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Aruba Instant 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
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
NETGEAR Insight Access Points
Ranking in Wireless LAN
21st
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 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 NETGEAR Insight Access Points is 1.6%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Aruba Instant2.2%
NETGEAR Insight Access Points1.6%
Other96.2%
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.
Calvin Ong - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Manager at KAIRA Technologies pte ltd
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 tool's most valuable feature is Captive Portal, which we employ for our guest network. It enables us to create a separate virtual subnet for guests, ensuring their network traffic remains isolated from our office network. Another valuable feature is its role-based access control. This functionality allows us to assign different access privileges to users based on their roles within the organization."
"The coverage of the solution is great."
"You can handle all of the access points at once virtually instead of manually handling each one. You're able to populate all of the information to all of the access points through the virtual controller as well. It transforms everything it a single access point, which simplifies things."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Instant is its cloud capability, which allows us to manage it through the cloud."
"The cost is low, and there is controller-less architecture."
"Works automatically in terms of setup with the product finding its master wifi access point."
"Aruba Instant is a cloud-managed solution that can be managed from the cloud."
"The most valuable feature of this product is that it is easily deployed."
"[Being] able to configure the WiFi devices and to see utilization remotely, or from the cloud."
"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 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 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."
"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."
"From the WiFi aspect, it's very intuitive and easy to use. The solution enables me to manage my entire WiFi from anywhere in the world..."
"The internet connectivity is good."
 

Cons

"We have faced delay in customer support which has affected our business performance. So the customer support needs to be prompt in their responses."
"Aruba Instant's visibility, firewalling, L3 functionality, and DHCP services could all be improved."
"The solution should be able to support more users on the access points."
"This solution would be improved if they supplied free software controllers."
"It is a software characteristic, and it is during the reboot. During the startup of the AP, the AP tells you that you are using the wrong password. However, I have realized that this is not true."
"An important missing feature is the console port, which allows direct management without the cloud."
"The reach of the solution could be improved. It could be a bit stronger."
"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."
"Due to certain shortcomings in the solution's stability, I feel that the solution's stability requires improvement."
"The product's UI needs to be simplified and made more straightforward."
"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."
"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."
"There is always room for improvement."
"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."
"While the data throughput does provide us with full insight into data being used, we find that it's not very accurate."
"A con is the backend system which is very, very slow."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not expensive. Its price is fair. You get many features with the normal licensing. If I look at Cisco, it is very expensive if I need similar things."
"Aruba Instant is a free subscription with a limited lifetime warranty."
"I personally would rather pay that little bit more and get what I need because I know what I'm getting, as opposed to going for something cheaper that's not as manageable and doesn't give as much."
"The setup cost varies based on each organization's requirements but it is within reason."
"I purchased the hardware and there are no monthly or yearly licenses to buy."
"The cost was affordable."
"Aruba Instant is affordable."
"There’s no licensing required to use the tool."
"It is an expensive solution."
"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."
"We have some basic models they give without a license."
"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."
"The pricing seems to be reasonable."
"I think that the price of the product is reasonable."
"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."
"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
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Retailer
9%
University
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

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 Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

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...
 

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. NETGEAR Insight Access Points and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
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