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Aruba Airwave vs Aruba ClearPass comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Aruba Airwave
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (2nd)
Aruba ClearPass
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Aruba Airwave and Aruba ClearPass aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Aruba Airwave is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 7.8%, down 10.3% compared to last year.
Aruba ClearPass, on the other hand, focuses on Network Access Control (NAC), holds 24.8% mindshare, down 26.3% since last year.
Network Management Applications
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Prashant-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution has multi-vendor support, and it can be used for network management
Aruba Airwave is an on-prem solution, so you have to manage it with your servers to be deployed. You can also deploy it on the cloud if you have your own private cloud. All the configuration guides and the different types of designs you need are available from Aruba Airwave's portal. I would recommend Aruba Airwave to other users. Overall, I rate Aruba Airwave ten out of ten.
Abdelhamid Saber - PeerSpot reviewer
Secures the network with flexible controls and excellent support
We use Aruba ClearPass as a network access control solution. It prevents unauthorized access and allows access for users in the internal environment, performing checks and onboarding We use ClearPass to secure our environment. Before ClearPass, our environment wasn't as secure. The most…

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 features of the solution are its dashboard and simplicity."
"Aruba Airwave provides a robust solution for monitoring and configuring Wi-Fi networks."
"The technical support services are good."
"The solution is not overly expensive."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Airwave is the multivendor support, which enables you to manage and monitor different vendors or products."
"The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization."
"AirWave definitely helps us troubleshoot and get to the root cause of the issues. It gives you an excellent indication of what's going on within your network at different locations. You can get to the area, take a look at the AirWave analysis, and make informed decisions."
"This solution gives you a lot of reporting capabilities, and it has a very good interface."
"The interface is very easy to use and the workflow is quite straightforward."
"ClearPass is open to any operating system or mobile app."
"A mature and functional product."
"The visibility and security features are most valuable. We get a clear view. It is a very secure product for educational institutions."
"What I like most about Aruba ClearPass is that it has the best enforcement feature for the network. I also like its Guest Captive Portal and virtual security enforcement features, but the virtual security enforcement feature is still under testing by my company. Aruba ClearPass also has a wonderful UI which I find valuable."
"We are able to satisfy many different organizational needs because of its flexibility."
"I like the stability and the GUI, which is always improving."
"Aruba ClearPass's most valuable features are simple accessing, operating, and management. Additionally, the dashboard and performance work well."
 

Cons

"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"I would like to see is “AAS”. Not only Aruba APs with central, but NAC/ClearPass, AirWave, and everything licensed as a Service."
"Pricing for Aruba Airwave could be cheaper, which is an area for improvement in the solution."
"The main challenge we've faced with Aruba Airwave is its high cost, especially regarding high availability and failover licenses, which can be relatively expensive for customers. As for recommendations for improvement, considering that Aruba is planning to retire Airwave soon and introduce a new solution, it's crucial that the new product meets or exceeds the current Airwave's feature set. Customers expect a seamless transition without losing any functionality, so Aruba needs to ensure that the new solution is ready with all the essential features and capabilities from day one to avoid any gaps or dissatisfaction among users and partners."
"We're looking for more device compatibility. Like compatibility with third-party devices."
"The overall monitoring of this solution could be improved."
"More devices or vendors should be onboarded to Aruba Airwave."
"Whenever you get an error it doesn't immediately tell you what the thing is that is causing the error. You have to sit down and research it. If it could say what error is causing the issue, it would make my troubleshooting a lot quicker."
"Aruba ClearPass could improve the complexity of the initial usage. It takes some time to be good at it. It's not simple to build and connect the rules to the network you want to deploy them on."
"The solution should be more precise for VMs and allow for management of the entire system."
"I would like the area of managing wired technology to be improved. Wireless is very good but I'm still struggling a bit to do my end to end configurations in the wired technology area."
"We cannot onboard IoT devices such as printers, cameras, and some smaller devices."
"The licensing model could be improved."
"I would describe the initial setup as moderately difficult."
"Lacks the ability to handle more than one certificate for both the management process and the Captive Portal."
"A more streamlined menu of licensing options would be helpful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AirWave is a very expensive solution. If you implement it in a wide range network, it will cost a lot. There is no option to sell it outside that price segment, which is a problem."
"Aruba Airwave's licensing cost is not that expensive."
"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (PoC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability."
"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."
"We must buy a new license to connect more devices to scale up the solution."
"Aruba Airwave is an expensive solution."
"The tool is expensive. If one is bad or expensive, and ten is very good or cheap, I rate the product's price as a six."
"The licensing is on an yearly basis."
"Licensing and pricing are extremely straightforward."
"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (POC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability.​"
"The price of Aruba ClearPass is expensive. When you want to build redundant systems it can be seen as necessary, so the enterprise will manage all of those costs."
"I can say that the package or licensing model offered for the solution is a permanent one."
"The product is very costly."
"Aruba ClearPass has permanent licenses. You purchase it one time and this license is yours. You don't need to refresh it for five years, et cetera. They have a couple of licenses for enabled features with not only one license."
"The starting price of Aruba ClearPass is 200k Hong Kong dollars. The licensing is based on the endpoints. For example, 100 - 500 end points."
"The licensing cost for Aruba ClearPass is a bit expensive. Its pricing could be better. The license costs around $125,000 for the perpetual license and support for one year. Aruba can give you a license with five thousand endpoint access and one thousand five hundred onboard licenses on one hundred endpoints and two controllers."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Airwave?
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Airwave?
The tool is expensive. If one is bad or expensive, and ten is very good or cheap, I rate the product's price as a six.
What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required. The product's scalability can be improved.
Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What is the biggest difference between Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC?
I've done quite a lot of work with ClearPass, and not a lot with FortiNAC/Bradford. ClearPass incorporates a number of different functions including ClearPass Guest for creating complex wireless g...
What do you like most about Aruba ClearPass?
If you are looking at the base installation, then it was a very straightforward process, which I would rate an eight or nine out of ten.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Avenda eTIPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: December 2024.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.