Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Ruckus Wireless WAN comparison

The compared Cisco and Ruckus solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #4 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 13.1% mindshare in the category. Ruckus is ranked #2 in Wireless WAN , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 38.0% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Ruckus users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 118 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

17,496 Views
13,994 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Ruckus Wireless WAN

Read 55 Ruckus Wireless WAN reviews

3,910 Views
3,345 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ruckus Wireless WAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ruckus Wireless WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Wireless LAN

February 2025

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Helped 838,713 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)

Ruckus Wireless WAN

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Wireless WAN (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 13.1%, up 12.3% compared to last year.
Ruckus Wireless WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless WAN, holds 38.0% mindshare, up 36.7% since last year.

Wireless LAN

Wireless WAN

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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Udit Narayan

Senior Engineer IT Networking at JSW

Offers robust outdoor connectivity, but signal strength and support need improvement

In Cisco, there is a configuration where it automatically switches from the 2.4 GHz to 5.2 GHz frequency. But with Ruckus, usually, we need to manually define whether we want to use the 2.4 GHz or 5.2 GHz. Another point is that its penetration power is low when we are using it in any location with more walls, as the signal strength diminishes. So, the signal strength and the penetration power of the signal should be improved. It is not like Cisco. We are using Cisco APs also, but Cisco APs perform better when we compare them with Ruckus. In future releases, I would like to see automatic switching between 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz frequencies. We should not have to set it manually. It should automatically change its frequency based on the load. For example, if the number of users increases, then its frequency should change automatically, switching to the less congested band.

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 user interface is very simple and easy to use — our customers are very satisfied."

"It enables quick deployment within all branches for the users."

"You can scale the solution easily."

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

"The visibility of the site is most useful."

"If you're trying to identify one of the switches or pinpoint a computer or pinpoint something, you could find it just like that and change the IP address. It's easiest to do it that way."

"The primary value lies in the ease of configuration; these products seamlessly integrate, and work well together."

"The captive portal feature is my favorite. It allows us to keep track of how many people are entering our client's businesses."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"The actual wireless access points themselves are very powerful."

"The performance of this solution is amazing in terms of radiofrequency technology."

"The performance is very nice, the throughput is better than any other product, and it's reliable."

"The initial setup of Ruckus Wireless WAN is very easy."

"It's highly scalable as long as the licenses are in place. You can expand it easily."

"Ruckus Wireless WAN is highly regarded for managing network performance. They have simplified the configuration and installation processes, making it straightforward. It works out of the box; you just configure it, and there's minimal need for minor adjustments."

"What I like best about Ruckus Wireless WAN is easy administration. After installation, you'll benefit from how easy it is to administer the product. I also like that the product can cover the whole area with just a few endpoints."

"One of the best features of Ruckus Wireless WAN that customers are interested in is the adaptive antenna called BeamFlex. Ruckus Wireless WAN also has the best management platform, and even if there are thousands of users of the solution, it's very easy to manage on Ruckus Wireless WAN. It can also support third-party equipment. It's an all-in-one solution and it has IoT and secure access capabilities. Upgrading the network to Ruckus Wireless WAN is also easy."

More Ruckus Wireless WAN pros

Cons

"The signal coverage radius could be extended."

"In the next release, I would like to see the central control plane have the flexibility to control and distribute policies to all LAN networks, balance the traffic, and the performance based on application monitoring."

"The licensing could be a bit better."

"The only concern is when the license has expired and it will no longer function, the entire network goes down, without any notification, or warning."

"The solution's pricing could be improved."

"They're great. If there's anything that they need to change, it is just simplifying the site to which you go to make changes on the admin side."

"In some cases, they could include enhanced features in the product, such as a firewall console and traffic analysis."

"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."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"I would like to see built-in Wi-Fi."

"The interface has to be more automated."

"Sometimes, you can't do everything you need on the GUI."

"I believe there is room for improvement in the price structure."

"Ruckus Wireless WAN we have a lot of component shortages in the world. This has impacted deliveries. We have large back orders of the solution."

"In comparison to Cambium, I find Cambium to be more robust in terms of performance."

"Ruckus Unleashed App has areas with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"We had a problem with the delivery of the solution."

More Ruckus Wireless WAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When compared to other vendors, Cisco's pricing is higher."

"The pricing is based on a subscription and is a bit high at the moment."

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

"Its price is higher than other products. It is above the expectation of customers. So, every time we need to fight for a good price."

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

"This solution is reasonably priced."

"The price/benefit ratio is great."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not a reasonably priced product for home use. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is a reasonably priced product for enterprise-sized businesses."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"It's expensive but you get more coverage."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"It possesses a favorable balance between quality and price."

"The cost is quite high, and over the past year, there has been a substantial increase, nearly reaching around seventy percent."

