Meraki Dashboard Reviews

We primarily use the solution as a dashboard. We use it for configuring switches, routers, access points, or whatever we have in the network.

We like that it is cloud-based.

It offers a lot of great features. 

The solution scales well.

Sometimes the system crashes. We need them to offer better stability. When this happens, we cannot access some of the switches in the network. We can only reach them after multiple attempts. 

It would be nicer if the dashboard was lighter. They need to reduce the CPU usage. 

We'd like it if the dashboard showed everything on the network, even things from other vendors, like HP or Dell.

I've been using the solution for six months or less. 

The stability could be better. It does crash sometimes. I'd rate the stability seven out of ten overall. 

The scalability is quite good. I'd rate it nine out of ten.

The solution can be used in both SMBs and enterprises. 

I have not used technical support yet. I haven't had to contact them. 

The initial setup is not complex. it is pretty straightforward. The steps are simple to follow, and the devices are configured very easily. 

The pricing is okay. I'd rate it seven out of ten It could be cheaper. 

I have not had the chance to compare the solution to other products. 

I'm a Cisco partner. I offer Cisco products to customers. We are IT solutions providers. 

I'd recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten.

We're using Meraki Dashboard for the overall insight and management of the products and services that we have with Meraki, whether switches, SD-WAN, access points, MDM, or the system manager. Meraki Dashboard is our overall portal for service management for all Meraki products.

Meraki Dashboard helped my company because it allows the oversight and management of Meraki products and services from an operational and maintenance perspective, including software updates and overall utility. The solution also allows the segregation of rights so that multiple people can quickly manage different aspects of the services.

What I found most valuable in Meraki Dashboard is that it's well-organized, easy to use, and practical.

An area for improvement in Meraki Dashboard is licensing management because it's a little complex. Product licensing can be made a little bit easier through license concurrency and a more straightforward approach to applying the license to products and services.

I've been using Meraki Dashboard for five or six years now. I'm still using the solution but in a different capacity.

Meraki Dashboard is a stable solution.

Meraki Dashboard is a scalable solution.

I found the technical support for Meraki Dashboard good, so I'm rating it four out of five.

From a dashboard perspective, my company used Fortinet before  Meraki Dashboard to oversee products and services.

Meraki Dashboard was straightforward to set up.

I've seen ROI from Meraki Dashboard.

Meraki Dashboard is a utility and portal that's part of the Meraki solution.

In my company, ten to twelve people use Meraki Dashboard.

As the Meraki Dashboard deployment was very straightforward, only two to three people deployed it. Ten people handled the maintenance of the solution, but it was based on areas in which people had responsibility.

Currently, there's no plan to increase the usage of the Meraki Dashboard.

I would recommend Meraki Dashboard to others who have Meraki products and services, as the solution can provide oversight into what you're doing and what you'll be able to maintain from a Meraki point of view.

My rating for Meraki Dashboard is eight out of ten because it's a strong product for me.

I would say the ease of use is the most valuable feature. It's very easy to set up and get up and running. 

The downside to the simplicity is that you can't get as granular as you could with the Cisco APs. They don't have a command line interface, or CLI, so you can't just go into the CLI and copy and paste a bunch of commands. You have to do it through the dashboard. That would be the biggest downside.

Their biggest improvement needs to be their documentation. With Cisco, for example, you can just Google whatever image your controller is on. You can say, "I want an 8.5 config guide," and they will give you a PDF that goes from A to Z, with everything you need to know in one place for that software image. You can just open up the guide, do a search for whatever you're looking for, and boom, it'll take you to it. Meraki, on the other hand, does not do that, so if you want to learn anything, you kind of have to know what it is you're looking for to begin with. It's just a webpage database of articles and you've got to basically find what you're looking for. I would love to just have a guide for each software release as opposed to me having to hunt it out.

I've been using this solution for about a year and a half now. 

The stability has been amazing. I don't have to manage it a 10th as much as I have to manage my Cisco stuff.

It's very scalable. We have dozens of employees using the dashboard because each location has its own technician and they have access to their location.

I did 99% of the setup. The only thing I had to get help with was for some of the security guys to do their stuff, but it's really easy to set up. That's the great thing about Meraki et al. It is super easy, almost just straight out of the box. You can watch an eight minute video and have an access point up and running. Getting into the nitty gritty is a little harder. When you want to start doing radio profiles and power control, that gets a little more convoluted. It's easy once you know where to look in the dashboard, though. The hard part is knowing where to find the granular stuff, but the initial setup is super easy.

