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 8.3, while WatchGuard is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.0. Cisco holds a 13.0% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to WatchGuard’s 0.4% 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 118 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

16,460 Views
13,308 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Read 7 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi reviews

562 Views
463 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 Dec 8, 2024

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi compete in the wireless network market, with Cisco Meraki often preferred for its superior features and ease of deployment, while WatchGuard is favored for its strong security emphasis.

Features: Cisco Meraki offers cloud-based management, scalability, and enterprise security with ease. Its dashboard simplifies visibility and control across devices. WatchGuard focuses on security with advanced threat detection, real-time monitoring, and integration with WatchGuard firewalls, enhancing network protection.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki could benefit from more customizable settings to satisfy experienced network engineers. Its integration with non-Meraki products may require enhancements. WatchGuard may improve by simplifying its setup and expanding its cloud management features. It could also offer more detailed analytics to match competitors.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki is praised for its quick, user-friendly deployment process driven by cloud management, which simplifies configurations and updates. Its customer support is robust, facilitating better network management. WatchGuard's deployment, while focused on security, can be more complex but is supported by responsive customer service dedicated to resolving security issues.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki generally involves higher initial costs, justified by its comprehensive management and seamless scalability, promising extended ROI for larger networks. WatchGuard presents a cost-effective initial setup, appealing more to environments focusing on security ROI. Its budget-friendly pricing structure makes it attractive to cost-conscious businesses prioritizing security.

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

January 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

5.1

Number of Reviews

118

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 March 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 13.0%, up from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is 0.4%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

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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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

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

"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 product's cloud availability feature is the most valuable for network management."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the application visibility, which is one of the main features."

"The solution is very stable. It is a very manageable and secure system."

"It's easy to manage and provides a clear network view, allowing efficient navigation down to the network details."

"I really love their cloud-based dashboard which allows me to see all my locations from one location."

"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."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

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

"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."

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

"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."

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

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

"The solution has been stable."

Cons

"The solution cannot be looked upon for one year or short term because you will pay back all the discounts they offer the next time you pay for renewal."

"The issue primarily revolves around failure to renew the license on time, leading to service termination."

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

"The licensing could be a bit better."

"There needs to be some work done on security because, with time, some viruses may emerge that one may not know about."

"There could be more functionality."

"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."

"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."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is an expensive solution."

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

"Cisco Meraki requires either a one year or three year license for a standard enterprise license."

"The price of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could be improved, it is too expensive. We pay for the solution on an annual basis."

"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."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is expensive."

"It is expensive, but it is a good product."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

"WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

13%

Retailer

10%

Comms Service Provider

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 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

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

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

One of the things is if you buy it with a certain subscription, you can't easily change the subscription level. For example, if you bought it with the Total Secure package, it's not easy to downgra...

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 WLAN vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 32% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 31% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 26% of the time

Aruba Instant vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 12% of the time

More WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

March 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

February 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

January 2025

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

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