ExtremeWireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi comparison

Extreme and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Extreme is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.3, while WatchGuard is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.0. Extreme holds a 1.7% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to WatchGuard’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Extreme users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

ExtremeWireless

Read 29 ExtremeWireless reviews

1,738 Views
1,516 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Read 7 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi reviews

531 Views
431 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

ExtremeWireless

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

ExtremeWireless and WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi are competing products in the realm of wireless networking solutions. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi has the upper hand due to its advanced security features and remote deployment options, making it attractive for security-focused enterprises and distributed locations.

Features: ExtremeWireless offers cloud-managed high-performance Wi-Fi solutions with advanced security protocols and centralized management. It ensures seamless connectivity with excellent scalability and cloud IQ analytics. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is equipped with dynamic host configuration protocol fingerprinting, innovative intrusion prevention, and analytics capabilities. It provides seamless integration with firewalls and robust cloud-based management.

Room for Improvement: ExtremeWireless could improve by expanding its feature set to appeal to the hospitality sector and enhancing its remote deployment capabilities. Broadening support for diverse industries and adding more advanced configuration options can elevate its offering. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi might benefit from reducing initial investment costs and simplifying licensing agreements. Enhancing interoperability with third-party solutions and further streamlining the configuration process could enhance user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ExtremeWireless is renowned for its straightforward deployment featuring excellent hands-on customer service. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi provides a seamless deployment process, specializing in remote deployment and advanced configuration management, which is ideal for distributed locations. Both products offer robust technical support, with WatchGuard excelling in remote capabilities.

Pricing and ROI: ExtremeWireless offers competitive setup costs with a cost-effective licensing model, delivering substantial ROI. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi, despite a higher initial investment, delivers exceptional ROI justified by its advanced features, focusing on long-term investment prosperity. The primary difference is in ROI strategies, where WatchGuard emphasizes securing long-term benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed ExtremeWireless vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeWireless vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

March 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

ExtremeWireless

Ranking in Wireless LAN

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

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 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 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is 0.4%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

Seungho Yang

Network Engineer at KOREAN AIR

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…

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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 monitoring system is integrated with AI features."

"ExtremeWireless offers profiles, policies, and tags."

"The initial setup was easy."

"ExtremeWireless is known for its strong security engine, Air Defense, which provides necessary wireless security assistance to many of my customers."

"The cloud-based management system is valuable."

"In terms of the most valuable features, I like the integration with the fabric. The network fabric completely integrates with wireless as well."

"The central control is valuable."

"The most valuable feature is stability."

More ExtremeWireless pros

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

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

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

"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."

"The solution has been stable."

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

"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."

Cons

"They could provide different product models. Additionally, there could be a feature to manage devices."

"The performance of the access points could be improved. ExtremeWireless coverage and signal stability could be enhanced to match the level of Ruckus Wireless and other vendors."

"ExtremeWireless support isn't very good."

"They should develop more troubleshooting tools for system management. Additional troubleshooting tools should be created by the engineers."

"The product must be provided at a cheaper price."

"The solution should offer better support."

"The solution must include integrated IoT solutions on their wireless APs."

"It is a subscription model, so it is maybe a bit pricey."

More ExtremeWireless cons

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

"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 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."

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

"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."

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."

"It's not as expensive as some and is scalable to our needs."

"The license cost per AP is about $150 USD."

"ExtremeWireless is subscription-based for both cloud and on-prem solutions, and it's quite expensive."

"There are both paid and free licenses of the cloud environment, with only basic functionality in the free version."

"I rate the product's pricing a three or four out of ten."

"The solution has a yearly subscription, and we have to pay additional costs for technical support."

"The price of the solution overall is expensive. Additionally, the controller and license are expensive. We pay for an annual subscription."

More ExtremeWireless 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

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

11%

Non Profit

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ExtremeWireless?

The initial setup process is simple.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

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?

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Ruckus Wireless vs ExtremeWireless

Compared 40% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs ExtremeWireless

Compared 19% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs ExtremeWireless

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs ExtremeWireless

Compared 8% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs ExtremeWireless

Compared 5% of the time

More ExtremeWireless Competitors

Ruckus Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 40% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 32% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 28% of the time

More WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeWireless

March 2025

Download ExtremeWireless product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

March 2025

Download WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi product report

Overview

Extreme ExtremeWireless Access Points deliver wired-like performance, at scale for high-density in every environment. Smart Access Points are equally adept for both distributed and centralized deployment models. ExtremeWireless Controllers provide advanced functionality to allow organizations to define how wireless voice/video/data traffic is processed without architectural constraints and in accordance with business needs.

Extreme

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

St. Xavier High School, Americatel, Diamond Light Source

Portsmouth Grammar School, HILOTEC

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeWireless vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

March 2025

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