Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Apr 21, 2022

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.

  • Ease of Deployment: Reviewers of Aruba Wireless and Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN agree that the initial setup of both solutions is straightforward and simple.
  • Features: Users of both solutions find them to be stable and scalable.

    Valuable features of Aruba Wireless include high functionality, great integration capabilities, easy implementation and management, and good reporting. Reviewers would like to see better visibility and would like it if the access points would include chargers.

    Valuable features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN include an excellent interface, multiple types of user groupings and access management, good visibility, and a comprehensive dashboard. Users mention that it lacks customization options, could benefit from heat mapping and better cyber security, and that there is a processing limitation when you have more than three or four SSIDs.
  • Pricing: Most Aruba Wireless users feel that the pricing is comparable to that of its competitors, while a few select reviewers feel that it is on the expensive side. Users of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN find that it is expensive, with a rigid pricing model in place.
  • Service and Support: Users of both solutions are satisfied with the service and support available to them.
  • ROI: Aruba Wireless users say that they have not been impressed with the ROI while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN users report that they have experienced an ROI.

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.

To learn more, read our detailed Aruba Wireless vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Report (Updated: May 2023).
706,951 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The simplicity is great.""The most valuable feature of Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) is the ability to troubleshoot ports on the network. Additionally, when there is an update on the APs they are able to reboot quickly reducing downtime. Other solutions have a longer downtime when updates are done.""With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features.""The solution is pretty generic and easy to use.""In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich.""The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis.""The most valuable feature of the solution is Marvis, the AI-driven network management system."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pros →

"Overall, it's a very strong solution.""Aruba Wireless has been straightforward to set up.""I have found the most valuable features are the new Wi-Fi six technology and it also integrates with triple-A solutions. It has good bandwidth and virtual control.""The main features of Aruba Wireless in my country is its popularity, long hardware warranty when compared to other solutions, and it integrates well with our network access control solution.""Aruba Central is a valuable feature because I can monitor access points remotely, even if I'm not in the office.""The most valuable features of Aruba Wireless are the seamless feature and the concurrent user.""The feature I found most valuable to customers in Aruba Wireless is not a technical feature. It's more of its image, trademark, or brand as the product is very well-known in the market, and that's a good point to offer to customers. My customers just ask about the basic features of the product, and usually, when asking about Aruba products, customers don't pay too much attention to any specific feature as long as the product is solid and sure, and that you can change or modify it, as what you can get from Aruba Wireless.""Although there are other solutions available and some with a lower initial cost, they don't offer the same level of integration with IoT as this solution without having to add additional hardware, which ends up costing more."

More Aruba Wireless Pros →

"Cloud managed wireless LAN product that's stable and scalable. It's an easy to deploy and easy to troubleshoot solution.""Great architecturally based dashboard and the solution is accessible from anywhere.""The settings of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN can be very granular. You can lock down and block devices with the controls. For example, we have four different wireless settings, such as guest, employee, security, and backup. For example, the settings for the employees, if they use laptops, they're required to have certain settings, such as an antivirus installed. If they do not then Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN will not let them connect. This is very good protection because the network works on the bringing your own device(BYOD) principle. It's a BYOD environment now, and you also don't want them to bring infection into the environment because these people are connecting to the LAN via wireless connections. We have to be careful because we're managing it, we have to be very strict with regards to the rules and policies.""It is easy to set up. You can do everything on the GUI. You don't need to trace cables. You don't need to connect to the switch. Everything is there, right in front of you.""I have found the scalability to be very good.""The visibility of the site is most useful.""The single dashboard of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is the most valuable feature for me.""Meraki is a decent solution for a small company, and we use it in a pretty typical way. We need Teams and Zoom to work, and we need a high level of security because we want our business to remain confidential."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Pros →

Cons
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features.""The price could be better.""The product should include adaptive Wi-Fi to show a more accurate location.""Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems.""The solution is expensive.""Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage.""If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Cons →

