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Aruba Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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 Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
146
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiWLM
Ranking in Wireless LAN
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Wireless is 19.1%, down from 23.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWLM is 2.0%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad_Faisal - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience seamless connectivity with top-notch roaming capabilities
The Aruba Wireless solution has excellent roaming capabilities, ensuring seamless connectivity. Once installed, Aruba Wireless works robustly without overheating issues. This is particularly effective compared to other products I've used, like FortiMonitor and FortiAPs, which sometimes heat up. I am very satisfied with the roaming feature, as it ensures connectivity when moving from one location to another. The product's stability, after setting it up, adds to its value.
Zachary Wheeler - PeerSpot reviewer
Impressive manufacturing quality, highly durable, and very easy to deploy
They need to do more with their marketing. That's what's wrong with them. Nobody knows they do all this other stuff. I love the product. For an enterprise-level system, you never have to explain why you're recommending Fortinet, whereas you might have to do that if you want to use the Ubiquiti Professional or the new Netgear line, but you don't have to explain Fortinet. It has been remarkable to work with. It would be nice if they had some smaller switches or hubs. They should offer two-port, three-port, or four-port devices so that you don't have to buy an eight-port switch, and you don't have to use an unmanaged element, but their product line is very complete, and I can't say enough about it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Ability for a student or teacher to be able to roam freely from classroom to classroom, no matter the floor, without dropping a signal."
"I like the way it groups and manages access points."
"The technical support is 24/7 from the UA."
"If we really want to know where a specific user is connected, it gives us the ability to see that and how that user is actually receiving. We can know the speed and their IP, their MAC address and, most of the time, how much bandwidth they're using per day."
"The stability of Aruba Wireless has been good."
"With Aruba Instant, we can use the access points independently, allowing us to position them in many places."
"The technical support is very good."
"Reasonably priced and great for small to medium size organizations."
"At the moment, particularly with the COVID-19 situation, the most valuable feature is probably the IPsec VPN, which is easy to implement with Fortinet."
"If you do have a FortiGate Firewall somewhere in the network, you can connect the wireless controller to that... You get 100 percent visibility from a single point... You can see everything that's connected to the FortiGate, whether it's a switch or a wireless AP or a wireless controller or any other Fortinet product."
"Security is the feature we like most from Fortinet. In general, their security architecture is really great, because it involves everything: firewalls, wireless LANs, the user. Everything is really secure."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to connect and broadcast to different networks without using a VLAN or a layer two switch, which allows you to easily create guest networks."
"Although there are a few steps, the initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"For me, the ease of setup and the rugged nature in harsh environments are most valuable. So, durability and ease of use have been its best features."
"The Fortinet FortiWLM system can be controlled through the cloud controller, which is convenient when the solution is not installed in our environment, as it allows us to manage the entire WiFi or access points and provides more adaptability."
"Fortinet FortiWLM is good for tracking assets, monitoring, and overall management."
 

Cons

"They should simplify the configuration flow."
"Lacks a heat map analysis and a cloud-based wireless controller."
"The price could be better. In the next release, I would like to have more analytics features."
"Aruba Wireless is a good product, but it still has some issues, especially at the beginning, where there's inconsistent syncing between the cloud and the APs. Sometimes, there's also a little lag when accessing the query."
"The urgent areas of improvement would be customer support, better tuned default settings, and documentation."
"If you want a centralized management system that is able to manage all your networking devices such as the wireless, the switch, the routers, and the firewall, then Aruba may not be the one, because Aruba doesn't do firewalls."
"The console is difficult to use. The firewall settings could be improved."
"The Aruba Central cloud portal needs a lot of work. It is complicated to navigate."
"The guest management features need to be improved by adding automation."
"Cost is something that could be improved, but you have to pay for what you get."
"The pricing model can be improved to encourage use by small business and individuals and the hardware could stand to be redesigned."
"In the next release, they could improve by adding a controller-less server, or architecture that is provided in other solutions, such as Aruba. This would be a great benefit for customers."
"Areas for improvement would be the compatibility with Apple products and cross-platform integration."
"The solution should improve user capacity."
"I cannot emphasize enough that I would always wish pricing would be a little better."
"The platform's pricing needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The system was very good, but we needed to upgrade in order to adapt for our needs, and doing so with Aruba would have been more expensive. ​"
"We have some licenses for the solution, and we need not renew licenses. But we need to pay a hundred thousand if you want to renew our subscription and renew the hardware."
"​Trial different solutions and compare pricing to how well they perform, their stability, how easy it is to maintain, etc."
"The price is low. There is an additional cost for maintenance."
"The pricing is fair and similar to other products."
"Pricing is very competitive."
"Get multiple bids/quotes, and talk to the representatives about the limitations of the product; pretty standard."
"The price could be better. Competitors offer more features for a similar cost."
"The solution is expensive. I give the solution a one out of ten for the price."
"The product is highly expensive. I rate the pricing a ten."
"Fortinet would do something with their pricing model to attract smaller business users and eliminate the mandatory service contracts."
"Licensing has become easier. There is no longer a per-AP license needed on the controller."
"Fortinet FortiWLM's pricing is regular and competitive."
"In the last few years, due in part to the impact of COVID on the market, Fortinet has increased its prices by 35 percent."
"If a customer already is a FortiGate customer, the cost to go to the FortiAP is incredibly affordable, because you already have the controller."
"For indoor access points, there is a one-time cost, upfront, whereas outdoor access points have an annual fee."
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
 

Also Known As

Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
FortiWLM, FortiAP, Fortinet AP/OAP, Meru Wireless LAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiWLM and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.