Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points comparison

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. NETGEAR Insight Access Points

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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

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

119

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 12.3%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Insight Access Points is 1.3%, down from 1.6% 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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Piyush Jain

Product manager at Oracle

A product with load-balancing features that offers scalability to its users

My major problem is right now, the area which I need to cover is around 7,000 to 10,000 square feet, where even the mesh routers don't work out for me because it is a huge area to be covered. To cover huge areas, I will have to put extenders. I will have to use mesh routers with extenders to cover a whole huge area with Wi-Fi. I would like NETGEAR Insight Access Points to extend the area coverage they provide. One of the major problems I see is that when you try to use NETGEAR Insight Access Points, the huge amount of options that are there can only be handled by a person who is experienced or knows the process. So there should be a guide that walks anyone through different options and different things about how to go work with the UI.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The network security the solution provides is its most valuable aspect."

"The most valuable feature is that the solution is friendly to manage."

"The most important feature is flexibility."

"This product offers cloud-based configuration, so you can set it up from anywhere."

"Multiple access ID capabilities, meshing, and the quality of the product itself are all valuable features."

"Meraki is a decent solution for a small company, and we use it in a pretty typical way. We need Teams and Zoom to work, and we need a high level of security because we want our business to remain confidential."

"It is cloud-based. It has a GUI rather than a command line, and it just works."

"The interface is excellent. We've been really happy with it."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"The internet connectivity is good."

"Our company sometimes uses the solution's technical support, and we have seen that they sort out our general problems quickly."

"The initial setup of NETGEAR Insight Access Points was straightforward."

"The product's deployment is straightforward."

"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."

"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."

"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."

More NETGEAR Insight Access Points pros

Cons

"The licensing isn't very customer-centric. They may have improved it, but previously, if you forgot to pay on a certain day, your service would be shut off."

"Cisco Meraki must improve the integration between its own family of products."

"It is not a very stable solution."

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

"This solution could benefit from a heat mapping ability so that you can tell where the hotspots are, and where the good signals are."

"We're are not fully utilizing the features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN to know a more in-depth analysis of what areas need to be improved. However, the security could improve. It would be a benefit to be able to lock out particular clients that are trying to connect from outside the building."

"I would like to see them improve their support where an assigned engineer can take the case all the way to closure. Usually, you get a different engineer calling regarding the same ticket."

"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."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"A con is the backend system which is very, very slow."

"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."

"The biggest issue I've had is that it works very well with the WiFi, but it does not offer any assistance at all with the routers. You can't control them or manage them at all. As soon as you want to use anything on the network side—because I have multiple 28-port switches—you can't manage them using this app."

"Software-wise, they need to provide the ability to kick users out. If multiple users are abusing the system or the network, I should be able to block them for a time and, when I need to unblock them, I should be able to do so by using their MAC ID. That feature might already be there and I just don't know about it."

"My major problem is right now, the area which I need to cover is around 7,000 to 10,000 square feet...I would like NETGEAR Insight Access Points to extend the area coverage they provide."

"Due to certain shortcomings in the solution's stability, I feel that the solution's stability requires improvement."

"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."

"The product's UI needs to be simplified and made more straightforward."

More NETGEAR Insight Access Points cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"You have to renew your contract every year, or for three or for five years. If you do not pay right away they will suspend your subscription."

"This solution is quite costly and there are costs in addition to the licensing fees."

"The box itself is very cheap. The question here is about the subscription because this is what you will pay every year. In the initial year, for purchasing, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN gives you an attractive price. While during renewal, we are not given much discount."

"The platform is expensive."

"The platform is highly priced."

"The price/benefit ratio is great."

"I don't deal with pricing directly, however, it's my understanding that it is around $40 per unit."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"My company does not need to pay anything related to the solution's licensing costs."

"I think that the price of the product is reasonable."

"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."

"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."

"The pricing seems to be reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution."

"For what you get, the price of Insight access points is very 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."

More NETGEAR Insight Access Points pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

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...

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...

What do you like most about NETGEAR Insight Access Points?

The product's deployment is straightforward.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NETGEAR Insight Access Points?

We have some basic models they give without a license.

What needs improvement with NETGEAR Insight Access Points?

The pricing and standard connectivity can be further improved.

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Comparisons

Compared 32% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 13% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Omada Access Points vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points

Compared 22% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points

Compared 18% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points

Compared 18% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs NETGEAR Insight Access Points

Compared 8% of the time

More NETGEAR Insight Access Points Competitors

Product Reports

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

NETGEAR Insight Access Points

Download NETGEAR Insight Access Points product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

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

At NETGEAR, we turn ideas into innovative networking products that connect people, power businesses, and advance the way we live. Easy to use. Powerful. Smart. And designed just for you.

Netgear

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

Information Not Available

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. NETGEAR Insight Access Points