

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Aruba Instant On Access Points are competitors in the wireless network solutions market. Aruba seems to have the upper hand in cost-effectiveness and user-friendly deployment due to its lack of ongoing licensing fees and straightforward management.
Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is renowned for its ease of use, seamless integration, and cloud-based management capabilities. Its centralized dashboard allows for easy monitoring and configuration of networks, ensuring continuous updates and reliability. Aruba Instant On Access Points offer seamless setup, advanced radio management, and integration with existing network solutions. They provide a unified user management experience and include features like stateful firewalls and zero-touch provisioning.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki could benefit from a more flexible licensing model and enhanced on-premises management. Users have expressed a desire for more customization to align better with enterprise needs. Aruba Instant On Access Points would improve by enhancing their scalability, integration with third-party solutions, and further strengthening their security features. Both solutions could work on improving their compliance standards and radio management for large enterprises.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN provides seamless cloud-based deployment, simplifying configuration and management. However, user experiences with customer support vary, with some regions benefiting from a local presence. Aruba Instant On Access Points offer an easy on-premises setup, and are praised for their responsive and dependable customer support, even in the absence of public cloud options.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is perceived as costly due to its licensing model, which can significantly increase long-term expenses. However, users often find the initial investment worthwhile for its high-quality features. Aruba Instant On Access Points, free from ongoing licensing costs, present a more economical option, especially for budget-conscious buyers. Aruba's pricing structure is appealing to smaller businesses, offering a more attractive total cost of ownership.
The technical support from Aruba is rated seven due to limitations, such as support issues when the controller is on the VM side.
There are still issues with the language barrier and the overall quality of support.
I would rate Cisco support a 10, as the response time and process via the dashboard are easy, and response times are always within the SLA.
It would be better if the SLA of technical support was less than four hours.
There are some problems with their technical support when it comes to the whole Meraki system.
Meraki is not scalable enough since it straightforwardly maps its products to segmented specifications.
The stability of Aruba Instant On Access Points is generally good.
We have experienced many instances where we have experienced a lag in our network, and I am not sure if it is due to their devices or our network.
Stability is not an issue for me because it comes with Cisco's proven manufacturer quality.
There is not enough focus on security across networking vendors, and they often add features without testing them thoroughly.
In future updates, more AI for intelligence and the option for a separate network could be beneficial.
The default configuration can be overridden to enhance performance beyond the default settings.
The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks.
Some of the newer models of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN access point have encompassed the new wireless protocols and increased the strength of their antennas.
The solution supports Wi-Fi 6.
When comparing pricing with Cisco, Aruba Instant On Access Points are competitively priced, making them affordable solutions for SMBs, rather than being higher priced.
The pricing of Aruba Instant On Access Points is competitive compared to Cisco, and they are actually cheaper.
Aruba Instant On Access Points work without a list price, suggesting that they are open source and no additional licensing costs are incurred.
The pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not competitive enough for the SMB market compared to other brands.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is on par with other devices in that category, offering competitive pricing.
My experience with the pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is that it is competitive with other providers offering paid subscriptions.
We have implemented approximately 300 plus devices on one premise without receiving any complaints about malfunctioning or functionality errors; it runs smoothly.
Customers choose Aruba because it is more stable, has superior radio management, and offers features like mesh and a stateful firewall.
The virtual controller feature is very beneficial because it removes the need for a physical controller.
It also manages security clients and switches, providing a single dashboard to manage multiple network infrastructures.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN has helped optimize network traffic very effectively, as we do prioritization for streaming and web conferencing apps, resulting in a clear, visible improvement in performance.
All auditing and event logs are centralized in the dashboard.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN | 9.6% |
| Aruba Instant On Access Points | 2.2% |
| Other | 88.2% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 23 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 4 |
| Large Enterprise | 9 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 69 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 27 |
| Large Enterprise | 31 |
Ingredients for success.
Fast 802.11ac Wave 2, secure employee and guest access, easy-to-use web, and mobile app management.
Say yes to secure Wi-Fi access.
Pre-built access control lists (ACLs) and built-in firewall in the access points prevent malicious traffic from entering your network – we call it “hassle-free” security.
Never drop an important call.
With Instant On, voice and video business applications are automatically prioritized, so you stay connected with your peers.
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