Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Ekahau AI Pro comparison

The compared Cisco and Ekahau solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #4 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 12.6% mindshare in the category. Ekahau is ranked #1 in NM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 24.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Ekahau users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 119 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

13,735 Views
11,204 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Ekahau AI Pro

Read 35 Ekahau AI Pro reviews

4,052 Views
2,172 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ekahau AI Pro

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ekahau AI Pro both offer essential tools in wireless network management but with different focuses. Meraki leads in user-friendly cloud-based management, while Ekahau excels in detailed Wi-Fi planning capabilities.

Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN provides centralized cloud management, simplifying network control with comprehensive visibility, easy configuration, and effective monitoring. It is well-suited for both small and large enterprises. Ekahau AI Pro shines in Wi-Fi analytics, enabling precise network planning and real-time adjustments, favored by professionals for its detailed site surveys and planning capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki could improve technical support escalation processes, enhance hardware diagnostics, and offer better logging features for advanced needs. Ekahau AI Pro should address high RAM usage, extend support for outdoor and mixed environments, and improve customer service responsiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers straightforward deployment, ideal for quick and scalable setups across cloud environments. Their customer support receives mixed reviews. Ekahau AI Pro is tailored for on-premises deployments, with varied feedback on its customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki offers a subscription-based model, seen as high yet justified by robust features yielding positive ROI, though licensing renewals can be costly. Ekahau AI Pro requires a larger upfront investment for software and hardware, but its extensive planning tools are valued for large Wi-Fi projects, offering long-term benefits despite steep costs.

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

Buyer's Guide

Wireless LAN

May 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

Wireless LAN (4th)

Ekahau AI Pro

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Modeling and Simulation (1st)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ekahau AI Pro aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 12.6%, up 12.3% compared to last year.
Ekahau AI Pro, on the other hand, focuses on Network Modeling and Simulation, holds 24.1% mindshare, down 40.2% since last year.

Wireless LAN

Network Modeling and Simulation

Featured Reviews

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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Lakshmi Narayan

Business Development Manager at PCa Lumens

Efficient mobile surveys with a simple setup but room for cloud improvements

As of now, almost everything is there and suitable for site requirements. However, the cloud takes a lot of time to upload the site survey, and we regularly face issues with syncing to the optimizer. There needs to be improvement in this area. Additionally, the product can be very expensive.

Read full review

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 aspect of this solution is the single pane of glass management and reliability."

"The solution is easy to install."

"The most amazing part is that their Access Points have the ability to connect to multiple conference devices at different times, and it shows you the very in-depth Wi-Fi analytics through their dashboard."

"The ability to manage it remotely is the most valuable. If it has an internet connection, you can get to it. It is a great product for remote clinics. We kind of thought about doing this kind of standalone technology. Meraki is easy to manage. From a management perspective, it is the easiest to use, especially in the cloud. I like Meraki. I even have it in my home."

"The product is super stable. I would rate the stability a ten."

"It enables quick deployment within all branches for the users."

"The solution has worked very well in our campus environment."

"The initial setup of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN was very easy."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"It is a stable solution."

"The spectrum analysis capability is very good. It provides deep insights into the Wi-Fi environment. It's not just about troubleshooting interference but also optimizing access points and modifying power levels and channels."

"Channel planning, access points' auto position, and the size of the spectrum are valuable to me."

"The most valuable features of the Ekahau Site Survey for us are the combination of using the tool."

"I don't handle the software that much. I'll do some of the testing with our CTO. It is primarily him and I. He has commented before that he likes the fact that with two licenses, we can set it up so that when we're on a large facility, he can see where I am and I can see where he is. That's for sure is very handy in large venues."

"Ekahau Site Survey is user-friendly."

"The most valuable function is the site survey capability."

"The ability to perform dual-band spectrum analysis while conducting the standard WiFi site survey is a tremendous time saver."

More Ekahau AI Pro pros

Cons

"We would like the solution to work on the pricing of the solution. It would be ideal if it could bring the overall costs down."

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

"It could be slightly cheaper but it's fine."

"In the next release, I would like to see a third-party high tech center to connect multiple users to a particular network."

"In a future release, they should offer a next-generation UTM, where you can manage all items and the network, and have it include a lot of security features like fingerprinting functionality."

"The technical support for Meraki needs improvements made to the waiting times."

"There's nothing that special about it."

"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."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"The GPS feature could be improved."

"The new Sidekick is going to support Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E."

"I would say that the indoor site accuracy is pretty good but the outdoor one should be improved. I would say if there was a way to put trees in there and canopies, that would be great."

"The information regarding the clients and signal strengths is missing in the Ekahau console."

"Our CTO was not real happy with their support."