I would say that once you get it really scaled out, one person can maintain it, but that's not how we do it. The security guy handles the firewall part, the voice guy handles the voice part, and I handle the wireless part.

You don't have to pay for the dashboard. You pay for a license, and an access point comes with it. You use the free dashboard to manage those access points.

My advice to those considering this solution is that if you want a set it and forget it solution, this is great. If you want a solution that you can get into the minutia and adjust at a really super granular level, this is not the solution for you.

I would rate this solution as a nine out of ten. 

I'm doing everything with this solution. I'm renting some access and using it for my enterprise. I'm doing the insights. I'm doing the API integration with the NordLayer. I can work from home with it as well. 

For the most part, it's perfect. The features are all great.

The initial setup is very good.

It's a scalable solution.

The solution is stable. 

It is a little bit expensive. 

Maybe sometimes they just need to add some more integration to not be a hundred percent Cisco. For example, with Cisco Umbrella, if they could integrate, let's say, Palo Alto or some other third-party devices on the API, not on the VPN channel, that would be great.

Some features could be added. 

I've used the solution for around two years.

The solution is very stable and reliable. There are no bugs. Its performance is good. 

I've found the solution to be scalable. 

The number of users vary. 

For my company, I'm providing consultancy. That's around ten people. However, for other companies where we provide the consultant, there's sometimes 2,000, or 5,000 people. I cannot distinguish between my business as a small enterprise doing that consultancy or in general our clients. It's hard to give exact user numbers.

I didn't face any real problems that would require support. Maybe some other people might if they are doing things on their own side.

Sometimes, with the old way of Meraki VPN connection, it did not work on Windows. However, I asked somebody to follow up with customer support or with technical support and we worked out the issue.

I'm using the Cisco Meraki right now for my own business. In my company, we are using FortiGate. 

The setup is easy. It's not complex. It could be more friendly. When we connect on the API, maybe we can add some more features. Other than that, it was great.

I don't have a huge environment, to be honest. If I have a big environment, I would automate that. I'm doing everything manually in a small environment, and it's straightforward and fast.

The amount of people you need to maintain the solution depends on the third party. Our monitoring or support will be two or three people. However, usually, maintenance is handled by a third party. We don't consider how many people; we do the fees, and they will do their job.

I handle the initial setup in-house. I did not need the assistance of other outside individuals such as consultants or integrators. 

Of course, the last time I deployed around 1200 sites and I used a third party.

While we haven't seen any ROI just yet, we expect to see an ROI in three to four years. 

It is a pretty expensive solution. I'd rate it four out of five in terms of how expensive it is, with five being the most expensive. 

There is just the licensing fee and the integration. If I do it with the Cisco Umbrella, since I'm forced to use the Umbrella to get the full features, I'm limited with the Umbrella. That said, I don't want, as an example, a SaaS solution. If I do it with NordVPN or any other SaaS solution, I have to pay there, and I do a VPN connection which is not the right solution for me in 2022. 

We're a customer and an end-user.

We are using the latest version of the solution. However, I don't know the exact version number. 

I'd advise users that the solution can be expensive, and they need to brace for that.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for WiFi. It’s the only thing we use. We have eight Meraki’s for WiFi and use this as a dashboard. We have the devices in the dashboard when we link up to the WiFi.

Principally it is for delivering the internet and for the sites to be standard in the company. We have a firewall, servers, storage, and backup all in the cloud.

I like the configuration capabilities.

The implementation process is good.

The cloud security is excellent.

It’s very stable and reliable.

The scalability is good.

I can’t recall needing anything specific to be improved. Maybe in six months, we might have a different opinion.

I’d like the product to allow for other solutions to be integrated with the dashboard as well.

I’ve been using the solution since 2015.

The solution has been quite stable. We haven’t had issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn’t crash or freeze. It’s reliable and the performance has been good.

The product can scale if you need it to. It’s not a problem at all.

We have approximately 80 employees using the solution right now.

We have local technical support. We haven’t had an issue with them.

It’s neither easy nor difficult to set up. It’s got a moderate level of difficulty when it comes to implementation.

The pricing is good. It’s reasonable. We don’t have an issue with the costs. I’m not sure of the exact cost, however, it’s my understanding the Meraki WiFi is around $800. That’s for a three-year license. It’s about $150 a year.

We are a Cisco customer and work with local Cisco partners.

