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Aruba Instant vs Fortinet FortiAP 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.9
Aruba Instant provides a positive ROI by enhancing productivity, safety, and manageability, making it a cost-effective choice for users.
Sentiment score
5.2
Fortinet FortiAP offers enhanced security, cost-effectiveness, and reliability, yielding an 80% savings and boosting productivity and operational efficiency.
Overall, it's a fair pricing and good in terms of cost-effectiveness or ROI.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
I do not have to continuously manage them, and their reliability means they are consistently up and running.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Fortinet FortiAP provides value for money, and I can quantify the savings at about 80%.
Senior Network Security Engineer at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.2
Aruba Instant's support receives mixed reviews, praised for guidance but criticized for slow responses and integration issues with HPE.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiAP's customer service is efficient for some, but regional and service tier disparities affect user satisfaction.
The technical support from Aruba is of high quality, and I would rate it a ten.
Director and Co-Founder at Converge Systems & Services Pvt. Ltd.
I rate Aruba TAC as a 9 out of 10.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
We keep a support contract open with Fortinet, so we have instantaneous response from them.
Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The RMA process is very good, with same-day replacement in our case.
Head Of Technical Operations at ITE
I am not satisfied with Fortinet FortiAP's technical support in India.
Senior Network Security Engineer at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.3
Aruba Instant is praised for scalability and efficiency in diverse environments, ideal for small to medium businesses.
Sentiment score
6.5
Fortinet FortiAP is praised for scalability, handling large volumes well, though it faces challenges, enhanced by ISPs and FortiManager.
I find Aruba Instant to be highly scalable.
Director and Co-Founder at Converge Systems & Services Pvt. Ltd.
There could be constraints where a product can't be scaled further without purchasing a new model.
Senior IT System Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
We have good scalability with Fortinet FortiAP because we have multiple ISPs connected to it through FortiManager.
Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
Aruba Instant is praised for reliability, ease of management, excellent support despite rare bugs, cloud dependency, and latency issues.
Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiAP's stability receives mixed reviews, with users noting both reliable performance and occasional issues after updates.
Aruba is a known name in the market providing sufficient support for all these products.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
I have not experienced any issues, outages, or problems and have not had to interfere with them at all.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The stability of the solution is very high.
Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba Instant needs improved security, support, interface, scalability, IoT compatibility, cost efficiency, and enhanced equipment availability with feature additions.
Fortinet FortiAP needs improvement in integration, wireless functionality, automation, support, easy deployment, and enhanced configuration for better performance.
Some features are not listed in the cloud management platform and still require offline access, so enhancing the cloud management features would be better for us.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
An important missing feature is the console port, which allows direct management without the cloud.
Sales Engineer at SGE
Security is always a concern for any business, and the network should not be compromised easily.
Senior IT System Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I know they're going up to six soon, which will enhance reliability.
Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We earlier expected that Fortinet FortiAP could be managed through the cloud, which would be very good, but nowadays, FortiNet is providing FortiAPs with cloud management also.
Senior Network Security Engineer at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Aruba Instant offers enterprise buyers cost-effective pricing, focusing on hardware without ongoing licenses, despite some feature-related expenses.
Fortinet FortiAP is competitively priced, with varied opinions on affordability compared to Cisco, Palo Alto, Meraki, and Aruba.
We do not sell very expensive devices as we move to other products.
Sales Engineer at SGE
However, when compared to entry-level market segments, the price is higher.
Director and Co-Founder at Converge Systems & Services Pvt. Ltd.
The license costs for Fortinet are more affordable when considering licensing costs with other leaders like Cisco.
Senior IT System Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The pricing is a little bit high, and I would rate it a ten on the scale where ten is the highest price.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The pricing is much better than Cisco pricing.
Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Aruba Instant delivers easy setup, robust performance, advanced security, seamless cloud management, and cost-effective scalability with flexible deployment options.
Fortinet FortiAP offers seamless integration, strong security, and simplified management with Zero-Touch Deployment and passwordless authentication for enterprises.
The most beneficial features for network management are the price and the cloud console.
Sales Engineer at SGE
I highly value Aruba Instant for its ClearPass feature, which is an exceptional product for network access control and works as a NAC solution.
Director and Co-Founder at Converge Systems & Services Pvt. Ltd.
The most valuable feature of Aruba Instant On is that it is cloud-managed, making it easy to manage multiple locations in a single dashboard.
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
Compatibility with Fortinet firewalls allows clients to set up new businesses with integrated firewalls and access points, offering a cost-effective solution while providing excellent wireless coverage.
Senior IT System Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Fortinet FortiAP is effective in protecting against wireless threats.
Senior Network Security Engineer at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
Unlike other wireless controllers, the firewall is controlling the AP, so you have a much higher level of security.
Co Founder And Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Instant
Ranking in Wireless LAN
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiAP
Ranking in Wireless LAN
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Instant is 2.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 5.7%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiAP5.7%
Aruba Instant2.2%
Other92.1%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

SreejeshSoman - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
Has supported mid-market deployments with cloud-based centralized management and reliable wireless performance
I faced challenges earlier with a limitation of 50 APs in single sites, but that has enhanced to 100 numbers, eliminating that challenge for Aruba Instant On team. Additionally, some features are not listed in the cloud management platform and still require offline access, so enhancing the cloud management features would be better for us.
Shahnawaz Nusrat - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Technical Operations at ITE
Has simplified wireless integration while needing better throughput and captive portal features
The product can be improved depending on the model selected as per requirements. Support is good and throughput is good. What we need to do is select a better product as per our requirement and environment. If proper working is done in terms of wireless heat map or radio connectivity in our environment, I believe it's good. There is always a chance to improve. Throughput can be better in terms of other vendors, but currently, it's working fine. One feature that I still need to explore is the captive portal. When we deploy a unit in a public environment, users need to sign in with a pop-up box to connect.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Ubiquiti WLAN or Aruba Instant?
We researched Ubiquiti and Aruba when looking for a WLAN solution. Ubiquiti offers good WLAN access both indoors and outdoors. It provides an enterprise-level WIFI while remaining cost-effective. U...
What do you like most about Aruba Instant?
I find network management features related to monitoring Wi-Fi usage and visited sites particularly valuable. Content filtering is also important to prevent access to malicious or inappropriate web...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Instant?
In my experience, Aruba Instant's price is reasonable compared to premium products like Ruckus, Cisco, or Juniper. However, when compared to entry-level market segments, the price is higher. Overal...
What do you like most about FortiAP?
If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordless authentication as well. That is a great thing about it.
What needs improvement with FortiAP?
The product can be improved depending on the model selected as per requirements. Support is good and throughput is good. What we need to do is select a better product as per our requirement and env...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Purdue University, Orlando Magic, Brussels Airport Company, Molecaten Holiday Parks
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Instant vs. Fortinet FortiAP and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.