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Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Fortinet FortiWLC comparison

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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

Cloudflare Web Application ...
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (6th)
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Pl...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (9th), WAN Edge (9th)
Fortinet FortiWLC
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

WAN Optimization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform13.9%
Steelhead15.6%
Cato SASE Cloud Platform12.8%
Other57.7%
WAN Optimization
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiWLC1.0%
Aruba Wireless12.9%
Ruckus Wireless10.3%
Other75.8%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

DB
CTO at PlayNirvana
Advanced security reporting has protected high-traffic betting platforms from constant attacks
I don't see room for improvement to Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. One thing I don't know much about because we have a dedicated IT team for that, and I'm not involved with Cloudflare much anymore. But if I were to compare them to F5, I would like to see more features that F5 offers. F5 has an option to bring the whole infrastructure, the whole WAF and all their packages, Bot Management, and everything else on your infrastructure. You need to install certain services from their side, and then you can choose if you would like requests to hit your servers immediately or if requests need to be proxied through F5 backbone. That would be a nice addition because we have 90% of the traffic as legit traffic coming from whitelisted servers. If it comes from whitelisted servers, I don't need to go every request through the backbone; I could easily just IP whitelist everything. Then I could maybe have Bot Management on my infrastructure that drastically reduces the price of Cloudflare. I would like to see Push CDN more improved in the next release of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. And maybe something similar to Pushpin that Fastly has, which is an option where you can push messages that then can be scaled globally over the network. From our perspective, if we have a listener that listens for stock updates, I would just need to have one processor that pushes those updates to the Cloudflare API, and then Cloudflare would broadcast that message to all listeners. Cloudflare will check the order of the message, and if you, as a customer, are not connected or have some kind of network issue, when you reconnect, you will receive the latest state and missing updates.
SatishKumar13 - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager at Savex Technologies Pvt Ltd
Reliable features and exceptional tech support enhance user experience
The Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is a fantastic solution based on my experience. The Zero-Touch Provisioning feature is one of the best features I have seen so far. While there are some aspects that need improvement on the technical side, when comparing it with other products and solutions, it performs well but still has room for enhancement.
Md.Mehedi Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead Manager at Blue Pill Ltd
Offers a seamless and secure WiFi experience with outstanding customer support
FortiWLC is valuable due to its security features and the seamless WiFi experience it provides. Our customers benefit greatly from the security aspect, especially since they are already using Fortinet for Firewall services. The security features are crucial for their requirements. The stability and ease of use of FortiWLC also add to its effectiveness.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The stability of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall deserves a perfect 10 out of 10."
"Very glad the WAF rulesets works out of box, and requires very little tuning or maintenance."
"I have not had any issues with this solution, and I would recommend it to others who are interested in using it."
"The initial setup process is simple."
"Cloudflare has positively impacted my organization by making it easier for me to handle and set up DNS for multiple clients; I can easily go in and access their accounts, make changes they need, and it's a one-stop shop."
"The product has improved our security posture by blocking bad actors."
"The product has a valuable security control functionality."
"Cloudflare WAF provides protection through rules and functionalities like Cloudflare's SDRAP."
"The initial setup is very easy and not confusing."
"As an integrator, I recommend Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect, however, it does depend on the use case."
"The best features of the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform are capacity management and network capacity management."
"The platform is valuable for bandwidth reduction."
"The tool is easy to configure due to the existing pre-configured templates. It is easy to manage compared to legacy systems, which takes time. We can complete a site within 30 minutes. The tool's best feature is outdoor onboarding. You need to bring the box to the site with the internet. It is a simple plug-and-play. The solution offers a zero-touch procedure."
"The file and data reduction capabilities are very good, and without it, we have a great deal of network congestion."
"I rate the Aruba EdgeConnect solution nine out of ten."
"We had several clients that were paying $7,500 a month for an MPLS line for one single 10 megabit circuit and we were able to take that from $7,500 a month down to $500 a month for two 10 megabits circuits that added redundancy where before they did not have redundancy and it gave them a much better throughput."
"The security within the access point and the controller is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten."
"It's easy to set everything up during implementation."
"FortiWLC is valuable due to its security features and the seamless WiFi experience it provides."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiWLC is the overall high quality."
 

