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Aruba Wireless vs ExtremeWireless vs Ruckus 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 October 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Wireless is 15.4%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeWireless is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless is 13.8%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Aruba Wireless15.4%
Ruckus Wireless13.8%
ExtremeWireless2.0%
Other68.8%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad_Faisal - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Seungho Yang - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced employee access with effective wireless monitoring and seamless roaming
Our use case for ExtremeWireless is to allow our employees to access the company systems The monitoring systems in ExtremeWireless have been very effective, and they are cheaper than other products. It provides better monitoring logs and detailed logs compared to Cisco Wireless. The most…
Xander Janse Van Rensburg - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and high-performance wireless networking with exceptional stability, scalability, and robust feature set
One of the most valuable features I appreciate is auto channelization, facilitated by a proprietary product called ChannelFly. This feature enables APs in a specific zone to automatically adjust their channels, optimizing performance. Additionally, Ruckus Wireless stands out for its ability to reuse certain beams, resulting in smaller data spots. In my experience with various products, Ruckus Wireless consistently delivers unparalleled throughput, coverage, and reliability in wireless networking across different environments. As a noteworthy point, the newly launched WiFi 7 standard is measured against Ruckus's WiFi 7 AP, establishing it as the global benchmark. When it comes to WiFi, Ruckus sets the standard, outperforming competitors with its superior performance and capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature in this product would be the stability. You build it, install it, and it’s good to go, with no further tweaks needed unless adding or replacing APs."
"The coverage, concurrent user life, and visualization are the most valuable features of these solutions."
"It is easy to install and deploy."
"The stability of Aruba Wireless has been good."
"It offers an easy initial setup."
"It has very flexible features."
"We like the centralized configuration and monitoring."
"I recommend this solution due to its simple installation, easy management, high scalability, and high availability."
"The technical support from Extreme Networks is perfect."
"The stability of the solution has been fine."
"I like Cloud IQ, ExtremeWireless' cloud controller and analytics platform. It's full of information, easy to use, and provides excellent visibility into my network."
"The initial setup was easy."
"The product's price is competitive. It is an impressive and reliable product."
"The most useful feature is how the product integrates with the Microsoft directory in the cloud."
"The security is very good."
"ExtremeWireless is known for its strong security engine, Air Defense, which provides necessary wireless security assistance to many of my customers."
"It ensured our Internet service was always up, allowing us to serve our customers 24/7."
"Mesh networking and antenna patterns are the most valuable features of the solution."
"I find signal combining and team forming in Ruckus Wireless most valuable."
"The speed between client to client is really nice. It is better than any other vendor, but officially, I cannot say that to people."
"Ruckus Wireless provides good coverage."
"Good connection quality."
"This solution is easy to use and you need minimal IT experience to work with it."
"The product can scale."
 

