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Axiad Conductor vs Portnox comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 4, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Axiad Conductor reduces help desk interactions by 35%, saves labor hours, and cuts user costs by up to 15%.
Sentiment score
5.5
Portnox enhances security and efficiency, offering cost-effective NAC solutions with easier management compared to Cisco ISE or Aruba ClearPass.
If I compare this to an on-premises environment using Cisco ISE or Aruba ClearPass, it would require phenomenally large teams for infrastructure management.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
If you were moving from a traditional on-premise NAC that was 100% managed by the IT department, there would be great savings in going to a cloud-based NAC with Portnox.
IT Infrastructure Manager at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.3
Axiad Conductor's customer service is praised for responsiveness, expertise, and successful feature integration, though occasional delays occur.
Sentiment score
6.8
Portnox customer service is praised for responsiveness, with some suggesting improvements in issue resolution and ticket handling.
The main area needing improvement is the technical knowledge of support staff.
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
For very high severity issues where the entire office is non-functional, response time is within 30 minutes.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
They respond very immediately and provide detailed, amazing support.
Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Axiad Conductor scales well up to 100,000 users but faces cost challenges beyond, maintaining robust and seamless integration.
Sentiment score
7.6
Portnox scales efficiently, supporting many endpoints and users, though costs may increase with growth; cloud features enhance adaptability.
They ensure the backend can support it and do the provisioning while maintaining headroom and elasticity.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Axiad Conductor is praised for its flawless, stable performance in credential management, with minimal downtime and no unplanned outages.
Sentiment score
7.4
Portnox is generally stable and reliable, but some users report latency and configuration issues, particularly with CORE.
The product itself is available and its uptime is 100%.
Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
In the four years that I used Portnox, if it crashed or the server crashed, that would not have been more than once.
Information Technology System Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
If there is a version one and another version, the communication between the organization using it and Portnox should be firm so they can coordinate effectively.
Windows Server Administrator/ IT Support Officer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek Axiad Conductor enhancements, including modern design, Canadian hosting, and FIDO U2F support, amidst macOS update challenges.
Portnox needs interface, integration, and support improvements; licensing, cloud reliance, and user convenience issues impact user satisfaction.
Ideally, we should be able to search for any MAC address in the database, regardless of its authentication status, to see all its associated groups and potential conflicts.
President at TrackerSoft
When I'm doing filtering at times, it doesn't filter the items properly.
Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
They don't have much support during Asia Pacific hours.
IT Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Axiad Conductor offers affordable annual pricing with low-cost per-user licensing and efficient management, ensuring lower total ownership costs.
Portnox offers scalable, device-based yearly pricing viewed as reasonable, though subscription-only options raise concerns for some users.
If you compare Portnox with all other well-known standard products, it is the cheapest.
IT Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
The pricing is a bit high, possibly due to the cloud features and running instances across regions like the US, Asia, and Europe.
President at TrackerSoft
You are charged according to the number of users.
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Axiad Conductor simplifies authentication management with user-friendly features, efficient onboarding, and seamless integration, crucial for security compliance.
Portnox provides scalable, cloud-based network security with intuitive management, seamless integration, real-time alerts, and comprehensive endpoint visibility.
It's notable how Portnox has improved operational efficiency.
IT Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
It is a very robust application because three teams use that part: the network team, the security team, and the support people.
Windows Server Administrator/ IT Support Officer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
It is very easy to implement on our current network hardware.
Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Axiad Conductor
Ranking in Passwordless Authentication
9th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (26th), Identity Management (IM) (37th), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (49th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (29th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (25th), Insider Risk Management (16th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (10th), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (14th), Credential Management Systems (CMS) (5th)
Portnox
Ranking in Passwordless Authentication
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (6th), ZTNA (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Passwordless Authentication category, the mindshare of Axiad Conductor is 6.0%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portnox is 13.5%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Passwordless Authentication Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Portnox13.5%
Axiad Conductor6.0%
Other80.5%
Passwordless Authentication
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2230065 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Architect at a wellness & fitness company with 10,001+ employees
We have seen increased productivity now that users can self-serve their account recovery
We were looking for a way for users to self-serve and increase productivity. Before Axiad Cloud, every time a user was locked out they would have to call the help desk and wait for someone to call back and help them recover their accounts. Now users can do it themselves and cut down on the time they are down with an expired credential. That was the primary driver for why we looked at using this solution. The biggest benefit is that Axiad Cloud has increased the productivity of the business unit where it has been deployed. Before, we had anywhere between 10 and 15 percent of our users that were, at any given time, not able to sign into their systems because of expired credentials. With the introduction of the solution for that business unit, that number went down. That's a measurable advantage. Users also say it is much easier to use but that is not something that we can measure.
Reviewer921606 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Centralized access control has simplified operations but still needs more flexible on‑prem options
Portnox has design considerations that limit its applicability. If you are in a highly regulated industry with mandates requiring the solution to be completely on-premises, Portnox does not work at all. I do not think they position their products for those industries. Even for non-heavily regulated industries, if you want a self-sufficient system within your own premises, there are design constraints because at some point you must reach out to Portnox infrastructure in the cloud, and if that is unavailable, it suffers. For example, on deep-sea oil rigs without proper connectivity, it struggles. I am not sure they want to enter that particular business segment, as it may not align with their value proposition. I cannot blindly select this product and deploy it everywhere; I must make deliberate decisions first. Portnox could improve by reducing its heavy reliance on the cloud. While I do not think they want to eliminate this aspect, a complete solution for regulated entities would include some on-premises setup that is self-sufficient and does not depend on the cloud. This is the most important improvement. Second, Portnox already has a robust integration ecosystem with many vendors, but not all. Even when integration exists, the extent varies, particularly regarding vendor-specific attributes. I have never faced challenges because my security tools and stack have been standard: Cisco, Aruba access points, Cisco switches, and UniFi, all of which work well with them. However, there is room for deeper integration when compared to tools like Cisco ISE and Aruba ClearPass. Their offerings are clear, easy to onboard, and their day zero and day one onboarding activities are streamlined and straightforward. They share best practice checklists that make configuration simple.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox Clear?
I know that IT solutions are expensive. You are charged according to the number of users. For now, the organisation can afford it, but smaller organisations may not be, so Portnox can also consider...
What needs improvement with Portnox Clear?
The area Portnox needs to organise more training for its partners. They are doing well, but areas of knowledge gaps are still visible. There are times unexpected things happen with Portnox, like Po...
What is your primary use case for Portnox Clear?
My use case for Portnox is access control, specifically focused on access control.
 

Also Known As

Axiad Cloud
Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Data Realty, Royal London, Wales Millennium Centre, McLaren Construction Group, EL AL Israeli Airlines, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Axiad Conductor vs. Portnox and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.