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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs MetaAccess comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
MetaAccess
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
14th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
2.9
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 18.5%, down from 23.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MetaAccess is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)18.5%
MetaAccess0.9%
Other80.6%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

SunilkumarNaganuri - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Enhanced device administration hindered by complex deployment and security limitations
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) needs to improve the profiling preauthentication. They are very poor in asset classification and should focus on improving the preauthentication profiling, especially for NAC use cases. This will give them a roadmap for software-defined access (SDA) use cases and network segmentation. Threat detection capabilities are very weak. Additionally, the product is vulnerable and has many bugs.
JD
Delivery Lead at altisec
Positive support experience and affordability boost overall satisfaction
The OESIS framework platform has been developed by OPSWAT itself. They license it to other OEMs for posture assessment, and they are pioneers in this particular field. The rest of the features are the same when compared head-to-head because all NAC works seamlessly. The advantage is this supports a virtualized environment, so you don't need to depend on hardware, allowing you to go live at any point in time. When discussing policy enforcement, it has predefined templates and objects that help draft a policy easily, reducing the need to define variables and create a policy from scratch. For instance, if I want to allow a certain network range, I just need to put out the network range, and they have that policy enforcer to help define the policy precisely. OPSWAT has an integrated solution for threat detection and response capability. If you are opting for threat detection, it will scan your endpoint, which is something no one else is doing. It does take some time for the scanning, but if you want your endpoint to get scanned for threats first, OPSWAT can do that. Regarding reporting tools and real-time monitoring capability, you get a detailed report of compliance as well as non-compliance systems, which is comprehensive.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The TACACS and RADIUS have been the most valuable features so far."
"Cisco ISE's profiling and posturing features ensure that all devices are compliant with regulatory authorities."
"SGTs are valuable because they make it easy to enforce policies, instead of pushing them across all the other platforms."
"Cisco ISE scales exceptionally well."
"Before, we had mid-range scores, but over the last couple of years, between implementing ISE and a few other technologies and SIEMs, we've gotten into the 90th percentile with our pen-testing scores."
"A lot of customers use a third party to manage their guest Wi-Fi. Cisco ISE presents the ability to bring that in-house so that customers can have full control over it, change the branding, and get extra telemetry from it and the user data. It works really well for our customers."
"It works so well we haven't had to reach out too much."
"It offers automatic profiling of phones and computers, enabling administrators to identify and categorize devices seamlessly."
"OPSWAT has an integrated solution for threat detection and response capability; if you are opting for threat detection, it will scan your endpoint, which is something no one else is doing."
 

Cons

"Cisco ISE's real-time data analytics for database logging could be improved."
"A main issue is that the upgrade process, over time, is extraordinarily fragile. Repeatedly, over the past several years, when we've tried to upgrade our Cisco ISE implementation, the upgrade has broken it. Ultimately, we have then had to rebuild it because we need it."
"There is much room for improvement, especially after having perused the documentation on the solution's website. The solution lacks properly knowledgeable support, especially internationally, and this is why I am exploring other applications."
"Compatibility with other vendors is what needs to be improved in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine). We should be able to use it with other vendors, for all specifications."
"The price here in Brazil is very expensive."
"In a future release, I would like to see network access control. That is something that customers seem to be looking for."
"The solution configuration is complicated for setting the infrastructure. They have improved over the years but there is still a lot of room to improve. When comparing the simplicity to other vendors, such as Fortinet and Aruba they are behind."
"The web UI should be made similar to the one in DNAC."
"The only limitation is that customization is pretty limited."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For the Avast virus scan, we pay around USD $95 per machine for five years which includes all updates and technical support."
"The price is okay."
"Standard licensing gives backup access and very few features, and then there's VM licensing - each VM we use needs to be licensed."
"According to my sales and account team, the prices we're getting are pretty good."
"The technology is good, but to use some of the other features, and capabilities, they request that we purchase the Cisco DNA Center. As a result, the bundled price is a little high."
"The solution’s pricing is okay."
"Pricing is not a problem for Cisco because it has a lot of features and not much competition, although it's more expensive than other products. But if I do a cost-benefit analysis, Cisco provides high quality."
"Cisco has actually transitioned to a lot of subscription models, fees, and licenses."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
No data available
 

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 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 needs improvement with MetaAccess?
The only limitation is that customization is pretty limited. We have predefined templates available, but the granular customization is restricted. I am speaking with respect to the Indian customer ...
What is your primary use case for MetaAccess?
The MetaAccess product is primarily for providing secure network access, functioning as a Network Access Control (NAC). It first performs a posture assessment to check whether your endpoint is comp...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
OPSWAT MetaAccess
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Juniper Networks, Expert Global Solutions (EGS), PCWizrd,
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, Portnox Security and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.