Aruba Instant On Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN comparison

Aruba Instant On Access Points vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

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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 Instant On Access Points

Ranking in Wireless LAN

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ranking in Wireless LAN

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Instant On Access Points is 0.9%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 12.9%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

Ricardo Quintero

Infrastructure/Telcom Coordinator at Schnellecke Group AG & Co. KG

Affordable and offers an easy setup phase

I was working on the on-premises solutions, like IronNet, Aironet, and some other tools from Cisco, but not with Meraki. The last Aironet model that we have here in Mexico, in the corporate office, and in some of the other regions of Mexico is Cisco Aironet 3700 and Cisco Aironet 3800, so it is just two or three devices. Aruba Instant On Access Points was working with Aruba 2540 and Cisco 3850 In Cisco, I found some issues. I was working well with a vendor. I was working with Cisco Catalyst 9200 and Cisco Catalyst 9300, along with Cisco Catalyst 2916M XL Switch. With all devices, we got a report. During the immigration, we choose another vendor, which Aruba. We have some issues with Aruba Instant On Access Points in iOS that are targeting the devices, and I have seen some problems with the DHCP solution.

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RezaPradipta

Sr. Officer Network Managed Service Product Management at PT. Indosat Tbk

Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration

The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The product is easy to set up, providing value for time since it is very quick."

"It's a good solution and a good technology."

"The app and the provisioning are the best features of the product. It was really impressive that I was able to just provision it remotely. I didn't have to be on-site with my friend, and we were just able to get everything up and operational. So, the app is great. It sends me notifications when things are down, and it tells me how everything is doing."

"The virtual Controller feature is valuable."

"Aruba is much better than other vendors like Cisco and NETGEAR in terms of quality, price, and value for money."

"It's super user-friendly."

"With a variety of switches in their setup, they find that Aruba's online monitoring tools and configuration options for applications effectively manage most of their requirements, all while keeping the process straightforward and user-friendly."

"The advantages of Aruba Instant On Access Points include using a mobile application to control various aspects, making it a user-friendly solution for home use."

More Aruba Instant On Access Points pros

"The initial setup of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN was very easy."

"The captive portal feature is my favorite. It allows us to keep track of how many people are entering our client's businesses."

"The graphic user interface is very nice."

"It's easy to manage and provides a clear network view, allowing efficient navigation down to the network details."

"It is very stable, very resilient, and very robust."

"The functionalities are quite professional and complete. It offers good integration with other Meraki products, like switches and the firewall. You can get an overview of all networks and the host. It's really great; nobody else can do that."

"We can deploy it and check in on our customers without having an on-site connection or an on-site infrastructure for elderly customers."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

Cons

"It's only suitable for smaller offices. It doesn't scale well."

"The solution should include higher speed and lesser cost."

"I believe there's room for improvement in the validation process, especially for customers facing compliance issues when managing access points from the cloud. It would be beneficial if the access points could also be managed from an on-premises controller. Regarding additional features, customers express interest in enhancing the controller, specifically improving the capability to manage a higher number of access points from the same controller. This feature is crucial for better scalability. Another feature that customers would appreciate is the ability to increase the number of access points. However, the current process for obtaining this permission can be time-consuming, and customers would like to see improvements in this regard."

"The Unifi Controller is slower compared to other options like Aruba."

"The tool is priced high."

"The security aspect needs improvement."

"The product's machine or equipment can cater to around 20 connections and cannot go beyond 50 simultaneous connections, because of which I think the tool's scalability is limited."

"While it is mostly scalable, there are some limitations."

More Aruba Instant On Access Points cons

"The solution should be more secure."

"When we are using SSID roaming, it is not flexible in terms of which AP it connects to."

"The solution could be cheaper."

"if there is a better feature, they write it as beta so you have to be careful."

"The graphics and call management could be better."

"The ease of use is average. It could be more user-friendly."

"They should introduce a grace period of 60 days after license expiry because as it is now, it automatically goes down and there is no grace period."

"It's performing well, really well. We don't have any issues. We only have issues if there is a lot of rogue APs in the neighborhood and that not Meraki's fault."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It needs a license."

"I rate the product's pricing a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."

"Its price is fair. It is not really cheap, and it is also not expensive. It is in the middle."

"The product's price falls on the cheaper end of the spectrum. The price of the product is one of the biggest benefits that it offers."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the standard licensing charges associated with the product. There are some additional costs associated with the product since I have seen customers who purchase three-year or five-year plans."

"Aruba Instant On Access Points are license-free. It's a very good and cheap solution for wireless networks. It can be compared with solutions from Ubiquiti and TP-Link, but it is in a different class. Aruba Instant On Access Points are cheaper than those from Cisco, Ruckus, and Motorola. It's perhaps the cheapest one. They do not use licenses, so it is a solution from the box. You don't need to pay extra money or deal with hidden payments."

"You buy it for $165 an AP, which is what we paid."

"It is expensive."

More Aruba Instant On Access Points pricing and cost advice

"Users have to pay a yearly license fee for the solution."

"It is expensive."

"At this price point, I would not mind seeing a four-way channel, instead of a 3x3 or a 4x4, like they do in the Cisco Aironet system with their other brand. For the same price point in this other Cisco brand, it is a lot cheaper, and you can get a slightly better throughput than you can with these."

"Its price is higher than other products. It is above the expectation of customers. So, every time we need to fight for a good price."

"The tool is reasonably priced."

"The cost of both the hardware and licensing is high, and it is more than what I would prefer to spend currently."

"It's not super expensive and it's not super cheap."

"This solution is quite costly and there are costs in addition to the licensing fees."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

63%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Instant On Access Points?

It's really easy to set up. And, you don't have to pay for the cloud solution. That's really interesting for our clients. And the other thing is, the roaming is also quite good.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Instant On Access Points?

Aruba Instant On Access Points work without a list price, suggesting that they are open source and no additional licensing costs are incurred.

What needs improvement with Aruba Instant On Access Points?

All features already exist in Aruba Instant On Access Points. However, in future updates, more AI for intelligence and the option for a separate network could be beneficial.

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...

Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...

How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...

Fortinet FortiAP vs Aruba Instant On Access Points

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Aruba Instant vs Aruba Instant On Access Points

Compared 10% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs Aruba Instant On Access Points

Compared 7% of the time

More Aruba Instant On Access Points Competitors

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 31% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 16% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 7% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Product Reports

Aruba Instant On Access Points

Download Aruba Instant On Access Points product report

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Also Known As

No data available

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN

Overview

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.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Aruba Instant On Access Points vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN