Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points vs. Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points includes the 9115 and 9117, and designed to meet high demand network access.N/A
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 is a modular wireless controller with optional 100 Gigabit Ethernet (G) modular uplinks boasting seamless software updates for large enterprises and campuses, and security with ETA and SD-Access.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access PointsCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access PointsCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access PointsCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Considered Both Products
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points support more standards and are easier to configure than Ubiquiti APs. Ubiquiti APs also have some strange quirks or bugs if wired connection is lost.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
This allows us to upgrade seamlessly to new models without the need for special procedures to transition and with less impact to operations.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
We have knowledge that Cisco APs will fit our necessities. A very good range of options and configuration that help to IT Team to setup the network. The use of the new Wifi 6 technlogy is also other fact to select this brand. The users will have devices that will use wifi 6 …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Meraki, but we decided not to go with Meraki. We went away from Meraki due to different case uses.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
So that's our company policy to go with the standard products. We have tried a couple of other vendors, but we didn't actually get a proper alignment with our requirements. So Cisco actually passed our standard requirement. So that's the reason why we go with Cisco. And also I …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Well, it's a very different product. One's wired, one's wireless, but they work well together. The MG ports on the Catalyst switches allow the 9100 series APs to run at 5 gig wired speeds for the backhaul.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Catalyst Center
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
The Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points are way better for implementation and supports more features that we can use for our customer.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
The newer generation of APs are less bulky, heavy and have an improved aesthetic look.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Catalyst 9200 Series Switches
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
I like them and I think they are a nice product.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
We are migrating from Aironet platform to Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points. That's more flexible, and we do it to sync switching, SDWAN, and wifi under one family.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points and Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
1852 series is already too old technology and not performing as well as the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
They are equal and Aruba seems to have an easier out the box setup. Adding APs is much simpler on Aruba.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Because to secure network access.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Of all the different APs that I have implemented the Cisco APs are still the most feature rich. The analytics that they provide sets them apart from all other vendors I have tested.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco access points have always provided us with the performance and flexibility we need so it was an easy decision to purchase the next release.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Nothing compares to Cisco APs. Meraki is owned by cisco, but they are a poor mans cisco. Combined with the 9800 series controllers the 9000 series aps are unbeatable. i would recommend them to anyone, because they are easy to set up and are secure. they broadcast a long way and …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
They are Similar in functionality and price, but free of charge vWLC is a killer feature.
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
We are moving into a more unified and centralized design, and the benefits offered by the 9800 compared to the above listed 5520 series and 8500 series of wireless controller is much preferred. The staggered upgrade option is again another feature much improved moving to the …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Easy to manage and centralized policy manager
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points and Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Used all the Cisco 5504s, the 25, 06s s, all of the old legacy Cisco controllers. And on the competitor side, we did have a few sites that had Aruba and not a fan of that. Cisco is much easier to use, implement and to deploy.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
I've used Ruckus Zone director, so another controller. It's way more robust. There's more features and there's more devices that integrates with. So overall, a more comprehensive solution, I think.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Honestly, I haven't used a non Cisco wireless controller since about 2004 when I used to put autonomous APs in. It's the difference between eating broken glass and having a five star meal. I mean there's no comparison.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
From a wireless standpoint? Just any, well, we have the 9300 switches from Cisco. We also just went to the new firewalls that Cisco just came out. I forget the product name right now. So I like the wireless controller from a ease access or be able to configure better than the …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
More advanced and easier to stand up with virtualization.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco is more industrial grade
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers is more modern, looks better, supports newer access points. Using different tags - site tags, policy tags, etc. is a nice way to configure different access point groups or locations. Also Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst Switches
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
We use Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers as standard in the company
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Ubiquiti WLAN is very much a consumer platform. It is not production ready, it is buggy, it has issues. It is cheaper than Cisco, but you get what you pay for. Aruba doesn't integrate nicely with our existing largely Cisco based networks, so when time came to replace AireOS, …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued), Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points and Cisco Catalyst Switches
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers can be easily integrated with Cisco Identity Service Engine. It is easy to configure policy sets for multiple authentication methods like MAB, dot1x, Centralized web authentication. Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Recommended by technical professionals
Best Alternatives
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access PointsCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Small Businesses
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
Score 9.5 out of 10
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
Score 9.2 out of 10
Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access PointsCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.9
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access PointsCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited in the sense that we use wireless on wheels devices a lot, having devices to monitor the patient's room to room. So this is a very useful, actually, it helps us to transmit the data through the wireless infrastructure. And I don't see, it's less because the WIFI is everywhere, it's very vital part of our life, so I can't say any shortcoming, so it's less useful
Read full review
I really like central switching. Central switching is converging all of the tunnels, fewer people can administer the product. It's much easier to scale, it's much easier to configure and it's much easier to get predictable results out of that. I have run FlexConnect before under AireOS. I'm proficient with it. But yeah, I think as a centralized controller it works very well. And I think as building redundancy with regard to not just HA-SSO but with an N plus one design, I think the scheme and logic and architecture of the platform is very well thought out and I don't know what use cases I would find it to be lacking. There's a few things when you drill into it, it actually is not that simple. AireOS I feel like was a lot simpler. I think the catalyst, how it breaks out the hierarchy of configuration requires each of these tags and profiles and policies and how you bring them together. Actually, even though they've decoupled a lot of these elements from how AireOS did it, I think fewer of those features, even though it was less extensible, it was not as easy or intuitive to deploy. So I think the intuition and how you actually construct a 9800, an entry engineer would struggle a lot more in a 9800. So I would not recommend the product if somebody did not already have a good foundation of network engineering.
