Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs ExtremeCloud IQ comparison

The compared Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Cisco solutions aren't in the same category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #1 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 17.1% mindshare in the category. Cisco is ranked #4 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 12.7% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Aruba Wireless

Read 148 Aruba Wireless reviews

24,486 Views
20,412 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 119 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

14,622 Views
11,932 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

ExtremeCloud IQ

Read 76 ExtremeCloud IQ reviews

539 Views
398 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Aruba Wireless

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

ExtremeCloud IQ

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Aruba Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, and ExtremeCloud IQ based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN.

To learn more, read our detailed Wireless LAN Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Wireless LAN

May 2025

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Helped 851,604 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

Wireless LAN

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

Muhammad_Faisal

Manager ITSM at Lucky Cement Limited

Experience seamless connectivity with top-notch roaming capabilities

The Aruba Wireless solution has excellent roaming capabilities, ensuring seamless connectivity. Once installed, Aruba Wireless works robustly without overheating issues. This is particularly effective compared to other products I've used, like FortiMonitor and FortiAPs, which sometimes heat up. I am very satisfied with the roaming feature, as it ensures connectivity when moving from one location to another. The product's stability, after setting it up, adds to its value.

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RezaPradipta

Sr. Officer Network Managed Service Product Management at PT. Indosat Tbk

Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration

The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…

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Sriman L

Senior Network Engineer at Nipun Net Solutions

One of the best cloud-based wireless solutions that helps manage multiple APs from a single dashboard across multiple locations

ExtremeCloud IQ’s user interface needs to be improved, and its current bugs need to be fixed. Sometimes, AP details, like the AP firmware and the AP hostname, are not updating properly because of a few bugs in the current version, which they might fix in the next version. Compared to the central and other cloud solutions, a couple of bugs still running on these portals need to be rectified. For ExtremeCloud IQ's next releases, I expect to get all the users and the events alerts. Also, if any AP goes down, I should be able to do some scheduled reports specific to the site because it is currently in beta. If any AP goes offline, that's an event. If you want to do the filter for a specific site event, we don't have that filter option. I expect specific site-level and category-level events and alert filters to get reports.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I can have a clear picture of what's happening in my Wi-Fi cellular networking environment."

"The tool's most valuable feature is Aruba Central, which offers centralized management. You can manage its switches, APs, and data access. It is easy to manage the entire switches and APs. The solution is the best in terms of security and manageability."

"The solution provides a clear path to instant wireless."

"The technical support is 24/7 from the UA."

"Overall, it's a very strong solution."

"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."

"The initial setup was very easy and intuitive."

"The biggest selling point was the ability to create two different SSIDs to control public versus private wireless networks."

More Aruba Wireless pros

"I would recommend Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN simply because of the ease of deployment and its reliability."

"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."

"Cloud management, wireless infrastructure, and implementation are all valuable features."

"The solution provides good coverage and identity management. Additionally, the user interface is straightforward."

"Cisco's technical support is very good and better than other vendors."

"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."

"The monitoring device enables you to see the network health."

"The most valuable features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN are the ease of use and the ability to manage it from the cloud."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"HiveManager is incredibly useful for managing APs and switches from one cloud interface."

"The deployment made my life very easy."

"It is more cost effective and gives more flexibility."

"Whenever I have a concern, question, or just need a refresher the helpful staff at AeroHive is there to help me. By far, the ]best relationship I have ever had with a vendor."

"Extreme is transitioning to 802.11ax facilities running the 2G and the 5G cloud, allowing for higher density in education use cases, and ExtremeCloud IQ provides you with novel ways to manage everything. In the old days, you used to have a controller on-site for your access points, but everything is easier now."

"The Client 360 feature provides a comprehensive view of your clients and their activities, including the devices they use. Additionally, a feature called Network 360 offers a 360-degree view of the network, like data usage (in GB), the status of ports and AP, and other details. You can drill down on granular-level drills to gain insights into specific applications and usage patterns like application level and fee, where your data is being wasted or what your clients are doing with the Internet data, what kind of applications they are using, etc."

"a true controller-less approach, where each Access Point is 100% independent from the management system."

