Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs D-Link Wireless comparison

Cisco and D-Link are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while D-Link is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.1. Cisco holds a 12.9% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to D-Link’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of D-Link users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 119 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

15,495 Views
12,588 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

D-Link Wireless

Read 16 D-Link Wireless reviews

2,799 Views
2,337 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

D-Link Wireless

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and D-Link Wireless are prominent competitors in the wireless networking solutions category. Cisco Meraki appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced cloud management capabilities and extensive feature set that supports diverse organizational needs.

Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers centralized cloud management with an intuitive dashboard, robust performance managing multiple networks, and comprehensive access point configurations including RADIUS and SSO. D-Link Wireless provides solutions with good speed and wide coverage, and its controllers manage the system centrally, integrating with VLANs and multiple SSIDs.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could improve its logging capabilities and simplify complex features and licensing models which some users find challenging. D-Link Wireless needs to enhance its central management features and improve its support services to remain competitive, as well as advance its technology to match more sophisticated competitors.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki Wireless offers flexible deployment options, including cloud and hybrid setups. Its customer service is generally well-regarded, although some users experience varying support quality. D-Link provides consistent support mainly for standard on-premises setups but could benefit from improved technical support responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is noted for its comprehensive feature set but is often criticized for high pricing and complex licensing which can hinder service continuity. However, many users still report a good ROI through enhanced operational efficiency. D-Link Wireless stands out with competitive pricing and no additional licensing fees, appealing to cost-conscious buyers looking for value in basic functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless

March 2025

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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

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Ranking in Wireless LAN

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

D-Link Wireless

Ranking in Wireless LAN

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 12.9%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of D-Link Wireless is 2.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

RezaPradipta

Sr. Officer Network Managed Service Product Management at PT. Indosat Tbk

Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration

The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…

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Sivakumar V

Systems Manager at Tata Institute of Social Sciences

A tool that offers a good performance at a good price

Over a period of time, the technologies change, and users may not get the proper things. In general, there is a need to keep changing devices after a period of five years, especially considering that I operate in a university where we don't have closed offices, while the devices' performance level goes down in open spaces. Though in our institution, we tried to make some changes to the product, we know that nothing much is going to change. In our institution, we plan to have indoor and room-based APs, but even then, some of the rooms don't come in a dust-free environment, so there is a need for us to experiment with the product as the degrading of the devices and signals still keeps happening. In our institution, we are making some changes to adopt to an indoor-based system. For certain setups, D-Link Wireless works better and ensures that users get value for their money. If you know how to maintain a technology, then it can help you. I rate the overall tool an eight to nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very stable, very resilient, and very robust."

"Its management is most valuable. It is the major feature of Meraki."

"For Meraki, the ease of deployment and management is most valuable."

"The most important feature is flexibility."

"It has good security with its Layer 7 protections."

"The monitoring device enables you to see the network health."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The product's most beneficial feature impacting network security is the ability to provide centralized security management."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"The connectivity is good."

"The tool supports new technologies."

"The most valuable feature of D-Link Wireless is its durability."

"It's scalable, user friendly, and easy to manage."

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

"The system simplifies network management."

"This is an affordable product that offers good performance. This is why it is popular with our customers. It offers good speed and bandwidth."

"The solution is extremely easy to install. You just add them and in a few clicks, they are ready to go."

More D-Link Wireless pros

Cons

"The ease of use is average. It could be more user-friendly."

"It's performing well, really well. We don't have any issues. We only have issues if there is a lot of rogue APs in the neighborhood and that not Meraki's fault."

"The logging sometimes doesn't give us the granularity needed. Some of the rules are a bit more complicated. The switch ports on the routers are not individually addressable, in the sense that with a switch you can tell what MAC address is on what port but with the security appliances, you can't, which would be beneficial for troubleshooting."

"Its price could be improved."

"The throughput of the switches for wireless could be improved."

"We would like the solution to work on the pricing of the solution. It would be ideal if it could bring the overall costs down."

"The licensing could be a bit better."

"Updating the equipment and the scheme they use to bill for the license could be improved."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"Its interface and support system need much improvement. Sometimes, when we use the interface to reset the password and configure SSIDs, or some other changes, the "Save" option does not show and we have to go to some internal setting and then we can "save" the setting. The “Save” option should be in front of or below of the settings."

"D-Link Wireless’s stability needs improvement."

"D-Link has some catching up to do in terms of advancing and improving its technology."

"In future releases, it can keep improving on countering the new patterns of security attacks."

"Sometimes, the solution needs to be restarted."

"In future, it would also be good to have a switch within D Link that works as well as the Cisco 9200 Switch."

"Sometimes we configure the SSID with a password but the same AP shows two WiFi connections with the same SSID name (one is protected by a password and another one give access without a password)."

"The tool's technical support can get difficult sometimes. We got a technician only after complaining for 10-15 days. The tool's technicians need to be made available everywhere."

More D-Link Wireless cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is reasonably priced."

"Pricing could be better."

"The price of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could be improved, it is too expensive. We pay for the solution on an annual basis."

"We are on a SmartNet contract. All of our Cisco products are licensed under one contract. I do not think there are any additional costs."

"The pricing is on the higher side."

"The solution is pretty expensive."

"Higher subscription fee may be necessary if extra features are required."

"The platform is expensive."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"D-Link Wireless is cheaper than Ruckus or Cisco."

"There is no licensing fee for the solution."

"This solution is more affordable than others on the market."

"D-Link pricing is very competitive when you consider other OEMs."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."

"D-Link Wireless' price is the same as Aruba's. You need to pay one-time costs for the product."

"The cost can range from $100 to $400."

"The product is affordable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...

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How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...

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Which wireless solution would you choose - Huawei or D-Link?

Huawei wireless is a strong and solid product that has a lot of features - and for all that it offers, it happens to be very cost effective. As a wireless solution, it is simple and its user interf...

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What do you like most about D-Link Wireless?

The tool supports new technologies.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for D-Link Wireless?

The tool’s pricing is good for the functionality it provides. It is a one-time purchase. The cost can range from $100 to $400. The higher-end devices might cost $400.

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 31% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 16% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 7% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Huawei Wireless vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 56% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 11% of the time

Omada Access Points vs D-Link Wireless

Compared 8% of the time

More D-Link Wireless Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

March 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

D-Link Wireless

March 2025

Download D-Link Wireless product report

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN

D-Link WLAN

Overview

Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.

Cisco

D-Link Wireless offers a wide range of robust wireless Access Points (APs) operating in both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, supporting the latest wireless standards including 802.11ac and 802.11n. These access points can be managed independently as standalone devices, or collectively by using Central Wi-Fi Manager, a free centralized controller software that can be installed on a Windows server or PC.

D-Link

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Metropolitan Public Defender, Mission Motorcycles

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless

March 2025

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