Read full review
Pros
  • It is a versatile, clean, balanced and secure access point.
  • Wifi 5 802.11ac wave 2 technology.
  • Client link and cleanair are functions to mitigate and improve user connection.
  • Reliable smartnet service for warranty and technical support.
  • Perfect for offices and indoor locations.
Read full review
  • It is good kind of design with the multiple flow profiles and also location base whereby the long very, I think the traditional controller doesn't have this, so we need to have that specific. Every day is getting the same profile but this have a little bit difference. It's very good with the site tagging and also designing all the location-based requirements.
Read full review
Cons
  • Firmware distribution between access points
  • Replace web auth certificate without reloading WLC controllers
  • The issue with expired MIC certificate - but this is not an issue with 9100
  • New AP with new hardware revision works only with the new WLC firmware
Read full review
  • If possible, please add a column for WAP Name and WAP Model within the 2.4/5/6 GHz radio sections, as we have different models of WAPs in the fleet, and it would be easier to identify WAPs within a building.
  • We conduct digital exams for our students. If there is a way to identify clients and block traffic for applications like ChatGPT, it would be greatly appreciated. Currently, there is no filter for ChatGPT or generative AI.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
Despite common software and hardware issues this is still the best product on the market for large scale enterprise deployments. Cisco has worked with us extensively to reduce the amount of bugs in every iteration however new bugs are introduced or new incompatibilities always arise with major releases. Thus, while I'm hesitant to recommend the product it's still much better than all the other competitors such as Aruba and Juniper in the WIFi space. There is also extensive integration with DNAC/Catalyst Center and ISE in an SDA deployment. Recently there has been a number of critical issues with the controller software and Cisco has proved themselves to be incapable of timely troubleshooting and diagnosis. This has reduced our confidence in the product and it's current and future stability and maintainability. At it's current state the product is taking up too much of our engineering resources to maintain despite also paying for premium support from Cisco. As such I have reduced by rating as we are likely to look at alternative vendors for our long-term wireless management solution
Read full review
Usability
The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points have been a solid deployment for me. Using their interface is a mix of new and old. They run IOS, so if you know the CLI, you can easily navigate around them. You can join them to an older controller if it supports a certain version, you can join it to a new 9800 controller--very straight forward--and you can run the embedded wireless controller on them directly. I've found this to be very useful at smaller sites. The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points are not limited to feature sets like the older generations' mobility express platform.
Read full review
Very good product
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Due to our HA set up we have always managed to access our wireless networks without problems, when issues occur. When we have lost access to the GUI, due to internal network problems, console access is always welcomed and brings with it the normal Cisco CLI syntax. From previous versions of CLI, it is now a lot simpler and reflects other Cisco products, making it easier to troubleshoot and navigate when necessary.
Read full review
Performance
Cisco is providing the best in class access points. We would be focusing Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points to have the common platform. We are waiting for cloud implementation on DNA or cloud monitoring of 9800cl in Meraki dashboard. It's reliable, tagging gives a lot of flexibility. Virtualization finally works as expected.
Read full review
Monitoring is very good Seamless integration with Cisco ISE RRM configuration very easy. It has REST API support IOS-XE is very powerful operation system. Multicasting and mDNS features are really good and very easy to configure. It supports Pyats and Genie so getting constructed data from python script calls very helpful.
Read full review
Support Rating
Cisco has been very good at correcting early issues with their code. Their TAC support has been fantastic when I would open a case with issues I was facing. Even though the hardware was new, they were very familiar with the interfaces and issues I was having. In the past I've been concerned about adopting a new product right away because of support issues. That was not the case here. Once I had the deployment up and running, they have had a good run of reliability.
Read full review
When it's a config issue, TAC is usually useful. If it's some bug and BU needs to be involved, it might take forever.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
You need to understand wifi basics
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Previously we used 3800 series access points within our infrastructure. These access points have been supported within the 9800 wireless controller and are currently being used still as we work to replace access points in the near future. These access points have provided excellent service but the newer access points are much better and provide additional services.
Read full review
We are moving into a more unified and centralized design, and the benefits offered by the 9800 compared to the above listed 5520 series and 8500 series of wireless controller is much preferred. The staggered upgrade option is again another feature much improved moving to the new model and management through DNAC
Read full review
Scalability
These access points offer flexibility in deployment scenarios, supporting both standalone and controller-based architectures. Organisations can choose the model that best suits their current needs and scale as their requirements grow. Cisco Aironet Access Points are compatible with Cisco's Wireless LAN controllers, allowing for centralized management and monitoring of a large number of access points across the network. With the recent changes, it will even support cloud base controllers.
Read full review
There are different vesrions for different requirements, there's HA as well.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • I'd say overall positive impact replacing some of our older model APs. These are much more stable. Some of the older models that we're getting rid of needed to be rebooted. Sometimes they would just stop working different bugs and things like that in their software or hardware. These, I have to say, so far they've been much more stable. They've been definitely a positive impact on our environment for wireless.
Read full review
  • I mean, return on investment is really hard to quantify. Being in a healthcare scenario, it definitely has very good uptime, very good performance. It's easy to manage, fairly trouble free with a few issues not withstanding. There's really no income based off of it, but it does allow our nurses, nursing staff, our physicians to take care of patients better and more reliably and enables a lot of communication options that we wouldn't have had we not had that controller.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points Screenshots

Screenshot of C9117AXI-B Catalyst 9117AX Access PointScreenshot of C9117AXI-B Catalyst 9117AX Access PointScreenshot of C9117AXI-B Catalyst 9117AX Access PointScreenshot of C9117AXI-B Catalyst 9117AX Access Point