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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN 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

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Ranking in Wireless LAN
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
120
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 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 11.5%, down from 12.8% 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 (%)
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN11.5%
NETGEAR Insight Access Points1.3%
Other87.2%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
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

"Cisco Meraki is HIPAA compliant."
"If you're trying to identify one of the switches or pinpoint a computer or pinpoint something, you could find it just like that and change the IP address. It's easiest to do it that way."
"The emailing of statuses is the most valuable feature."
"I think the IoT integration is the most valuable. I started applying IoT solutions 12 years ago on location-based services. Aruba had implemented this at the time. So I think the integration, particularly into the applications and stuff, is pretty interesting in Meraki."
"The most valuable feature is the stability. It works and doesn't stop."
"The solution's most valuable features at that time were the ease of managing on the cloud without having a server and the authentication using RADIUS integrated with the server on the cloud."
"The product's cloud controller is easy to use."
"The functionalities are quite professional and complete. It offers good integration with other Meraki products, like switches and the firewall. You can get an overview of all networks and the host. It's really great; nobody else can do that."
"Our company sometimes uses the solution's technical support, and we have seen that they sort out our general problems quickly."
"The meshing capabilities are the most valuable feature. When I am going in-between buildings, my phone doesn't have to pick up different WiFi. They are all the same. Even in-between the buildings, I stay connected."
"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."
"The initial setup of NETGEAR Insight Access Points was straightforward."
"The internet connectivity is good."
"[Being] able to configure the WiFi devices and to see utilization remotely, or from the cloud."
"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..."
"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."
 

Cons

"They could also add some more controls for guest access. For example, when you have a captive portal, it would be nice to limit the amount of time users can stay connected per day. Right now, you can only configure the splash frequency. And you can set the connection for one hour, but you have to use the billing feature."
"It is expensive. Juniper seems to have a lot more to offer for future expansion. Juniper has some features that are not there in this solution."
"The solution cannot be looked upon for one year or short term because you will pay back all the discounts they offer the next time you pay for renewal."
"In the future, I would like to see IP telephony in Saudi Arabia."
"We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises."
"They're great. If there's anything that they need to change, it is just simplifying the site to which you go to make changes on the admin side."
"In a future release, they should offer a next-generation UTM, where you can manage all items and the network, and have it include a lot of security features like fingerprinting functionality."
"Cisco Meraki must improve the integration between its own family of products."
"A con is the backend system which is very, very slow."
"While the data throughput does provide us with full insight into data being used, we find that it's not very accurate."
"The product's UI needs to be simplified and made more straightforward."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Due to certain shortcomings in the solution's stability, I feel that the solution's stability requires improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is okay for an enterprise. Its licensing is the most painful. If you hear anything bad about Cisco, it's about that. We're supposed to be one of the resellers but had to come back down to become a user. It's really bizarre."
"This solution is quite costly and there are costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"Since it's been acquired by Cisco, it's an even higher cost."
"The price is good, but it could be improved."
"The solution is pretty expensive."
"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN's pricing is high."
"The price of the product could be cheaper."
"As is always the case, the price could be better, although I do not recall exactly how much this comes out to."
"My company does not need to pay anything related to the solution's licensing costs."
"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."
"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."
"For what you get, the price of Insight access points is very reasonable."
"The pricing seems to be reasonable."
"I think that the price of the product is reasonable."
"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."
"We have some basic models they give without a license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
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 Business68
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

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...
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...
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...
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

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