Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

AirMagnet Survey vs Aruba Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

AirMagnet Survey
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Network Modeling and Simulation (2nd), Network Troubleshooting (8th)
Aruba Wireless
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
148
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

AirMagnet Survey and Aruba Wireless aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. AirMagnet Survey is designed for Network Modeling and Simulation and holds a mindshare of 18.4%, down 32.2% compared to last year.
Aruba Wireless, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless LAN, holds 17.1% mindshare, down 23.4% since last year.
Network Modeling and Simulation
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

David Olofson - PeerSpot reviewer
It fixes so many problems quickly that we don't regret spending more on high-end tools than most companies
It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly. There's one thing our nXG handhelds do that AirMagnet doesn't do out of the box. The nXG devices can analyze the wired and wireless networks simultaneously and map the networks out. We find it handy. However, if I have that plugged into our older OptiView XG tablets or our laptops, I have no way to analyze both the WiFi and the wired network at the same time and build a single picture with all that data. So far, that's something only our nXG handhelds can do. It would be nice if there were a way to integrate all the network discovery, troubleshooting, and mapping of the WiFi and the wired at the same time. There are almost no products that do that currently. If they managed to do that, they'd probably open up their market pretty quickly.
Muhammad_Faisal - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience seamless connectivity with top-notch roaming capabilities
The Aruba Wireless solution has excellent roaming capabilities, ensuring seamless connectivity. Once installed, Aruba Wireless works robustly without overheating issues. This is particularly effective compared to other products I've used, like FortiMonitor and FortiAPs, which sometimes heat up. I am very satisfied with the roaming feature, as it ensures connectivity when moving from one location to another. The product's stability, after setting it up, adds to its value.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The AirMagnet Survey allows you to see the list of APs in the live view. It only supports certain adapters, which can be limiting, but it's also beneficial because these adapters are more comparable to real-life devices like laptops. With Ekahau, Sidekick needs to be used for full features, but I find the Sidekick too strong, which can hamper results. Therefore, I prefer AirMagnet's approach because the adapters provide more realistic readings."
"Customer service is great."
"Clear and easy to use maps."
"It allows us to prepare more real designs. Later, we validate them with actual surveys."
"The predictive survey is the most valuable feature. I use it quite often."
"The benefit is with the ease of use of the software, I am able to show the customer, "Here is what your wireless coverage looks like." It is set up in a fashion that non-technical people can understand it."
"It is reliable and easy to use (user-friendly). The heat mapping, passive network surveying, and doing the heat mapping of a building's wireless network allows me to see what level of coverage an area has."
"I would like to rate the product as eight of ten."
"The Airwave is the best feature for a single management point for all APs in the environment."
"The solution is well designed so you can easily integrate it in an infrastructure network."
"Scalability has been one of the easiest aspects of the Aruba Instant product line. As long as the models are compatible, you can simply connect it to your network and it will learn the settings from the other APs on the network and join the AP network."
"The performance and the application monitor. You can select the applications you want to use and block on your network"
"The virtual controller has options for updating and remotely restarting any AP from one controller panel."
"I would rate their scalability as ten out of ten."
"The solution is stable."
"Aruba Wireless is easily scaled between a lot of devices and a lot of endpoints. When we decided to use it as our solution, we had planned to use it exactly for its ability to scale."
 