Cons

"The solution's learning curve can still be further reduced"
"The user interface is very simple and straightforward, but users need knowledge about DNS to accomplish tasks."
"They need to improve their support because getting a response for basic requests took around 48 hours, which is too long."
"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall should include port forwarding features."
"The learning curve was steep initially."
"The ModSecurity core rules need to be updated."
"I have experienced some difficulties with Cloudflare's support as a customer based in India."
"The dashboard could be more user-friendly."
"I guess the tool should give you a little more flexibility on what you can show on the main window, which can be an area of improvement."
"We would like to have better features for path selection. For example, if we know the network is going to go down then we would like to set up an alternate route for data packets in real-time."
"If compared with Cisco, then Aruba's pricing is very aggressive."
"The room for improvement for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is pricing, as people are purchasing this product less and less because of pricing where I give connectivity."
"The support, which is the direct support from Aruba, has shortcomings and needs to be improved."
"Reporting is something that they can improve on."
"This solution is suitable for small to medium-sized companies. If we have large-sized companies it is better to use Cisco or Palo Alto."
"The support from Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect has declined since Aruba acquired them. The knowledge and speed of the agents could improve."
"However, for massive implementations, Fortinet should consider reducing the price to make it more affordable."
"Fortinet FortiWLC is not simple to configure when compared to other solutions. The design could be better."
"The price of Fortinet FortiWLC is high. The solution will be out of the market for us because the price is too high for the features it provides."
"One thing that is lacking is, compared with some other brands, the signal is a bit weaker. Ruckus has much wider signal coverage."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is more affordable than other solutions."
"The annual licensing fee is $10,000 USD."
"What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I believe the pricing is not the best, but it's reasonable and acceptable. We also use the McAfee system in parallel. In terms of pricing, its okay - not great, but not bad either. It falls in the middle, which is acceptable. In terms of support licensing, last time, we were searching for a solution, and we considered products from resellers rather than directly from the cloud provider. However, the pricing we encountered was exceptionally high. As a result, we are inclined to select support from the reseller."
"The solution's pricing option needs to be more transparent for enterprise clients."
"It starts at $20 and can easily go up to $200 monthly"
"Cloudflare offers different types of subscriptions for businesses, enterprises, and personal users, and the pricing is negotiable."
"We pay $210 per month for CloudFlare WAF."
"The solution is expensive."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high, I rate the pricing around five to six."
"The price of Silver Peak VX is reasonable but could improve."
"The licensing fees depend on the bandwidth. As an example of what we charge our customers, for 100MB without Boost, the price is approximately $2,000. That includes the licensing and the unit."
"The license could improve for Silver Peak VX."
"The license for Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect is paid annually."
"There is an annual license required to use Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect."
"You can get both yearly and monthly options in licensing. It is not expensive."
"You have to negotiate when it comes to pricing and licensing."
"The price of Fortinet FortiWLC is high. The solution will be out of the market for us because the price is too high for the features it provides."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
I don't see room for improvement to Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. One thing I don't know much about because we...
What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
We are using Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's advanced reporting and analytics tools with their Zero Trust, so e...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Silver Peak NX?
The pricing is on the higher side compared to the competition when discussing experience with pricing, setup cost, an...
What needs improvement with Silver Peak NX?
The room for improvement for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is pricing, as people are purchasing this product ...
What is your primary use case for Silver Peak NX?
A typical use case for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is high latency connectivity, which is why I or my clien...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWLC?
I cannot disclose the license price, however, I recommend Fortinet reduce its pricing for massive implementations.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWLC?
Until now, I have not observed any issues. However, for massive implementations, Fortinet should consider reducing th...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiWLC?
We are resellers of FortiWLC, and our customers mainly use it in enterprise settings, particularly for chemical compa...
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare WAF
Silver Peak NX, Silver Peak VX, Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

crunchbase, udacity, marketo, okcupid, zendesk
Group Dekko, Kingston Technology, American Student Assistance, Ares Management, Charlotte Metro Credit Union, Colonial Savings, Community Bank, Denali Credit Union, Bed Bath & Beyond, Breweries of Cameroon, Carnival Australia, Coastal Beverages, Toshiba Electronics, Tru Blu Beverages, WAXIE Sanitary Supply, Charleston Area Medical Center, Community Health Plan, Healthcare Company, Mercy Health, Linklaters, Miles & Stockbridge, Thomson Snell & Passmore
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Riverbed, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cato Networks and others in WAN Optimization. Updated: July 2026.
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