Aruba Instant vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Cisco are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5, while Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 2.1% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to Cisco’s 13.0% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Aruba Instant

Read 51 Aruba Instant reviews

2,947 Views
2,265 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 118 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

16,460 Views
13,308 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Aruba Instant

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Aruba Instant compete in the wireless networking space. Cisco Meraki may have an edge with its ease of use and rich feature set for organizations with diverse networking needs, complemented by a centralized cloud-based management. However, Aruba Instant appeals to smaller and mid-sized businesses with its cost-effectiveness and simplicity.

Features: Cisco Meraki offers centralized cloud-based management through an intuitive dashboard, simplifying configuration, monitoring, and reporting. It provides excellent network visibility and security with Layer 7 protections and is known for straightforward deployment. Aruba Instant is notable for its ease of setup and management without needing a controller, strong mobility support, and the ability to integrate easily with other tools, making it suitable for smaller IT teams.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki could benefit from more detailed error logs, better technical support, and increased integration with other Cisco products. Enhancements in customization and advanced routing features are also desired. Aruba Instant faces challenges with IoT compatibility and requires more robust troubleshooting tools and comprehensive documentation. Improving technical support response times would also be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki excels in its easy deployment process with cloud management, providing flexibility for various environments. Customer service is strong, although technical support receives mixed reviews. Aruba Instant offers straightforward deployment, appealing to small to medium businesses, and supports both hybrid and on-premises setups. Customer service is reliable, although technical support proficiency could be improved for complex issues.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki is perceived as expensive due to licensing that can terminate service if not renewed, although it provides solid ROI with advanced features and management ease. Aruba Instant is more cost-effective, praised for its affordable pricing and lack of licensing fees, delivering significant ROI for organizations prioritizing straightforward solutions and minimal operating costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Aruba Instant vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Instant vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

March 2025

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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

Ranking in Wireless LAN

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ranking in Wireless LAN

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Instant is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 13.0%, up from 12.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

Prashant-Patel

Senior Presales Consultant - Networking Solutions at Mannai

A highly stable and easy-to-deploy solution that is free and provides excellent deployment guides

The setup is very straightforward. There is no complexity at all. It took us 15 minutes. We need IP address details, DNS, a gateway, DHCP servers, and SSIDs. Single access points can act as controller-based, controller-less, and cloud-based solutions. That is the beauty of Aruba. If I have an on-premise solution and want to move to the cloud, I don't need separate hardware. The same hardware can be utilized in the cloud. The deployment guides that we get from Aruba are excellent. We have every piece of detail.

Read full review

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at Bharti Airtel ·

Enables organizations to control many sites globally with a lean IT team and provides visibility into the user activities

The solution can handle only medium and small businesses. We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises. The solution must be able to expand to larger enterprises. Currently, the MX device can support only up to 10,000 users. It would be good if it can go beyond 1 lakh users. Catalyst 9300 is coming on the Meraki Dashboard. The vendor must also bring in the 9400 and 9600 Catalyst series. It will be very helpful. We will not have any choke on the gateway. There is no active-active concept. It will be very helpful if the solution provides active-active. Now, we are doing an active-passive setup, which is a warm spare. If it is an active-active setup, the gateway bottleneck issue can be resolved. I would be able to segment the Wireless LAN IPs. It will help support 20,000 devices at a go. Meraki does not have a single dashboard. I need to port an on-premise controller. There is a bottleneck while scaling the product. I need to consider a lot of things.

Read full review

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 feature of Aruba Instant is security."

"The most valuable feature of Aruba Instant is its cloud capability, which allows us to manage it through the cloud."

"I like that the solution is not complex."

"The products offer a lot of flexibility. Almost everything can be configured. It works very well for providing remote services."

"The integration with ClearPass is the most valuable feature."

"Has many advanced features: Built-in firewall, local radius, application visibility and control, not locked into support agreements."

"The central management of multiple devices is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"Works automatically in terms of setup with the product finding its master wifi access point."

More Aruba Instant pros

"The monitoring device enables you to see the network health."

"The stability of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is very good."

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

"The solution is very stable. It is a very manageable and secure system."

"The most valuable features are the management tools, including monitoring and reporting."

