Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points comparison

Cisco and SonicWall are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while SonicWall is ranked #25. Cisco holds a 10.5% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to SonicWall’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 121 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

10,528 Views
9,370 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SonicWall SonicWave Access ...

Read 4 SonicWall SonicWave Access Points reviews

588 Views
588 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

SonicWall SonicWave Access ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and SonicWall SonicWave Access Points compete in the wireless networking market. Cisco Meraki holds the advantage with its ease of management and robust security, while SonicWall shines in high-density performance.

Features: Cisco Meraki's notable features include cloud-based management with seamless integration across Cisco products, robust automatic firmware updates, and high security with Layer 7 protections. SonicWall offers superior RF performance, mesh networking support, and advanced threat protection, emphasizing robust performance in challenging environments.

Room for Improvement: Cisco may enhance customization flexibility and expand detailed analytics beyond current capacities. Improving the intuitiveness of its interface for less technical users could be beneficial. Additionally, offering more competitive pricing models might attract diverse customer bases. SonicWall could improve its cloud management capabilities, refine its user interface for more straightforward navigation, and enhance its integration with third-party services. Expanding its analytics to provide deeper insights would also be valuable.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki's cloud-managed deployment enables quick installation and provides comprehensive support, facilitating faster deployments and streamlined management. SonicWall follows a more traditional deployment process, which may require more time yet offers commendable performance enhancements and strong customer support post-deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki generally has higher upfront and subscription costs due to its extensive features and ease of management, leading to reduced management overhead and better long-term ROI. SonicWall's lower initial cost attracts budget-focused organizations, though ROI may vary based on further investments in performance-centric settings.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. SonicWall SonicWave Access Points Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

December 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

4.5

Number of Reviews

121

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonicWall SonicWave Access ...

Ranking in Wireless LAN

25th

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 10.5%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SonicWave Access Points is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN	10.5%
SonicWall SonicWave Access Points	0.9%
Other	88.6%

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

MiguelDe Bique

Independent Information Technology and Services Professional at a non-profit with 1-10 employees

Provides robust remote configuration and reliable support for managing wireless networks

The best features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN include the excellent reporting; the dashboard reporting aids us a lot in troubleshooting issues, and the platform is very robust. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is very stable, and the performance is there, as we normally do throughput tests that align with the manufacturer's specs. We use Meraki's Layer 7 application traffic shaping. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN has helped optimize network traffic very effectively, as we do prioritization for streaming and web conferencing apps, resulting in a clear, visible improvement in performance. The capability to configure network policies remotely is the most important aspect for our organization, as we are an MSP providing remote support for all our clients. We monitor network performance with Meraki's real-time analytics. We find client performance metrics most useful to know how the wireless clients are receiving service and the quality of service.

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Winsley De Oliveira

Owner at ANOC

An industry-leading security and wireless solution packaged in one box

We make our customers SonicWall clients. We have a solution package: If you have a contract to network with us, we will deliver SonicWall firewalls, access points, VPN clients, and all the other equipment with the SonicWall solution. We have been selling this solution for the past 30 years. We had a customer three months ago struggling with a Fortinet solution. We convinced them that the Fortinet solution would not work perfectly during renewal. We made a bet and delivered SonicWall equipment for free for one week, and if they had no more issues, they would buy it. That's precisely what happened. The customer ended up purchasing an $80,000 SonicWall solution. The SonicWall SonicWave Access Points are a good product compared to Cisco, Sophos, and Fortinet. In Brazil, Ruckus is taking market share in some key areas, such as hotels and hospitals. They are into big solutions with thousands of access points. Overall, I rate the solution a ten 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

"The solution is trustworthy. I find it easy and secure."

"With Cisco products and third-party products, integration of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is good."

"I have found the scalability to be very good."

"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 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."

"Cisco's technical support is very good and better than other vendors."

"The product is super stable. I would rate the stability a ten."

"There are many valuable features of Cisco Meraki, including the switches, stacking, and layer 3 routing."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"I rate SonicWall a nine out of ten."

"The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to provide cloud access to configure and manage devices."

"A good management tool that can be managed through the cloud or firewall."

"The security features of SonicWall are highly valued."

"Unlike the Cisco solution that needs a dedicated wireless controller outside of a firewall, SonicWall has everything in one box. Fortinet is close to it."

Cons

"Its licensing can be better."

"The licensing model is a terrible idea."

"Meraki should share their viability roadmap. It is really hard to know which functionality will appear or when they will be available. It is also hard to know which features are available now but are not visible on the dashboard."

"The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks."

"Despite being enabled, I've encountered an issue where the alert main dashboard fails to detect when any of the devices go down. Hence, the tool's notification feature should improve. We have also faced issues with integration."

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

"We would like to see Wi-Fi 6 support for devices sold in the Middle East."

"It would be useful to have a service management platform integrated within this solution where we can measure the customer experience."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"We have a lot of overlapping wireless networks with a lot of cheap equipment that does not run on any rules or regulations. The best way to improve the wireless network, like in SonicWaves, is to defeat these networks by isolating, preventing them, or overcoming their wireless signal. We try to do that, but I live near an airport, and the AirPortRadar glitches my wireless network every nine seconds."

"They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration."

"The main issue is the management of the access points. They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration."

"The product's pricing is high and could be improved."

"Integrating with the firewall and management console was a little complex."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"Cisco products are generally recognized for their performance and quality, which may justify the higher price point compared to other options on the market."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The platform is expensive."

"The platform is more expensive than other solutions."

"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."

"Cost could be better."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is expensive."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"The platform offers yearly licenses."

"The pricing of the SonicWave Access Points solution is different in the US and Brazil. In the US, the solution is priced more competitively than other vendors. In Brazil, the exchange rate is a problem. To address this, SonicWall managers in Brazil are running several sales promotions and improving the price of new units."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	69
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	31

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...

See all answers

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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What do you like most about SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?

The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to provide cloud access to configure and manage devices.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?

The platform offers yearly licenses. We receive all the support services through our partners. Thus, there are no extra costs involved. However, some partners might charge for deployment services.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?

The main issue is the management of the access points. They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration.

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 33% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 11% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiAP vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Ruckus Wireless vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

Compared 22% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

Compared 12% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

Compared 12% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

Compared 9% of the time

More SonicWall SonicWave Access Points Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

January 2026

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Wireless LAN

January 2026

SonicWall SonicWave Access Points report

Download SonicWall SonicWave Access Points product report

Also Known As

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

SonicWave 200 Series, SonicWave 200 Series Access Points, SonicWave 400 Series, SonicWave 400 Series Access Points

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

SonicWall SonicWave series wireless access points (APs) combine high-performance IEEE 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless technology with flexible deployment options. These APs can be managed via the cloud using SonicWall WiFi Cloud Manager (WCM) or through SonicWall's industry-leading next-generation firewalls.

SonicWall

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

St. Dominic's School for Girls

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

December 2025

Free Report: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. SonicWall SonicWave Access Points

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