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Aruba Access Points vs Fortinet FortiAP comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Aruba Access Points enhance operational efficiency, providing ROI within a year through improved Wi-Fi and management across sites.
Sentiment score
8.0
Fortinet FortiAP offers a cost-effective, secure solution with reduced maintenance, boosting productivity and reliable connectivity over alternatives.
I do not have to continuously manage them, and their reliability means they are consistently up and running.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Aruba Access Points' support is generally responsive and efficient, though experiences vary, especially with complex issues and integrations.
Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiAP customer service receives mixed reviews, praised for premium support but criticized for standard service wait times.
For technical support alone, I would give them a score of nine out of ten.
A company called ACT is very good at support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Aruba Access Points offer scalability and flexibility for organizations, though some report performance issues with larger user counts.
Sentiment score
7.6
Fortinet FortiAP scales efficiently for various business sizes, despite some complexity and regional issues, with high user satisfaction.
Aruba access points integrate well with existing networks via PoE switches.
While scaling up to five hundred users, it may cause some performance issues.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Aruba Access Points are praised for stability and reliability, despite occasional power and firmware update issues.
Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiAP stability varies, with users experiencing both high reliability and issues like disconnections and required upgrades.
I have not experienced any issues, outages, or problems and have not had to interfere with them at all.
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Access Points need improved coverage, security, support, pricing, integration, interface, signal penetration, delivery, and regional support.
Fortinet FortiAP requires enhanced integration, automation, wireless functions, support services, and feature additions for improved user experience.
Some customers comment that the shape and size of the access point is a little big, especially the one installed in the guest room.
I would like Aruba to provide integration capabilities for Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Directory, or other identity verification engines like Okta, Google Identity, or Ping Identity.
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Access Points offer reasonable pricing and yearly fees, with costs influenced by location and market conditions.
Fortinet FortiAP is competitively priced, more affordable than Cisco, but licensing fees can increase total costs moderately.
The pricing is reasonable and lower than competitors.
They are priced at half the rate of Juniper access points for basic models.
The pricing is a little bit high, and I would rate it a ten on the scale where ten is the highest price.
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Access Points offer reliable, low-maintenance connectivity with seamless device management, strong performance, easy configuration, and third-party integration.
Fortinet FortiAP provides integrated management, easy deployment, and threat detection, enhancing user experience and control without separate controllers.
We receive support from Aruba, with assistance from the country manager in providing better quotations and support for projects.
Additionally, they do not require any kind of license for implementation.
FortiAPs are an enterprise-level device capable of handling a large number of users and connections, ensuring quality.
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Access Points
Ranking in Wireless LAN
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiAP
Ranking in Wireless LAN
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Access Points is 0.9%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 3.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Trevor Fernandes - PeerSpot reviewer
This is a reliable product that is easy to scale thanks to its virtual controller
Aruba's virtual controller is the most important feature. I also have TP-Link, Huawei, and D-Link access points, and normally those solutions have a controller, which is a separate software or hardware used to control all of these. But Aruba's virtual controller basically sits in one of the access points, and if that particular access point goes down, the controller automatically migrates to the next available access point. With this feature, I firstly don't need any additional hardware for a controller. Secondly, I don't need maintenance for it. A virtual controller that roams around from one device to another automatically makes life very easy for me. My access points are nearly ten years old, so though they now have 2.4 and 5 GHz options, features like the captive portal for the guest Wi-Fi, avoiding sticky clients between two Aruba devices, reduced authentication, and the ability to look at the IDS are all still very advanced.
Yati Gharat - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with Fortinet products, but there are signal issues in the outdoor environment
FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment. That is where we are having certain issues. We are not 100% happy with it. With the indoor environment, we are okay, but we are facing some issues when certain voice-related calls go from wireless points. There are certain drops, and we have faced these issues on an ongoing basis. We also have other vendors such as Aruba and Meraki, and we do not face any issues when there is a Teams or Zoom meeting going on. It could be that FortiAP is okay, but that particular device or appliance is not capable of handling that much load of voice and video. This might be the issue. RF Spectrum Analysis helps to understand what is the coverage and hotspots related to a particular access point, but then when we bought it, we did heat mapping through different vendors. If there are any rogue APs, we can identify them with RF Spectrum Analysis. We can see what the coverage area is, but there are some issues with that. Some of the offices have thick glasses, or the cabins are different, so in the RF coverage, what is shown is not what we get on the practical grounds. There are some issues with signal performance. It has the basic functionality that is mostly used, but there are certain devices that are not able to interconnect. When there is any issue or problem, if the administrator can get some information about that, that will be good. With Meraki and Aruba, we get certain beautiful things. If those can be integrated into this solution, it will be more beneficial, but we understand that being a security company, Fortinet's focus is on security.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Access Points?
After we installed the Aruba switches, the work became faster because the network speed improved.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Access Points?
Here, many owners look at the lump sum figure of the deal, comparing overall costs. Our company contacts Aruba's country manager for extra discounts to secure deals. The pricing is reasonable and l...
What needs improvement with Aruba Access Points?
Some customers comment that the shape and size of the access point is a little big, especially the one installed in the guest room. Other than that, nothing specific in terms of improvements comes ...
What do you like most about FortiAP?
If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordless authentication as well. That is a great thing about it.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiAP?
The pricing for Fortinet FortiAP is good compared to other competitive vendors.
What needs improvement with FortiAP?
The radio band support could be improved, especially for legacy devices. We have faced issues where older devices are not able to connect to the access point, often receiving messages that the pass...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Access Points vs. Fortinet FortiAP and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.