"I am having problems importing maps to Ekahau Site Survey. Importing is one of the first steps in using the solution and it is getting stuck. The problem could be that our maps are large with many layers."

"Ekahau would benefit by making improvements to lag time."

"Ekahau Site Survey is an expensive solution, and its pricing should be improved."

More Ekahau AI Pro cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We do a three-year or five-year license and support. Its price could be better, but overall, we get competitive prices. A lot of times, Cisco puts itself out of range, especially with Meraki. I've dealt with a lot of business development from Cisco, and they have always been accommodating, especially in dealing with hospitals or government. There is also a right time to buy it. July is when they are eager to sell a lot of things because that is the end of their calendar year."

"The solution is pretty expensive."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is an expensive solution."

"It is an expensive solution."

"We pay a yearly license fee for the solution."

"Cisco products are generally recognized for their performance and quality, which may justify the higher price point compared to other options on the market."

"We are on a SmartNet contract. All of our Cisco products are licensed under one contract. I do not think there are any additional costs."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN's pricing is high."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"This solution is not cheap. If you only need an occasional site survey, you are better off contracting a wireless engineering professional that has one."

"The pricing could be lower because the Huawei radial planning is free for the partner. When I asked my boss about buying Ekahau and the USB key, it was complicated because of the high cost, which is €5,000."

"9,000 Euro per year."

"Since we are an academic institute, we get better prices and discounts from Cisco, but not Ekahau."

"That's a tricky thing. When it started off, we had one three-year license and one one-year license because we have two devices. Now, from my understanding, we can only renew every year or get a one-year license, and that cost varies. Being a government organization, we get a different cost than commercial. We have deployed it on Surface Pro tablets. So, the only other cost would be the hardware cost."

"We pay $6,000 yearly for the licensing, but each piece of hardware, the Ekahau Sidekick, is $5,000."

"The pricing is high."

"The product is quite expensive."

More Ekahau AI Pro pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

14%

Educational Organization

Government

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 have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...

See all answers

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 be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...

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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 a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...

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What do you like most about Ekahau Site Survey?

We reviewed the maps as a team and determined if any changes needed to be made or if we could just replace APs as they are. We got into this by upgrading our access points to Meraki, and we wanted ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ekahau Site Survey?

The pricing and licensing of Ekahau are costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Ekahau Site Survey?

Ekahau could be improved by adding three-dimensional modeling, as we currently cannot view APIs in a three-dimensional perspective. They need to include backhaul features and improve the ease of in...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 32% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 14% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

AirMagnet Survey PRO vs Ekahau AI Pro

Compared 62% of the time

iBwave Unity vs Ekahau AI Pro

Compared 29% of the time

RedSeal vs Ekahau AI Pro

Compared 5% of the time

Forsk Atoll vs Ekahau AI Pro

Compared 1% of the time

More Ekahau AI Pro Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

June 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Ekahau AI Pro

June 2025

Download Ekahau AI Pro product report

Also Known As

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

Ekahau Site Survey

Overview

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

Ekahau AI Pro optimizes Wi-Fi network planning, design, and analysis with advanced tools that include heat maps, spectrum analysis, and data-driven insights, ensuring efficient deployment and management.

Ekahau AI Pro offers comprehensive solutions for Wi-Fi site assessment, integrating cutting-edge analysis tools. With features like heat mapping, RF interference examination, and dual-band spectrum analysis, it aids in precise access point placement and performs predictive surveys for performance optimization. It supports diverse environments and industries, including education and healthcare. Despite its strong capabilities, users point to areas for improvement such as high resource demand, file management, and outdoor GPS functionality. The pricing and support aspect are also highlighted as needing attention.

What features make Ekahau AI Pro stand out?

Opacity View on Heat Maps for detailed visualization and planning.
DWG Import allows for seamless structural inclusion in designs.
Accurate Access Point Estimation helps optimize network coverage.
RF Interference Analysis ensures minimal performance degradation.
Dual-band Spectrum Analysis provides comprehensive frequency data.
Troubleshooting Tools for resolving network issues efficiently.
High Hardware Compatibility for extensive device support.
Customizable Reports for tailored presentation of findings.
Mobile Survey Capabilities facilitate on-the-go assessments.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Enhanced Network Performance from precise AP placement and analysis.
Improved Troubleshooting Efficiency through advanced tools and reports.
Time-saving Predictive Surveys that expedite deployment.
User-friendly Interface simplifies training and operation processes.

Ekahau AI Pro is widely implemented in sectors like education, where it supports comprehensive campus-wide networks, and healthcare, enhancing patient care with reliable connectivity. Enterprises utilize Ekahau for designing robust networks that handle high-density environments, ensuring secure and fast wireless access.

Ekahau

Sample Customers

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

Presidio, Planet Earth, Ruckus

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