsive. The stability is pretty good. It is very easy to scale 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 web dashboard and the policy manager are very intuitive and very easy for the engineers to use."
"We can double verify whether a machine is compliant with our policy on the one hand, and on the other hand if it's one of our machines we let it into the network."
"Aruba ClearPass is feature-rich and fairly straightforward to implement."
"ClearPass is open to any operating system or mobile app."
"It supports AAA and offers a range of features, including guest authentication for visitors and 802.1X authentication for employees. ClearPass provides options for customized authentication methods, such as SMS and social media authentication, which customers are effectively utilizing."
"The ClearPass solution includes role and role-based user and machine access, and they handle network segmentation using wired and wireless access methods."
"ClearPass's best feature is its comprehensiveness."
"It is a robust product."
"It is very easy to scale the product."
 

Cons

"Aruba ClearPass could improve the user interface, it is a bit chunky."
"What needs improvement in Aruba ClearPass is just the endpoint context server, in particular, the indication with the context server because sometimes the daily process isn't as smooth-sailing. Sometimes, the information isn't up-to-date. I'm not sure if that's a vendor limitation, but currently, it's the only tricky part of the current configuration. What I'd like to see in the next release of Aruba ClearPass is a dashboard or a monitoring feature that would allow users to see the integration process with an external server because there's no visibility into that right now."
"In the future, I would like to see plugins for AI and machine learning."
"Because some users use OS 10, it would be good if the solution could group its functions better."
"A specific component is part of the solution called ClearPass Onboard, which can sometimes be complex and challenging to set up. If they could simplify the process and make it easier, that would be a benefit."
"I can't think of an area where the solution is lacking a feature or a capability."
"Aruba ClearPass has a complex pricing scheme, so that's an area for improvement. The process for setting up Aruba ClearPass also needs improvement. It could be easier."
"A more streamlined menu of licensing options would be helpful."
"The solution would be much better if it offered self-service onboarding."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is too expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"​Cost is important. I switched because Aruba's costs were well below Cisco's."
"I can't give the exact cost of Aruba ClearPass because that's handled by the purchasing team, but it's on the cheaper side, and on a scale of one to five, I'm rating the cost a four. Initially, the pricing for the solution is expensive in terms of deployment, but in the long term, for example, after more than five to ten years, the operational cost incurred by the company is quite affordable because you don't have to renew the license. It's a one-time purchase. My company only uses the standard license for Aruba ClearPass."
"The solution has a licensing model."
"The pricing is not bad and everything is included."
"The solution is costly."
"There is a license to use Aruba ClearPass."
"The pricing model for Aruba ClearPass is complex. Customers only pay for the license fees, with no additional costs."
"For our tier group, for one year, the cost is probably around $10,000 for the license. If you do multi-year, you could get two years, and you could get it for about $8,000 per year. If you do three years, you get it around $7,000 a year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise32
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What is the biggest difference between Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC?
I've done quite a lot of work with ClearPass, and not a lot with FortiNAC/Bradford. ClearPass incorporates a number of different functions including ClearPass Guest for creating complex wireless g...
What do you like most about Aruba ClearPass?
If you are looking at the base installation, then it was a very straightforward process, which I would rate an eight or nine out of ten.
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Also Known As

Avenda eTIPS
SafeConnect
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
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