"Licensing for Ruckus Wireless WAN when you compare it to other vendors, it's on par and not expensive. For me, all licensing is expensive by default, but you do get lifelong licenses, and what's cool about it is the license for Ruckus Wireless WAN, especially on the LAN controller, is not linked to an access point. It's just a quantity access point deployment, so you can rip out old APs, and put new ones in and they'll work on the wireless LAN because the license is not linked to a specific access point which is much easier to work with."

"There is an annual license needed to use this solution. The pricing model is based on how many access points are used."

"In general, it is a packaged solution with analytics, support, and a cloud license. The pricing is acceptable for licensing the cloud for a bundle."

"Compared to big brands, the tool is quite competitively priced."

More Ruckus Wireless WAN 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

Comms Service Provider

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

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

Is Ubiquiti Wireless better than Ruckus Wireless WAN?

Ubiquiti Wireless is extremely easy to set up and is an excellent option for small businesses, offering enterprise features for a one-time fee and no ongoing licensing fees. Ubiquiti Wireless is ve...

See all answers

What do you like most about Ruckus Wireless WAN?

Ruckus Wireless WAN is an easy-to-use solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ruckus Wireless WAN?

The pricing is reasonable for us as partners since we receive discounts. However, I believe for non-partners, it might not be considered cheap, though it isn't the most expensive either.

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

Mist AI and Cloud vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Ruckus Wireless WAN

Compared 89% of the time

Cambium Networks Wireless WAN vs Ruckus Wireless WAN

Compared 10% of the time

More Ruckus Wireless WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

February 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Ruckus Wireless WAN

February 2025

Download Ruckus Wireless WAN 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

Ruckus Wireless’s WAN (Wide Area Network) suite of switches and solutions provides companies and organizations with a wide variety of products that enable them to deploy and manage the kinds of WANs that best meet their needs. Ruckus Wireless is a leader in the field of WAN creation, deployment, and management. Their solutions are designed with the user in mind. They are sleek products and solutions that are easy for administrators to use and maintain. This makes it a valuable suite for any and every kind of industry. The level of ease that it provides makes it possible for companies and organizations to reap a high level of benefit from whichever product they choose to use.

Ruckus Wireless WAN Benefits

Some of the benefits of using the Ruckus Wireless WAN suite of switches and solutions include:

Simplified network deployment and management. Ruckus Wireless WAN uses Campus Fabric technology to create a streamlined network creation and management process. This technology takes many of the processes used to create and manage networks that usually require many different solutions and combines them so that a single solution can accomplish the same amount of work.

The ability to operate on a massive scale. The Ruckus Wireless SmartZone 100 solution gives administrators the power to handle 1,024 access points and 25,000 users from a single device. Companies can operate at a high level with fewer devices than their competitors require to accomplish a similar level of work.

Ease of use. Solutions like RuckusZoneDirector 1200 can be easily deployed and used by administrators who may not have a background in the use of wireless solutions. Companies that choose Ruckus Wireless WAN do not need to train administrators to deploy it. This makes it extremely valuable to companies looking to keep their budgets to a minimum.

Ruckus Wireless WAN Features

Organizations that choose to use the Ruckus Wireless WAN suite of switches and solutions have a large number of capabilities from which they can choose.

Centralized network management. Ruckus Wireless WAN’s RUCKUS Network Director feature enables administrators to manage their networks from a single location. All of the controls and data that users need to monitor and control the network can be managed from one interface.

Advanced security features. Ruckus Wireless WAN has the capability to encrypt and demand that traffic that is trying to pass through the network be authenticated before it is allowed access. This protects the data that leaves the network and the network itself.
Seamless interoperability. The various solutions and products that make up Ruckus Wireless’s WAN solution suite have the ability to integrate and operate together seamlessly. Users can mix and match solution pieces to best fit their needs.

Reviews from Real Users

Ruckus Wireless’s WAN suite is a truly versatile selection of solutions that offer users a complete package of capabilities and features. This suite makes it possible for users to meet all of their networking needs. Their wireless access points are the kind that is mostly employed in industries like resorts, which have to cater to large volumes of people over extended periods of time. They provide companies with the highest possible level of coverage. Users working in any number of fields would find Ruckus Wireless to be up to the task of handling their networking needs. This suite is appropriate for large corporations and small businesses alikes.

An information technology project manager at a university writes, “The actual wireless access points themselves are very powerful. We get very good coverage from just one access point. The throughput is very good and the centralized management is excellent. Also, the ease of deployment is very good.”

A video conferencing administrator at a technology services company states, “The solution is suitable for many types of environments, such as small businesses.”

Ruckus

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

American University of Sharjah, Dordt College, Drew University, Lamar University, Raroa School

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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