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Aruba ClearPass vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Aruba ClearPass is 17.5%, down from 23.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 3.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba ClearPass17.5%
Sophos Network Access Control3.1%
Other79.4%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Darko Skurla - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Enterprise Customer Solutions Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Role-based policies have simplified secure access control for all users and smart devices
I do not know about the functionality of Aruba ClearPass integration with a third party. If you ask me if there is support for Zebra and for different IoT devices, they have it. However, I do not know how to describe integration with other products. Aruba ClearPass can act as a RADIUS server and it can connect to the domain RADIUS server, for example. The biggest problem is when a customer does not know what they want with Aruba ClearPass. I can recommend Aruba ClearPass to other users because it is very stable. My review rating for this product is ten out of ten.
HirenPatel2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at rspl
Have faced delays in support despite strong multi-layer policy configuration
I have observed some disadvantages as we have experienced one particular problem. We were facing an issue of synchronization of the endpoint with our firewall with help on a cloud for heartbeat syncing. However, it was not syncing as per our requirement. The user has to connect our firewall with the help of VPN. We were supposed to assume a solution on a cloud, which has good synchronization on a cloud with Sophos Central. It will sync with our firewall as well with the help of Sophos Central. Endpoint and firewall synchronization is not as smooth as we are expecting from Sophos Network Access Control. We have to connect with VPN. We are expecting that if we have already installed an endpoint on our system and it is connected to the internet, then it must be synchronized on a cloud with Sophos Central. Through Sophos Central, it must connect with our firewall. If the endpoint is configured on Sophos Central and the firewall is also configured in Sophos Central, then there should be no need to connect to VPN.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a very reliable and robust product and we plan to continue using it"
"We are very happy with the support and the product overall."
"One of the most valuable features of the solution is the maturity of the product and, of course, the functionality is also very good."
"Providing granular control over which devices are permitted to join our corporate wireless network, as well as in-depth AAA (accounting, in particular) for TACACS+ sessions, is huge."
"All of the features work in concert to provide secure on-boarding for guests and bring-your-own-device users."
"It's a reliable solution for our guest network access as well as mobile device registration."
"ClearPass's best feature is its comprehensiveness."
"ClearPass is one of the best solutions we have ever worked with; it is very stable and secure, and it has a lot of features that an institution can benefit from."
"What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure; it gives me visibility across my infrastructure, into all the mobile devices that are on my network and the security I have on those mobile devices, my users, my servers, what is happening at all my gateways, and visibility on my switches, so it gives me a global view of my infrastructure."
"The scalability of the system and the performance of the system and the solution's most valuable features."
"Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything."
"I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful."
"We have had interactions with the technical support team through the Xnet platform. It's good."
"I am very satisfied with this solution overall. All of the features that we use have been working successfully."
"There is good documentation that helps to deploy a new wireless access point and a controller in a very easy way."
"Sophos Network Access Control has many valuable features: for access controls, MAC binding is available, the authentication page is useful, and continuous device assessments have a positive impact on our network security management."
 

Cons

"The pricing policy could be more flexible."
"Technical support was not all that great, actually. They are responsive, but oftentimes are VERY reluctant to initiate a screen-sharing session or give in-depth answers."
"The user interface of Aruba ClearPass should be user-friendly like Fortinet FortiNAC."
"The interface could be made easier and more intuitive."
"I found the internal authentication policy and user authentication problematic. I was facing issues with user authentication, but we eventually resolved these problems."
"They should include SMP functionalities."
"The setup of ClearPass can be a bit convoluted at times."
"The user interface could be more polished and modern. It would be useful to have more options for automation."
"The solution can improve the for applying policies. They can be complex depending don't the group they are applied to."
"What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."
"Continuous development in specific areas might be required."
"There is room for improvement in pricing."
"Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. Pricing could also be improved because it's costly."
"The solution could offer more useful documentation."
"In Indonesia, there are a lot of false positives. For example, many websites from our government and local industries are blocked by the IPS."
"I'd like to see them include direct integration with Active Directory."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The starting price of Aruba ClearPass is 200k Hong Kong dollars. The licensing is based on the endpoints. For example, 100 - 500 end points."
"​Cost is important. I switched because Aruba's costs were well below Cisco's."
"The pricing model for Aruba ClearPass is complex. Customers only pay for the license fees, with no additional costs."
"The product is very costly."
"There are three types of licenses."
"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."
"The price of Aruba ClearPass is expensive. When you want to build redundant systems it can be seen as necessary, so the enterprise will manage all of those costs."
"We pay an annual licensing fee for Aruba and there are no additional costs."
"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."
"It is quite expensive."
"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."
"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba ClearPass?
Compared to Cisco and others, the pricing is reasonable. Licensing costs are case-specific and have been manageable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?
The pricing of Sophos Network Access Control is good, but it is somewhat high.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Network Access Control?
Sophos Network Access Control serves primary use cases for both networking purposes and security purposes.
 

Also Known As

Avenda eTIPS
No data available
 

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
Rushmoor Borough Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba ClearPass vs. Sophos Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
912,069 professionals have used our research since 2012.