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Aruba Airwave vs NetMaster Network Intelligence comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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

Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetMaster Network Intelligence
Ranking in Network Management Applications
17th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 3.1%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetMaster Network Intelligence is 3.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Airwave3.1%
NetMaster Network Intelligence3.2%
Other93.7%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Edward Zeng - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Troubleshooting obstacles occur but technical support excels
My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco. We didn't use Aruba much, but once you set it up, you probably don't need to worry about it too much. The version we are using is quite old now, probably around version four. I can't remember the version exactly because a lot of the products require Aruba Central, but we haven't used Aruba Central yet. I face challenges with Aruba Airwave, particularly with troubleshooting. When someone has a problem, we try troubleshooting, but the end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website. If Aruba Airwave can apply AI capabilities, that would be even more perfect. I'd appreciate integration with Aruba Central; it would be great if they could incorporate it into Airwave.
it_user558525 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Systems Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Streamlines quick and effective drill-down into the network stack for better troubleshooting
I would like to see a web-based interface that mimics the ease of doing data traces, similar to something like a Wireshark which is a Windows-based network monitoring tool. Wireshark is fast. I'm an old Windows guy, it's what I know. I think the liability of NetMaster is having to do things through the panels. It's slow to generate traces, and when you're doing a real-time troubleshooting call - when you have to wait 30 seconds for a process to spawn and fire up in order to give data back - 30 seconds is a long time when there's an issue. The user interface is probably the biggest impediment to my success with it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Airwave is the multivendor support, which enables you to manage and monitor different vendors or products."
"ROI is good, and the technology has a good life span."
"The powerful features we can put forward in Aruba Airwave are clarity, report creation, and VisualRF."
"I would rate the stability a nine out of ten."
"It can interact with other vendors better than Cisco, which is a good point of AirWave. It is easy to use, and its reporting is good."
"The Clarity feature makes it easy to use and understand what is going on with your network in a nice dashboard, and it contains valuable features for engineers to C-level executives, who want visibility, performance, statistics, and a platform which can take action for them without manual intervention, saving time and money."
"The Clarity feature makes it easy to use and understand what is going on with your network in a nice dashboard.​"
"The most valuable features are SNA and IP monitoring, and it has been very easy to define many thresholds, including self-defining baselines."
"Stability-wise, the whole product runs great, especially with the automation; that's where it really shines."
"The support has been excellent. It is far and away the best among the products that our team supports."
"I consider NetMaster to be the best-of-breed for network."
"Otherwise, I think it is one of the better network products out there."
 

Cons

"Stability of GUI Stability of instant access point management"
"We encounter delayed ETAs in the manufacturing of hardware."
"When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls. It's somewhat annoying since other Wi-Fi design software we use is easier for drawing walls and including floor plans."
"I would like to see is “AAS”. Not only Aruba APs with central, but NAC/ClearPass, AirWave, and everything licensed as a Service."
"My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco."
"The overall monitoring of this solution could be improved."
"The main challenge we've faced with Aruba Airwave is its high cost, especially regarding high availability and failover licenses, which can be relatively expensive for customers. As for recommendations for improvement, considering that Aruba is planning to retire Airwave soon and introduce a new solution, it's crucial that the new product meets or exceeds the current Airwave's feature set. Customers expect a seamless transition without losing any functionality, so Aruba needs to ensure that the new solution is ready with all the essential features and capabilities from day one to avoid any gaps or dissatisfaction among users and partners."
"Whenever you get an error it doesn't immediately tell you what the thing is that is causing the error. You have to sit down and research it. If it could say what error is causing the issue, it would make my troubleshooting a lot quicker."
"I think the liability of NetMaster is having to do things through the panels."
"I didn't think the SNMP function was easy to set up. That caused some problems with the address space."
"I would like to see a web-based UI (major effort now in progress)."
"I would like to see new release migrations made easier."
"The automation part could use improvement, but I do not do that much with it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Aruba Airwave is an expensive solution."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Aruba Airwave's licensing cost is not that expensive."
"Licensing and pricing are extremely straightforward."
"It's device-based licensing. One device requires one license."
"We must buy a new license to connect more devices to scale up the solution."
"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (PoC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability."
"The cost is perfect because the devices have a lifetime warranty, and the licensing is good as well."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Healthcare Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
They have other sensors which can manage and control all the sites. There is an IoT component where we can restrict internet services such as Facebook and YouTube. These things can also be managed....
What is your primary use case for Aruba Airwave?
For Aruba Airwave, I am using the wireless devices for the Wi-Fi for the full company with access points. This is the top product I feel, and I see in the Gartner also. It is a good product and eas...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA NetMaster Network Management. CA NetMaster, CA NetMaster Network Management for TCP/IP, CA NetMaster Network Management for SNA, CA NetMaster Network Management for TCP/IP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Tieto
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. NetMaster Network Intelligence and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.