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 Artificial Intelligence on offer is very useful."
"The installation process is very easy."
"The installation process is nice and easy."
"It's a very stable system."
"There is no problem with downtime."
"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."
"We appreciate the integration options that are available."
"The functionality is very high and we can properly meet the clients' requirements."
"We were able to increase capacity very easily."
"All features are useful for me. It lets me perform some specific configurations depending on the site or the client. All WAN features are valuable."
"The Airwave is the best feature for a single management point for all APs in the environment."
"I like the status page Cisco added that shows you the health of the wireless connection."
"Its management is most valuable. It is the major feature of Meraki."
"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."
"I like the record that is being kept and multiple SSDs."
"Great architecturally based dashboard and the solution is accessible from anywhere."
"Cisco Meraki is HIPAA compliant."
"It is easy to manage and configure. The dashboard of Meraki is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is cloud management."
"The solution could offer more integration with other products."
"We would prefer it if the solution could be less expensive."
"The support on offer to other vendors switching - like Aruba or Ruckus - could be improved."
"The user interface could be improved in Aruba Wireless. This would make the setup easier."
"Aruba Wireless has room to improve the connection from one AP to another."
"A lot of the access point commands are in the command line interface, versus being in the GUI."
"Sometimes the configuration is difficult."
"The dashboards that represent the network access control in Aruba Wireless could improve."
"The Help option within the GUI needs to be improved."
"I would like to see a faster web interface in the controller and more troubleshooting tools, including real-time troubleshooting tools."
"I believe that Aruba's support could be improved."
"The licensing could be a bit better."
"The customization needs to be improved because it's pretty locked down."
"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."
"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 licensing isn't very customer-centric. They may have improved it, but previously, if you forgot to pay on a certain day, your service would be shut off."
"They should introduce a grace period of 60 days after license expiry because as it is now, it automatically goes down and there is no grace period."
"It would be better if they enable full integration with Cisco's cloud-based network in the next release."
"Overall the solution needs to have more time to mature."
Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 34 reviews while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is ranked 2nd in Wireless LAN with 66 reviews. Aruba Wireless is rated 8.0, while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Aruba Wireless writes "Overall a good product that provides role-based authentication native to the controller, but has code stability issues". 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 and Mist AI and Cloud, whereas Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is most compared with Ubiquiti Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Ruckus Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud and Aruba Instant. 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.