Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Ekahau Site Survey comparison

The compared Cisco and Ekahau solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #4 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 13.0% mindshare in the category. Ekahau is ranked #1 in NM , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 30.0% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Ekahau users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 118 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

16,460 Views
13,308 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Ekahau Site Survey

Read 35 Ekahau Site Survey reviews

4,303 Views
2,299 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ekahau Site Survey

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 2024

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ekahau Site Survey cater to network management and planning within the wireless solutions market. Ekahau Site Survey holds a slight edge in network planning capabilities, but Cisco Meraki is notable for its ease of management and deployment.

Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers centralized cloud management, a user-friendly dashboard, and Layer 7 security, streamlining configuration and network monitoring. It facilitates network segmentation into SSIDs, supports RADIUS, and provides efficient network analytics. Ekahau Site Survey specializes in network planning with Autoplanner, customizable reports, and precise importation of floor plans. It excels in dual-band spectrum analysis, optimizing site surveys with high accuracy.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN should enhance its logging features and include more advanced enterprise-level configurations. Users suggest improvements in technical support response times and the detail of logs. Ekahau Site Survey could reduce its resource consumption and expand compatibility for mixed outdoor-indoor environments. Enhanced UI elements and clearer report explanations are also needed.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is deployable in private, public, and hybrid cloud environments, granting users flexibility with diverse infrastructure needs. While its customer service is generally well-received, support quality can be inconsistent. Ekahau Site Survey focuses on on-premises deployment with positive feedback on its prompt, effective technical service.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is priced higher than some competitors due to hardware and licensing costs, challenging enterprises with tight budgets. Despite the expense, users often see ROI through streamlined network management. Ekahau Site Survey, while also costly, is justified by its comprehensive planning and analysis tools, offering significant ROI particularly in larger WiFi environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Wireless LAN Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Wireless LAN

February 2025

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Helped 839,422 peers since 2012

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

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

Wireless LAN (4th)

Ekahau Site Survey

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Modeling and Simulation (1st)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ekahau Site Survey aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 13.0%, up 12.3% compared to last year.
Ekahau Site Survey, on the other hand, focuses on Network Modeling and Simulation, holds 30.0% mindshare, down 41.1% since last year.

Wireless LAN

Network Modeling and Simulation

Featured Reviews

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.

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ALEXANDRE VIANNA

CTO at Redeswirelessbrasil

Good optimization capabilities, automatic network planning tool and saves time

Ekahau needs to enhance the view of materials and make some adjustments to the reports. Currently, it's possible to make changes to the Word report using Python, but it could be improved. For example, when I create an AP on a survey report, information like the cable view, distance, and support assessments could be enhanced. Only one comment about Ekahau Optimizer. It needs improvement. I tried to upload site products, and for five products, I needed to involve Ekahau's supply chain. When I try to solve that, it's not possible. For example, I uploaded one product for a large bank, and the optimizer didn't finish. I needed to involve Ekahau support, and they sent me the file two or three days after I opened the case.

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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 automatic VMware update is very useful because you don't have to worry about outages and planning for VMware updates. It is very advantageous from a management point of view. The ability to restrict and review the clients connected to each of our segments. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."

"The most amazing part is that their Access Points have the ability to connect to multiple conference devices at different times, and it shows you the very in-depth Wi-Fi analytics through their dashboard."

"I can control any number of sites globally with a lean IT team."

"The solution ensures seamless connectivity as users move within the office. Six installed Meraki APs provide excellent coverage for around three hundred users, offering reliable speeds. Additionally, the system allows guests and users with priority devices to connect using their SAP ID. The traffic is managed through D and G controllers to meet the specified requirements for continuous connection and speed."

"The product is super stable. I would rate the stability a ten."

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

"The single dashboard of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is the most valuable feature for me."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"Ekahau lets you create heat maps without doing the initial survey. It makes the task easier."

"I have found the most valuable feature is the RF interference and integration capabilities."

"The OEM dashboard has a lot of useful features to troubleshoot the Wi-Fi."

"Ekahau Site Survey can be crucial for troubleshooting our Wi-Fi network."