I have friends in other companies and I do recommend this solution to them. Cisco Meraki is the best solution. Other partners from banks, for example, also recommend this solution. I am very happy with this product.

I’d rate the solution ten out of ten. It’s the best.

The Meraki Dashboard allows me to gain everything, for example, access to the devices for programming, and access to reports on hacking attempts, including threats against any of my devices. The tool also works as a firewall and blocks threats, and I can get reports on that. I can also get reports on how well my access points are working. It's a really good dashboard for those purposes.

With the Meraki Dashboard, I can preconfigure a particular device, and then once it joins the network, it automatically updates, so that's a really good case for the tool. Another way the tool improves my organization is that it gives users the ability to find out who is attempting to gain access to the network. There were attempts at hacking in my organization and through the Meraki Dashboard, my team was able to get to the IP and block it easily.

What I found most valuable in the Meraki Dashboard is straight monitoring of the different devices, as well as the ability to easily set up VPNs, for example, both Meraki client VPNs and non-Meraki VPNs for different organizations that work with my company. I also like that the tool is a really good firewall.

For my purposes, I don't need to see any other features added to the Meraki Dashboard. I have no criticisms and I do like the tool. If I had a criticism for it, it would be about the pricing because it could be a little less, but again, for the service that you get, I won't complain about that too much.

I've been working with Meraki Dashboard for the last ten years.

The Meraki Dashboard is a very stable tool. The only time I haven't been able to gain access to it was when there was an issue with Meraki, in particular, with the cloud, but that lasted only for half an hour to an hour.

The Meraki Dashboard is a very scalable tool. It's easy to bring on new devices and new networks. You can go in and set up a device, and once it comes online, it will automatically update, and then you've got all the information on it, and it takes less than five minutes to set up a new device.

Technical support for Meraki Dashboard has been quite good. There was only one time when I couldn't get the answers that I needed, but the rest of the time, I did finally get the answers I needed, though it took a little while. I had to find an older gentleman that had been with the company for a while to figure something out because the young support people couldn't figure it out. Other than that, the technical support has been really good.

In my previous organization, everything was done on the Cisco command line. In my current organization, Meraki came on and the Meraki Dashboard was offered as part of the licensing for each device, so it was a no-brainer to use it rather than try to find another solution.

The initial setup for the Meraki Dashboard was straightforward. It was done before I got on site for this particular job.

Implementation of the Meraki Dashboard was done by a third party, and then when I took over the job, I just gained access to the dashboard. It was a reseller who implemented the tool and my organization was satisfied with the work the reseller did.

I'm unable to share ROI information, and all I know is that Meraki Dashboard is meant to be a one-stop-shop. I can access my devices from anywhere around the world through it and all I need is a browser interface, so the tool allows one person to do the job of a normal five to six-person IT team.

Licensing for Meraki Dashboard is paid every year, and it's on a per-device model that costs roughly $300 to $400 per device, but that comes with full support and troubleshooting, etc. Compared to similar products, Meraki Dashboard is quite high-end, but the costs you pay are all-in.

The Meraki Dashboard is part of Meraki's commitment to its users. It's on a private cloud with Meraki.

In my organization, it's just me using Meraki Dashboard. I'm an IT Manager and I'm also in charge of the deployment and maintenance of the tool. It's easy and the only thing I have to do is make sure I have a network cable and power source, so I plug the tool in the wall, plug it into a network cable, and that's it.

What's going on in my organization is that it was recently purchased by another company that is coming online, and that company is using Meraki, so I'm going to be offloading all of the day-to-day to that company's IT support team.

My advice to others looking into implementing Meraki Dashboard is that you will find that it is very easy to wrap your head around. It is very full. There are no shortcomings on the tool that I found so far as well as on the devices because Meraki Dashboard is made by Cisco, so it's a very good quality device. It's a very good quality dashboard that provides reporting services. Everything is really good, and it will allow you to do anything you need unless you have to physically go on-site, but you can do everything on the Meraki Dashboard.

I'm rating the Meraki Dashboard ten out of ten.

We use a private cloud that is owned by Cisco. We create an account and we can add devices via their MAC address. We then can configure them even before we take them out of the box or when they are on site. It saves a lot of time.

The main use for the Meraki Dashboard is instead of the traditional Cisco way of configuring things where you need a common line, with the Cisco Meraki Dashboard you can configure them through the web. You only need to configure it by doing some checkmarks and typing some IP addresses. It becomes a lot easier when configuring the whole equipment. You can also know the device locations of where they are installed. It will give you a Google Maps location of where the devices are.