Cons

"The stability and management could be improved."
"The user interface could be improved in Aruba Wireless. This would make the setup easier."
"One area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is its dashboard or interface because in some cases, it's not as easy to use as it should be, but overall, it's okay. Pricing for the product is also on the higher side. Another area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is technical support because it's hard to reach when issues arise and the speed of answer could be faster. Other areas for improvement in the product include integration and configuration."
"I believe that Aruba's support could be improved."
"Aruba Wireless could improve the interface, it does not have a smart web interface. Other solutions have smart web interfaces, such as Cisco Meraki."
"Needs improvement in point-to-point deployment products."
"We are not facing any difficulty in convincing customers to have Aruba Wireless, and there are no specific features that customers are particularly looking for in wireless."
"An area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is creating a DMZ. Without Aruba ClearPass, you need to allow guess access directly via the internet, which means you need to implement the security in between, so this is what I'd like Aruba to improve in the product."
"It is a subscription model, so it is maybe a bit pricey."
"ExtremeWireless support isn't very good."
"The management portal is in need of improvement."
"The ability to integrate with network devices from other vendors would be helpful."
"The performance of the access points could be improved."
"The solution needs to improve its portfolio."
"Technical support is an area that needs to be improved."
"The main area for improvement is the company's local visibility."
"One complaint that we have is the lack of cloud-based management."
"I do a reset of the access points from time to time because sometimes we have no access."
"The solution should have more analytics capabilities."
"It would be better if there were more visibility on the cloud. We have some lack of visibility because of wireless interference, and you have to do some troubleshooting for the packet capture. They have a built-in packet capture, and we can monitor the application. You can see all things over the cloud. They also provide an on-premise solution, so they need to improve the on-premise version and ensure an output with more visibility. Live monitoring in a live environment should be good. What is happening with wireless is that the wireless client is not connected due to interference, and there should be a shield zone on their wireless cloud. If they give us more features on both Ruckus Cloud or on-premises, that will be best. Nowadays, security is more important for everyone using wireless technology. If they implement a little bit of reduction and prevention features for some packets on the wireless cloud, some features like web filtering and some prevention for blocking will be good for the network."
"It is very difficult to convince the customer to choose Ruckus because of the price."
"The initial setup was not simple. We were installing indoor and outdoor wireless and this is why it took us three months."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"I would like to see more location-based services on the Smart Cell Insight on access points."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fair and similar to other products."
"A recent change is that ClearPass licensing is superb. It counts user-based instead of device-based, for BYOD on-boarding."
"The price point is pretty high compared to Ubiquiti and other equipment."
"When you look at the price it is a higher price than Cisco."
"The price of Aruba Wireless could improve. It is expensive. However, I am able to reduce my costs because I do not use all the features in the controller, such as the AD integration and other enterprise features."
"Aruba Wireless is very attractive cost-wise."
"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."
"The balance between quality and price is there, but the cost is still high."
"Extreme isn't the most expensive, but it's not a low-cost solution, and because there are no big volumes, you don't receive significant discounts, making the final price higher."
"I rate the price of Extreme Wireless a three out of five."
"I rate the product's pricing a three or four out of ten."
"The solution has a yearly subscription, and we have to pay additional costs for technical support."
"ExtremeWireless is subscription-based for both cloud and on-prem solutions, and it's quite expensive."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"We pay approximately $30,000 per year."
"It's not as expensive as some and is scalable to our needs."
"The price could be better. Normally, if you find customers paying for cost-effective wireless solutions, Ruckus devices are a little expensive compared to other vendors."
"Ruckus Wireless is a cheaper solution than Cisco."
"The price of Ruckus Wireless could be better. I have heard it is more expensive than other solutions."
"It's quite expensive, but that is what you get with these types of solutions."
"The cost per AP license should be worked on."
"The price of Ruckus Wireless is less expensive than other solutions, such as Cisco."
"It is decently priced."
"Ruckus Wireless is not an expensive solution."
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business76
Midsize Enterprise46
Large Enterprise73
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise25
 

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 ...
What needs improvement with ExtremeWireless?
There are concerns regarding the stability of ExtremeWireless. It could be an area of improvement, especially when co...
What is your primary use case for ExtremeWireless?
We mainly use ExtremeWireless ( /products/extremewireless-reviews ) for the warehouse, specifically for the Zebra han...
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...
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...
What do you like most about Ruckus Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless is an easy to manage solution.
 

Also Known As

Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
No data available
No data available
 

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
St. Xavier High School, Americatel, Diamond Light Source
American University of Sharjah, Baruch College, Centro Escolar Liceo Santo Tomšs, Chevalier College, Chico Unified School District, Colegio de Fomento El Prado, Columbia Public Schools, Delta School District, Dordt College, Douglas County School District, Drew University, Armonea, Central Utah Clinic, Grove Hill Medical Center, Inner South Community Health Service, Midwest Surgical, Satilla Regional Medical Center, Lyndoch Living, Polonus, Roaring Fork School District, Sonora State, Vivid, Sydney, Players Club, Sandals, Scandic Hotels, Sheraton LAX, Sunbird
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: August 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.