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Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Wireless vs Huawei Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Wireless is 12.3%, down from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 9.0%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei Wireless is 4.8%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Wireless12.3%
Cisco Wireless9.0%
Huawei Wireless4.8%
Other73.9%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

CK
Network Administrator at Nippon Express Canada Ltd.
Wireless network has supported long-term reliable access and simplifies RF optimization
I have experience with Cisco products and the Cisco brand. The product is mainly a hardware product. Regarding the software part, I don't have a lot of experience. Aruba Wireless was not too difficult to set up. When compared with other products such as Cisco, they also have products with wireless controllers, and it's similar to that. I think it should be recommended for both bigger and smaller companies based on the feedback and our experience. I believe there should be AI functions that might help us in some cases of cybersecurity matters, detecting threats regarding security would be better with AI. For this role, I have more than twenty years of experience. I would rate Aruba Wireless eight out of ten overall.
EvansEsezobor - PeerSpot reviewer
Group IT Head at Euracare
Has enabled centralized user management and improved wireless access point aggregation
To improve Cisco Wireless, the ports on the access points are all 100 Meg, not 1 gig. We have not gotten a gigabyte interface of about 1,000, but the controller we have is just 1 gig. We would prefer if we could increase the controller to a 10 gig interface because we want to connect our controller to a 10 gig interface, which currently limits us to 1 gig. When we want to move higher capacity data via wireless, it limits us to 1 gig.
Shahnawaz Nusrat - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Technical Operations at ITE
Effective and extensive campus Wi-Fi with room for better frequency management
We have deployed Huawei CCTV solutions at multiple universities in Pakistan. This includes Huawei Wireless for Smart Campus projects, where we provide blanket Wi-Fi coverage and Safe Campus projects, where we deploy security cameras and multiple devices to monitor the campus Huawei Wireless has…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Clearpass solution from Aruba."
"The initial setup of Aruba Wireless is a lot easier to do than on other solutions."
"It is very easy to connect and configure inside a network, even from a cell phone, and there can be about 50 or 60 pieces of equipment working at the same time without losing connection or velocity."
"Aruba Central is a valuable feature because I can monitor access points remotely, even if I'm not in the office."
"The scalability is the key here."
"The technical support is very good."
"The technical support is 24/7 from the UA."
"Some of the implementations or features do work as advertised: easy deployment of APs, MAC caching, and aesthetically pleasing GUI for configuration."
"Fantastic product for an indoor wireless solution."
"Cisco is one of the leading vendors and is at the top of many lists. The access software is robust, and the performance of the devices is excellent."
"Authentication has played a big role for us, and it has given us mobility."
"Technical support from Cisco is very good. It's always been much better than its competitors in this regard."
"Creating policies is simple."
"All the features of the solution are good. The enterprise environment seamlessly integrates with Cisco Wireless. I have contacted customer service and support about licenses and other technical aspects. I have not faced any issues. The solution is good for our environment."
"For me, there are two important features: 1) WLAN grouping – Allows us to have different groups and, within those groups, specific WLANs, so there is no overlapping. 2) FlexConnect – Enables us to have remote offices at different locations. We can have a central WLC to control all the locations."
"It gave us the ability to view wireless traffic, unwanted devices on the network, and how they affected overall network performance."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its simplicity."
"From an implementation perspective, it's easy. I rate it a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup, and ten is an easy setup."
"I have a very good experience with this product, so I'm very satisfied with it."
"That would be more of engineering at this point. I'm from more of the business side. It's pretty much doing the standard installations with portal integrations and integrations with the Mac."
"Their technical support is very good from Huawei Wireless. They respond on time when giving feedback."
"This solution is very simple and the interface is user-friendly."
"We can use an access point to broadcast multiple SSIDs, assign dynamic VLANs, and configure dynamic access control lists (ACLs)."
"It provides high-speed network connections."
 

