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Cisco Wireless vs Ruckus Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Cisco Wireless improves productivity and stability, offering quick returns, cost savings, and reliability for various organizations.
Sentiment score
1.0
Ruckus Wireless boosts ROI with cost savings, superior connectivity, and reliable performance, enhancing user satisfaction and Wi-Fi usage.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Cisco Wireless support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though service quality varies by location and engineer expertise.
Sentiment score
6.7
Ruckus Wireless receives mixed reviews on service; while some praise support, others note delays and inconsistent quality.
The Cisco forum also has good questions that help resolve problems and issues.
The technical support from Cisco is of high quality.
The technical support from Cisco is good.
I have contacted Ruckus support through our managed services vendor, but the responses have been delayed, possibly due to the vendor.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Cisco Wireless scales well for larger users, but smaller organizations may face higher costs and infrastructure challenges.
Sentiment score
6.3
Ruckus Wireless offers excellent scalability, seamless integration, and effortless expansion, ensuring robust performance across diverse and dense environments.
With the Ruckus R1 Cloud, I just need to put it into the venue, and it will automatically sync up and configure itself.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Wireless is highly stable, praised for reliability, minimal issues, and quick glitch resolution, making it a dependable choice.
Sentiment score
7.0
Ruckus Wireless is praised for its stability and reliability, with minor issues mostly related to external factors.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Wireless users seek improved management, lower costs, better interface, stronger coverage, and enhanced Apple and third-party compatibility.
Ruckus Wireless faces challenges with pricing, product availability, cloud maturity, scalability, support, and feature enhancements.
We would prefer if we could increase the controller to a 10 gig interface because we want to connect our controller to a 10 gig interface.
Sometimes, integration with other Cisco products requires manual intervention for tasks such as firmware upgrades, which should be automated.
In the long term, there could be a cost reduction because it does not require much maintenance.
The current reporting is limited to 30 days, and it would be helpful if there was an option to extend it to one year.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Wireless solutions are costly with complex licensing, but offer high quality and features, making them a premium option.
Ruckus Wireless offers competitive pricing, valued for efficiency, but support costs can concern compared to Ubiquiti or Aruba.
Cisco generally is expensive.
The price of Cisco Wireless is pretty expensive.
Cisco has provided significant discounts for large-scale deployments.
Ruckus Wireless is quite economical compared to Meraki or Cisco Umbrella APs.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Wireless offers security, scalability, seamless integration, and excellent support, making it ideal for diverse environments.
Ruckus Wireless excels with innovative technology, ease of management, and reliability, making it popular for enhanced performance and support.
The advantages of Cisco Wireless include helping me aggregate all the access points, managing one point connection for my users easily, controlling rogues, and addressing hotspots effectively.
If one network fails, there is a link between different access points, which ensures network continuity.
When I install it, I can forget about it because there is no need for ongoing maintenance, and no other problems occur.
The most valuable feature of Ruckus Wireless is its AI capability, which automatically scales up and down the coverage areas.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
154
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ruckus Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 10.6%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless is 13.5%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Ruckus Wireless13.5%
Cisco Wireless10.6%
Other75.9%
Wireless LAN
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Oct 27, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

EvansEsezobor - PeerSpot reviewer
Has enabled centralized user management and improved wireless access point aggregation
To improve Cisco Wireless, the ports on the access points are all 100 Meg, not 1 gig. We have not gotten a gigabyte interface of about 1,000, but the controller we have is just 1 gig. We would prefer if we could increase the controller to a 10 gig interface because we want to connect our controller to a 10 gig interface, which currently limits us to 1 gig. When we want to move higher capacity data via wireless, it limits us to 1 gig.
Xander Janse Van Rensburg - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and high-performance wireless networking with exceptional stability, scalability, and robust feature set
One of the most valuable features I appreciate is auto channelization, facilitated by a proprietary product called ChannelFly. This feature enables APs in a specific zone to automatically adjust their channels, optimizing performance. Additionally, Ruckus Wireless stands out for its ability to reuse certain beams, resulting in smaller data spots. In my experience with various products, Ruckus Wireless consistently delivers unparalleled throughput, coverage, and reliability in wireless networking across different environments. As a noteworthy point, the newly launched WiFi 7 standard is measured against Ruckus's WiFi 7 AP, establishing it as the global benchmark. When it comes to WiFi, Ruckus sets the standard, outperforming competitors with its superior performance and capabilities.
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Oct 27, 2021
Oct 27, 2021
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and manage. There are no tricks involved when rolling it out for use. This straightforwardness is not limited to the initial point of setup. It continues on and applies to all of the time thereafter when i...
2 out of 3 answers
DG
Oct 18, 2021
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and manage. There are no tricks involved when rolling it out for use. This straightforwardness is not limited to the initial point of setup. It continues on and applies to all of the time thereafter when it is being put to use. The user interface seems to have been designed with the ease of the user in mind. Everything about it is straightforward, which makes this product ever more valuable to those for whom time is money. Additionally, the Wi-Fi coverage that Ruckus Wireless provides is of excellent quality, is long-lasting, and is supported by a team that provides great technical support. Their Wi-Fi service is the kind that is mostly employed in industries like resorts, which have to cater to large volumes of people over extended periods of time. These systems hold their integrity and allow for people to enjoy powerful coverage that at least appears to be constant. The industrial quality and strength of Ruckus Wireless makes it the sort of service that immediately deserves consideration. The teams that are tasked with supporting those who use Ruckus Wireless are professionals of the highest level. They are possible to reach without difficulty and are highly responsive to problems and work quickly to find solutions. Cisco Wireless provides a very robust service that will continue to run over long periods of time and under heavy usage. Furthermore, the teams that are responsible for assisting users and resolving any potential issues that may arise are highly professional. Setting up this service is not intuitive, though, and can be difficult. Conclusion The prices of these services are unlikely to be the deciding factor as to which of these services is better. They are both expensive. They both do a good job and have excellent tech support but the user-friendly setup and easy-to-use interface give Ruckus Wireless the clear advantage over Cisco Wireless.
NM
Oct 20, 2021
They both do a great job. But it depends on the application scenario.  For corporate environments probably Cisco will perform better not only because of Cisco Wi-Fi features but especially because you can be integrated with all Cisco infrastructure and manage it all. In heavy-duty environments, like public hot-spot, stadiums, exhibition centers, etc, Ruckus should be considered. In this type of applications, pure Wi-Fi performance is more important than management features or security, and therefore, it could be the better choice.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business76
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise74
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
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 Ruckus Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless is an easy to manage solution.
 

Also Known As

Cisco WLAN Controller
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
American University of Sharjah, Baruch College, Centro Escolar Liceo Santo Tomšs, Chevalier College, Chico Unified School District, Colegio de Fomento El Prado, Columbia Public Schools, Delta School District, Dordt College, Douglas County School District, Drew University, Armonea, Central Utah Clinic, Grove Hill Medical Center, Inner South Community Health Service, Midwest Surgical, Satilla Regional Medical Center, Lyndoch Living, Polonus, Roaring Fork School District, Sonora State, Vivid, Sydney, Players Club, Sandals, Scandic Hotels, Sheraton LAX, Sunbird
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. Ruckus Wireless and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.