HPE Aruba Networking vs Romana: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
HPE Aruba Networking is a commercial network access control tool by HPE Aruba Networking. Romana is a free network access control tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best network access control fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Mid-market and enterprise networking teams managing mixed wired, wireless, and IoT environments will get the most from HPE Aruba Networking Central because it consolidates network access control with SD-WAN and SSE into one console, eliminating the tool sprawl that usually forces separate vendor relationships for each layer. The platform covers all three NIST CSF 2.0 infrastructure resilience functions,identity management, continuous monitoring, and security architecture,which means you're not inheriting detection gaps downstream. Skip this if your organization runs a purely cloud-native network or lacks the operational depth to operationalize zero trust; the deployment complexity and integration touchpoints demand mature NetOps teams, not quick wins.
Kubernetes platform teams operating on-premises or in OpenStack environments should pick Romana for its topology-aware IPAM that enforces network policy without overlay complexity, eliminating a major source of troubleshooting overhead in multi-tenant clusters. The free pricing and 249 GitHub stars indicate active maintenance, and the native policy approach maps cleanly to NIST Govern functions around access control architecture. Skip this if you're cloud-locked on AWS or GCP; Romana's value evaporates when your infrastructure already handles IP management and you need tight vendor integration with cloud-native IAM.
