Best cloud RADIUS providers (2026)
Identity has moved to the cloud, and the RADIUS server is following it. We compared the six cloud RADIUS and passwordless WiFi providers that matter in 2026 — on the authentication core, the certificate story, identity provider integration, and what each offers beyond RADIUS.
6 providers · compared on 4 capabilities · updated July 2026
TL;DR / Key Takeaways
- Every provider here replaces an on-prem RADIUS server (FreeRADIUS, Microsoft NPS, Cisco ISE) with a cloud endpoint your existing access points point at — no hardware swap.
- The biggest differentiator is the certificate story: Purple and SecureW2 include a managed PKI for EAP-TLS; Foxpass gates it behind its Advanced tier; RADIUSaaS and JumpCloud expect you to bring or buy one.
- The pure identity vendors (SecureW2, Foxpass, RADIUSaaS) stop at staff authentication. Only Purple covers staff 802.1X, guest captive portal, iPSK for IoT and BYOD, and venue analytics on one platform.
- Match the provider to your estate: Microsoft-only shops fit RADIUSaaS, JumpCloud customers get RADIUS thrown in, and multi-site venues with staff and guests get the most from Purple.
How we compared them
Cloud RADIUS (also written RADIUS-as-a-service or RADIUSaaS) is a managed authentication service: your access points forward 802.1X join requests to a cloud endpoint, which validates each user or device against your identity provider and returns the VLAN and policy to apply. You stop patching RADIUS servers, designing failover, and running a certificate authority — the full mechanics are on our RADIUS-as-a-Service page.
We scored each provider on four capabilities: the RADIUS core (uptime, redundancy, RadSec), managed certificates for EAP-TLS, identity provider integration including SCIM lifecycle sync, and what the service covers beyond staff RADIUS — guest WiFi, per-device iPSK keys, and analytics. Competitor facts come from each vendor's public documentation and pricing pages, cross-checked against our head-to-head comparison pages, and we link to those throughout. Purple wrote this page, and Purple is on it — the scores explain themselves rather than asking you to trust the referee.
The 2026 cloud RADIUS comparison
Bars show relative strength per capability. There is no single best answer for every estate: a PKI specialist can be the right pick for a managed fleet, and a platform is the right pick when staff WiFi is only one of the networks you run.
Bars show each provider's relative capability per column; Purple's row is highlighted. Also in this market: Portnox (NAC platform with cloud RADIUS), Cloudpath (Ruckus estates), and Keytos EZRADIUS.
The six providers, in detail
Purple
Purple runs cloud RADIUS with a 99.9% uptime SLA and multi-region failover, issues and auto-renews EAP-TLS certificates from a managed PKI, and syncs users from Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, or Google Workspace over SCIM — so an employee who is disabled in the directory loses WiFi within minutes. What separates it from the pure RADIUS vendors is everything around the authentication: guest WiFi with a branded captive portal, iPSK Private Area Networks for IoT and multi-tenant estates, and footfall analytics, all on the same platform and the same access points. Vendor-neutral by design: if your APs speak RADIUS — Cisco Meraki, HPE Aruba, Ruckus, Juniper Mist, Ubiquiti UniFi, and the rest — Purple works with them. ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, Cyber Essentials, and B Corp certified.
SecureW2
SecureW2’s CloudRADIUS pairs dynamic cloud RADIUS with a managed PKI and the JoinNow onboarding suite, and it is an official Intune CA partner — the deepest pure certificate story on this list. IdP sync covers Entra ID, Okta, Google Workspace, and on-prem AD. It is deliberately narrow: no guest captive portal beyond device onboarding, no venue analytics, and no iPSK — SecureW2’s answer to shared keys is to move everything to certificates.
Foxpass
Foxpass (now part of Splashtop) gives IT and DevOps teams cloud RADIUS, LDAP, and SSH key management in one subscription, with RadSec in every plan and sync from Google Workspace, Entra ID, Okta, OneLogin, and AD. Note the tiering: EAP-TLS and the cloud PKI sit on the Advanced tier, with EAP-TTLS on Standard. ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 Type 2, and GDPR compliant. There is no guest WiFi, captive portal, analytics, or iPSK — it secures access for your own people, not the whole venue.
RADIUSaaS
RADIUSaaS, by German consultancy glueckkanja, is a geo-redundant cloud RADIUS built around the Microsoft stack: Intune for device management, Entra ID for identity. PKI is not built in — you pair it with SCEPman (same vendor) or Microsoft Cloud PKI — and IdP support beyond Entra is thinner, with RADIUS accounts otherwise managed in-portal. No captive portal (self-service guest accounts only), no analytics, no iPSK. A strong, focused choice if your world is Microsoft end to end.
JumpCloud
JumpCloud’s RADIUS is a module inside its cloud directory platform — compelling if JumpCloud already is your directory, since users, devices, and network policy live in one place. EAP-TLS works with bring-your-own certificates (a managed PKI is on the roadmap), and visibility is directory auth events and device telemetry rather than network analytics. No guest portal. Buying the whole directory just to get RADIUS is rarely the right order of operations.
