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Aruba Instant On Switches vs ExtremeSwitching comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
5.9
Aruba Instant On Switches are valued for affordability and ease of integration, appealing to startups and service providers.
Sentiment score
5.2
ExtremeSwitching provides ROI in 1-5 years, saving costs despite high licensing, with free maintenance and potential for capability expansion.
In the future, we can convince the customer to make use of 100G capability to suffice their requirement, but at the moment we are using 40G only.
The return on investment is high.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Aruba Instant On Switches support is reliable, with skilled staff, but users request better communication access and quicker resolutions.
Sentiment score
6.6
ExtremeSwitching's customer service is valued for responsiveness and expertise, but faces challenges in availability and depth compared to competitors.
It would be good to have our own account so we can access and deal directly with technical support, for example, in the community.
Requiring improvement in the technical support provided to customers.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Aruba Instant On Switches offer flexibility and ease for small businesses but have limitations for enterprise-level demands.
Sentiment score
7.1
ExtremeSwitching is highly scalable, supporting growth and flexible infrastructure, making it ideal for businesses needing adaptable systems.
I would rate the scalability of Aruba Instant On Switches as an eight regarding the ability of the product to adapt to our needs.
ExtremeSwitching is highly scalable, and I would rate it as nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Aruba Instant On Switches are reliable, easy to install, and offer good performance at a competitive price, despite occasional issues.
Sentiment score
7.7
ExtremeSwitching is stable for small to medium businesses, with reliable support, but struggles with large-scale operation issues.
The stability for ExtremeSwitching is excellent.
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Instant On Switches need better pricing, scalability, feature set, user documentation, and improved management and configuration tools.
ExtremeSwitching should enhance support, usability, integration, pricing, response time, reliability, and expand AI, security, and product offerings.
ExtremeSwitching's software stability could be improved, as it sometimes crashes.
Because I am not a networking specialist, I do not know much about the things in detail.
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Instant On Switches offer competitive pricing and inclusive licensing, praised for cost-effectiveness and compatibility with existing Aruba solutions.
ExtremeSwitching offers flexible pricing between Cisco and HP, with cost-effective options via bulk purchases and affordable licenses.
Economically, its price is acceptable for us.
ExtremeSwitching is priced in the mid-range, not too expensive nor too cheap.
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Instant On Switches offer easy setup, cost-effective scalability, and advanced network features for SMBs and SOHOs.
ExtremeSwitching is valued for ease of use, performance, scalability, security, and affordability, appealing to small and medium-sized enterprises.
The most valuable feature of ExtremeSwitching is the Extreme Fabric, specifically the switching fabric.
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Instant On Switches
Ranking in LAN Switching
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ExtremeSwitching
Ranking in LAN Switching
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (7th), AV Over IP Switching (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Aruba Instant On Switches is 9.7%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeSwitching is 7.2%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

MashukThakur - PeerSpot reviewer
A centrally managed switches ideal for small and medium businesses but does not have any console access
The solution does not have any console access. For example, if you do not have internet access on your side and you need to configure anything, you should at least have CLI access to do something or manage the solution to put to some IP. It will only work if we have a TSCT on the network. We can port and configure the initial settings before we get the Instant On Switches. I am not working deeply on Instant On devices. I have only installed it in a couple of accommodation sites. Even today, one customer has ordered to install 80 pieces of Instant On. I’ve to order additional 94 access points. I was confused about whether to go with Aruba Instant On or AP-505. Instant On has limited accessibility but AP-505 have cloud or local access on normal infrastructure. This would be better and easier to configure. So, there are further improvements in regard to console access and some limitations with access.
Shrikant Teggi - PeerSpot reviewer
Excellent support and reliable performance drive positive experiences
We have been working with wireless for the last seven to eight years. At the moment, the customer has decided to go with a different brand. We are only dealing with the wired switches, not the wireless ones. We use ExtremeSwitching only, not Enterasys. Enterasys was the old one. I am not a networking person, so at this point in time I do not have much working experience on the switches. We have a separate team here who are working on these products. We have not reached that stage yet, but definitely in the near future we may use this kind of feature. Recently they have introduced platform one, which is an AI-based automation tool. That is definitely on the cards. Maybe in one year, we may start using that option as well. First of all, the product is robust and they are also coming up with new features. The second part is the support is excellent from ExtremeSwitching. They maintain delivery time and follow through on their commitments properly. The performance we expected, we are getting from ExtremeSwitching. All these requirements we have are being met with the product, features, and support. It is cost effective. I rate ExtremeSwitching a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
21%
Computer Software Company
12%
Construction Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Instant On Switches?
The solution has a simple deployment and zero border.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Instant On Switches?
We mainly go for Aruba Instant On Switches since our network has Aruba switches, especially considering the compatibility and as previously explained, the familiarity and easy management. Economica...
What needs improvement with Aruba Instant On Switches?
I cannot say exactly whether I have employed the Quality of Service feature in this solution. Considering security at the switch level, we have not employed any kind of special security methods for...
What do you like most about ExtremeSwitching?
The product offers a single management platform for multiple models of switches. The tool also allows users to manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeSwitching?
I would rate the pricing for ExtremeSwitching six to seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with ExtremeSwitching?
Regarding what could be better with the product, I am not aware of how much AI functionality is provided in ExtremeSwitching. Everyone is talking about AI, so there should be AI facilities provided...
 

Also Known As

Aruba Instant On 1930 Switches
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

KEMET, Vestavia Hills City Schools, Dropbox
Blue Waters
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Instant On Switches vs. ExtremeSwitching and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.