Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs One Identity Safeguard comparison

The compared Cisco and One Identity solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #2 in NAC , with an average rating of 7.9, and holds a 22.4% mindshare in the category. One Identity is ranked #2 in PAM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of One Identity users who would recommend it.

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

Read 145 Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) reviews

15,135 Views
9,838 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

One Identity Safeguard

Read 53 One Identity Safeguard reviews

4,208 Views
2,777 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

One Identity Safeguard

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and One Identity Safeguard based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC).

To learn more, read our detailed Network Access Control (NAC) Report (Updated: December 2025).

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Network Access Control (NAC)

December 2025

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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

7.1

Cisco Identity Services Engine enhances security, simplifies operations, and reduces costs while boosting productivity and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Sentiment score

6.8

One Identity Safeguard boosts compliance, security, and efficiency, reducing costs and risks while ensuring robust access management and performance.

Direct comparisons with Forescout reveal up to 30% to 40% difference in cost savings.

SunilkumarNaganuri

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.

Mohamed Fouad

Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

One Identity Safeguard is cost-effective and saves substantial costs, allowing for automation that reduces the need for extensive manual monitoring and provides a better return on investment.

Kabayo Keith

Assistant Manager at Unique Friends Forever

We have seen a 12% return on investment with One Identity Safeguard, and we have saved a significant amount of money.

dishantsingh

CTO at DishIs Technologies

The time is reduced by nearly fifty percent for our audit preparation and compliance reporting compared to earlier.

SachinShelar

Manager, Account Services Delivery at Softcell Technologies Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.7

Cisco ISE support is highly rated for knowledge and responsiveness but struggles with response times and communication challenges.

Sentiment score

6.8

One Identity Safeguard's support is highly rated for responsiveness despite delays with complex issues; OneLogin integration praised for smoothness.

I rate the technical support as one out of ten.

SunilkumarNaganuri

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.

NicolasFigaro

Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis

TAC support from Cisco is a notable feature; it provides very professional support.

Mohamed Fouad

Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

I sometimes need escalations to reach expertise.

Nawaz Sarwar

Consultant at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

Sometimes, I get a very helpful response and they address issues on a call.

Nick Turner

Systems Administrator at a university with 10,001+ employees

When I have day-to-day incidents and problems, the response is good enough in terms of time and quality.

reviewer2679786

Team Lead / Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

Cisco ISE supports smooth scalability for diverse enterprises, but virtualization and hardware challenges may require strategic solutions.

Sentiment score

7.3

One Identity Safeguard is scalable, efficiently managing growing needs, though high availability could improve, with strong performance reported.

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.

Mohamed Fouad

Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions

Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.

SunilkumarNaganuri

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.

NicolasFigaro

Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

The scalability of One Identity Safeguard is perfect, scoring ten out of ten.

reviewer2687787

Business Line Manager - IGA & PAM at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

We have a cluster of SPPs and a cluster of SPSs, and we can add a node to that cluster without much fuss.

Nick Turner

Systems Administrator at a university with 10,001+ employees

I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.

reviewer2679786

Team Lead / Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

Cisco ISE is stable and reliable, but large deployments may face challenges, requiring proper configuration and effective support.

Sentiment score

7.8

One Identity Safeguard is stable and reliable, with occasional issues resolved through support, earning high user ratings.

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is considered very reliable and stable.

reviewer2590572

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.

SunilkumarNaganuri

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.

NicolasFigaro

Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.

reviewer2679786

Team Lead / Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

In terms of stability, I rate One Identity Safeguard nine to ten out of ten.

reviewer2687787

Business Line Manager - IGA & PAM at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

One Identity Safeguard is very stable and can handle the workload easily; I have not seen any downtime.

Rohan Paul

office administrator at Gitarattan International Business School

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Room For Improvement

Cisco ISE is hindered by complexity, compatibility issues, costly licensing, and needs improvements in usability, support, and performance.

One Identity Safeguard improvements include session support, interface upgrades, management centralization, automation, documentation, pricing, and training enhancements.

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).

Jeremiah Ngure

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.

reviewer2590572

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.

SunilkumarNaganuri

Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

For some configurations on the SPS side, if I need to make changes, such as for DNS servers, I must redeploy the machine.

Nawaz Sarwar

Consultant at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

There are many steps. We are still in the onboarding phase, and it seems very manual.

Nick Turner

Systems Administrator at a university with 10,001+ employees

Another area for improvement could be the threat detection capabilities, like those seen in other PAM vendors.

reviewer2679786

Team Lead / Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Setup Cost

Cisco ISE pricing is complex and costly, with strong vendor partnerships needed for discounts, favoring large enterprises over smaller businesses.

Enterprise evaluations say One Identity Safeguard is costly but worthwhile, with flexible licensing and features, possibly cheaper than competitors.

Compared to other solutions like HPE ClearPass, Cisco is more costly, and the conversation suggests a possible forty percent price gap compared to competitors.

reviewer2590572

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.

Jeremiah Ngure

Technical Services Lead at Telenet Solutions

Cloud solutions are expensive, while on-prem setups with shared environments are cheaper but not effective.

SunilkumarNaganuri

Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

It is one of those where the more you buy, the cheaper it is.

Nick Turner

Systems Administrator at a university with 10,001+ employees

It is cheaper than CyberArk.

reviewer2679786

Team Lead / Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

It is more expensive than Secret Server but way less expensive than CyberArk.

reviewer2686314

IAM Specialist

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Valuable Features

Cisco ISE excels in security, network access control, and integration, offering adaptability, scalability, and centralized management for organizations.

One Identity Safeguard enhances security with features like session monitoring, password vaulting, role-based access, and robust analytics.

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) offers authentication using RADIUS, enhancing network security by separating and segregating networks.

