Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.5
Aruba Airwave significantly boosts ROI by enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and optimizing engineer time from 60 to 15-20 minutes.
Sentiment score
6.1
Aruba ClearPass secures data and reduces IT time, providing varied ROI by industry despite licensing challenges and costs.
Using Aruba ClearPass has resulted in less engineering time compared to other products we've used.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Aruba Airwave support is reliable with strong ratings, though slower escalation compared to Cisco is noted by some users.
Sentiment score
7.5
Aruba ClearPass customer service is highly rated, though some users suggest improvements in response time and issue escalation.
Angie was very kind and communicated well in both Spanish and English, making it pleasant to connect with her.
Portnox is one level up, as their customer support is outstanding.
We have escalated questions to tech support, and I would rate the technical support an eight out of ten.
We have local support, so it's much easier.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Aruba Airwave is scalable and adaptable, supporting medium to enterprise businesses with adjustable resources for varying infrastructures.
Sentiment score
8.2
Aruba ClearPass is scalable, praised for modular growth, efficient in large deployments, and adaptable despite minor competitive gaps.
Aruba Airwave is fully scalable, as we have a large number of tenants using the network with approximately six thousand end users.
I believe the scalability of ClearPass is rated as ten out of ten.
Once the policy is defined, scaling works automatically and is fast.
Aruba ClearPass is very scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Aruba Airwave is highly rated for stability, reliability, and integration, though minor performance issues occur in crowded environments.
Sentiment score
8.6
Aruba ClearPass is widely trusted for stability and reliability, with high performance ratings and quickly resolved issues.
I have found Aruba Airwave to be stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Airwave needs improved GUI stability, integration, and cost-effectiveness, with better scalability, support, and device compatibility to meet customer demands.
Aruba ClearPass needs user interface and integration enhancements, improved support, better scalability, simplified administration, and refined licensing models.
When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls.
When upgrading hardware, there were technical issues with network interfaces and Red Hat, which required escalation to developers.
The language and policy enforcement mechanisms are not clear, making it difficult to use the product effectively.
I don't see any limitations in ClearPass.
It is also better to improve threat intelligence for built-in threat detection and prevention.
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Airwave offers flexible yet complex pricing, cost-effective compared to competitors, with trials to evaluate features and manageability.
Aruba ClearPass is considered costly with complex licensing, but many find its value justifies the expense compared to alternatives.
We cannot mix in prices, and of course, prices are going higher.
Achieving the best price requires careful selection from a menu of licensing options.
Aruba ClearPass is a premium product with higher pricing, which seems unnecessary given its complexity.
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Airwave provides comprehensive multivendor network management with real-time monitoring, orchestration, troubleshooting, and robust reporting features.
Aruba ClearPass excels in flexible security features, integration, user-friendly management, network visibility, and supports multi-vendor environments cost-effectively.
Aruba Airwave provides good visibility, offering extensive data on network dynamics, such as access point connections, usage, signal strengths, and potential interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks.
It provides near real-time monitoring using AIMON and AURO protocols, which is robust with multiple models and brand support.
It is more about troubleshooting and checking the coverage problems of wireless.
The most effective feature for us is the OnGuard feature.
The ClearPass solution has reduced the amount of engineering time compared to previous solutions, making it more efficient for our purposes.
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Airwave
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
23
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 6.8%, down 9.9% compared to last year.
Aruba ClearPass, on the other hand, focuses on Network Access Control (NAC), holds 24.4% mindshare, down 26.2% 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…
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Management Applications solutions are best for your needs.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

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 pricing is comparable to the competition, such as SolarWinds.
What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
We cannot identify any problems. I am not deeply familiar with the solution, so if I mention a feature, it might already exist, yet I may be unaware of it.
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: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.