"The solution's documentation could be better organized in an information portal.""They could work on energy consumption as this equipment needs a lot of energy.""What needs improvement in Aruba Wireless is its access point, in particular, it should have more flexibility. Aruba Wireless has Campus AP, Instant AP, and Unified AP, but it would be better if the product has a generic access point that you can manage over the cloud, on-premise, etc. Another area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is scalability. In terms of what additional features I'd like to see in the product, I'm unsure if it's already on the roadmap, but if possible, it would be good to have an SD-WAN functionality on the AP in Aruba Wireless.""The solution needs to add features and enhance security.""The dashboards that represent the network access control in Aruba Wireless could improve.""The stability and management could be improved.""The price could be better. In the next release, I would like to have more analytics features.""Aruba is missing some features that are available in other solutions, such as the email notifications. It's a bit complex to configure the notification part. Mainly I'm talking about the rogue WiFi detection. This email notification is crucial for us, but it isn't possible to configure with the built-in software. You need something else, like an external system log collector or another Aruba software. These notifications are essential in hospitality for PCI compliance. My colleagues in famous luxury hotel chains need that report."

More Aruba Wireless Cons →

"The solution cannot be looked upon for one year or short term because you will pay back all the discounts they offer the next time you pay for renewal.""An area for improvement would be that Meraki doesn't work well in a warehouse environment. The device is too sensitive to other wireless devices, which provokes noise and can require a reboot to erase this.""The technical support from Cisco is good, but they can improve themselves in some areas. Sometimes it takes a while to provide a solution or an answer to our problem.""The solution should be more secure.""They're great. If there's anything that they need to change, it is just simplifying the site to which you go to make changes on the admin side.""Meraki leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the technical capabilities in terms of throughput, spectrum, management, higher-level functions, etc""They could also add some more controls for guest access. For example, when you have a captive portal, it would be nice to limit the amount of time users can stay connected per day. Right now, you can only configure the splash frequency. And you can set the connection for one hour, but you have to use the billing feature.""The way Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN groups certain things, as far as the devices for either monitoring and or configuring them should be done better. They should be grouped a little bit differently because if I want to configure something, a different setting on an SSID, I have to go to their specific area where I would have thought it should be clumped as a dropdown menu in another area."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We pay maybe 1000 SEK per year, per access point."
  • "Juniper Wireless AP's price is a little more expensive than other solutions, but you get what you pay for."
  • "The pricing is something Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) can work on. The pricing is very high compared to the competition."
  • "The pricing is too high."
  • More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Aruba Wireless is very attractive cost-wise."
  • "My main concern about this product is the price. The cost is causing me to look at other vendors and competing products."
  • "The price of Aruba Wireless is fairly reasonable. It was within our budget."
  • "The price is reasonable."
  • "The price of Aruba Wireless has a more competitive price than other solutions."
  • "The price is low. There is an additional cost for maintenance."
  • "In terms of pricing, the pricing for Aruba Wireless is not bad for large-sized companies, but for medium-sized companies, it's on the higher end, but because Aruba has a good company image, medium-sized companies still go with Aruba Wireless."
  • "Aruba Wireless is much cheaper than our previous solution by Cisco. It is a significant saving, measured in thousands of dollars per year."
  • More Aruba Wireless Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price/benefit ratio is great."
  • "Its price is higher than other products. It is above the expectation of customers. So, every time we need to fight for a good price."
  • "Its price is okay for an enterprise. Its licensing is the most painful. If you hear anything bad about Cisco, it's about that. We're supposed to be one of the resellers but had to come back down to become a user. It's really bizarre."
  • "The solution is overpriced and more expensive than Hauwei."
  • "The solution could improve the licensing structure and the price is expensive."
  • "As is always the case, the price could be better, although I do not recall exactly how much this comes out to."
  • "Higher subscription fee may be necessary if extra features are required."
  • "Cost could be better."
  • More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Chi Kieu
    Aws Al-Dabbagh - PeerSpot reviewerAws Al-Dabbagh
    Real User

    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.

    Johnrex Fernandez - PeerSpot reviewerJohnrex Fernandez
    User

    Aruba licensing for the AP's is much cheaper compared to Meraki. 


    You can get a 1/3/5-year cloud license per AP.  

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features.
    Top Answer:It is a bit expensive. However, it is such a valued system, they can charge whatever they want.
    Top Answer:The price could be better. That is relative to the market right now since it is such a valued Access Point and system to… more »
    Top Answer:Depends.  I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them.  Extreme I am not, so unless they have… more »
    Top Answer:At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did… more »
    Top Answer:On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three… more »
    Top Answer:Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be… more »
    Top Answer:Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a… more »
    Top Answer:Ubiquiti Wireless offers a wide range of WLAN products. We tested their devices before ultimately choosing Cisco Meraki… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series), Mist Access Points
    Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
    MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
    Learn More
    Overview

    Juniper Wireless Access Points work in conjunction with Juniper Mist Cloud Services and Mist AI to deliver premier wireless access capabilities. The Juniper Mist Edge extends microservices to the campus to bring agility and scale while enabling new applications at the edge.