"The spectrum analysis capability is very good. It provides deep insights into the Wi-Fi environment. It's not just about troubleshooting interference but also optimizing access points and modifying power levels and channels."

"The solution is user-friendly and it provides a good output that can be measured, and I can describe and pinpoint any inaccuracy shortfalls."

"Ekahau Site Survey is an easy and accurate solution."

"We reviewed the maps as a team and determined if any changes needed to be made or if we could just replace APs as they are. We got into this by upgrading our access points to Meraki, and we wanted to make sure that we weren't leaving trouble behind us as we were doing it."

More Ekahau Site Survey pros

Cons

"Technical support can be improved, as well as having more detailed capabilities to go without using an API."

"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."

"If they could work on the Meraki firewall hardware, and add SSL decryption as well as more application control and deep packet inspection, that would be ideal."

"Documentation could be improved, but everything else has been spot-on."

"Meraki should share their viability roadmap. It is really hard to know which functionality will appear or when they will be available. It is also hard to know which features are available now but are not visible on the dashboard."

"Updating the equipment and the scheme they use to bill for the license could be improved."

"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."

"The signal coverage radius could be extended."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"Its migration and visualization features need improvement."

"It would be better if it provided clear visibility. It would be better if it accommodated large physical sites like a warehouse with a ceiling height of more than twelve to fifteen feet. In such situations, we were unable to provide better coverage."

"I am having problems importing maps to Ekahau Site Survey. Importing is one of the first steps in using the solution and it is getting stuck. The problem could be that our maps are large with many layers."

"The report generation has room for improvement and is missing small details."

"Ekahau needs to enhance the view of materials and make some adjustments to the reports."

"The cloud takes a lot of time to upload the site survey, and we regularly face issues with syncing to the optimizer."

"Ekahau could be improved by adding three-dimensional modeling, as we currently cannot view APIs in a three-dimensional perspective."

"The support is an area in need of improvement."

More Ekahau Site Survey cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My client has made comments on the price, indicating it is expensive, however you do receive a lot for the money that you did spend on the solution. The price of the annual renewal of the licensing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is a little high. We wish the price would drop."

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

"Meraki is a very good solution, but the price is quite high for small markets."

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

"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."

"The solution could improve the licensing structure and the price is expensive."

"Cisco products are generally recognized for their performance and quality, which may justify the higher price point compared to other options on the market."

"We pay a yearly license fee for the solution."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"The solution is priced fairly for the features that you receive."

"We pay $6,000 yearly for the licensing, but each piece of hardware, the Ekahau Sidekick, is $5,000."

"The licenses are a little pricey compared to iBwave, etc."

"I believe that it is approximately $2,000 per year for us. I know we pay for it on an annual basis."

"9,000 Euro per year."

"The pricing is high."

"The pricing is quite expensive. Not all companies can afford it"

"We pay a licensing fee."

More Ekahau Site Survey pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

14%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Government

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...

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Ekahau Site Survey?

We reviewed the maps as a team and determined if any changes needed to be made or if we could just replace APs as they are. We got into this by upgrading our access points to Meraki, and we wanted ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ekahau Site Survey?

The pricing and licensing of Ekahau are costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Ekahau Site Survey?

Ekahau could be improved by adding three-dimensional modeling, as we currently cannot view APIs in a three-dimensional perspective. They need to include backhaul features and improve the ease of in...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 32% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 17% 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

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

AirMagnet Survey vs Ekahau Site Survey

Compared 62% of the time

iBwave Wi-Fi vs Ekahau Site Survey

Compared 30% of the time

RedSeal vs Ekahau Site Survey

Compared 4% of the time

More Ekahau Site Survey Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

March 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Ekahau Site Survey

March 2025

Download Ekahau Site Survey product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

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

Over 12 years in the making, ESSTM maintains its reputation as the easiest to use, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi design and maintenance tool for Wi-Fi professionals. With crystal clear heat maps and easy-to-use reports, ESS makes it simple to optimize Wi-Fi.

ESS allows you to plan and create Wi-Fi networks according to your performance and capacity requirements—taking into consideration the increasing amount of wireless clients and applications such as VoIP, HD video streaming and web browsing.

Ekahau

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

Presidio, Planet Earth, Ruckus

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: February 2025.

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