Meraki Dashboard Reviews

I'm a consultant. When a customer moves buildings, I help them understand what they're going to need for the new building. We put them in touch with all the right companies that can help put that together.

This solution is usually deployed in the cloud.

Meraki provides the most features. It's helpful to be able to see that your network is online. Something I love about Meraki is on all the Meraki switches in the dashboard, you can see what their current data transfer rates are, and you can run cable tests from it. We've used the cable test function numerous times. It's fantastic.

One of the things we love about Meraki is that we work a lot with audio visual systems for new buildings. We find that Meraki has all the features you need to be able to enable complex network protocols for AV equipment. We deal with a streaming product over IP, and Meraki is fantastic at that. With wireless presentation, you can set Bonjour and mDNS replication really easily on your wireless network and have it traverse different VLANs and different wireless servers. It's fabulous, but you have to know how to do it.

It's a very complex system. Customers have told me that sometimes there are lots of advanced features that are available and that you can change in the dashboard, but sometimes it's very hard to know what they are. It would be very helpful if next to a lot of the settings, they had a button you could click on, and it would explain what that setting actually does and how it affects your network.

Particularly when you're in the dashboard and particularly when you're looking at wireless networks, they have so many advanced options and they're hard to understand. A lot of people don't know what beacon intervalling is or even basic things like channels. 

Meraki has good documentation on their website, but if it was better linked with the dashboard, it would make it a lot simpler. Small businesses that we deal with use Ubiquiti. In their dashboard, next to every setting you can see what that setting does, which is really helpful. DrayTek is like that as well.

We always employ a third party who knows the system inside and out. If you apply it yourself, it would take you forever. From my perspective, that would be the number one thing I would want to see improved as a high-level person, because it would save us a lot of money if we didn't have to employ a third party.

I have been using this solution since before it was purchased by Cisco.

I would give technical support an 8 out of 10. It's very good. We're very lucky. There are a couple of people who are based in Australia who are part of Meraki support, and they're easy to get a hold of and very helpful.

The reason I would mark them down by two points is that sometimes the system is a little bit automated, so it's hard to get to the person you want to talk to. They probably need more support staff, like with most companies. The response time can be a little bit slow sometimes.

Initial setup is very complex.

Every time we've deployed it, we've had to employ third parties to do it for us.

My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best.

I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.

Every time we've deployed it, it's fantastic. It works great. You just have to understand that it's complex, but all systems are complex. Palo Alto is complex, Arista is complex, Extreme Networks is complex.

I would never recommend Meraki to someone who only has 100 users. They would need to have 300 users. For a small number of users, it's expensive, it's complex, and you really need to be able to afford to pay someone who knows how to use it. If you have 300 users, you can have a full-time network engineer.

If you want the best and you have the money, then get it.

Our primary use case of Meraki Dashboard is to manage networks, whether our own or those of our customers. We also manage the firewalls through the portal as well as switches, wireless access points or whatever devices there are. Meraki controls the devices, configures them and also troubleshoots. I'm a senior solution architect and we're a Cisco partner, specifically for the Meraki brand.

The solution saves us a lot of time. They say work smarter, not harder, and Meraki allows us to do that and not waste time on issues that previously concerned us. Meraki is pretty much the leader in cloud-based technology when it comes to networks and they've saved us and our clients a lot of time. 

It's great that everything is in a single pane and you can look at your network in one centralized place. I also value the ability to troubleshoot network issues through the solution. For example, you can do a cable test off their switch port from the portal even if you're not on-site. If I want to know whether the data cable is good, I can run a test through the portal, then the switch, and it'll come back and tell me whether that cable is good or has been damaged. 

They also have a nice system included for firmware updates and numerous good logging files and many features that help whenever something goes wrong. As a pivot onto the security aspect, if you have their Advanced Security License, then they monitor for you. Cisco has lots of different security teams, and they're able to almost make network security a passive thing. As long as I have the right license and have it configured, it catches malware, and will stop a user from downloading a file that's malicious software. In addition, they have a lot of group policy features. You can assign specific users on the network to group policies that either give them access to or bar them from specific things. 