Meraki Dashboard has improved organizations because the configuration of the solution is very easy. It has saved a lot of time.

Meraki Dashboard does not require a lot of maintenance. Cisco tells communicates through the Meraki Dashboard web client, it will automatically send updates to the equipment. They will send you an email on what day the updates will take place. If you want to proceed, you can click on accept, or you can decline them and schedule the updates at another time.

I have been happy with all the features that Meraki Dashboard provides.

Meraki Dashboard could improve the user interface by making it more user-friendly. The configuration can at times be difficult.

Also their support team could be better with response times.

I have been using Meraki Dashboard for approximately eight months.

The stability is very good in the Meraki Dashboard. 

For example, when something is about to break, it will give you a warning, such as "There is a problem that I think will be happening. Let's fix them before it happens." 

The support itself, it´s not been great. Long times waiting for them to pickup a phone call (1h30min) long or even more!

Cisco provides a 24x7 support if you are on an enterprise license.

Negative

The initial setup of Meraki Dashboard is straightforward. You only need to click on add a new device, insert its MAC address, and then it is almost done. You have to type the name you want to give to the equipment, and the IP address, and you are finished.

The deployment takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

We used an integrator which was the vendor's support.

The price of Meraki Dashboard is kinda expensive because knowing that it is a cloud-based solution has its benefits. 

Meraki Dashboard is a great solution for every company. 

If you want ease and peace of mind throughout and especially if you are starting out with networking. This is a great solution to learn.

Where I see the real potential for today's networking, would be for the healthcare services.

I rate Meraki Dashboard a nine out of ten.

I'm a consultant. When a customer moves buildings, I help them understand what they're going to need for the new building. We put them in touch with all the right companies that can help put that together.

This solution is usually deployed in the cloud.

Meraki provides the most features. It's helpful to be able to see that your network is online. Something I love about Meraki is on all the Meraki switches in the dashboard, you can see what their current data transfer rates are, and you can run cable tests from it. We've used the cable test function numerous times. It's fantastic.

One of the things we love about Meraki is that we work a lot with audio visual systems for new buildings. We find that Meraki has all the features you need to be able to enable complex network protocols for AV equipment. We deal with a streaming product over IP, and Meraki is fantastic at that. With wireless presentation, you can set Bonjour and mDNS replication really easily on your wireless network and have it traverse different VLANs and different wireless servers. It's fabulous, but you have to know how to do it.

It's a very complex system. Customers have told me that sometimes there are lots of advanced features that are available and that you can change in the dashboard, but sometimes it's very hard to know what they are. It would be very helpful if next to a lot of the settings, they had a button you could click on, and it would explain what that setting actually does and how it affects your network.

Particularly when you're in the dashboard and particularly when you're looking at wireless networks, they have so many advanced options and they're hard to understand. A lot of people don't know what beacon intervalling is or even basic things like channels. 

Meraki has good documentation on their website, but if it was better linked with the dashboard, it would make it a lot simpler. Small businesses that we deal with use Ubiquiti. In their dashboard, next to every setting you can see what that setting does, which is really helpful. DrayTek is like that as well.

We always employ a third party who knows the system inside and out. If you apply it yourself, it would take you forever. From my perspective, that would be the number one thing I would want to see improved as a high-level person, because it would save us a lot of money if we didn't have to employ a third party.

I have been using this solution since before it was purchased by Cisco.

I would give technical support an 8 out of 10. It's very good. We're very lucky. There are a couple of people who are based in Australia who are part of Meraki support, and they're easy to get a hold of and very helpful.

The reason I would mark them down by two points is that sometimes the system is a little bit automated, so it's hard to get to the person you want to talk to. They probably need more support staff, like with most companies. The response time can be a little bit slow sometimes.

Initial setup is very complex.

Every time we've deployed it, we've had to employ third parties to do it for us.

My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best.

I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.

Every time we've deployed it, it's fantastic. It works great. You just have to understand that it's complex, but all systems are complex. Palo Alto is complex, Arista is complex, Extreme Networks is complex.

I would never recommend Meraki to someone who only has 100 users. They would need to have 300 users. For a small number of users, it's expensive, it's complex, and you really need to be able to afford to pay someone who knows how to use it. If you have 300 users, you can have a full-time network engineer.

If you want the best and you have the money, then get it.