Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi comparison

Cisco and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.2, while WatchGuard is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.0. Cisco holds a 11.5% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to WatchGuard’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 120 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

11,730 Views
10,440 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Read 7 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi reviews

466 Views
457 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi compete in the wireless networking market. Cisco Meraki seems to have the upper hand in user satisfaction and comprehensive management capabilities, while WatchGuard stands out for its robust security features.

Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers centralized cloud-based management, seamless integration with other Cisco products, and detailed analytics capabilities. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi provides robust security features, secure VPN support, and intrusion prevention.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki can improve in customization capabilities, the depth of security features, and advanced troubleshooting options. WatchGuard could enhance its ease of deployment, integration with third-party solutions, and user interface experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki is noted for its streamlined deployment and intuitive management tools. Customer service support effectively assists with installation and troubleshooting. WatchGuard requires a more intricate setup due to its comprehensive security configurations, though it does feature good customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki's higher initial investment is offset by quicker ROI through efficient deployment and management. Its subscription costs provide competitive long-term benefits. WatchGuard's lower initial setup cost attracts budget-conscious buyers, yet its comprehensive security may necessitate additional investments.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

September 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

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

4.3

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Ranking in Wireless LAN

24th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 11.5%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is 0.5%, up from 0.5% 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	11.5%
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi	0.5%
Other	88.0%

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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WarrenWilliams

Senior Account Manager at Bralin Technology Solutions

A solution that offers excellent support and makes it easy to manage networks

To utilize the solution properly, you need some training and guidance on that. Getting it working is easy, but if you're going to use it with feature sets that make WatchGuard worthwhile to use, it's probably not the easiest to set up. I'd rate the initial setup a seven out of ten. The time taken to deploy the solution depends on the project scope you're doing. Do you need ten WiFi access points or one? You could deploy the solution in an hour. We need one person to deploy the solution. But the number of people required for deployment depends on where the access points are deployed. Like, if it's the ceiling or whatever. The way we do it, we usually have an on-site technician who sets up the backend. We usually have two people when deploying the solution, but you can do it with one person. We have a team that manages the solution. But if you have ten people on a site to manage the solution, 15 minutes daily is enough.

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

"Integrating with the router, firewall, and Wireless Controller is advantageous."

"It is cloud-based. You can manage it remotely from anywhere in the world, and you don't have to be on-site, which is a very big advantage."

"The setup phase was very easy and user-friendly for me, not only for initial setup but also for ongoing management."

"This product has allowed us to easily create custom SSIDs for clients and carve out the necessary bandwidth for clients needs."

"The most valuable feature is cloud management."

"It is a scalable solution."

"Provided reliability and a good price."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."

"We like that WatchGuard works and integrates directly with the firewalls we use."

"They're very easy to set up and get running."

"The solution has been stable."

"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."

"It makes it easy to obtain all information about the client experience."

"The Wi-Fi security features of this solution have been great for our customers who need to strictly control access to their network."

Cons

"Its price could be improved."

"They could also add some more controls for guest access. For example, when you have a captive portal, it would be nice to limit the amount of time users can stay connected per day. Right now, you can only configure the splash frequency. And you can set the connection for one hour, but you have to use the billing feature."

"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 solution's mobile application and management of dashboards are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."

"We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises."

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

"We'd like to have better mapping to showcase low-coverage areas."

"The price could be slightly lowered to make it more competitive in the market."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"The solution can be scaled but it has limitations from my experience."

"Inability to import a user with one click."

"One of the things is if you buy it with a certain subscription, you can't easily change the subscription level."

"If a client device had issues with authentication due to out of date browser or similar difficulties, it would be nice to have the ability to migrate the client onto the portal via one click."

"The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention."

"The price of this solution needs to reviewed, as it is currently high enough to deter customers from trying it."

"I don't think they're available at the best price."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It can be for three, five, or ten years. I'm happy with the pricing. You basically pay for what you get. It is that simple. When you look at Ubiquiti or Aruba, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN far outweighs what you get. If you're in the UK, Ubiquiti gives a three-year or five-year warranty, whereas here in the UAE, they only give a one-year warranty, which is no good to me. Who buys a piece of equipment with only one year warranty on it? It doesn't make sense."

"If you are wondering if Meraki can work for you, contact one of their representatives because they will do onsite trials where you can set up their system. If it does not work, you can send it back to them for no charge."

"The cost of both the hardware and licensing is high, and it is more than what I would prefer to spend currently."

"The price/benefit ratio is great."

"Its price is okay for an enterprise. Its licensing is the most painful. If you hear anything bad about Cisco, it's about that. We're supposed to be one of the resellers but had to come back down to become a user. It's really bizarre."

"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."

"The platform is expensive."

"This solution is slightly more expensive than others, such as Ruckus Wi-Fi."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"Your licensing and cost, as would be required for many other solutions, being considered for eighty to two hundred and eighty different physical locations, is just about the same amount per access point."

"The solution is priced high compared to competitors. However, for the features that are included in the solution, the price becomes more reasonable."

"WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Retailer

Non Profit

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	68
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize 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...

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...

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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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What needs improvement with WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention. Also, when an incident occurs, the impact can be significantly huge. A recent p...

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

We use WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi because we have used different tools as well, like Ubiquiti. The complexity of Ubiquiti is much more compared to WatchGuard, which provides more flexibility and is ea...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

We recommend using WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi, but when incidents occur, it can be very difficult to identify why they happen. Normally, the issues are simple to fix, but we recently faced a major inc...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 31% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 12% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 12% of the time

Fortinet FortiAP vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Ubiquiti WLAN vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 36% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 23% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 21% of the time

Fortinet FortiWLM vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 20% of the time

More WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

October 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

September 2025

Download WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi 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

WatchGuard is a global leader in network security, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services for SMBs and Distributed Enterprises worldwide. Our mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for distributed enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

WatchGuard

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

Portsmouth Grammar School, HILOTEC

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

September 2025

Free Report: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

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