"The tech who handles Extreme IQ tells me it's easy to use and learn. He felt like it was pretty intuitive. It comes with solid training materials. He also has talked about the security features that give you as much or as little control as you want."

More ExtremeCloud IQ pros

Cons

"Needs improvement in point-to-point deployment products."

"Not cost-effective."

"The enterprise controller. I'm planning on getting more information on that."

"MAC authentication against an external Radius server while using 802.1X. This feature will help the L2 devices to authenticate via external Radius servers."

"The dashboards that represent the network access control in Aruba Wireless could improve."

"The reliability could be improved."

"Making the setup more simple is an area for improvement in Aruba Wireless. Security-wise, this solution also needs work."

"Because it's cloud-based, it takes time for the floor maps and the heat map to load."

More Aruba Wireless cons

"I would like to see more cybersecurity. I would like the ability to go in and enhance security. Because WPA2 is becoming obsolete, many devices are now WPA3, but the challenge is that a lot of devices are not yet there. I would like to be able to go in and do monitoring, similar to ASPM. ASPM has the ability to monitor who's joining and who's active. It supports two-step monitoring. The stability of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN can also be improved."

"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."

"Some of their first level support staff does not seem to be well-versed in the solution, so support for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN needs improvement."

"Meraki should share their viability roadmap. It is really hard to know which functionality will appear or when they will be available. It is also hard to know which features are available now but are not visible on the dashboard."

"It would be better if they enable full integration with Cisco's cloud-based network in the next release."

"We have used technical support for some issues but not many times."

"If there are advanced features that you can have enabled, they should allow users access to that in an easier manner."

"The initial setup of the solution can be improved and made easier."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"For me, the only issue is the potential delay in the tool statistics updating in real time after making changes."

"I know a school district, a big school district of mine, ripped out Extreme due to inefficiencies. It was the guest network that can be a struggle. They tried to differentiate between their primary network, and then offer a secondary."

"An area for improvement in ExtremeCloud IQ is its technical support. Support could be better, especially when you need help concerning ExtremeCloud IQ and WinG."

"Pricing is a bit expensive."

"Having a wizard for customers who are just starting might be helpful."

"We'd like to have a cloud dashboard from which we can see all devices."

"The tool has simplified things, but it also adds a complexity that sometimes stumps some users."

"I struggled with the documentation. I expected comprehensive documentation and videos but found them to be too simple."

More ExtremeCloud IQ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Aruba Wireless is reasonable."

"The price of Aruba Wireless is fairly reasonable. It was within our budget."

"Aruba Wireless is the best for the price. Aruba Wireless is the least expensive, the second is Huawei, and the most expensive is Cisco."

"We will be buying the ClearPass solution, which will be pricey. However, in the trial version, it has even more tools to manage a busy network."

"The pricing has increased and it was always more costly than some of the other solutions available."

"I think they should lower their prices."

"The price is low. There is an additional cost for maintenance."

"It's not expensive. That is the reason we switched to Aruba."

More Aruba Wireless pricing and cost advice

"You have to renew your contract every year, or for three or for five years. If you do not pay right away they will suspend your subscription."

"The box itself is very cheap. The question here is about the subscription because this is what you will pay every year. In the initial year, for purchasing, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN gives you an attractive price. While during renewal, we are not given much discount."

"It's a pretty good value, but not great. Pricing is on a yearly basis for the Meraki solution."

"Cisco Meraki requires either a one year or three year license for a standard enterprise license."

"Cost could be better."

"As is always the case, the price could be better, although I do not recall exactly how much this comes out to."

"It is an expensive solution."

"It's not super expensive and it's not super cheap."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"I did a multi-year license. It was a three-year license. It compares well with others in terms of the price. It is about a hundred dollars per year on a three-year scale."

"It is costly as compared to Meraki, Aruba, Juniper, and Cisco. Cloud IQ is an enterprise solution, whereas Meraki is specifically a single solution."

"The pricing is so cost-effective that it leaves no room for competition with other vendors."

"Start small and grow big. You can choose the basic Aerohive Connect free subscription solution and, later, if needed (in terms of functionality) you can upgrade to Aerohive Select."

"Price-wise, it is a reasonable tool."

"This solution offers annual licensing that is middle of the range in terms of cost."

