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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security comparison

 

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...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (3rd), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
Microsoft Enterprise Mobili...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is designed for Network Access Control (NAC) and holds a mindshare of 18.6%, down 25.3% compared to last year.
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), holds 1.8% mindshare, up 0.9% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)18.6%
Aruba ClearPass18.0%
Fortinet FortiNAC13.7%
Other49.7%
Network Access Control (NAC)
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security1.8%
Microsoft Intune22.7%
Workspace ONE UEM10.4%
Other65.1%
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
AD
Manager IT at Konverge.AI
User experience improves efficiency while awaiting improved application performance
The solution is meeting my requirements. I don't have any direct inputs here, except that stability of the application can be improved. Sometimes it gets hung or restarts multiple times in the background, which consumes battery life. If stability can be improved, it will generally help everyone. These solutions are usually a little expensive. If costs can come down, that will generally help the masses. A reduction of around 30-35% would make it more prompting for people to take that extra jump. Due to budget constraints, I have seen people not going for Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security because even if the commercials get discounted for the first year, subsequent years see significant price increases.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco ISE has enabled my customers to deploy secure wireless and secure wired networks and gave them a lot of flexibility to do security enforcement."
"The general usefulness of the product is not specific to a particular feature, as this is a comprehensive solution covering access to the network to create a zero trust environment, including Network Access Control, Network Segmentation and policy control, while integrating well with other Cisco solutions and offering very good functionality that is simple to configure, reliable, and scalable, with helpful technical support."
"It has all of the features available, in fact, more than what you need."
"When we use ISE, one of the helpful things is that I can go through the dashboard and get every step along the way of how a device was authenticated. If it's failing, why did it fail? Why is it unauthorized? If there's an error, what is the error and how can I fix that error? If it's something that, if they should be passing, why are they failing?"
"I like the guest access feature, which has been important for us."
"The solution offers automation and real-time visibility, which aids in monitoring and troubleshooting issues with endpoints."
"I would recommend this solution as it is very easy to set up and has a very easy user interface."
"We can better recognize our endpoints and we know whether they are allowed to access our network."
"The product is centralized and we can use it for security purposes."
"The solution is scalable."
"Integration between our departments has been the most valuable."
"The technical support is quite good, and as of now I have not faced anything that was neglected or unsolvable, and I always get a prompt response as well."
"Microsoft Mobility and EMS include Intune for Mobility, which provides mobile device management and mobile application management. With mobile device management, you can control the entire device in an organization."
"Basically, the solution ensures that computers are safe and secure."
"Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is a basic part of all of our projects because it's a very important basis for any customer wanting to set up Microsoft technology, as they need to manage all users and devices on a security basis."
"A good feature that is present is MAM or Mobile Application Management. We can deploy this feature on the device, which is not managed by the organization. If I apply some security configuration on a personal device, the user would be really disappointed. What we do instead is that we give all access to the applications related to corporate and ask the users to use the application. We secure the application by putting the security features on the applications and not on the users' devices. This way, the users are happy, and we also meet our company's compliance standards. Then, everyone is happy."
 

Cons

"The user interface can be improved."
"With the recent release of the solution, we had a bunch of bugs and we had to delay our deployment. Other than that, the solution is good."
"The one main thing that it can improve on is the GUI. As the newest addition to the team, I struggle a little bit to get around it just because it has so many features."
"I believe that Cisco can improve the way its policies are built because it's a little complex."
"Difficult to figure out the protocols and nodes in order to implement correctly."
"The web interface needs improvement. The new web interface that they have is not as easy to manage and we find it to be very slow."
"It would be nice if it could be configured easily by default."
"Its user interface could be better. It's not bad. They've just redesigned the whole user interface. It's not terribly difficult. The drop-down menus are easy to use. However, when you're looking for some things in the user interface, it takes a minute to find where you were prior."
"The licensing can be messy at times."
"Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is expensive."
"They should improve dedicated solutions because they offer everything, but you always end up missing something."
"The auditing and reporting could be updated and upgraded. I would like to see light applications because they consume a lot of the device's memory at present."
"The technical support from Microsoft could be better."
"Technical support could be improved. Sometimes they use a third party that's not so knowledgeable in the product and that can slow down things a bit."
"We did the deployment with the help of Microsoft's consultants. But sometimes, we found it difficult to educate the application developers to integrate."
"The MDM part of the engine could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is fairly expensive and that's part of why we have implemented it in the type of 'hack' that we did, to service multiple clients."
"That's where things got a bit more complicated. Previously, it was a one-time purchase and we just had to renew support. These days, there's a subscription model, which is supposed to be easier and cheaper as well, but it's more pricey"
"We are running Version 2.9 because Version 2.9 of the ISE has a persistent license — it's a one-time payment. The latest version (3.1) is only available if you do a yearly subscription."
"ISE has always been expensive compared to other products in terms of what it does on a user level."
"The price for Cisco ISE itself is very low, however, Cisco professional services are quite expensive. Subscription amount is dependent on number of users."
"Over the years, licensing has been confusing and complicated because there are so many different licenses for each different product and each different iteration of the product."
"The recent changes in the licensing model have caused some issues with the team."
"The increase in the prices of the product might not be the actual problem, but things become complex with some new plans that were introduced by Microsoft recently."
"I would rate pricing at eight out of ten. It is a bit higher because of the security features that Microsoft provides."
"The solution is cost-effective."
"We have to pay 10 dollars per user. I would rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Pharma/Biotech Company
14%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

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 Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
The technical support from Microsoft could be better. Because there are many changes in Microsoft, and most support centers or representatives moved to India, I can share that my experience with su...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
I have been selling Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security for more than 10 years.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is a basic part of all of our projects because it's a very important basis for any customer wanting to set up Microsoft technology, as they need to manage a...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Enterprise Mobility + Security E3, Enterprise Mobility + Security E5, MS Enterprise Mobility + Security
 

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
Mars, Whole Foods, Land O'Lakes, Dow
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet, Cisco and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: June 2026.
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