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Fortinet FortiExtender vs Ruckus Wireless WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ruckus Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 8.2%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless WAN is 17.6%, down from 35.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ruckus Wireless WAN17.6%
Fortinet FortiExtender8.2%
Other74.2%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.
NN
IT Manager at Handi Quilter, Inc.
Reliable Wi-Fi deployment handles extreme conditions and reduces maintenance
The only bad downside to Ruckus Wireless WAN is that the guest network is poorly conceived. This is a known issue. There are ways to make the guest network work reliably, but not as promised. That's the only downside to Ruckus Wireless WAN access points - they have a weak guest system and guest portal, but everything else is the best of the best. If I did not have access to Ruckus Wireless WAN support, I think I would have failed. One downside they have now is that you no longer have access to the support folks without a contract. That has changed over many years. That would be really unfortunate because I remember struggling. The company was very hungry at that point and they were very willing to help. Now support requires a contract. That comes with all growing companies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup was was just beautiful. It was straightforward."
"With Fortinet, it's cheaper and we don't sacrifice quality."
"The ease of the setup and integration into the entire Fortinet solution is seamless."
"Having the FortiExtender as a part of an SD-WAN topology is a major competitive value."
"The integration is easy and it works as a normal internet connection."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"The product is easy to use and easy to integrate."
"Management can be carried out from a central point."
"Technical support is excellent; they are very responsive, very flexible, and willing to listen to the customer."
"Its build quality is good and quite robust."
"In my opinion, Ruckus is the best wireless company."
"Radio management is a valuable feature of the solution."
"We found the technical support to be helpful."
"Wireless six is the most valuable feature of this solution right now. It has supported the most recent laptop model."
"The deployment access in the local system is about 200 access points. External access points is more. The number is huge. There about 1,000 users in total."
"The support from Ruckus Wireless WAN is wonderful."
 

Cons

"The engineering of the solution has some negative points, especially in terms of troubleshooting. It's difficult to troubleshoot when we have a problem. It's not like other products like Cisco or Palo Alto which make troubleshooting much easier."
"The solution would be a lot better if it was a little bit more intuitive. Additionally, the help menu would be a lot better if it was easier to identify the items that I was looking for. I find the graphical interface a little bit difficult to navigate. And I find the font that is used on the HTML interface not conducive to being able to be read in low light situations."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"There is a huge downside because we need to remove and insert the SIM to get it working."
"What most of my clients are telling me is the price is a problem."
"In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product."
"We would like to see some improvement in the price for 5G models, as they are currently very expensive."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"The pricing, when compared to Ubiquiti, isn't competitive enough."
"I would not consider this solution to be stable."
"The product needs to improve its latency and performance."
"There is a need for more flexibility in granular access control."
"The solution could be more stable."
"I hope that they will be expanding the market. I have some friends who have not heard of Ruckus but are aware of other competitors."
"The pricing, when compared to Ubiquiti, isn't competitive enough. If you want to have a Government or Public sector client they will ask why they should pay 200 euros if they can get something for 40 euros."
"The direct support needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"The solution is a little pricey, so customers sometimes select other products because of the price."
"In general, it is a packaged solution with analytics, support, and a cloud license. The pricing is acceptable for licensing the cloud for a bundle."
"In terms of the license of Ruckus Wireless WAN being cheap or expensive, it would differ based on your country. As I'm living in Turkey, it's expensive, so far. There is a big challenge about the chip crisis or the silicon crisis lately, and all vendors are fighting, so not enough equipment could be sold and the vendors must earn money, so it's very fair for vendors to push software and licensing to keep working and earning, so it's hard to answer a question on how cheap or expensive the license is for the solution."
"The product has competitive pricing."
"The product is available at a very good price, but it is not cheap compared to tools like Unifi. I believe it is a very good product for the price that it is offered to users."
"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"It's expensive but you get more coverage."
"It is less expensive than Aruba and Cisco."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Media Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ruckus Wireless WAN?
These are not cheap access points. If you want to go cheap, Ubiquiti is an option. I knew they were worth it because once deployed, they wouldn't require additional attention. They're not at Cisco ...
What needs improvement with Ruckus Wireless WAN?
Ruckus Wireless WAN is overpriced. Compared to others at the moment, Ruckus Wireless WAN does not have many valuable features. Compared to everyone else, everyone else comes self-hosted, either wit...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
American University of Sharjah, Dordt College, Drew University, Lamar University, Raroa School
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiExtender vs. Ruckus Wireless WAN and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
904,836 professionals have used our research since 2012.