Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Aruba Instant are prominent competitors in the wireless network solutions category. Cisco Meraki holds the upper hand in cloud management and network visibility, providing comprehensive control through its user-friendly dashboard. However, Aruba Instant is preferred for its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, especially noted for features like security and integration capabilities without the need for a dedicated controller.
Features: Cisco Meraki is celebrated for its user-friendly cloud management, facilitating excellent network visibility and remote troubleshooting capabilities. This solution is also noted for continuous updates and ease of implementation, offering significant management tools. Aruba Instant is known for its great flexibility and compatibility, boasting high-quality security options. It supports seamless connectivity and offers integration capabilities with various devices, all without the necessity for a dedicated controller.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki's lack of granularity in logging and complexity in template integration for MSPs are points of concern. Furthermore, its rigid licensing model affects service continuity, and limited customization might hinder advanced users. In contrast, Aruba Instant users express the need for improved documentation and technical support. Performance issues with the captive portal and roaming capabilities, as well as enhancements needed in Aruba Central’s management features during access point restarts, are highlighted.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki is known for straightforward deployment in both on-premises and cloud environments, backed by generally well-received technical support. Its support model is noted for responsiveness, though some service quality inconsistencies are reported. Aruba Instant emphasizes ease in deployment, particularly in on-premises and hybrid settings, with simplicity in setup being a notable attribute. While its technical support is deemed good, improving response times and knowledge depth could enhance the user experience.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki faces criticism for its licensing model that ceases functionality upon expiry, presenting a high long-term cost. Despite the hefty price, Meraki's investment is justified by robust features and effective management, promising potential ROI with reduced technical staffing needs. Conversely, Aruba Instant is recognized for its competitive pricing with no recurrent licensing costs, making it a cost-effective option for small to medium-sized enterprises. Aruba's affordability coupled with essential features delivers a satisfactory ROI.
Overall, it's a fair pricing and good in terms of cost-effectiveness or ROI.
I rate Aruba TAC as a 9 out of 10.
The technical support from Aruba is of high quality, and I would rate it a ten.
I would rate Cisco support a 10, as the response time and process via the dashboard are easy, and response times are always within the SLA.
It would be better if the SLA of technical support was less than four hours.
There are some problems with their technical support when it comes to the whole Meraki system.
I find Aruba Instant to be highly scalable.
Meraki is not scalable enough since it straightforwardly maps its products to segmented specifications.
Aruba is a known name in the market providing sufficient support for all these products.
We have experienced many instances where we have experienced a lag in our network, and I am not sure if it is due to their devices or our network.
Stability is not an issue for me because it comes with Cisco's proven manufacturer quality.
Some features are not listed in the cloud management platform and still require offline access, so enhancing the cloud management features would be better for us.
An important missing feature is the console port, which allows direct management without the cloud.
The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks.
Some of the newer models of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN access point have encompassed the new wireless protocols and increased the strength of their antennas.
The solution supports Wi-Fi 6.
We do not sell very expensive devices as we move to other products.
However, when compared to entry-level market segments, the price is higher.
The pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not competitive enough for the SMB market compared to other brands.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is on par with other devices in that category, offering competitive pricing.
My experience with the pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is that it is competitive with other providers offering paid subscriptions.
I highly value Aruba Instant for its ClearPass feature, which is an exceptional product for network access control and works as a NAC solution.
Aruba Instant's intrusion detection feature stands for application visibility and includes their latest technology such as Wi-Fi 6E and remote monitoring capability.
The most beneficial features for network management are the price and the cloud console.
It also manages security clients and switches, providing a single dashboard to manage multiple network infrastructures.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN has helped optimize network traffic very effectively, as we do prioritization for streaming and web conferencing apps, resulting in a clear, visible improvement in performance.
All auditing and event logs are centralized in the dashboard.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN | 9.6% |
| Aruba Instant | 2.3% |
| Other | 88.1% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 31 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 7 |
| Large Enterprise | 14 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 69 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 27 |
| Large Enterprise | 31 |
Aruba Instant delivers the only controllerless Wi-Fi solution that is easy to set-up, and loaded with security and smarts needed to accelerate your business without breaking your budget.
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