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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs RSA SecurID 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...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
RSA SecurID
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (11th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and RSA SecurID 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 18.4%, down 24.5% compared to last year.
RSA SecurID, on the other hand, focuses on Authentication Systems, holds 2.1% mindshare, down 6.1% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)18.4%
Aruba ClearPass17.5%
Fortinet FortiNAC11.9%
Other52.2%
Network Access Control (NAC)
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
RSA SecurID2.1%
Microsoft Entra ID5.6%
Okta Platform4.4%
Other87.9%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

NF
IT Network Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
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.
Chandan Tripathi - PeerSpot reviewer
Identity and Access Management Principal at Mobily
Useful for making logins more secure by using multifactor authentication but extremely expensive
There is room for improvement in a few areas. Firstly, it lacks support for OIDC and OS capabilities, making it less versatile for integrating various applications. Secondly, there are some limitations in the number of supported applications. Lastly, it doesn't offer an agent-based or reverse-proxy-based approach to integration, which could enhance its flexibility.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has allowed us to pull in multiple authentication databases, then centralize them into a captive portal system."
"The authorization and accounts inside of ISE are very useful for us."
"I like the guest access feature, which has been important for us."
"The feature that I most like is that it can notify me whenever someone plugs in their device, which is not allowed. I get notifications for new laptop devices. I think the user interface looks good compared to previous versions."
"If someone is looking for a concrete solution to control the access, then ISE is a better solution."
"The solution is stable and has good performance."
"This solution has definitely improved the way our organization functions."
"It's flexible and stable. It's been good as a standard environment to run."
"In house applications access via weblink can be locked down to specific groups or criteria."
"It is easy to set up and reliable."
"All of its features work well with the cloud authentication manager and the tokens — the authentication manager is good."
"Encryption random key generation and making it available for the user on the fly without any knowledge of the user regarding the keys."
"One of the most valuable feature is the ID soft token and hard token."
"I would say that the two-factor authentication and the ease of installation and configuration are the most valuable features of this solution."
"With the SSO RSA technology, we simplify the login and authorization process for dozens of web sites with high load traffic."
"It is a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"I would definitely improve the deployment and maybe a little bit of the support. Our first exposure to ISE had a lot of issues."
"In order to make it a ten, it should be more user-friendly; you need somebody who is knowledgeable about it to use it, and it's not easy to use so we have to rely heavily on technical support."
"The upgrades could be better. Every time we try to do an upgrade, we have problems. It's a pain."
"I believe that Cisco can improve the way its policies are built because it's a little complex."
"There are always some things that I would request."
"I have complaints. I don't enjoy the licensing model."
"There should be a single button that can be pressed to dismiss all of the alarms at once."
"The Guest Network verification needs to add a QR code option."
"It doesn't offer an agent-based or reverse-proxy-based approach to integration, which could enhance its flexibility."
"Sometimes, we encounter issues with other applications that are not compatible with RSA SecurID Access and require expert troubleshooting. At those times, we need additional support from an implementation perspective. This is an area where Oracle can improve as there is no substitute for reliable and efficient support."
"I would really rate the technical support as 4 (in a scale of 1-10). My interaction with the technical support was never good."
"The interface needs to improve a lot. It should be easier to manage and navigate."
"We are currently migrating to CA Site Minder due to RSA not having a viable SSO solution at this time."
"There are different compliances across the globe; RSA SecurID Access could be more complaint-based."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are other cheaper options available."
"There is a license to use this solution and the price is reasonable."
"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."
"Pricing and licensing are not my expertise. As far as budgeting is concerned, we run an ELA with Cisco. It's a part of our ELA."
"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."
"It has a fair price. It is better than it was before."
"The Essentials licensing is reasonable, but I would like the Premier version to be perpetual instead of a subscription."
"Being fully honest, the Cisco licensing model right now is really confusing. We don't know what licenses we have where. We have Smart licensing, but the different levels are way confusing."
"I think the price of this solution is reasonable compared to YubiKey and Duo given that it offers the same similar features."
"RSA SecurID Access is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

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 Enterprise4
 

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...
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Also Known As

Cisco ISE
RSA SecurID Access, RSA Access Manager
 

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
Milliman, Geisinger Health System, Advanced Micro Devices
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, ThreatLocker and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: September 2026.
914,322 professionals have used our research since 2012.