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Aruba ClearPass vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Aruba ClearPass
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Aruba ClearPass is 17.8%, down from 23.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 3.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba ClearPass17.8%
Sophos Network Access Control3.1%
Other79.1%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Darko Skurla - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Enterprise Customer Solutions Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Role-based policies have simplified secure access control for all users and smart devices
I do not know about the functionality of Aruba ClearPass integration with a third party. If you ask me if there is support for Zebra and for different IoT devices, they have it. However, I do not know how to describe integration with other products. Aruba ClearPass can act as a RADIUS server and it can connect to the domain RADIUS server, for example. The biggest problem is when a customer does not know what they want with Aruba ClearPass. I can recommend Aruba ClearPass to other users because it is very stable. My review rating for this product is ten out of ten.
PS
System Administrator And Network Engineer at Vidyashilp University
Access control has strengthened security and central console management streamlines device oversight
In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a misbehaving email from the network but is not connected to our network and uses a personal network instead, it becomes difficult to trace and identify which network the email is coming from. An inventory system should also be added in the future. Some antivirus solutions have inventory systems that provide all system details. Since we install the Sophos client on client machines, we could obtain details about which software is being used and what the configuration of the machines is. This information would be valuable, as some information was missing when I was using the product previously.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Bringing mobile devices on to the network has been simplified and secured at the same time."
"Aruba ClearPass's most valuable feature is dynamic segmentation."
"Aruba ClearPass allows for guest access, BYOD control, IoT device control, access control, device visibility, policy management, interoperability with third-party solutions, self-service, and device profiling."
"Gives us network access control, visibility, scalability, security, and control in what is becoming an uncontrollable, inundated BYOD and IoT world."
"It keeps your organization secure in many ways, has easy guest logins, tons of options to customize the portal page, and many other useful enterprise-level features."
"Aruba Clearpass has a great set of networking securing features and, with its four modules policy manager, guests, onboard, and insight, it will give you the best NAC solution along with AAA, RADIUS, TACACS+ and BYOD features, which will help you to have a robust security on your network."
"Aruba ClearPass is easy for everybody and better than Cisco."
"It's a very stable product and we haven't had any issues with instability."
"The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price."
"I am very satisfied with this solution overall. All of the features that we use have been working successfully."
"The role-based access controls feature of Sophos Network Access Control allows persons at different positions in an organization to have different types of roles."
"The platform's most valuable features include robust reporting and analytics capabilities, which provide deep insights into our sales performance and customer behavior."
"I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful."
"The wifi control is fantastic and makes it very easy to administer."
"Sophos has helped us to save time and money and to better manage web activities. It has also helped us to reduce misuse of the network and restrict hacking attempts."
"What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure; it gives me visibility across my infrastructure, into all the mobile devices that are on my network and the security I have on those mobile devices, my users, my servers, what is happening at all my gateways, and visibility on my switches, so it gives me a global view of my infrastructure."
 

Cons

"The setup of ClearPass can be a bit convoluted at times."
"Possibly some of the functions could be improved, but it's hard to say."
"The solution needs to upgrade its user interface. Right now, it's not so user friendly, and it's an aspect that my clients' wish was improved upon."
"There is room for improvement in terms of scalability."
"Aruba ClearPass needs significant improvement in being user-friendly. The configuration and overall use are not easily understandable."
"One a scale of one to five, I would give the scalability a three. It is not scalable enough."
"I would like to see better integration with the firewall for zeroing out blacklisted users."
"If you look at the tool's deployment phase from a fine-tuning perspective, I feel it was very complex."
"Continuous development in specific areas might be required."
"Sophos Network Access Control could be improved by having an ASIC chip similar to FortiNAC, as this would provide better processing for big organizations."
"I would like more details on the incoming connection, like what is the download speed and how it fluctuates. If Sophos can give that information, it would be really good."
"In Indonesia, there are a lot of false positives. For example, many websites from our government and local industries are blocked by the IPS."
"The difficult thing was finding the metrics."
"The solution can improve the for applying policies. They can be complex depending don't the group they are applied to."
"Sometimes we encounter intermediate-level support staff who use trial-and-error approaches, but sometimes we receive support from excellent staff members who resolve issues within seconds."
"I would like to see mobile administration capabilities in the next release so that we can administer the device from a mobile device."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The starting price of Aruba ClearPass is 200k Hong Kong dollars. The licensing is based on the endpoints. For example, 100 - 500 end points."
"We pay an annual licensing fee for Aruba and there are no additional costs."
"The price of Aruba ClearPass is expensive. However, Cisco ISE was as expensive when we were comparing."
"The product is very costly."
"Compared to the functionality, the pricing is very favorable. It's affordable and provides good value for the money."
"The solution is costly."
"The pricing is not bad and everything is included."
"The product is quite expensive. I rate its pricing a seven out of ten."
"It is quite expensive."
"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."
"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."
"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba ClearPass?
Compared to Cisco and others, the pricing is reasonable. Licensing costs are case-specific and have been manageable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?
The pricing of Sophos Network Access Control is good, but it is somewhat high.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Network Access Control?
Sophos Network Access Control serves primary use cases for both networking purposes and security purposes.
 

Also Known As

Avenda eTIPS
No data available
 

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
Rushmoor Borough Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba ClearPass vs. Sophos Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,383 professionals have used our research since 2012.