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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi
Ranking in Wireless LAN
24th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 12.7%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is 0.4%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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…
WarrenWilliams - PeerSpot reviewer
A solution that offers excellent support and makes it easy to manage networks
To utilize the solution properly, you need some training and guidance on that. Getting it working is easy, but if you're going to use it with feature sets that make WatchGuard worthwhile to use, it's probably not the easiest to set up. I'd rate the initial setup a seven out of ten. The time taken to deploy the solution depends on the project scope you're doing. Do you need ten WiFi access points or one? You could deploy the solution in an hour. We need one person to deploy the solution. But the number of people required for deployment depends on where the access points are deployed. Like, if it's the ceiling or whatever. The way we do it, we usually have an on-site technician who sets up the backend. We usually have two people when deploying the solution, but you can do it with one person. We have a team that manages the solution. But if you have ten people on a site to manage the solution, 15 minutes daily is enough.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The automatic VMware update is very useful because you don't have to worry about outages and planning for VMware updates. It is very advantageous from a management point of view. The ability to restrict and review the clients connected to each of our segments. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"The cloud manageability feature is valuable."
"Its ease of use and flexibility are most valuable. It is cloud-based software."
"The most valuable feature is the technology of the security that is offered."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN are the ease of use and the ability to manage it from the cloud."
"Cisco provides 24/7 support"
"I really don't have any problems with the stability of the product."
"What I like best about Meraki is that I can change it from anywhere."
"We like that WatchGuard works and integrates directly with the firewalls we use."
"The solution has been stable."
"It makes it easy to obtain all information about the client experience."
"They're very easy to set up and get running."
"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."
"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."
"The Wi-Fi security features of this solution have been great for our customers who need to strictly control access to their network."
 

Cons

"It would be nice to have licensing that stays in place while the system is being renovated or changed."
"There is a processing limitation when you have multiple SSIDs, above three or four."
"In the future, I would like to see IP telephony in Saudi Arabia."
"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."
"We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises."
"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 lags a bit in providing reports for Wi-Fi performance."
"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."
"Inability to import a user with one click."
"The solution can be scaled but it has limitations from my experience."
"If a client device had issues with authentication due to out of date browser or similar difficulties, it would be nice to have the ability to migrate the client onto the portal via one click."
"One of the things is if you buy it with a certain subscription, you can't easily change the subscription level."
"I don't think they're available at the best price."
"The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention."
"The price of this solution needs to reviewed, as it is currently high enough to deter customers from trying it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not a reasonably priced product for home use. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is a reasonably priced product for enterprise-sized businesses."
"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN's pricing is high."
"I don't deal with pricing directly, however, it's my understanding that it is around $40 per unit."
"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."
"We don't like the licensing model and we think that it needs to be improved significantly."
"Meraki is a very good solution, but the price is quite high for small markets."
"Its price is higher than other products. It is above the expectation of customers. So, every time we need to fight for a good price."
"Having a good price is important when we are providing quotations for projects."
"Your licensing and cost, as would be required for many other solutions, being considered for eighty to two hundred and eighty different physical locations, is just about the same amount per access point."
"The solution is priced high compared to competitors. However, for the features that are included in the solution, the price becomes more reasonable."
"WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Non Profit
10%
Retailer
9%
 

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 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?
We like that WatchGuard works and integrates directly with the firewalls we use.
What needs improvement with WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?
The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention. Also, when an incident occurs, the impact can be significantly huge. A recent p...
 

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
Portsmouth Grammar School, HILOTEC
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.