IronWiFi
IronWiFi is the budget pick that spans both worlds: cloud RADIUS and IdP-driven 802.1X as a core product, plus a cloud captive portal across a wide range of access points — 45+ brands including Ubiquiti UniFi, MikroTik, and TP-Link Omada. Multi-tenant is handled through MSP accounts (802.1X-first; iPSK is not advertised), and reporting is session logs and probe-based presence rather than venue analytics. A pragmatic choice for MSPs; less depth on managed certificates and engagement.
Want the head-to-head detail? See Purple vs SecureW2, Foxpass, RADIUSaaS, JumpCloud, and IronWiFi.
Why multi-site estates pick the platform
A council, a hotel group, or a retail estate rarely has one network problem. Staff need passwordless 802.1X tied to the directory; guests need a compliant captive portal; tills, sensors, and signage need isolated keys that rotate one device at a time. Buying a RADIUS specialist, a guest WiFi product, and a PKI separately means three contracts and three consoles for one WiFi estate.
Purple runs all of it as one identity-based platform on the access points you already own — which is why it leads this list for multi-site deployments rather than for any single speciality. Start with the staff WiFi layer, or see the joiner-to-leaver lifecycle end to end.
cloud RADIUS uptime SLA, with multi-region failover
logins a year across the Purple platform, in 90+ countries
typical time to live on existing access points
Go deeper on the authentication stack
RADIUS-as-a-Service
The full mechanics: EAP methods, authentication flow, cloud vs on-prem, and identity provider integrations.
Staff WiFi
Passwordless staff WiFi with per-user 802.1X, SCIM lifecycle sync, and instant revocation.
Passwordless WiFi
The four routes off shared passwords: EAP-TLS, iPSK, Passpoint, and SAML/SSO.
WPA2 & WPA3-Enterprise
The encryption-side standards: 802.1X on your existing access points with managed certificates.
Cloud RADIUS providers: frequently asked questions
What is the best cloud RADIUS service in 2026?
It depends on how much of the network you want the provider to cover. For pure certificate programs on managed fleets, SecureW2 has the deepest PKI. For Microsoft-only estates, RADIUSaaS is a focused fit. Purple is the strongest choice when you need cloud RADIUS and managed EAP-TLS certificates plus guest WiFi, iPSK for IoT, and analytics across a multi-site estate — one platform instead of a RADIUS vendor bolted onto a separate guest WiFi product.
What is the best alternative to an on-prem RADIUS server like FreeRADIUS, NPS, or Cisco ISE?
Any provider on this list replaces an on-prem RADIUS server: you point your access points at a cloud endpoint instead of running FreeRADIUS, Microsoft NPS, or a Cisco ISE appliance yourself. The differences are in what else you get. Purple’s RADIUS-as-a-Service authenticates against your existing identity provider with EAP-TLS, PEAP, and iPSK, gives you multi-region failover by default, and is typically live on existing access points in under an hour.
Which cloud RADIUS providers include a managed PKI for EAP-TLS?
Purple and SecureW2 include managed certificate issuance and renewal as part of the service. Foxpass includes a cloud PKI on its Advanced tier. RADIUSaaS relies on a separate product (SCEPman or Microsoft Cloud PKI), and JumpCloud currently expects you to bring your own certificates. If you do not want to run a certificate authority, a built-in managed PKI is the single biggest differentiator on this list.
Can I use cloud RADIUS with my existing access points?
Yes — cloud RADIUS is vendor-neutral by nature. If an access point can be pointed at a RADIUS server IP or hostname, it can use a cloud one. Purple is verified with Cisco Meraki, Cisco Catalyst, HPE Aruba, Ruckus, Juniper Mist, Ubiquiti UniFi, Cambium, Extreme, and Fortinet; IronWiFi advertises 45+ brands including MikroTik and TP-Link Omada. No provider on this list requires a hardware swap.
How much do cloud RADIUS providers cost?
Pricing models differ more than prices: Purple bills per access point, Foxpass per user with feature tiers (EAP-TLS sits on the higher tier), RADIUSaaS per user on its own tiers, and JumpCloud bundles RADIUS into its per-user directory subscription. When comparing, price the whole requirement — a low per-user RADIUS price plus a separate guest WiFi product and a separate PKI often costs more than one platform that covers all three.
Do any cloud RADIUS providers also handle guest WiFi, BYOD, and IoT?
Two on this list go meaningfully beyond staff authentication. Purple covers guest WiFi with a branded captive portal, BYOD and IoT through per-device iPSK keys, and multi-tenant isolation through Private Area Networks, alongside the 802.1X staff layer. IronWiFi pairs its RADIUS with a capable captive portal. The pure identity vendors — SecureW2, Foxpass, RADIUSaaS — deliberately leave guest and IoT out of scope.
See Purple's cloud RADIUS on your own access points
Tell us about your estate and identity provider, and we will map the migration from FreeRADIUS, NPS, or Cisco ISE — usually a weekend exercise.
This comparison was written and is maintained by Purple. Competitor information is drawn from each vendor's public website, documentation, and pricing pages as of 2026-07-27, and is cross-checked against our head-to-head comparison pages, which are fact-checked quarterly. SecureW2, JoinNow, Foxpass, Splashtop, RADIUSaaS, SCEPman, JumpCloud, IronWiFi, and all other product names are trademarks of their respective owners; their use here is for identification and comparison only and does not imply endorsement. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.