"The solution is easily scalable. There are not really any limits for the customer in terms of expanding if they need to."

"It improved the installation time."

"Allows for cloud-based management of your Wi-Fi network."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

Cons

"They could offer a new model for access points that are outdoors."

"The tool's customer service should improve."

"I believe there's room for improvement in monitoring, especially when troubleshooting issues. Currently, there's limited intelligence around monitoring. It needs to improve stability and scalability."

"The wireless coverage should be increased"

"For some people, price is a concern."

"They could provide a centralized system to manage switches incorporated into multiple branches."

"The tool's support quality has changed since HPE acquired it. It is also impossible to tell the log dates."

"The product is a little expensive."

More Aruba Instant cons

"If you lose connectivity with the controller, your Wi-Fi network is immediately impacted."

"In the next release, I would like to see a third-party high tech center to connect multiple users to a particular network."

"In a future release, they should offer a next-generation UTM, where you can manage all items and the network, and have it include a lot of security features like fingerprinting functionality."

"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."

"Its pricing could be better."

"The biggest pain point is that they limit you through firewall throughput. I understand why they do it, but that really grates me. For instance, for 450 Mbps throughput, you're looking at £800 for a router, whereas if you look at the one gig connection, for some of us are lucky enough to have a gig connection, you could almost be spending £3,000 for the option to have one gig connectivity. That's one of the pain points I've got. I don't mind paying for throughput, but I should at least have the option to be able to update that throughput, maybe through extra licensing or something else. It is crazy expensive to jump through to the next one."

"The solution should be more secure."

"It would be nice to have licensing that stays in place while the system is being renovated or changed."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Aruba Instant is affordable."

"The tool's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."

"There’s no licensing required to use the tool."

"Some in the hospitality industry use the solution because it's cheaper and doesn't require licenses."

"It's a one time cost, including the upgrades, but you have to pay on a yearly basis if you want support. The price is in the middle in comparison to that of competitors' products."

"The cost was affordable."

"In terms of costs, Aruba Instant is cheap because it doesn't require a license, but you'll incur charges for the access points. Access point charges could be more affordable."

"I personally would rather pay that little bit more and get what I need because I know what I'm getting, as opposed to going for something cheaper that's not as manageable and doesn't give as much."

More Aruba Instant pricing and cost advice

"It is expensive, but it is a good product."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN's pricing is high."

"The box itself is very cheap. The question here is about the subscription because this is what you will pay every year. In the initial year, for purchasing, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN gives you an attractive price. While during renewal, we are not given much discount."

"The platform is expensive."

"I would say that they have adequate pricing."

"You have to renew your contract every year, or for three or for five years. If you do not pay right away they will suspend your subscription."

"The price/benefit ratio is great."

"I haven't conducted a price comparison yet, but based on information, it appears to be more affordable than the current environment. Therefore, I consider the price to be reasonable."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Ubiquiti WLAN or Aruba Instant?

We researched Ubiquiti and Aruba when looking for a WLAN solution. Ubiquiti offers good WLAN access both indoors and outdoors. It provides an enterprise-level WIFI while remaining cost-effective. U...

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What do you like most about Aruba Instant?

I find network management features related to monitoring Wi-Fi usage and visited sites particularly valuable. Content filtering is also important to prevent access to malicious or inappropriate web...

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

The licensing costs depend on the product. The smaller switch is around one hundred and twenty euros. We do not sell very expensive devices as we move to other products.

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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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

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Comparisons

Omada Access Points vs Aruba Instant

Compared 38% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Aruba Instant

Compared 13% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs Aruba Instant

Compared 10% of the time

ExtremeCloud IQ vs Aruba Instant

Compared 5% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs Aruba Instant

Compared 4% of the time

More Aruba Instant Competitors

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 32% 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

Fortinet FortiWLM vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 1% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Instant

March 2025

Download Aruba Instant product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

March 2025

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

Aruba Instant delivers the only controllerless Wi-Fi solution that is easy to set-up, and loaded with security and smarts needed to accelerate your business without breaking your budget.

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

Purdue University, Orlando Magic, Brussels Airport Company, Molecaten Holiday Parks

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

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Instant vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

March 2025

Free Report: Aruba Instant vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

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