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Aruba Networks Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiExtender comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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 Networks Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is 12.1%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 7.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Networks Wireless WAN12.1%
Fortinet FortiExtender7.9%
Other80.0%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

Edward Zeng - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Faced deployment successfully but configuration complexity needs to be reduced
I think the layout is a bit complicated. There are so many different layers to set up, and it is very easy to miss out or make configuration mistakes because they are hierarchical. You need to be very careful about which one has been in use. Aruba ClearPass is also complicated as well. If Aruba could combine all of their products together, it would be great to have a single pane of glass. Currently, the Aruba sensor does not work together with other products. There is no single pane of glass for location configuration, so you need to log into different websites to check the user experience.
SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have found the technical support to be one of the most valuable features."
"It works well. It is reliable."
"I like the way that it integrates with the ClearPass security system on-site."
"The product keeps up with leading-edge technology so we have dependability and scalability."
"There is a clustering feature, so the APs immediately switch back to the next available controller. The users will not notice any impact and will feel connected to the network. They will not notice any disconnection."
"Once Aruba Wireless is set up and configured correctly, you just walk away. That's what we like about it. We have some devices that are six or seven years old, which is rare in the wireless world because everything changes so quickly, but in some banks and municipalities, it just keeps working."
"It integrates with the Aruba portfolio very easily, and it's a vendor-agnostic solution, and that's brilliant."
"It was easy to deploy because the engineer helped us to set it up."
"The initial setup was was just beautiful. It was straightforward."
"The most valuable feature is that management can be carried out from a central point, as a result, the Fortinet Firewall's management is centralized, making things easier."
"You don't need to have two different vendors to interoperate and get into comparability issues or inter-operability issues."
"With Fortinet, it's cheaper and we don't sacrifice quality."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"Having the FortiExtender as a part of an SD-WAN topology is a major competitive value."
"Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have."
"The overall stability deserves a perfect rating."
 

Cons

"Right now, the integration between the support that you are getting from Hewlett-Packard, which is the parent company, and Aruba, they're not meshing together."
"The internet signal and the connection can be better."
"Something that needs to be improved is the integration."
"It would be better for customers if Aruba provided more license options, like 5-year licenses"
"The only issues are the configuration problems that impact the stability of the solution."
"Deployment can take some time if you haven't planned well."
"The initial setup has a lot of options, which makes it very versatile yet very complicated to install."
"The solution would be improved with a better interface."
"The solution would be a lot better if it was a little bit more intuitive. Additionally, the help menu would be a lot better if it was easier to identify the items that I was looking for. I find the graphical interface a little bit difficult to navigate. And I find the font that is used on the HTML interface not conducive to being able to be read in low light situations."
"What most of my clients are telling me is the price is a problem."
"There is a huge downside because we need to remove and insert the SIM to get it working."
"The engineering of the solution has some negative points, especially in terms of troubleshooting. It's difficult to troubleshoot when we have a problem. It's not like other products like Cisco or Palo Alto which make troubleshooting much easier."
"The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"Though Fortinet FortiExtender has some security features, the product could still be improved by adding features similar to those in FortiGuard, such as antivirus, intrusion, prevention, and detection, as well as web filtering features. The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement. In the FortiGate UTM solution of Fortinet, there's software-defined or SD-WAN, and in the next release of Fortinet FortiExtender, I'd like to see SD-WAN embedded in the product. Most of the communication in Fortinet FortiExtender is related to WAN and Edge, so having an SD-WAN function in the product would be useful for integrating and controlling WAN communication."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price is within range since it has a lower price."
"You will need to pay an annual subscription cost."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"That's really subject to the type of environment you're deploying. If you're doing a full controller model with 200 APs, the initial deployment could be 150 grand. Maintaining that or maintaining support for that per year could be something like 10 to 15 grand per year. In the cloud sense, the cloud is by the number of APs. So, everything is readily available."
"The pricing of the product is pretty good."
"The price of this solution is approximately 1,000,000 ESP ($6,750 USD)."
"It is more affordable than Cisco."
"The price of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN depends on how you buy it. From a pricing perspective, if you choose to buy Aruba Networks Wireless WAN as an MRC, it's dependent upon the radio and the solution that you choose what your MRC is. If you choose to buy it outright, they're competitive with their competitors, and they're probably four percent or five percent lower than their largest competitor."
"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
"The solution is not that expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Marketing Services Firm
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Aruba Network Wireless WAN?
I recommend Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. I have been using Aruba for approximately a decade. It has a great centralized management system, which means we don’t need wireless LAN controllers at ever...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Networks Wireless WAN?
The pricing is not cheap. Compared to Cisco, it is a bit cheaper, but still not enough to switch over to Aruba. The benefits are not sufficient.
What needs improvement with Aruba Networks Wireless WAN?
I think the layout is a bit complicated. There are so many different layers to set up, and it is very easy to miss out or make configuration mistakes because they are hierarchical. You need to be v...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Pittsburgh Golf Club, Rio Rancho Public Schools, Amwaj Rotana - Jumeirah Beach Residence - Dubai, Trevecca Nazarene University
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Networks Wireless WAN vs. Fortinet FortiExtender and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.