    Aruba Wireless is a secure, high-performance, multi-user wireless LAN supporting Wi-Fi 6. As workplaces and user expectations change, users can now maintain hybrid workplaces and IoT without compromising performance, reliability, or security. Aruba Wireless delivers better performance and capacity and greater AIOps visibility throughout all devices and users. In addition, through built-in network intelligence, network operations are made simpler while keeping everything secure through user and guest encryption.

    Aruba Wireless, offered through Aruba Networks, is helping achieve digital transformation and IoT with seamless connectivity through multiple Wi-Fi access points. For the user’s convenience, Aruba Wireless provides indoor, outdoor, and remote access points to help boost faster and safer connectivity.

    Choosing Aruba Wireless can help improve your organization’s user experience with wireless LAN in many ways, including:

    • Transforming hybrid workplaces: Employees can move seamlessly between home and office, with reliable internet and without compromising security.

    • Connect and protect IoT: With built-in AP support for BLE, Zigbee, and USB-port extensions, users can extend visibility, control, and connectivity to IoT devices and applications.

    • Expand the 5G experience to the enterprise network: Empower users to experience 5G with Wi-Fi 6 by automatically enabling cellular devices to join Aruba Wireless LAN securely and reliably.

    Aruba Gateways and Controllers

    Small organizations as well as large enterprises require excellent performance and security for cloud, mobility, and digital transformation. Therefore, in addition to the access points, Aruba Wireless also offers a variety of gateways and controllers, including:

    • 9000 Series: With SD-WAN capabilities, it’s excellent for small campus networks looking for enhanced Wi-Fi scalability and security.

    • 7200 Series: Perfect for campus WLAN scalability or branch SD-WAN and VPN Concentrator capabilities, the 7200 Series optimizes Wi-Fi performance to guarantee smooth roaming.

    • 7000 Series: Acting as a controller or gateway to provide WAN intelligence, the 7000 Series is a policy-based router and an excellent solution for small to mid-sized campuses.

    • Mobility Controller Virtual Appliance: Maximizes Wi-Fi and network services in an economical, virtualized environment.

    • SD-WAN Virtual Gateways: Orchestrate virtual gateways in public cloud infrastructure, like Amazon Web Services (AWS).

    • Mobility Conductor Hardware Appliance: While enhancing the scalability and reliability for large campus WLANs, Aruba Mobility Conductors bring the full capability of ArubaOS.

    • Mobility Conductor Virtual Appliance: To scale large campus deployments, Aruba Mobility Conductors simplify the deployment and management of up to 1,000 Mobility Controllers.

    • ArubaOS Network Operating System: Great for remote workers in mid-sized and large companies who need seamless connectivity to and security over Wi-Fi.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Aruba Networks is aiding organizations in transforming to a hybrid work environment with Aruba Wireless. Users especially love its ability to work with many devices and its ability to group and manage access points.

    A senior IT solutions architect at a manufacturing company says, "The most valuable feature is the fact that it can work with many devices. It supports everything that we need it to."

    Gary F., a network administrator at wireless at Abilene Christian, notes, "I like the way it groups and manages access points."

    Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.
    Offer
    Learn more about Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points
    Learn more about Aruba Wireless
    Learn more about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
    Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Government7%
    Educational Organization7%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    University20%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Educational Organization9%
    Computer Software Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Government8%
    Educational Organization7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Educational Organization11%
    Non Profit9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Government7%
    Educational Organization7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business43%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise54%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business37%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise55%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business52%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise25%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise55%
    Buyer's Guide
    Aruba Wireless vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
    May 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Wireless vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.
    706,951 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 48 reviews while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is ranked 2nd in Wireless LAN with 44 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, Ruckus Wireless, Ubiquiti WLAN, Mist AI and Cloud and Ubiquiti Wireless, whereas Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is most compared with Ubiquiti Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud, Ruckus Wireless and Aruba Instant. See our Aruba Wireless vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report.

    See our list of best Wireless LAN vendors.

    We monitor all Wireless LAN reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.