Arbiter review
A focused NAC platform with strong 802.1X coverage and accessible entry pricing.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Arbiter is a cloud-hosted network access control platform for small and midsize businesses and managed service providers. It covers wired and wireless environments with automatic device discovery, endpoint profiling, RADIUS authentication, 802.1X certificate-based access, MAC Authentication Bypass, policy-based VLAN and ACL assignment, guest Wi-Fi onboarding, PKI and SIEM forwarding. Its deployment model is hybrid: an on-premises Edge appliance connects switches and access points to the cloud over RadSec, while supporting local authentication during connectivity outages.
Pricing is structured around four monthly plans. Asset Discovery starts at €29 per month, Essential is €149 per month, Professional is €399 per month and Enterprise is €999 per month. Arbiter also offers a free plan while in beta and a 60-day trial. This gives smaller teams a low-cost way to assess discovery and access-control requirements before moving to a higher paid tier. Buyers should compare the plan boundaries carefully, particularly when moving from the €29 Asset Discovery tier to Essential and above.
Its strongest fit is for organizations that need practical 802.1X NAC, certificate authentication, guest access and policy enforcement without assembling separate discovery, RADIUS, PKI and logging tools. Microsoft Intune integration can connect compliance status to network policies, while Microsoft Sentinel, Elastic, Splunk, Syslog and generic HTTPS webhooks support event forwarding. Monitor mode and policy simulation help with staged policy work. Choose Arbiter for focused wired and wireless access control in a small-team or MSP context; organizations seeking a broader access-control scope should compare its feature coverage with alternatives before committing.
Arbiter pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Automatic discovery, endpoint profiling, RADIUS and 802.1X EAP-TLS
- VLAN, ACL, captive portal and PKI capabilities in one platform
- Free beta plan, 60-day trial and €29/month starting tier
- Where it doesn't
- Hybrid deployment requires an on-premises Edge appliance
- Paid pricing rises from €29/month to €149/month for Essential
- Free availability is tied to the beta period
Arbiter fact sheet, pricing and score →
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