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Aruba Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLC 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 Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
151
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiWLC
Ranking in Wireless LAN
27th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Wireless is 12.7%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWLC is 1.0%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Wireless12.7%
Fortinet FortiWLC1.0%
Other86.3%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

CK
Network Administrator at Nippon Express Canada Ltd.
Wireless network has supported long-term reliable access and simplifies RF optimization
I have experience with Cisco products and the Cisco brand. The product is mainly a hardware product. Regarding the software part, I don't have a lot of experience. Aruba Wireless was not too difficult to set up. When compared with other products such as Cisco, they also have products with wireless controllers, and it's similar to that. I think it should be recommended for both bigger and smaller companies based on the feedback and our experience. I believe there should be AI functions that might help us in some cases of cybersecurity matters, detecting threats regarding security would be better with AI. For this role, I have more than twenty years of experience. I would rate Aruba Wireless eight out of ten overall.
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

"We appreciate the integration options that are available."
"Providing wireless to our clinicians and providers allows them to be mobile within the facility and still maintain connectivity to valuable information, like our Electronic Health Record."
"APs are very easy to configure to the network once they contact the controller."
"If your organization is looking for a solution that is solid, performance-wise, this may be perfect."
"We purchased Aruba Wireless for our new office that we were opening in Austin, TX. I needed a solution which was simple to administer, easy to implement, cost effective, and tied into our existing Active Directory environment."
"It provided an easy WiFi solution for our branch offices to deploy​. We could usually have them up and running from out-of-the-box in about 10 minutes."
"Aruba is an industry leader. The hardware is on par, and its performance is also on par with anybody else. The Aruba brand really only focuses on wireless, so they're not competing their R&D for switching data center products and cloud security. They're really focused on that and their underlying key pieces. They provide a role-based authentication that is native to the controller. A lot of other systems don't do that. They won't provide you the ability to basically have everybody join the network, regardless of whether or not they share the same network space, the SSID, or the wireless LAN. You can segment it down to a specific user role based on any kind of attributes that you like. That's their differentiator. If you need per user, per device, or per port segmentation, you can get that with Aruba. There isn't another vendor who does it."
"The tool's most valuable feature is Aruba Central, which offers centralized management. You can manage its switches, APs, and data access. It is easy to manage the entire switches and APs. The solution is the best in terms of security and manageability."
"I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten."
"FortiWLC is valuable due to its security features and the seamless WiFi experience it provides."
"The security within the access point and the controller is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiWLC is the overall high quality."
"It's easy to set everything up during implementation."
 

Cons

"Aruba is missing some features that are available in other solutions, such as the email notifications."
"An area of this product that could use improvement would be the troubleshooting. At times I had to engage Aruba Support which ran some pretty complicated troubleshooting commands. I would not have been able to do with existing CLI documentation."
"Additional detailed reporting for client traffic would be a great addition."
"Initial setup was complex, but when you finally set up the whole network, there are no problems."
"We're using the Aruba Sensor, but sometimes the sensor isn't talking to AirWave or the AP. If something happens, we need to receive an email directly from the sensor, but the controller doesn't know. If there's something like the high channel utilization from the sensor we send to the controller, the controller can change the channel because they're all in the same environment."
"For a more senior tool, a local application monitoring related to IoT vendors would be useful."
"The support should be faster."
"​The ARM functionality does not always seem to perform how I would like. In some cases, I have had to manually assign channels to avoid channel confusion."
"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."
"Fortinet FortiWLC is not simple to configure when compared to other solutions. The design could be better."
"One thing that is lacking is, compared with some other brands, the signal is a bit weaker. Ruckus has much wider signal coverage."
"However, for massive implementations, Fortinet should consider reducing the price to make it more affordable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Customers have to pay for perpetual licenses with Aruba controller licenses, depending on the features they are looking for."
"The support pricing for Juniper Mist is higher than Aruba."
"Partner had been using Cisco. They switched to Aruba, because of price and functionality, also with an option for adding a SW, like AirWave, Meridian, ClearPass, and Central."
"Aruba is probably cheaper than Cisco, and yet you get all the things that you want."
"Licensing is a one time purchase (only the cloud license has to be renewed, which is worth trying out).​"
"​We will be buying the ClearPass solution, which will be pricey. However, in the trial version, it has even more tools to manage a busy network.​"
"The access points are more cost-effective over some other providers, both in cost per AP and the option of a controller-less environment."
"Aruba Wireless is very attractive cost-wise."
"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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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Comms Service Provider
20%
University
12%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business77
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise77
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
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 the price to make it more affordable.
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 companies.
 

Also Known As

Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiWLC and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.