Jeremiah Ngure

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.

John Ntambi

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.

NicolasFigaro

Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis

For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

The auditing and approval mechanisms are features we did not have before and are greatly appreciated.

Nick Turner

Systems Administrator at a university with 10,001+ employees

Automatic credential rotation helps our team by removing the need for manual changes to privileged passwords, reducing the risk of stale or shared credentials and ensuring that every access is controlled and compliant.

Nikhil Jethwa

Technical Consultant at ProTechmanize Solutions (P) Ltd.

Just-in-time access has sped up admin task completion and improved our overall compliance reporting, allowing audits to be completed nearly half the time compared to earlier.

SachinShelar

Manager, Account Services Delivery at Softcell Technologies Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the One Identity Safeguard report

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

145

Ranking in other categories

Network Access Control (NAC) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)

One Identity Safeguard

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (6th), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (2nd), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and One Identity Safeguard 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 22.4%, down 28.3% compared to last year.
One Identity Safeguard, on the other hand, focuses on Privileged Access Management (PAM), holds 3.7% mindshare, down 4.1% since last year.

Network Access Control (NAC) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)	22.4%
Aruba ClearPass	21.6%
Fortinet FortiNAC	16.1%
Other	39.9%

Network Access Control (NAC)

Privileged Access Management (PAM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
One Identity Safeguard	3.7%
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager	11.6%
WALLIX Bastion	5.1%
Other	79.6%

Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Featured Reviews

NicolasFigaro

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.

Read full review

SachinShelar

Manager, Account Services Delivery at Softcell Technologies Limited

Privileged access has become centralized and streamlines multi-client audits and compliance

The best features we can highlight are privileged password vaulting and automatic password rotation, just-in-time privileged access, and session monitoring and recording. These features together stand out because they significantly reduce credential exposure, enforce least privilege access, and provide full auditing visibility across multiple client environments, as we are a service delivery and IT service delivery company with multiple customer environments and access. We rely most on just-in-time privileged access with credential vaulting. It is easy for the team to use day-to-day because access requests and approvals are streamlined and automated. Credentials are never exposed and sessions are automatically logged. After initial setup, adoption was smooth and it fit well into our existing operational workflows without adding stress to our operational team to adapt to the new technology. One Identity Safeguard has strengthened privileged access security across our multiple client environments. We have seen a reduction in shared credentials and unauthorized access. We have also seen faster approval for admin tasks and improved audit readiness. It has streamlined compliance reporting and reduced the operational risk of managing multiple client environments manually. Implementing this solution, we have reduced privileged account-related incidents by thirty percent. We have also cut manual password management time by nearly fifty to sixty percent. Just-in-time access has sped up admin task completion and improved our overall compliance reporting, allowing audits to be completed nearly half the time compared to earlier.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

University

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	32
Large Enterprise	91

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	19

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 ...

See all answers

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, ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Safeguard?

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of One Identity Safeguard is that pricing is good, especially in the long term, as it's way better than CyberArk's, and the other costs are...

See all answers

What needs improvement with One Identity Safeguard?

One Identity Safeguard could be improved by reducing pricing a little bit, and while the support team is mostly good, better pricing would also be advantageous. Regarding needed improvements, the i...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for One Identity Safeguard?

Our main use case for One Identity Safeguard is access management and session management for our privileged users. A specific example of how we use One Identity Safeguard for privileged users invol...

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Comparisons

Aruba ClearPass vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 23% of the time

Fortinet FortiNAC vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 20% of the time

Forescout Platform vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 8% of the time

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 3% of the time

Portnox vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Competitors

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs One Identity Safeguard

Compared 19% of the time

Delinea Secret Server vs One Identity Safeguard

Compared 7% of the time

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs One Identity Safeguard

Compared 7% of the time

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs One Identity Safeguard

Compared 6% of the time

WALLIX Bastion vs One Identity Safeguard

Compared 6% of the time

More One Identity Safeguard Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

January 2026

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

Download Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) product report

Buyer's Guide

One Identity Safeguard

December 2025

Download One Identity Safeguard product report

Also Known As

Cisco ISE

No data available

Overview

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) offers comprehensive network access control and visibility, supporting features like 802.1X authentication, profiling, and posturing. It integrates with Microsoft and other Cisco products, facilitating robust security policies across distributed networks.

Cisco Identity Services Engine is a key player in network access control, offering centralized management and a user-friendly interface. It supports zero trust principles and provides strong authentication for wired and wireless networks. ISE's capabilities include granular security policies, enhanced device posturing, and seamless integration, bolstering security infrastructure. Users benefit from its dual authentication through EAP, simplifying access management across networks.

What are the key features of Cisco ISE?

802.1X Authentication: Supports network security for authorized device access.
Profiling: Identifies devices for accurate policy enforcement.
Posturing: Evaluates device compliance for access decisions.
TACACS: Streamlines network device authentication and authorization.
Guest Access: Provides secure access to visitors.
Microsoft Compatibility: Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft environments.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Security Enhancement: Offers strong network security policies.
Operational Efficiency: Centralized management improves operational aspects.
Improved Compliance: Ensures adherence to industry standards.
Scalability: Supports growing network demands effectively.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and education, Cisco ISE is pivotal for securing wired and wireless networks, implementing BYOD policies, and managing user access. Organizations leverage ISE for effective authentication and authorization, while maintaining compliance with industry security standards.

Cisco

One Identity Safeguard manages and monitors privileged access, enhancing security with features like automatic session recording, real-time monitoring, and credential rotation. It integrates seamlessly, supports compliance with audit trails, and improves operational efficiency across organizations. This robust platform significantly bolsters security protocols while controlling sensitive operations.

One Identity

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

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Network Access Control (NAC)

December 2025

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