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Aruba ClearPass vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 8, 2022
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba ClearPass
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
139
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Aruba ClearPass is 25.0%, down from 25.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 29.9%, down from 31.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Aug 17, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

CC
Aug 2, 2022
Intuitive, easy to manage, and offers great monitoring capabilities
I've had no problems with it at all. It's been a breeze. Our other guy who left taught me everything, including the basics in order to implement it. The dashboard, the monitoring tabs, and the configuration tabs, the admin tabs is all pretty self-explanatory. The WiFi solution, the ease of use, and the scalability are excellent. We have Infoblox for all that stuff; however, as far as authentication and stuff like that, it is very easy to use. The web dashboard and the policy manager are very intuitive and very easy for engineers to use. Finding what you need is pretty simple.
Adam Boldin - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 26, 2022
Helps us protect our SCADA systems by segmenting them from the rest of the network
The endpoint profiling feature is among the most valuable because it keeps me from having to manually maintain a MAC address bypass list to track endpoints. I can have ISE profile them for me and then put them in the right bucket. In addition, ISE really adopts and is strong in the Zero Trust model where we consider everybody a foreign endpoint until they prove they belong on the network. ISE just seems to be built from the ground up to do that, whereas with other solutions, you have to "shoehorn" that in. I also rate it pretty highly for securing access to our applications and network. If you have the good fortune of being a total Cisco shop, you can utilize SGTs, end to end, across the network. It can be a little tricky to get working, but once it does, it creates quite a consistent experience for any endpoint, even if it moves anywhere in the network.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Aruba has improved my organization because it supported me on my level of access."
"We can double verify whether a machine is compliant with our policy on the one hand, and on the other hand if it's one of our machines we let it into the network."
"What I like most about Aruba ClearPass is that it has the best enforcement feature for the network. I also like its Guest Captive Portal and virtual security enforcement features, but the virtual security enforcement feature is still under testing by my company. Aruba ClearPass also has a wonderful UI which I find valuable."
"Stable with good QBT technology."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba ClearPass is the ease of deployment and integration with other equipment in the network."
"If you are looking at the base installation, then it was a very straightforward process, which I would rate an eight or nine out of ten."
"Its clustering model saved us staff time and reduced errors by eliminating the need to manage individual RADIUS servers."
"The most valuable features of Aruba ClearPass are the GUI and its ease-to-do configuration. Additionally, we can troubleshoot many things in one window."
"The features that do work, work well, and we use it on a daily basis."
"The solution is great for establishing trust for every access request no matter where it comes from."
"The authorization and accounts inside of ISE are very useful for us."
"It is scalable because we use a network load balancer at the front of the PSN. It can be extended as we want to multiply. It's scalable to our environment. We have around 8,000 users and we are planning to expand it."
"The most valuable feature is the provisioning of the device so as to ensure that they are compliant with the security policy that we need to have."
"The initial setup was easy. It took around one month. We did the installation part within half an hour to two hours but we found a couple of issues so we raised a case and once everything was resolved it was a month in total."
"The interconnection with the ecosystem and the ability to force rules all over the network are the most important features."
"The way the ISE works is you can get into defining. Let's say, in my case, I've got a Windows laptop and I've got an Apple product and those have unique identifiers, unique back addresses. It would say that this in my profile so I could get to those apps with either device, 24/seven. That's how granular the ISE or these NAC Solutions can get."
 

Cons

"The initial setup phase of the solution was really very difficult, owing to which the setup phase can be considered as an area that can be improved."
"Instructions on adding layouts are not as clear as they could be.​"
"ClearPass isn't hard to set up, but it takes a long time."
"The interface could be made easier and more intuitive."
"Lacks the ability to handle more than one certificate for both the management process and the Captive Portal."
"I found the internal authentication policy and user authentication problematic. I was facing issues with user authentication, but we eventually resolved these problems."
"The improvement can be in the cloud area. They can improve it for the cloud so that we can deploy it on the cloud."
"​​The AirWave Dashboard heat maps could be better designed."
"The templates could be better. When you have to do certs, especially with X.500 certs, it isn't very intuitive."
"The knocks I have against the product are the number of bugs that we encounter, constantly, and the amount of upgrading that we have to do."
"Compatibility and integration with other vendors is what needs to be improved in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine)."
"The tracking mechanism in Cisco ISE is relatively costly, especially its vendor-specific protocol."
"There are always some things that I would request."
"Some of the reporting could be improved."
"I'm frustrated by the resource consumption and how many resources it needs to run. It takes a lot of RAM. It takes a lot of space and a lot of IO power. It's frustrating to do upgrades because it takes a long time."
"I don't see as many customers as I should adopting the onboarding feature. I think Cisco should make that process a lot easier and less intrusive on the end users' devices."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is too expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"There are three types of licenses."
"​Cost is important. I switched because Aruba's costs were well below Cisco's."
"The solution has a licensing model."
"The product is quite expensive. I rate its pricing a seven out of ten."
"The licensing cost for Aruba ClearPass is a bit expensive. Its pricing could be better. The license costs around $125,000 for the perpetual license and support for one year. Aruba can give you a license with five thousand endpoint access and one thousand five hundred onboard licenses on one hundred endpoints and two controllers."
"Aruba is a little more expensive than other products in the market here."
"The pricing model for Aruba ClearPass is complex. Customers only pay for the license fees, with no additional costs."
"For the Avast virus scan, we pay around USD $95 per machine for five years which includes all updates and technical support."
"The solution is not that cheap."
"I think licensing costs roughly $2,000 a year. ISE is more expensive than Network Access Control."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"It would be beneficial to have a single license that included all of the features."
"The solution’s pricing is okay."
"In general, licensing can be quite complex with Cisco products. It would be nice if it was a bit more intuitive and had fewer "gotchas" in there."
"The price is okay."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What is the biggest difference between Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC?
I've done quite a lot of work with ClearPass, and not a lot with FortiNAC/Bradford. ClearPass incorporates a number of different functions including ClearPass Guest for creating complex wireless g...
What do you like most about Aruba ClearPass?
If you are looking at the base installation, then it was a very straightforward process, which I would rate an eight or nine out of ten.
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
What do you like most about Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine)?
Cisco ISE is a comprehensive solution that allows you to control access to network resources granularly based on policies.
 

Also Known As

Avenda eTIPS
Cisco ISE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba ClearPass vs. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
801,314 professionals have used our research since 2012.