We performed a comparison between Aruba Wireless and Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Of the two solutions, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is the more popular choice with PeerSpot users. While both have great features, users of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN seem to find fewer things lacking with it and are generally satisfied. In regards to service and support as well, Cisco users are happy with the service they receive. However, users do feel that it is an expensive solution.
"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."
"In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich."
"The artificial intelligence feature is very good."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Mist is the Virtual Network Assistant, powered by artificial intelligence."
"The simplicity is great."
"With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features."
"The solution is stable."
"It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."
"Support through third party vendors or direct from HPE has been easy to manage. They are very responsive."
"For my organization, the most critical feature of Aruba Wireless is guest management."
"I really like the user interface."
"I like the analytics feature."
"The initial setup is straightforward. Configure one IAP and all the rest self-configure to that one."
"I think Aruba Wireless' Wi-Fi 6 capability is something that really makes a difference. We used to have bottlenecks. Each user has one laptop on one mobile device, so that equals 40 devices connecting to one AP. The Wi-Fi 5 series couldn't handle the traffic during peak hours, and when I say "peak hours," I mean Monday at 11 a.m. We used to see a lot of packet drops, but we haven't seen that problem at all since we moved to Wi-Fi 6."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable features of Aruba Wireless are the seamless feature and the concurrent user."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN are the ease of use and the ability to manage it from the cloud."
"Cloud managed wireless LAN product that's stable and scalable. It's an easy to deploy and easy to troubleshoot solution."
"The primary value lies in the ease of configuration; these products seamlessly integrate, and work well together."
"It enables quick deployment within all branches for the users."
"I have found it to be stable."
"You can scale the solution easily."
"The most valuable features are the management tools, including monitoring and reporting."
"The management and upgrades are very simple and straightforward."
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."
"Improvement is needed in the user-friendliness of Juniper Mist, particularly in enhancing the interaction with AI features."
"Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"It would be helpful to have even stronger security features to help protect against interference from other nearby access points that aren't part of our network."
"The price could be better."
"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."
"The solution is expensive."
"Their documentation needs to be improved. Aruba's documentation is poor."
"Improvements to the GUI, such as being able to search in the Mobility Master, would be nice."
"Access point mounting options could be better."
"Aruba Wireless can improve the assigning of access points. We have times that the nearest access point is not assigned but one far away. The integration between access points could improve."
"The pricing could always be better."
"We have had issues with the availability of the equipment."
"To enhance the system, more work on integration would be beneficial."
"The certification for licensing could be better."
"I would like to see Cisco Meraki improve the accessibility by region level here in Latin America."
"The Meraki platform needs better on-premises management options."
"It is expensive. Juniper seems to have a lot more to offer for future expansion. Juniper has some features that are not there in this solution."
"The dashboard could be a bit better. I'd like to see more information about the whole controller and APs. It should be as simple and convenient."
"The only thing that always causes problems with Meraki is the license. It's a bit of a bugbear with Meraki, and it remains today. So it's an unusual concept compared to the other products in the marketplace, but then it does cause a bit of a nuisance from time to time."
"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 product doesn't effectively do its job anymore since some issues crop up in it once you run out of your subscription licensing...Improvements are needed in the licensing part of the tool."
"It is not a budget-friendly solution."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 138 reviews while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is ranked 4th in Wireless LAN with 115 reviews. Aruba Wireless is rated 8.4, while Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Aruba Wireless writes "The portal for centralized management and virtual controller for APs are very valuable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN writes "Offers good mobility, stability and scalability ". Aruba Wireless is most compared with Cisco Wireless, Ruckus Wireless, Ubiquiti WLAN, Huawei Wireless and Mist AI and Cloud, whereas Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is most compared with Ruckus Wireless, Ubiquiti Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud, Cisco Wireless and Huawei Wireless. See our Aruba Wireless vs. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report.
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Pricing is different based on region; it depends on Aruba's and Cisco's strategy in the region. You must contact the respective partners to get an accurate price for comparison.
That being said, in MENA where I live, as of a few months ago (21H1), Aruba pricing was cheaper than Cisco.
Aruba licensing for the AP's is much cheaper compared to Meraki.
You can get a 1/3/5-year cloud license per AP.