The positives are all about the ease of being able to see everything, the ability to troubleshoot and for the solution to passively stop malicious events without me having to do a whole lot of work.

The client VPN could use some help, but that's probably partially Microsoft's fault because of the Windows client for VPNs, which keeps changing. Meraki don't have their own software for connecting to the VPN so you have to use the Windows one. It would be great for them to create a client for users to install to connect to the client VPN server. It's one of the biggest complaints about Meraki.

I've been using this solution for about three years. 

The solution is stable, it's only been down once or twice in three years and even then it was for a short amount of time and it wasn't completely down, just aspects of it. It's very stable. If a customer has an issue with their network log, we get an alert and check what's going on.

The product is very scalable and I've never had an issue. They have a ton of networks around the world that are all on the portal. In our own company, we have two users dealing with maintenance and we use the solution every day.  Some of our larger customers have over a hundred employees and it works well. 

Technical support does a great job. They have a support portal when you're logged in, you can either call a number, or open a ticket and they're onto it quickly. They usually resolve or respond with helpful information within an hour.

I've worked with Aruba Cloud, they have a different type of cloud portal. I've also worked with regular Cisco, not the Meraki side and HP which bought Aruba, so some of that is now the same. We've also dealt with UniFi Dashboard from Ubiquiti, which is a cheaper brand that doesn't really compare but is for anyone on a tight budget. 

As long as you understand how it works, the initial setup is very easy and you can configure the network before the devices come in, because they put them in your dashboard and you plug it in when you're ready and it automatically does the work. This is the easiest system I've used and I've worked with most of them. It saves a lot of time because they have lots of templates and abilities to clone configurations from other sites. We're consultants so we did the integration for our company, although Meraki have sometimes helped out on projects. 

The license is not cheap as you have to pay a fee for each device but in return they provide good support. If you're buying a Meraki firewall, then you have to buy a license or it won't work. There are options for an annual, three-year, five-year or 10-year license and they have three different lines; the Enterprise Baseline License, the Advanced Security License, and then they have an SD-WAN Plus License, which is the top line license.

The three-year license is about one-third of the price of the actual hardware so if you have a $1,000-$1,200 piece of equipment, then the base license is about $300 for three years for the firewall. Access points are a separate license. It depends on what you're buying. There are 25 to 30 different products and they have different lines of each product.

It can get complicated. They have a top-of-the-range firewall, the MX250, which runs to $20,000-$30,000, and a license for it can be close to $10,000 for three years. They don't actually charge you a license for the dashboard, you get it when you pay for the license for all the hardware.

It's important to find a good partner to work with and to plan what you actually plan to do, and understand what you're buying. There are so many different options with Meraki and you can end up spending more money than you actually need to. We've been educating our customer base about why they should spend more money on their networks and migrating them to Meraki because it's a very good solution. 

The solution saves me a lot of time and there aren't many negatives so I rate it nine out of 10. 

We use the product to monitor and configure network components within our environment. It includes managing Meraki access points and switches, adding new devices to the network, and providing access through a streamlined process.

The most valuable feature of the platform is its ease of configuration. Adding new devices to the network is straightforward, requiring just the MAC address to provide access.

They could improve the product by providing enhanced utilization reports and more detailed independent access reports.

I have been using Meraki Dashboard for almost one and a half years.

The product is stable. 

The product is scalable. 

The technical support services are satisfactory. 

I used Aruba ClearPass in my previous organization. 

The initial setup was straightforward and very fast. The user-friendly interface facilitated a quick and efficient setup process.

We implemented the product with the help of our in-house team. 

Meraki Dashboard is a robust and user-friendly solution that simplifies network management. Its cloud-based nature ensures easy access and scalability.

I rate it an eight out of ten. 

Cisco has a cloud partnership, which you can use to provide use cases for the customer.

All products can be monitored and managed from the same dashboard.

