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ExtremeWireless vs Ruckus Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 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

ExtremeWireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ruckus Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of ExtremeWireless is 1.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless is 14.3%, up from 12.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Seungho Yang - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced employee access with effective wireless monitoring and seamless roaming
Our use case for ExtremeWireless is to allow our employees to access the company systems The monitoring systems in ExtremeWireless have been very effective, and they are cheaper than other products. It provides better monitoring logs and detailed logs compared to Cisco Wireless. The most…
Xander Janse Van Rensburg - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and high-performance wireless networking with exceptional stability, scalability, and robust feature set
One of the most valuable features I appreciate is auto channelization, facilitated by a proprietary product called ChannelFly. This feature enables APs in a specific zone to automatically adjust their channels, optimizing performance. Additionally, Ruckus Wireless stands out for its ability to reuse certain beams, resulting in smaller data spots. In my experience with various products, Ruckus Wireless consistently delivers unparalleled throughput, coverage, and reliability in wireless networking across different environments. As a noteworthy point, the newly launched WiFi 7 standard is measured against Ruckus's WiFi 7 AP, establishing it as the global benchmark. When it comes to WiFi, Ruckus sets the standard, outperforming competitors with its superior performance and capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's cloud-based and very easy to deploy."
"The wireless security solution is the most valuable feature of ExtremeWireless."
"The most useful feature is how the product integrates with the Microsoft directory in the cloud."
"The customer service and support provided by Extreme are excellent."
"I like Cloud IQ, ExtremeWireless' cloud controller and analytics platform. It's full of information, easy to use, and provides excellent visibility into my network."
"ExtremeWireless is a flexible solution."
"ExtremeWireless provides us with enterprise-level authentication methods at an excellent cost. It supports all the latest authentication methods. Another advantage is the built-in DHCP server. We don't need third-party DHCP servers to get the IPF."
"The cloud-based solution allows for easy management and monitoring of traffic and congestion."
"The solution has great network intelligence from applications, clients, access points, and controllers."
"Ruckus Wireless is an easy to manage solution."
"The product has good technical support and offers excellent documentation."
"The solution provides superior coverage."
"The product can scale."
"The solution has an easy configuration."
"It gives you the whole user session, and you can tell that the client connected at the traffic post."
"The setup is very straightforward."
 

Cons

"The APs have quite a low signal compared to other brands."
"The main area for improvement is the company's local visibility."
"The reports could prove in ExtremeWireless. However, we are in the early stages of use and we might be able to configure them better."
"The solution should offer better support."
"The solution needs to improve its portfolio."
"The product must be provided at a cheaper price."
"The troubleshooting feature for the cloud version is challenging."
"The ability to integrate with network devices from other vendors would be helpful."
"Having support available that is more compatible with time zones in the United States would be helpful."
"Most customers revoke the idea of deploying it when they observe the cost per AP license."
"I wish that Ruckus Wireless were more affordable for customers."
"It would be ideal if the solution offered more features."
"The pricing of the product can be a bit expensive. They should work on making pricing more competitive."
"An area for improvement in Ruckus Wireless is automating its guest WiFi access function. Currently, the product requires token generation, so it would be better if there's a portal for the guest to log in and get the password rather than the IT team needing to give passwords to guests."
"Their support has been lacking a little bit and needs to be improved. I have had a ticket open for a month, and it is really hard to get a resolution out of them. They haven't really come out with anything that is much of an improvement in a long time. It has mostly just been fixes and things like that. We used to have a ZoneDirector or a physical controller for the wireless network, and that was kind of end of life. It was very old, and at the time, we were expanding the wireless network, and we didn't want to rely on one piece of hardware that was pretty old. So, we went to SmartZone Cluster, which has two VMs in a cluster. Unfortunately, we lost the feature ability for guest networks and other things that we were using before, and Ruckus just kind of told us that they weren't supporting that feature in the newer product, which is not really great. I was told initially that SmartZone was an upgrade to ZoneDirector. It is the logical thing to think that it is going to have all the same features, but it didn't. The issue that we have right now is onboarding BYOD devices. It is not really great for us, and we're looking for a new product to make that easier. We did have Cloudpath, which was a product that Ruckus purchased from another company that was an onboarding solution, but it just didn't really work very well for us. So, we discontinued using it, and it actually created more confusion for people. They should make BYOD or guest network portals a lot easier and better. In some areas, we have been having issues because there are just so many WAPs that are so close that we had to manually turn down the radio of power because the automatic feature of the AP wasn't really doing it right. It should also have a little bit better RF analysis capability to be able to see on the controller side. The front end for our staff, students, and guests has also not been quite as good as we had hoped."
"The solution isn't the cheapest option. However, you are getting a quality product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Extreme isn't the most expensive, but it's not a low-cost solution, and because there are no big volumes, you don't receive significant discounts, making the final price higher."
"There are both paid and free licenses of the cloud environment, with only basic functionality in the free version."
"The solution is priced well and we currently are only paying for a license for maintenance."
"ExtremeWireless isn't budget-friendly. The hardware costs around 20,000 Indian rupees. We're still using an older controller, so it doesn't require a license, unlike the newest versions of the ExtremeWireless controller."
"I rate the product's pricing a three or four out of ten."
"I rate the price of Extreme Wireless a three out of five."
"We pay approximately $30,000 per year."
"The purchase of 350 access points cost approximately $250,000 USD."
"I rate the product price as six to seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"We have a yearly license for our multiple mode 200 or 300 Ruckus Wireless systems. It's a good price."
"Licensing is subscription-based."
"​The cost can be prohibitive for many as it is a high-end product in the WiFi market.​"
"Ruckus is more expensive than Meraki, but the performance moves in parallel with the cost."
"The only complaint I have about Ruckus is the price, but considering other enterprise WiFi products are similarly priced, I feel Ruckus is a superior product."
"Cost-wise, the product is priced above average, considering its competitors in the market."
"The reason we picked Ruckus, in addition to our long-standing relationship with Ruckus, is pretty much that the RFS characteristics of it seem to be the best."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
11%
Non Profit
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ExtremeWireless?
There is some delay in firmware upgrades for access points. When there is a problem with the firmware of one access point, the correction might be too late.
What is your primary use case for ExtremeWireless?
We work with some end customers, and we use ExtremeCloud IQ ( /products/extremecloud-iq-reviews ) for the administration of the wireless platform. We use Wi-Fi 6 E for many users.
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...
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...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

St. Xavier High School, Americatel, Diamond Light Source
American University of Sharjah, Baruch College, Centro Escolar Liceo Santo Tomšs, Chevalier College, Chico Unified School District, Colegio de Fomento El Prado, Columbia Public Schools, Delta School District, Dordt College, Douglas County School District, Drew University, Armonea, Central Utah Clinic, Grove Hill Medical Center, Inner South Community Health Service, Midwest Surgical, Satilla Regional Medical Center, Lyndoch Living, Polonus, Roaring Fork School District, Sonora State, Vivid, Sydney, Players Club, Sandals, Scandic Hotels, Sheraton LAX, Sunbird
Find out what your peers are saying about ExtremeWireless vs. Ruckus Wireless and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.