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Aruba Instant On Access Points vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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 Instant On Access Points
Ranking in Wireless LAN
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NETGEAR Insight Access Points
Ranking in Wireless LAN
22nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Instant On Access Points is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Insight Access Points is 1.3%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Aruba Instant On Access Points1.4%
NETGEAR Insight Access Points1.3%
Other97.3%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Theesula Majuwanagamage - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable roaming and connectivity with room for more global flexibility
I am responsible for meeting customer expectations with the most appropriate IT solutions. I provide equipment recommendations based on customer needs and availability. Additionally, I have worked with Aruba access points, among other equipment My role involves distinguishing the best products…
Calvin Ong - PeerSpot reviewer
Reasonably priced product with a straightforward deployment process
I never thought about what could be made better in the product since my company is a customer-centric organization where we provide Aruba or NETGEAR, depending on the demands and needs of our customers. The product's UI needs to be simplified and made more straightforward. It would be great if it was possible to send notifications regarding some errors related to the product that can be sent from our company to our clients through the organization's post-sales team.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The advantages of Aruba Instant On Access Points include using a mobile application to control various aspects, making it a user-friendly solution for home use."
"It's super user-friendly."
"Its performance is very good. It suits small and medium sites very well."
"With a variety of switches in their setup, they find that Aruba's online monitoring tools and configuration options for applications effectively manage most of their requirements, all while keeping the process straightforward and user-friendly."
"The product is scalable. It has 20 users."
"The mobile app is good. We have many things that are connected through mobile. Most users use mobile to connect to the Wi-Fi."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Instant On Access Points is they are easy to manage."
"The solution's most valuable features include a simple deployment phase, easy management, and scalability."
"I am all about simplicity. With the Insight management solution, I don’t need an additional cloud controller, appliance, network manager, or PC/server to configure and manage my access points. You have to look at cost, and everything has a cost. There is a cost to using Insight. But if the cost is reasonable, I don't want another layer. The ability to deploy a network and then have that software built-in, without having to go to a third-party, is big. Also, the less pieces that I have to call in on, the better. So, when I'm calling NETGEAR, it's not like I'm using some third-party piece of software to manage their product. It doesn't add that layer of complexity, which is key."
"I now have the ability to remote access my network. That works extremely well. I can access it from any place. I don't need to be physically at the device. This saves me on time and travel."
"The initial setup of NETGEAR Insight Access Points was straightforward."
"The metrics demonstrate that NETGEAR really does a good job of balancing the load between the various access points on the networks and this results in an elimination of downtime."
"I'm able to do a lot of things, because the GUI is designed very well. I'm able to remotely make certain changes via my phone and apply them right away. It makes life easier when it comes to managing the equipment. The Insight management solution phone app is very good. It enables me to do what I want to do."
"We use NETGEAR's Insight management solution to do off-property controls. It is user-friendly and provides network management, monitoring, and service deployment across multiple remote and local sites. That means I don't have to be physically at a location to do things if I want to make any changes to the network. It saves time and money."
"The product's deployment is straightforward."
"Our company sometimes uses the solution's technical support, and we have seen that they sort out our general problems quickly."
 

Cons

"The customer service and support are terrible."
"The limited functionality of the mobile app restricts its use primarily to small and medium-sized setups, making it less suitable for enterprise-level solutions."
"When there are a lot of people connected, especially during video streaming demonstrations, the connection can get a bit choppy."
"The challenging point for Aruba Instant On is the roaming capability, as it doesn’t perform as strongly as enterprise solutions."
"The Unifi Controller is slower compared to other options like Aruba."
"It is scalable to a certain degree but not nearly as scalable and robust as your enterprise-grade solutions."
"With Aruba, the documentation on the website is not too easy to use, and some information is not found."
"In future updates, more AI for intelligence and the option for a separate network could be beneficial."
"My major problem is right now, the area which I need to cover is around 7,000 to 10,000 square feet...I would like NETGEAR Insight Access Points to extend the area coverage they provide."
"Ubiquiti is a very good company. NETGEAR should look at that model and expand on its remote capabilities. Ubiquiti seems to have a better product."
"The registration is annoying. I have to go back to NETGEAR and log tickets. Access points and router registration are something that they need to address in Insight. They need to fix the bug of getting the devices activated and enrolled in Insight without fighting with them. I have probably done about six of these in the last month. You get to see patterns."
"The pricing and standard connectivity can be further improved."
"Software-wise, they need to provide the ability to kick users out. If multiple users are abusing the system or the network, I should be able to block them for a time and, when I need to unblock them, I should be able to do so by using their MAC ID. That feature might already be there and I just don't know about it."
"The product's UI needs to be simplified and made more straightforward."
"There is always room for improvement."
"I have some frustrations with the ease of use. It tends to be sluggish. The graphical interface is pretty, but not useful. They have this tree that shows connected devices, which makes no sense whatsoever because the labeling field of the tree truncates all the items to the point that it's almost useless. You can't even tell what it is. I would prefer a spreadsheet list of the gear as opposed to a graphical representation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product's pricing a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"It needs a license."
"You buy it for $165 an AP, which is what we paid."
"It is competitively priced. It was at a price point that made sense for me to put in my home, and that says something. The cost of the solution includes everything we need to manage and upgrade our Wi-Fi network, including the mobile management app. Having the licensing and all the functionality built into the base price of the product is really important for me. There are no extra costs for the security feature or automatic software/firmware updates, which is really important to me."
"The product's price falls on the cheaper end of the spectrum. The price of the product is one of the biggest benefits that it offers."
"Aruba Instant On Access Points are license-free. It's a very good and cheap solution for wireless networks. It can be compared with solutions from Ubiquiti and TP-Link, but it is in a different class. Aruba Instant On Access Points are cheaper than those from Cisco, Ruckus, and Motorola. It's perhaps the cheapest one. They do not use licenses, so it is a solution from the box. You don't need to pay extra money or deal with hidden payments."
"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the standard licensing charges associated with the product. There are some additional costs associated with the product since I have seen customers who purchase three-year or five-year plans."
"Price-wise, it is a little too high, about $20 higher than what it should be, but it's worth it. It's cheaper than Cisco's access point, but the products are not apples to apples."
"Their pricing is perfect for smaller businesses who are money and budget conscious. There are a lot of other solutions out there that are two to three times more expensive."
"We have some basic models they give without a license."
"My company does not need to pay anything related to the solution's licensing costs."
"I can source the stuff pretty quickly wherever I go through the distributor. There is pricing available at NETGEAR if you can spend between $2,000 and $5,000 on a solution. So, there is special pricing that they can help with. The vendor's reps are very responsive. They have a good channel system."
"For what you get, the price of Insight access points is very reasonable."
"The pricing seems to be reasonable."
"It wasn't much more than 100 dollars a year. For the devices that we have, the pricing was pretty fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
9%
Performing Arts
7%
Hospitality Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Instant On Access Points?
It's really easy to set up. And, you don't have to pay for the cloud solution. That's really interesting for our clients. And the other thing is, the roaming is also quite good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Instant On Access Points?
The cost of Aruba Instant On Access Points is reasonable; however, I do not have information on the exact pricing, such as cost per user or annual license fees.
What needs improvement with Aruba Instant On Access Points?
We can improve Aruba Instant On Access Points by tuning some of the parameters of the radio. The default configuration can be overridden to enhance performance beyond the default settings.
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Instant On Access Points vs. NETGEAR Insight Access Points and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.