There could be an on-premise server for the dashboard.
Meraki can download the full server from the cloud to on-prem for the client. It will be beneficial to get new insight and new options. It will be an innovation for Meraki. Other cloud providers provide this feature.

I have been using Meraki Dashboard for over five years in presales and one year in a technical role.

We didn't face any issues with the solution's stability.

I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten.

The solution is mainly for medium businesses but can work on small and enterprise businesses.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

Meraki Dashboard has excellent technical support in the UK and a lot of sales support. However, the support for the BOC license was not as good.

We have used Fortinet before. Meraki is a management platform focused only on the dashboard. They give 100% effort to support all things. Fortinet is not as powerful as Meraki.

The product’s pricing is neither high nor low.

I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Our use case for this solution is primarily monitoring and configuration of the Meraki database.

Meraki Dashboard is the feature I find most valuable because it gives you remote feasibility of managing all the devices worldwide. You don't need to be in the local location already.

I think this product could be improved with a CLI for more directives.

In the next release, I would like to see a little more user intervention or more control given to the engineer.

I have been working with Meraki Dashboard for around five years.

I would rate the stability of this solution a nine, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.

My impression is that this solution is quite scalable. We have some 10 users currently in our organization.

The initial setup process is quite simple. I would rate it a 10, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best. This solution is deployed on the cloud.

We compared Meraki Dashboard with Fortinet. FortiManager gives you options, but Meraki Dashboard has more feasibility and more control over all of the Meraki products.

I would recommend this solution to other users.

Overall, I would rate this solution a seven, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst, and 10 being the best.

My professional role is to perform demonstrations and similar tasks in order to demonstrate the to our consumers the product.

We use Meraki Dashboard to monitor some features or configurations and similar things.

The most valuable features of this solution are the map, the port's activities, the statistics, as well as the logs and reports. 

The ability to view the entire project stack, including the camera, features, and routers, which I believe are the most important or relevant components.

Just my password, but that's because I forget it from time to time, but the recovery process is far too simple.

I would like to receive decent notification alerts regarding the license's expiry. Or any help on correcting or optimizing licenses, because in certain circumstances you can add a license but it's the wrong licensing. However, the Dashboard adds the license in some way, and you do not utilize it. You can simply extend the license's expiration date.

I have been working with Meraki Dashboard for approximately three years.

I am a current user and use this solution once a week.

We have 50 users in our organization.

Technical support is good. I would rate the technical support a four out of five.

I believe the initial setup is easy. It is not complex.

Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.

It's a standard licensing fee.

It's a straightforward solution. Not at all complex.

I would rate Meraki Dashboard an eight out of ten.

The primary use case is for monitoring switches and Azure networks, but the dashboard is very new from my perspective.

The most valuable feature is knowing the wireless and switch are healthy. There is the monitoring feature and we can see someone using most of the bandwidth.

Monitoring overload is an area that can be improved. I would like to see an alert event feature that monitors what users are downloading and how to block some applications.

I have been using Meraki Dashboard for the past year.

Meraki Dashboard is very stable.

Meraki Dashboard is scalable.

The initial setup is very useful and easy.  It is very simple like the manager.

I would rate Meraki Dashboard an eight out of ten.

We use most of the features, even the filtering, and layer three level filtering, and we are pulling to the wireless. Our whole network is wireless. The notification feature for detection is very good.

When users are trying to roam from one location to another location, geographical tracking would be helpful. When the administrator can arrange a locking feature it will be handy for others from a security perspective. I would like to see more communication, integration, and visibility.

I have been working with Meraki Dashboard for around five years now.

It is very stable and we have been using it for five years. We are not a twenty-four-seven operation but in that context, we have not had any downtime. 

The scalability is of a high level and is flexible.

The setup is not complex. The Meraki Dashboard has more competitive pricing because almost everybody has a Cisco dealer. They can play around with the margins.

We compared Meraki Dashboard with Aruba and both products are good.

I would rate Meraki Dashboard an eight out of ten.