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Fortinet FortiExtender vs Ruckus Wireless WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ruckus Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 7.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless WAN is 18.4%, down from 35.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ruckus Wireless WAN18.4%
Fortinet FortiExtender7.9%
Other73.7%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.
NN
IT Manager at Handi Quilter, Inc.
Reliable Wi-Fi deployment handles extreme conditions and reduces maintenance
The only bad downside to Ruckus Wireless WAN is that the guest network is poorly conceived. This is a known issue. There are ways to make the guest network work reliably, but not as promised. That's the only downside to Ruckus Wireless WAN access points - they have a weak guest system and guest portal, but everything else is the best of the best. If I did not have access to Ruckus Wireless WAN support, I think I would have failed. One downside they have now is that you no longer have access to the support folks without a contract. That has changed over many years. That would be really unfortunate because I remember struggling. The company was very hungry at that point and they were very willing to help. Now support requires a contract. That comes with all growing companies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The integration is easy and it works as a normal internet connection."
"You don't need to have two different vendors to interoperate and get into comparability issues or inter-operability issues."
"The product is easy to use and easy to integrate."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"The overall stability deserves a perfect rating."
"The ease of the setup and integration into the entire Fortinet solution is seamless."
"The most valuable feature will be that it works."
"Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have."
"The solution can scale well."
"You can trust and rely on the consistency and reliability of Ruckus Wireless WAN on the WiFi."
"Its build quality is good and quite robust."
"The connectivity, speed, and reliability are very good."
"The actual wireless access points themselves are very powerful."
"The best feature of Ruckus Wireless WAN apart from its seamless roaming feature where you roam beautifully on the network is its analytics tool that gives you so much insight into your deployment, so it has become more of a business intelligence type of tool as well. I also like that Ruckus Networks, in terms of WiFi security issues on the WiFi protocols, is also the first company to give you notices of security issues, and also the first to provide patches for those issues. Ruckus Wireless WAN is very proactive and much, much faster than Cisco, Aruba, and Meraki."
"The most valuable solution is its simplicity. The solution is simple and easy to use."
"One of the standout features is the ease of installation and commissioning, making the whole process very straightforward."
 

Cons

"The engineering of the solution has some negative points, especially in terms of troubleshooting. It's difficult to troubleshoot when we have a problem. It's not like other products like Cisco or Palo Alto which make troubleshooting much easier."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"We would like to see some improvement in the price for 5G models, as they are currently very expensive."
"In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement."
"What most of my clients are telling me is the price is a problem."
"Though Fortinet FortiExtender has some security features, the product could still be improved by adding features similar to those in FortiGuard, such as antivirus, intrusion, prevention, and detection, as well as web filtering features. The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement. In the FortiGate UTM solution of Fortinet, there's software-defined or SD-WAN, and in the next release of Fortinet FortiExtender, I'd like to see SD-WAN embedded in the product. Most of the communication in Fortinet FortiExtender is related to WAN and Edge, so having an SD-WAN function in the product would be useful for integrating and controlling WAN communication."
"The support could be faster. It takes time for them to reply."
"Pricing is an area for improvement. The devices are relatively expensive."
"The connectivity and mobility for users could be improved."
"Ruckus Wireless WAN we have a lot of component shortages in the world. This has impacted deliveries. We have large back orders of the solution."
"The technical support for this solution needs to be improved."
"Really, it's just about centralizing manageability across multiple sites, but like I said, that's me commenting on the old product that we've got. I know they've addressed that now with cloud controllers, but that would've been my main thing."
"I also found the cloud solution not partner-friendly, so that could also be improved."
"Pricing could be improved in Ruckus Wireless WAN because obviously, everybody wants things to become cheaper. Another room for improvement in the product is from a delivery perspective, particularly the heavy delivery delays because of the chip shortage that a lot of manufacturers have to deal with. The chip shortage is not coming to an end, but Ruckus Networks has to make a plan because the ETA has slipped out from the average of three months on switches to fourteen months, which is very, very rough on the industry at the moment. Ruckus Wireless WAN could lose business to Chinese competitors, for example, HTC has a good wireless solution that I haven't tested yet, other than on POC, and it works great. I haven't yet experienced the HTC wireless solution in large deployments, so you never know how it's going to go, but HTC has managed to circumvent the chip shortage, so the ETA provided by HTC is much more preferred than the ETAs provided by Ruckus Networks, Cisco, and Aruba products."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not that expensive."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"In terms of the license of Ruckus Wireless WAN being cheap or expensive, it would differ based on your country. As I'm living in Turkey, it's expensive, so far. There is a big challenge about the chip crisis or the silicon crisis lately, and all vendors are fighting, so not enough equipment could be sold and the vendors must earn money, so it's very fair for vendors to push software and licensing to keep working and earning, so it's hard to answer a question on how cheap or expensive the license is for the solution."
"This is a wonderful product for the price."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."
"Sometimes they sell it for Rs.20,000, and other times, they sell it for Rs.30,000. Then, suddenly, they ask for Rs.70,000. There should be a tiered pricing structure based on the quantity. We understand that if you buy more, the price should be lower, and if you buy less, it may be higher."
"Compared with Cisco Wireless WAN, the pricing for Ruckus Wireless WAN is two out of five. Ruckus Wireless WAN is twice the price of Cisco Wireless WAN."
"The solution is very competitively priced."
"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
Is Ubiquiti Wireless better than Ruckus Wireless WAN?
Ubiquiti Wireless is extremely easy to set up and is an excellent option for small businesses, offering enterprise features for a one-time fee and no ongoing licensing fees. Ubiquiti Wireless is ve...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ruckus Wireless WAN?
These are not cheap access points. If you want to go cheap, Ubiquiti is an option. I knew they were worth it because once deployed, they wouldn't require additional attention. They're not at Cisco ...
What needs improvement with Ruckus Wireless WAN?
Ruckus Wireless WAN is overpriced. Compared to others at the moment, Ruckus Wireless WAN does not have many valuable features. Compared to everyone else, everyone else comes self-hosted, either wit...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
American University of Sharjah, Dordt College, Drew University, Lamar University, Raroa School
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiExtender vs. Ruckus Wireless WAN and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,125 professionals have used our research since 2012.