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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Ubiquiti Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 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

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (4th)
Ubiquiti Wireless
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
Wireless WAN (1st)
 

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.
Ubiquiti Wireless, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless WAN, holds 40.5% mindshare, up 39.9% since last year.
Wireless LAN
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

Mageshwaran S - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple to set up and good outdoor accessibility but does not penetrate rooms well indoors
Ubiquiti requires more improvement in wireless penetration. It has significantly less penetration in indoor devices. When it comes to indoor devices, Ubiquiti Wireless does not have penetration power, so when we deploy it in closed rooms, it fails to connect. This is one drawback that has to improve. When indoor access points failed to penetrate into rooms, we had to deploy single access points in each room, which seemed to be really costly. Still, when compared to Fortinet, it has an outdoor access point model also. The outdoor access point is relatively stable in comparison. The solution needs to offer more scalability. It does not have traffic shaping or traffic policies in its wireless requirements. We have to completely depend on an additional firewall for traffic shaping and policies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 solution is easy to install."
"The solution is very easy to use."
"The setup phase was very easy and user-friendly for me, not only for initial setup but also for ongoing management."
"The big draw is the ease of installation. It's easy to manage, and it's easy to implement."
"For Meraki, the ease of deployment and management is most valuable."
"The visibility of the site is most useful."
"The interface makes it easy to manage."
"It is very stable and the equipment lasts quite a long time."
"Setting it up wasn't so complicated. It is reliable. Security-wise, we didn't have much trouble, but that could be due to our environment. We haven't had so many attacks, at least up till now."
"The failure rate is very low on these devices - I've had them installed for five years and have only lost one out of a hundred."
"The solution is easy to use and flexible."
"This access point provides internet to every lab on campus, including the computer laboratory"
"Easy to use and flexible."
"Ubiquiti is easier to install than Mikrotik."
"The main strength of Ubiquiti Wireless is the ease of use it provides to users."
 

Cons

"Its pricing could be better."
"Meraki is still very much a small office type of solution. It is not a fit for large enterprise networks, as it doesn't have tunneling functionalities."
"The solution's pricing could be improved."
"The licensing model is a terrible idea."
"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."
"The solution should be more secure."
"Our only concern at this stage is how it's licensed."
"When we are using SSID roaming, it is not flexible in terms of which AP it connects to."
"The Unifi controller software has a small issue."
"We need an official distributor in Egypt as we don't have one right now."
"Tech support is mostly remote and could be better."
"The product lacks some security features."
"Ubiquiti Wireless could improve stability."
"Ubiquiti Wireless does not have local support."
"Ubiquiti Wireless could improve by being more user-friendly and easy to use."
"Everything needs to be professionally done."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Higher subscription fee may be necessary if extra features are required."
"The solution is pretty expensive."
"It's a pretty good value, but not great. Pricing is on a yearly basis for the Meraki solution."
"Having a good price is important when we are providing quotations for projects."
"It is expensive."
"The solution's pricing is a little higher."
"It is expensive, but it is a good product."
"Since it's been acquired by Cisco, it's an even higher cost."
"It's a cost-effective solution."
"Ubiquiti Wireless is affordable."
"I rate the price of Ubiquiti Wireless a three out of five."
"The price of Ubiquiti Wireless is affordable, we pay approximately $100 and $150 per access point."
"The price of the solution is high and could be cheaper."
"Right now the product is less expensive and of higher quality than other solutions."
"For €100, you have Wi-Fi and you don't have to worry about a license."
"The price is reasonable and there's only a one-time payment. We have had this for a long time and I haven't seen any additional fee after paying for the installation."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
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...
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...
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...
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...
Which is better - Cambium or Ubiquiti Wireless?
For me, Ubiquiti was easy to install, configure, set up, and maintain, while also providing solid coverage and better handoffs between APs. This is especially relevant if you are using Apple produc...
Which is better - Ubiquiti Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Ubiquiti Wireless offers a wide range of WLAN products. We tested their devices before ultimately choosing Cisco Meraki. Ubiquiti devices have good outdoor performance and the connection is very st...
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
NASCAR Grand-AM, Maritime Parc, Outdoor Music Festival, British Armed Forces, Arcadia School District, Moscow - Enforta
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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