We performed a comparison between Aruba Wireless and Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Of the two solutions, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is the more popular choice with PeerSpot users. While both have great features, users of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN seem to find fewer things lacking with it and are generally satisfied. In regards to service and support as well, Cisco users are happy with the service they receive. However, users do feel that it is an expensive solution.
"The simplicity is great."
"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use."
"One advantage is the built-in Zigbee-based IoT functionality. You don't need an additional dongle to enable that option."
"We appreciate the integration options that are available."
"Good wireless solution that's user-friendly, stable, and scalable, with very good product support, and a limited lifetime warranty."
"The stability is the best. It's very reliable."
"Overall, it's a very strong solution."
"Enterprise wireless LAN solution with good visibility and amazing scalability. Aruba Wireless also offers good technical support."
"I think Aruba Wireless' Wi-Fi 6 capability is something that really makes a difference. We used to have bottlenecks. Each user has one laptop on one mobile device, so that equals 40 devices connecting to one AP. The Wi-Fi 5 series couldn't handle the traffic during peak hours, and when I say "peak hours," I mean Monday at 11 a.m. We used to see a lot of packet drops, but we haven't seen that problem at all since we moved to Wi-Fi 6."
"Aruba is easier than Juniper."
"Provided reliability and a good price."
"Meraki WLAN is easy to deploy, includes a cloud controller, and updates continuously. It also offers high visibility."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the application visibility, which is one of the main features."
"If you're trying to identify one of the switches or pinpoint a computer or pinpoint something, you could find it just like that and change the IP address. It's easiest to do it that way."
"For Meraki, the ease of deployment and management is most valuable."
"From a security perspective, this product has several advantages."
"You can scale the solution easily."
"I have found the scalability to be very good."
"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"The Help option within the GUI needs to be improved."
"Aruba Wireless can improve the assigning of access points. We have times that the nearest access point is not assigned but one far away. The integration between access points could improve."
"The pricing could always be better."
"Aruba Wireless could improve the interface, it does not have a smart web interface. Other solutions have smart web interfaces, such as Cisco Meraki."
"The stability and management could be improved."
"There are some issues we occasionally have. However, they are easily remedied."
"Aruba Wireless could improve the dashboard. It is not straightforward or intuitive to use and could be more user-friendly. For IT employees the dashboards are fine but when it comes to the end-user it is difficult. The Mobility Controller dashboard is not meant for non-IT employees."
"Making the setup more simple is an area for improvement in Aruba Wireless. Security-wise, this solution also needs work."
"Quality of technical support varies."
"Meraki is still very much a small office type of solution. It is not a fit for large enterprise networks, as it doesn't have tunneling functionalities."
"I would like to see Cisco Meraki improve the accessibility by region level here in Latin America."
"The licensing model is a terrible idea."
"If you lose connectivity with the controller, your Wi-Fi network is immediately impacted."
"The price could be slightly better, but then again, we negotiate deals every time so the market price isn't really relevant."
"We're are not fully utilizing the features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN to know a more in-depth analysis of what areas need to be improved. However, the security could improve. It would be a benefit to be able to lock out particular clients that are trying to connect from outside the building."
"There should be better Spanish-language technical support."
More Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) Pricing and Cost Advice →
Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 42 reviews while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is ranked 2nd in Wireless LAN with 60 reviews. Aruba Wireless is rated 8.2, while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Aruba Wireless writes "Simple to install, easy to use, and cost-effective". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN writes "Highly reliable, effective site blocking, and beneficial reports". Aruba Wireless is most compared with Cisco Wireless, Ubiquiti WLAN, Ruckus Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud and Fortinet FortiWLM, whereas Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is most compared with Ubiquiti Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud, Ruckus Wireless and Fortinet FortiWLM. See our Aruba Wireless vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report.
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Pricing is different based on region; it depends on Aruba's and Cisco's strategy in the region. You must contact the respective partners to get an accurate price for comparison.
That being said, in MENA where I live, as of a few months ago (21H1), Aruba pricing was cheaper than Cisco.
Aruba licensing for the AP's is much cheaper compared to Meraki.
You can get a 1/3/5-year cloud license per AP.