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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Juniper WLC Series comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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
Ranking in Wireless LAN
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.7
Number of Reviews
123
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Juniper WLC Series
Ranking in Wireless LAN
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 10.1%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper WLC Series is 1.5%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN10.1%
Juniper WLC Series1.5%
Other88.4%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2847906 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Wireless management has become efficient with rich client visibility for troubleshooting
In terms of specific challenges with hybrid environments, I face no issues. I assess the operational efficiency of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN in my IT environment as pretty efficient for the most part. I would rate it at approximately 80%. I have had some issues with the dashboard itself and as far as switch management goes, but that is not necessarily on the wireless side of things. The wireless side has been quite good. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN optimizes the experience in a hybrid or distributed enterprise setup. My impression of the end-to-end visibility offered by Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is that it is quite good. I function as an admin. What stood out to make me choose Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is that I already leverage many products with Cisco. I have Catalyst switching, ACI infrastructure, and use them for my core and edge routers. I would give this review an overall rating of 8 out of 10.
RN
National Marketing Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
AI-driven optimization enhances network management and reduces hardware needs
In my region, access to the product is very difficult and presents a logistical nightmare. Also, pricing is a big problem and a barrier to entry when selling Juniper against competitors. Furthermore, the knowledge of the product's capabilities is not understood properly by those selling it, leading to overselling and overquoting.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The flexibility, since it's a cloud service, is the most valuable feature of this solution, as well as the administration, management of the whole platform, development, and deployment options in the cloud."
"Cisco's technical support is very good and better than other vendors."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It's simple to manage when there's a problem."
"The interface is excellent. We've been really happy with it."
"Integrating with the router, firewall, and Wireless Controller is advantageous."
"It only comes with a controller on the cloud, and this differentiator simplifies network management."
"For Meraki, the ease of deployment and management is most valuable."
"It provides reliable and effective Wi-Fi to our clients and it is very scalable for high density installations."
"There weren't any scalability issues, the product did what it had to do."
"It prevents a large number of unauthorized modifications of access point devices."
"It is a very stable solution."
"Juniper WLC Series is a very high-performance device designed for indoor wireless deployment."
"Customer service is very good, and they have very experienced engineers on the site I worked on."
"The tool has given us more visibility, but I'm not very technical, so I can't comment on specific features. However, the diagnostic tools for identifying system issues have greatly improved, which we appreciate. We still use Cisco ICE for authentication on the Juniper network, as we did before. We've seen cost benefits with the Juniper WLC Series, which was a key factor in our decision-making during the proof of concept. Besides cost improvements, we've also noticed better resolution of issues and faults in our help desk, thanks to the enhanced features."
"The solution is stable, we have not witnessed any bugs or glitches and it doesn't seem to crash or freeze, it's a reliable product and the performance is good in general."
 

Cons

"The Meraki platform needs better on-premises management options."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"Unfortunately, we have to deal with European privacy laws and as far as we can see, the solution is not compliant with these. It's why we're not able to continue with Cisco Meraki. They need to become compliant with GDPR laws."
"This solution could benefit from a heat mapping ability so that you can tell where the hotspots are, and where the good signals are."
"The cost of the devices and the solution itself could be more competitive."
"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."
"Documentation could be improved, but everything else has been spot-on."
"We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises."
"The biggest issue was that Juniper stopped developing, so we had to look for another solution."
"The solution should create configuration documentation."
"We would prefer it if the solution could be less expensive."
"In my region, access to the product is very difficult and presents a logistical nightmare. Also, pricing is a big problem and a barrier to entry when selling Juniper against competitors."
"There could be more information from the controller, and it could be easier to work with the controller lights. It's not easy to bring up the upgrades."
"WLCv was a product at the being of its evolution, so there was room for improvement there."
"There could be a high level of security."
"Juniper lacks a network access control agent similar to solutions like Alubakya Path and Cisco ISE."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."
"The solution could improve the licensing structure and the price is expensive."
"It is a relatively expensive solution compared to traditional network alternatives."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The price/benefit ratio is great."
"Cisco Meraki requires either a one year or three year license for a standard enterprise license."
"I would say that they have adequate pricing."
"It could be more affordable than other solutions."
"There is a certain amount that needs to be paid towards the licensing charges associated with the product, but though I am not sure, I feel the licenses that we have in our company are for three years."
"Juniper WLC Series is a bit pricey but worth its cost."
"The solution's pricing is reasonable."
"The licensing cost is quite high, but considering it's an enterprise solution, the complexity justifies the price."
"The product is relatively affordable for enterprise companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
 

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...
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...
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...
What needs improvement with Juniper WLC Series?
Juniper lacks a network access control agent similar to solutions like Alubakya Path and Cisco ISE. There should be a network access control engine. Some customers find it challenging as they do no...
What is your primary use case for Juniper WLC Series?
I work with Juniper service provider solutions. I have a service provider customer and some enterprise customers in retail.
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

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
Apollo Hotel Papendrecht, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Bajaj Capital, Baloise Insurance, BAS Group, Borealis, Danish Crown, Deloitte Belgium, Jan Yperman Hospital, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, MercaSID, S.A., NHTV Breda University, Parklands College and Christopher Robin Pre-Primary, San Antonio Community Hospital, Sandia National Laboratories, Springfield Public Schools (SPS), St. Catherine University, TalkTalk, The Education Village, University of Copenhagen, University of the Highlands and Islands, University of the West of Scotland (UWS), Valdosta State University, Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), zulily
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Juniper WLC Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,262 professionals have used our research since 2012.