Instant On has no planner or heatmap of its own: it manages a network once the hardware is up. WiFi Heatmap predicts Instant On coverage from your own floor plan, free in the browser, with no account.
The gap
Read from Aruba Instant On’s own documentation and tools on 26 October 2026. The question for each one: can it show you coverage before the access points are bought and mounted?
Sets up and runs an installed network: networks, clients, application usage and the device inventory.
Source: instant-on.hpe.com/techdocs, the Instant On help centre home page, read in full
Aruba’s old standalone Windows planner.
HPE’s enterprise management platform, with VisualRF built in.
In short: Instant On is set up from a phone once the hardware is on the wall. Nothing in it plans a network before you buy, and Aruba’s standalone planner has not been downloadable since 2019.
Free vendor planners do exist for other brands: UniFi, TP-Link Omada and Cambium each make one for their own hardware. If your whole job is one of those, read our honest comparisons with UniFi Design Center and Omada Design Hub.
Pick your access point
Each model carries its datasheet antenna gain and the transmit power Aruba Instant On publishes. Tap one and every access point you place starts as that model; you can change any of them later, or mix in other brands.
The small-business range, managed from the Instant On app.
The enterprise access points, for jobs that outgrow Instant On.
Model not listed? Only the AP22 and AP25 are built in so far. For the AP11, AP12, AP17, AP21, AP27, AP32 or any other model, pick “Custom” and type the transmit power and antenna gain from its datasheet.
Open the editorHow it works
A PNG, JPG or PDF. Set the scale from one wall you know the length of, so distances are real metres.
Trace them by material, or let the editor detect them. At 5 GHz a brick wall costs 11 dB and plasterboard 4, so materials decide where the signal stops.
The heatmap updates as you drag, at 2.4, 5 or 6 GHz, with the usable-signal line drawn on it. Move one and watch the dead zones move.
It is a prediction, not a survey: expect about ±6–10 dB in homes and small offices. How the model works, and what it leaves out, is on the accuracy page. The same editor plans 79 access points from 11 vendors, so you can price Instant On against anyone else on the same plan.
Free: as many access points as you like while you plan; the PNG export includes the first 5, on one floor, with a watermark. Pro (€9 for a 7-day pass, €39 once, or €29/year) exports every access point on every floor without the watermark, and adds the branded client PDF report.
See pricingFAQ
Not one we could find. The Instant On app and web portal set up and manage an installed network (networks, clients, application usage, inventory), and the Instant On help centre has no planning or heatmap section. Aruba’s old standalone planner, VisualRF Plan, has not been available as a download since 2019. A vendor-neutral planner fills the gap; WiFi Heatmap (wifiheatmap.app) is free in the browser with the Instant On AP22 and AP25 built in.
The standalone tool most people mean, VisualRF Plan, has not been offered as a separate download since 2019; VisualRF now lives inside HPE’s paid enterprise platforms. For a predicted heatmap with nothing to download, WiFi Heatmap runs in the browser and includes Aruba access points: the Instant On AP22 and AP25 and the campus AP-505, AP-515 and AP-635.
AP22, AP25 are built in, with their datasheet transmit power and peak antenna gain. Any other Instant On model can be planned by typing its transmit power and antenna gain from the datasheet. The campus models AP-505, AP-515, AP-635 are built in too.
It depends on the walls more than the floor area: at 5 GHz one brick wall costs several times what a plasterboard one does. Upload your floor plan, mark the walls, place one AP22 and look at where the signal falls below the usable line. Add a second where it does. The free editor shows this live; Pro can work out the count for you.
Planning is free with no account: place as many access points as you like and the heatmap updates live. The free PNG export includes 5 access points on one floor, with a watermark. Pro, from €9, adds every floor, full exports and a branded client PDF report. The floor plan never leaves your browser, on any plan.
Other brands
Cisco Meraki WiFi heatmap →
6 Meraki MR and 9 Cisco CW models, and what Cisco Meraki offers for planning.
RUCKUS WiFi heatmap →
5 RUCKUS models, and what RUCKUS offers for planning.
Every free planner, compared →
Which ones are free, which lock you to one vendor, and which beat us for a given job.
Measured or predicted heatmap? →
What each kind can tell you, and which one you need before an install.
Upload the floor plan, place Instant On access points and read the heatmap in a few minutes. Free, in your browser, no account.