Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs D-Link Wireless comparison

Cisco and D-Link are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while D-Link is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 10.5% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to D-Link’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of D-Link users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 121 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

10,528 Views
9,370 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

D-Link Wireless

Read 17 D-Link Wireless reviews

1,946 Views
1,946 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

D-Link Wireless

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and D-Link Wireless compete in enterprise and SMB wireless networking. Cisco Meraki holds an edge due to its comprehensive feature set and cloud management capabilities.

Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN stands out with its cloud management, IoT integration, and advanced network visibility. The centralized dashboard facilitates easy configuration and monitoring. On the other hand, D-Link Wireless offers essential features like centralized management, good coverage, and reliable performance, making it ideal for cost-effective SMB solutions.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could improve by lowering hardware costs, enhancing sensor integrations, and making the security dashboard more versatile. D-Link Wireless should focus on introducing cloud-managed solutions, better stability, and support services, as well as integrating advanced features like social media access for guests.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN supports both hybrid and cloud environments, offering flexibility and a reportedly comprehensive support model, although occasionally inconsistent. D-Link Wireless provides a straightforward on-premises setup, but customer feedback on support services varies.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN incurs high initial and recurring costs but offers potentially better ROI for large deployments through feature richness and reduced on-site management needs. D-Link Wireless is notable for its one-time purchase model, delivering an affordable option for SMBs despite a less extensive feature set.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless

December 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

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ranking in Wireless LAN

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

121

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

D-Link Wireless

Ranking in Wireless LAN

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 10.5%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of D-Link Wireless is 2.1%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN	10.5%
D-Link Wireless	2.1%
Other	87.4%

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

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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NadirShahzad

System Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Wireless projects run smoothly with more access point support and competitive pricing

D-Link Wireless offers more supported APs to the WLC with the default license compared to other brands like Cisco. With Cisco, only four to five APs are connected with the default license, but D-Link Wireless provides more flexibility. Local support in Pakistan is necessary for those with limited budgets, creating a reach in the market.

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

"We're able to automate as well as manually control as necessary."

"It only comes with a controller on the cloud, and this differentiator simplifies network management."

"It makes the process much easier by providing visibility and centralized control over the network."

"The tool's most valuable feature is report generation. Its dashboard helps me a lot with user analytics."

"This product offers cloud-based configuration, so you can set it up from anywhere."

"From a security perspective, this product has several advantages."

"The dashboard to keep track of 30 or so APs, switches, routers and logs, is invaluable. I liked the UX on this."

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the single pane of glass management and reliability."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"I like the product's signal continuity and range. We can receive the signal up to 20-30 meters from the wireless antenna."

"The system simplifies network management."

"D-Link Wireless is a tool that is used since it is an easy and user-friendly product."

"The initial setup process was easy."

"The connectivity is good."

"This is an affordable product that offers good performance. This is why it is popular with our customers. It offers good speed and bandwidth."

"The solution is extremely easy to install. You just add them and in a few clicks, they are ready to go."

"Overall, I rate D-Link Wireless nine out of ten as a solution."

More D-Link Wireless pros

Cons

"Licensing is, in my opinion, the least appealing component. It can be difficult to keep licenses up to date in order for the system to function properly."

"The licensing could be a bit better."

"We would like the solution to work on the pricing of the solution. It would be ideal if it could bring the overall costs down."

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

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

"We would like to see Wi-Fi 6 support for devices sold in the Middle East."

"Initially, I liked some of the filtering features, but that's one of the components that we ran into problems with."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"D-Link Wireless’s stability needs improvement."

"The stability could be a bit better."

"The only issue is with the controller visibility of the devices connecting to the network."

"In future, it would also be good to have a switch within D Link that works as well as the Cisco 9200 Switch."

"The cloud managed solution needs improvement, and they should focus on the SD-WAN segment with regard to integration."

"The solution doesn't have hotspots. Users can't set it up so that visitors can log in via Facebook or social media as they can at, for example, airports. D-Link should include hotspots that offer integration with social media. That way, visitors don't need to be asking people for passwords. They can just use Facebook."

"Sometimes we configure the SSID with a password but the same AP shows two WiFi connections with the same SSID name (one is protected by a password and another one give access without a password)."

"Password restriction: Sometimes we set a password and it uses that password but, after some days/months, the password gets changed and a few laptops still use old the password while a few use the new password. The password restriction option needs to improve."

More D-Link Wireless cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a pretty good value, but not great. Pricing is on a yearly basis for the Meraki solution."

"It is expensive."

"We don't like the licensing model and we think that it needs to be improved significantly."

"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."

"It is super expensive for what you get. You also have to buy a license every year. Otherwise, it stops working."

"The price is good, but it could be improved."

"The solution's pricing is a little higher."

"These units cost between $800 and $900 per device and on top of that, you have to pay yearly fees for maintenance."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"D-Link Wireless' price is the same as Aruba's. You need to pay one-time costs for the product."

"D-Link pricing is very competitive when you consider other OEMs."

"There is no licensing fee for the solution."

"The cost can range from $100 to $400."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."

"The product is affordable."

"This solution is more affordable than others on the market."

"D-Link Wireless is cheaper than Ruckus or Cisco."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Construction Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	69
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	2

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...

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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...

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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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Which wireless solution would you choose - Huawei or D-Link?

Huawei wireless is a strong and solid product that has a lot of features - and for all that it offers, it happens to be very cost effective. As a wireless solution, it is simple and its user interf...

See all answers

What do you like most about D-Link Wireless?

The tool supports new technologies.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for D-Link Wireless?

D-Link Wireless is notably more affordable than Cisco and Juniper. It suits SMB needs without the financial burden of purchasing additional licenses for extended APs.

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 31% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiAP vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Huawei Wireless vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 38% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 13% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 10% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 9% of the time

NETGEAR Insight Access Points vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 6% of the time

More D-Link Wireless Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

January 2026

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

D-Link Wireless

January 2026

Download D-Link Wireless product report

Also Known As

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

D-Link WLAN

Overview

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

D-Link Wireless offers a wide range of robust wireless Access Points (APs) operating in both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, supporting the latest wireless standards including 802.11ac and 802.11n. These access points can be managed independently as standalone devices, or collectively by using Central Wi-Fi Manager, a free centralized controller software that can be installed on a Windows server or PC.

D-Link

Sample Customers

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

Metropolitan Public Defender, Mission Motorcycles

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless

December 2025

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