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Cisco Duo vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 23, 2024

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
6.7
Cisco Duo enhances security, reduces breaches, boosts morale, and lowers costs, despite integration challenges for larger enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Identity Services Engine enhances security, simplifies operations, and reduces costs while boosting productivity and ensuring regulatory compliance.
I think Cisco Duo offers a good return on investment for startups, newer organizations, or those utilizing cloud-based applications.
Identity and Access Management Principal at Mobily
I have not seen ROI with Cisco Duo; probably the opposite, because it impedes productivity time to be able to get into the system.
Network Engineer at West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, Inc.
From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Cisco Duo is the security and the ease of setting it up.
Chief Technology Officer at University of Redlands
Direct comparisons with Forescout reveal up to 30% to 40% difference in cost savings.
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
We also save money because we increased security, stopped incidents, and reduced breaches and security breaches.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Duo's customer service is praised for expertise and reliability, though some experience delays and difficulty contacting experts.
Sentiment score
6.7
Cisco ISE support is highly rated for knowledge and responsiveness but struggles with response times and communication challenges.
They got back to us quickly, were nice, and gave us what we needed.
Infrastructure Engineer at a government with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate their support 10 out of 10.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
I would rate support for Cisco Duo a 10, as I have never had a negative experience.
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
I rate the technical support as one out of ten.
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Cisco support has pretty good teams for support and every time we had good answers and we could somehow solve the issues we had.
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
TAC support from Cisco is a notable feature; it provides very professional support.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Duo is a scalable, cloud-based solution integrating smoothly with systems, supporting growth without performance limits or licensing issues.
Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco ISE supports smooth scalability for diverse enterprises, but virtualization and hardware challenges may require strategic solutions.
In my last contracting position, it was a large one for a major worldwide airline that had hundreds of thousands of devices that could use Cisco Duo, and it scaled very well.
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
I believe Cisco Duo is very scalable because it is cloud-based.
Identity and Access Management Principal at Mobily
We started out with just the basics, getting a token, and then we changed to push, and now, we have added the offline mode.
Network Engineer at West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, Inc.
You can run an all-in-one deployment and switch to distributed mode as your company grows, relying on Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) to support your scalability needs.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
However, you can have some latency issues depending on where your devices are.
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Cisco Duo is exceptionally stable and reliable, with seamless integration and quick issue resolution, maintaining high performance.
Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco ISE is stable and reliable, but large deployments may face challenges, requiring proper configuration and effective support.
We have not had any Cisco Duo outages across all the companies I have worked for that utilize Cisco Duo.
Senior Engineer at a legal firm with 1-10 employees
When there is a bigger problem, we get notifications from Cisco Duo saying, 'Hey, we have a problem,' and that has helped us.
Network Engineer at West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, Inc.
We have never experienced any downtime.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is considered very reliable and stable.
Solution Architect, Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The stability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is poor for certain use cases, like authentication.
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Sometimes when we have upgrades or failovers with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), we had some minor issues.
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Duo needs better integration, simpler authentication, improved documentation, faster updates, easier deployment, and reduced telephony credit reliance.
Cisco ISE is hindered by complexity, compatibility issues, costly licensing, and needs improvements in usability, support, and performance.
If you don't have internet access, you can't access your computer, only local access is available.
Security and Network Team Lead
Cisco should allow easier integration with third-party equipment because Cisco's own equipment is expensive.
Procurement Officer at Emerging Systems
There needs to be consideration for how to launch Cisco Duo with a handheld device that is not native, where you can install the application.
Director, Customer Success at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The whole setup works well with Cisco access points and Cisco switches, but when you have multiple vendors in the environment, such as HP switches or access points like Aruba, you'll find they will not work well with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).
Technical Services Lead at Telenet Solutions
Pricing can be more expensive compared to other vendors, and there is a significant price gap observed, which doesn't seem justified by some specific features.
Solution Architect, Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
They are very poor in asset classification and should focus on improving the preauthentication profiling, especially for NAC use cases.
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Duo is viewed as affordable with flexible licensing, though some find its pricing structure confusing, especially in long-term contracts.
Cisco ISE pricing is complex and costly, with strong vendor partnerships needed for discounts, favoring large enterprises over smaller businesses.
The pricing is acceptable to them.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
Their website lists $3 per month per user for the Essential license.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
One of my customers recently received a billing statement charging 3,600 US dollars for 100 users for one year.
Sr. Network Security Engineer at Topnet Internet Services Provider. Riyadh, Saudi A
Compared to other solutions like HPE ClearPass, Cisco is more costly, and the conversation suggests a possible forty percent price gap compared to competitors.
Solution Architect, Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The license costs can range between $50,000 to $100,000 per year for enterprises.
Technical Services Lead at Telenet Solutions
Cloud solutions are expensive, while on-prem setups with shared environments are cheaper but not effective.
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Duo enhances security with diverse authentication, seamless integration, ease of use, and robust two-factor authentication for remote access.
Cisco ISE excels in security, network access control, and integration, offering adaptability, scalability, and centralized management for organizations.
From a management perspective, I appreciate that we can enroll or control devices on the back end for people who get a new phone and forget to handle Cisco Duo properly and need to add a new device.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Our company benefits from all those features of Cisco Duo with confidence, and we feel very secure with it in terms of authentication of our logins.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
The benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in our organization is that it's gotten people away from using the sticky note under their keyboard - which is a huge problem.
Director, Technology at Deer Creek High School
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) offers authentication using RADIUS, enhancing network security by separating and segregating networks.
Technical Services Lead at Telenet Solutions
There is value because it helps us secure the network and prevents certain things from happening which could cause financial loss.
Ag Systems & Networks Head at UNBS
The adaptability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) policy enforcement can fit to the site we have depending on which kind of devices we have on site and then the needs for authentication, granting access and then assigning each device into its correct network for segmentation.
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Duo
Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (3rd), Authentication Systems (2nd), Access Management (4th), ZTNA as a Service (5th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st), AI Data Analysis (5th)
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
145
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Cisco Security Portfolio category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 8.3%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 22.8%, up from 22.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cisco Security Portfolio Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)22.8%
Cisco Duo8.3%
Other68.9%
Cisco Security Portfolio
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
Supports seamless authentication for users across multiple organizations and personal portals
The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter. I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.
NF
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
Has improved authentication management and simplified visitor network access
The log capacity in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced because today natively on the ISE can only have a look at the logs from the day before. You cannot search into the oldest logs; you have to use another tool for that. This can be blocking if you don't have any log consolidation solution. To do a search for an issue or something that happened two days ago, you cannot search directly in there. The capacity of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced. Something between one week and one month for the log capacity would be nice.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
 

Questions from the Community

How does Duo Security compare with Microsoft Authenticator?
We switched to Duo Security for identity verification. We’d been using a competitor but got the chance to evaluate Duo for 30 days, and we could not be happier. Duo Security is easy to configure a...
What do you like most about Duo Security?
They are users who, as mentioned before, utilize RDPAP and MDPAP. It includes functionalities related to finance, specifically in single sign-on.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing reveals that one of the most powerful features is the licensing model and the price. According to the pricing, it is really fantastic to get th...
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 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...
 

Also Known As

Duo Security
Cisco ISE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Cisco Duo vs. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.