"Buy near the end of Q4 in order to get a deal."

"It is easy for customers to use this product because they are able to interchange the license depending on their usage rather than having to buy individual licenses for each asset."

More ExtremeCloud IQ pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user212721

President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Mar 24, 2015

Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions

Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…

Read full review

Answers from the Community

Eric Biller

Network Systems Administrator at County Of Summit Board Of DD

Aug 10, 2021

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

2 out of 5 answers

Ralph Malone

Network Engineer with 51-200 employees

Mar 25, 2021

I have Extreme and chose them years ago when they were Aerohive for one reason PPSK they are still the only company that has this. I put out a bid this year and was ready to forklift my entire extreme system because of their outrageous maintenance costs Aruba had a great maintenance cost but to achieve what I needed I would have to purchase clearpass an excellent product I might add. TCO for Aruba was about 10% of my original Extreme quote. The bid for extreme came in and they had dropped the maintenance cost to 10% of the original cost for 5 years. I would like to have purchased Aruba but I have 125 Extreme WAPs deployed so the cost of Aruba forklift would have been higher and the need to retrain techs on how to configure Aruba is now not an issue. If I was doing a system from scratch I would choose Aruba hands down for their service, price and ease of use. I have a full Aruba network of routers and switches as well as all HP printers so it would have been a good fit. I must add this is based on educational prices I am the network Engineer for a residential High School ASMSA. Your prices may vary. I have heard from other extreme users that their support is not what it was when Aerohive was a stand alone company, I have a very knowledgeable vendor so I rarely have to contact Extreme.

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Michael Fulton

Systems Administrator with 501-1,000 employees

Mar 25, 2021

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have experience with any of these brands? If so, based on your experience would you use that brand again? Also what other equipment do you have on your network? Firewall? Router? APs? Security (Cameras, door locks etc.)? Are there any functions with one of these brands of switches that would enhance the products you already have? Sometimes you get more bang for your buck by sticking with the same manufacture as they will have features on different products that work together well or feed off of each other. If all of that comes down to the same three brands still, then look at performance claims, features sets, cost. We have the Meraki AP's and I like the cloud management portion of them. But if you don't renew with them to use the cloud then the AP's are worthless as the require the cloud management. But it is nice to have that central, visual representation and central management feature Meraki has to offer. I don't know if Extreme Networks or Aruba has that.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

14%

Educational Organization

10%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they h...

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Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?

At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What di...

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How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?

On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three ...

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Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to...

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How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are...

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Which is better - Ubiquiti Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Ubiquiti Wireless offers a wide range of WLAN products. We tested their devices before ultimately choosing Cisco Mera...

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What do you like most about ExtremeCloud IQ?

The Client 360 feature provides a comprehensive view of your clients and their activities, including the devices they...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeCloud IQ?

The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period. T...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ExtremeCloud IQ?

There can be an improvement by incorporating two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication for security. A...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Wireless vs Aruba Wireless

Compared 17% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Aruba Wireless

Compared 17% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Aruba Wireless

Compared 6% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs Aruba Wireless

Compared 5% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Aruba Wireless

Compared 5% of the time

More Aruba Wireless Competitors

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 15% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 7% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 5% of the time

Aruba Instant vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 2% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Ruckus Wireless vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 6% of the time

Aruba ClearPass vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 6% of the time

More ExtremeCloud IQ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Wireless

April 2025

Download Aruba Wireless product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

May 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeCloud IQ

May 2025

Download ExtremeCloud IQ product report

Also Known As

Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN

Aerohive Networks, Aerohive HiveManager, HiveManager, ExtremeCloud , ExtremeSecurity

Overview

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."

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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.

Cisco

ExtremeCloud is a resilient and scalable cloud-based network management solution offered by Extreme Networks as a subscription service.

The network is your platform of engagement for clients and staff. We have designed ExtremeCloud to provide superior user experience by empowering you and the applications that drive your business. The combination of Extreme Networks’ smart wired and wireless edges and the elasticity, resilience and scalability provided via state-of-the-art datacenters distributed strategically for worldwide availability allows you to respond to the changing needs of your business, at the speed of cloud, through a simple, multi-site aware user interface.

Extreme

Sample Customers

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

Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: May 2025.

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