Cons

"It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly."
"Printouts are JPEG printouts. The AirMagnet software is proprietary. I can't send my customers a file, because it is AirMagnet file, even for building projects. I can only send JPEGs or screenshots of heat maps."
"The surveying features are in need of improvement, along with general usability."
"It'd be nice if it was cheaper, however, you get value for your money."
"But it's definitely a more expensive solution than other ones."
"The throughput should be more advanced in the future. They need to add more versions of WiFi than just one."
"I would say some of our newer techs that are going out to job sites can be a little bit intimidated by the interface."
"AirMagnet Survey needs to support Wi-Fi 6E otherwise they can lose to the competition. They also need to allow better grouping of SSIDs to one AP, removing the need to filter manually. At the moment, you can filter by channel or SSID, but grouping all those SSIDs together is a difficult task."
"If you want a centralized management system that is able to manage all your networking devices such as the wireless, the switch, the routers, and the firewall, then Aruba may not be the one, because Aruba doesn't do firewalls."
"I wish the APs had the ability to enter in notes about a specific AP."
"The Return Material Authorization procedure is time-consuming and needs improvement."
"The new 8400 failed at Lab, plus its integration with Aruba Central."
"The user interface could be improved in Aruba Wireless. This would make the setup easier."
"For a more senior tool, a local application monitoring related to IoT vendors would be useful."
"Currently, the stability of the code is the basic underlying problem for us. They had an 8.6 release that came out two weeks ago, but we had to migrate twice because the code wasn't stable. We can't get things to work the same way. Version 8 was a big change for them. They made a change so that it is forced to be a managed hierarchical system. It means that you make changes at the top, and it pushes them downstream. There are a lot of problems with the 8.6 version code. I ran into four bugs in one week and was informed that we should just move onto the next one because all of those fixes have taken place. The feedback loop for fixes is not always really relayed back to you. I don't have a lot of strong things to say about version 8.6. When we had version 6, the controller was pretty much rock solid. We had no problems. We made a heavy investment to migrate a lot of stuff to take advantage of things like WPA3, Wi-Fi 6, and all that kind of stuff, and we haven't been able to turn those features on because we are not confident that they are going to work just yet. So, right now, we're still very much stumbling through the version 8.6 code and just trying to make sure that it is safe before we turn on some of those features. In terms of the marketplace, they are one of the top three leaders. In some respects, one of the things that they focus on is wireless. Therefore, there are some things that should be beyond reproach, as far as I'm concerned. In terms of the stability of the code, there are always going to be bugs, but the core stability of the code needs to be there. When it is not stable, that's a real problem for me because you lose a lot of confidence in the products."
"Making the setup more simple is an area for improvement in Aruba Wireless. Security-wise, this solution also needs work."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is medium."
"There is an annual cost of the solution. There are some additional charges, such as support and maintenance."
"For technical support, you need an annual license, but it is not worth it."
"This product is very expensive."
"The licensing of AirMagnet Survey is different when compared to Ekahu. It is a third of the cost of Ekahau but there are no dedicated laptops to the Sidekick. AirMagnet allows you to license an adapter and share that adapter."
"The moment we began needing more of the vendor's support, the cost became very high; we switched to another solution."
"The pricing needs improvement."
"I am aiding in transitioning my organization to a different wireless solution due to the cost. We need to expand our network and the cost of new APs and an upgraded controller have proved to be prohibitive compared to similar solutions on the market.​"
"​Trial different solutions and compare pricing to how well they perform, their stability, how easy it is to maintain, etc."
"We have some licenses for the solution, and we need not renew licenses. But we need to pay a hundred thousand if you want to renew our subscription and renew the hardware."
"Aruba Wireless is the best for the price. Aruba Wireless is the least expensive, the second is Huawei, and the most expensive is Cisco."
"The price is reasonable."
"Aruba Wireless is much cheaper than our previous solution by Cisco. It is a significant saving, measured in thousands of dollars per year."
"The price of Aruba Wireless has a more competitive price than other solutions."
"The price of Aruba Wireless is fairly reasonable. It was within our budget."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Modeling and Simulation solutions are best for your needs.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AirMagnet Survey?
We use the solution for Wi-Fi and networks.
What needs improvement with AirMagnet Survey?
AirMagnet Survey needs to support Wi-Fi 6E otherwise they can lose to the competition. They also need to allow better grouping of SSIDs to one AP, removing the need to filter manually. At the momen...
What is your primary use case for AirMagnet Survey?
We use AirMagnet Survey, for site verifications after the wireless system has been installed. We conduct pre and post-install surveys with it. We have reduced the use since now our customers requir...
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...
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...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Houston Methodist Hospital, Love's Travel Stops
Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Find out what your peers are saying about Ekahau, NetAlly, iBwave and others in Network Modeling and Simulation. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.