Cons

"Aruba solution is not cheap."
"We're using the Aruba Sensor, but sometimes the sensor isn't talking to AirWave or the AP."
"I believe more security options are needed."
"What I'd like improved in Aruba Wireless is for it to be a full cloud solution."
"The price point is pretty high compared to Ubiquiti and other equipment."
"Access point mounting options could be better."
"Because it's cloud-based, it takes time for the floor maps and the heat map to load."
"We have had issues with the availability of the equipment."
"Because the Cisco architecture is quite complex, you may end up having to add more components and licenses. So, the cost could go up."
"For a person who's doing it for first time, it's going to be complicated, but once you get used to it, it’s pretty much the same thing all the time."
"Older versions are complex to configure and implement."
"The integration with our CM and other technologies could improve this solution."
"The main concern is the length and overlapping; we have to put on four to six access points on the same floor, and we face the issue of overlapping areas."
"If the wireless controller already had, built-in, those types of things for the technician or wireless engineer, it would be more attractive for the end-user to use WLC, more than any other product."
"Its licensing has been very frustrating."
"The older product has an installation that is complex, and not easy to configure."
"The manageability of radio frequencies to avoid overlapping needs improvement."
"The demo program is an area for improvement in Huawei Wireless as it's hard to use."
"They should include more security features in the solution."
"The scalability could be better."
"While technically proficient, enhancing communication skills would greatly benefit the customer experience."
"Huawei Wireless can improve the signal, sometimes it becomes weak."
"Improving the visibility, control offered, and cloud management would all be very helpful."
"As such, there are no problems. It has been good. There were some issues with the network design, but that is not specifically related to the product. We had to make some improvements in the network design. The product as such is fine, and there are no big issues. We are using the latest version having most of the features available in the industry, so the specs are very high. If something new comes up new in the industry, it needs to be incorporated into the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licencing can be surprising and needs improvement. Look into all features, what you need versus what you want, and know that nothing comes without some kind of license."
"There is so much licensing, you literally pay for every solution, add-on, or cool feature. Compared to others, we were in the middle with pricing, but as you start to invest more into features it will get very pricey."
"The price of Aruba Wireless has a more competitive price than other solutions."
"The pricing has increased and it was always more costly than some of the other solutions available."
"The price is reasonable. I would rate the cost as 8 out of 10."
"A recent change is that ClearPass licensing is superb. It counts user-based instead of device-based, for BYOD on-boarding."
"The balance between quality and price is there, but the cost is still high."
"Pricing is very competitive."
"I think that the solution is expensive because the customer has to pay for a full year, at a minimum, in up-front costs."
"Pricing is a bit on the high side compared to its competitors but we have to consider the support and usages of the solution. Licensing is now RTU and smart licensing. We need three types of licenses. One for each of the: APs, HA, controller."
"Cisco WiFi 1572 is very expensive locally and our budget for this year is used."
"The price is a little high. However, you get what you pay for. The quality of the product is high, you will find it is worth the money. There is some additional cost, for example, customer support."
"It might be around $100 for a license. The internal ones are far cheaper than that."
"The price for this product is a little bit high, which is why I am not using the most recent version."
"Cisco is more on the expensive side, as compared to Aruba, but I must say Cisco's quality is unmatched, for sure."
"Pricing is a little higher for Cisco Wireless than all other vendors. Cisco should work on improving the pricing because there are some other vendors out there in the market which may have the same features or equivalent features that Cisco has at a lesser price."
"The platform is less costly than one of its competitors. I rate the pricing a three out of ten."
"Huawei licenses can be for either a one-year up to a five-year period and also apply for the tiers."
"Huawei comes at a cheaper price than competitors like Cisco and Aruba."
"The price of Huawei Wireless is reasonable. The licenses are active, and everything is working fine as per the license agreement."
"It is not monthly. It is a kind of perpetual licensing. We pay once depending on the kind of services we need to deliver. There are no licensing fees."
"Huawei Wireless is an expensive product. I'm rating it as one out of ten, price-wise."
"We don't have any control on the pricing. This comes from Huawei in India. Pricing-wise, Huawei is very aggressive and competitive if you compare them to competitors, like Cisco, Aruba, and Ruckus. The Indian Huawei team tells us, "Just pick up the order and design the infrastructure. If there are any pricing challenge, we'll work on that and we will try to match things 100 percent.""
"The price is good for the solution and there is a license required."
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business77
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise77
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business79
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise73
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise12
 

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...
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What di...
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 ...
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...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user frie...
Which wireless solution would you choose - Huawei or D-Link?
Huawei wireless is a strong and solid product that has a lot of features - and for all that it offers, it happens to ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei Wireless?
For SMB customers with limited wireless users, Huawei Wireless may not be suitable due to the lack of multiple access...
What needs improvement with Huawei Wireless?
The manageability of radio frequencies to avoid overlapping needs improvement. Additionally, the reporting part requi...
 

Also Known As

Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
Cisco WLAN Controller
Huawei WLAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
Anhui Agricultural University (AAU), China Everbright Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: May 2026.
895,151 professionals have used our research since 2012.