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.
"With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features."
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use."
"The simplicity is great."
"The artificial intelligence feature is very good."
"The AI capabilities of Mist Wireless are superior to other OEMs."
"In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich."
"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."
"It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."
"The most valuable feature is the client match."
"What I like most about Aruba Wireless is its stability, functionality, and performance."
"The technical support is 24/7 from the UA."
"It's been running for the past three years with no default configuration."
"Aruba is outstanding, especially when it comes to the hospitality sectors."
"I have found the Access Point (AP) group profile feature extremely useful. It makes deployments look easy."
"I really like the user interface."
"The most valuable features of Aruba Wireless are the seamless feature and the concurrent user."
"The stability of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is very good."
"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the single pane of glass management and reliability."
"The solution is fast."
"The single dashboard of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is the most valuable feature for me."
"It improved the installation time."
"The solution is trustworthy. I find it easy and secure."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the application visibility, which is one of the main features."
"The user interface is very simple and easy to use — our customers are very satisfied."
"There is room for improvement in terms of support and installation."
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is very high in the Indian market."
"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."
"The pricing should be made cheaper."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points’ support services need improvement."
"Initial setup was complex."
"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."
"Their documentation needs to be improved. Aruba's documentation is poor."
"Better integration with equipment from other vendors would ease the deployment process in some cases."
"The solution's documentation could be better organized in an information portal."
"The reliability could 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 enterprise controller. I'm planning on getting more information on that."
"It would be useful to have a service management platform integrated within this solution where we can measure the customer experience."
"The logging sometimes doesn't give us the granularity needed. Some of the rules are a bit more complicated. The switch ports on the routers are not individually addressable, in the sense that with a switch you can tell what MAC address is on what port but with the security appliances, you can't, which would be beneficial for troubleshooting."
"The product doesn't effectively do its job anymore since some issues crop up in it once you run out of your subscription licensing...Improvements are needed in the licensing part of the tool."
"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could improve by having more granularity in terms of the data displayed. However, I understand that with Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, you need to have a compromise point to what are the functions that you're going to provide to the users versus ease of use. More granularity in terms of the data and the things that you can do to the devices would be helpful. For example, when we wanted to make a change, restriction, or segregation within Palo Alto, we can go to the level of detail that we want. The amount of detail provided is amazing, it is very granular. However, it comes with much more difficulty, it requires a technical understanding of the environment compared to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN."
"The only thing that always causes problems with Meraki is the license. It's a bit of a bugbear with Meraki, and it remains today. So it's an unusual concept compared to the other products in the marketplace, but then it does cause a bit of a nuisance from time to time."
"If they could work on the Meraki firewall hardware, and add SSL decryption as well as more application control and deep packet inspection, that would be ideal."
"Its pricing could be better."
"Our only concern at this stage is how it's licensed."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 43 reviews while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is ranked 4th in Wireless LAN with 27 reviews. Aruba Wireless is rated 8.4, while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is rated 8.2. 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 "Terrible licensing, trouble with updating, and unhelpful support advice". Aruba Wireless is most compared with Cisco Wireless, Ruckus Wireless, Ubiquiti WLAN, Huawei Wireless and Mist AI and Cloud, whereas Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is most compared with Ubiquiti Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud, Ruckus Wireless, Cisco Wireless and Huawei Wireless. 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.