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

The compared Cisco and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #1 in NAC , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 25.1% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #16 in EMM , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Read 143 Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) reviews
  • 19,737 Views
  • 12,829 Comparison Views
87% willing to recommend
Microsoft Enterprise Mobili...
Read 11 Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security reviews
  • 1,044 Views
  • 459 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

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Network Access Control (NAC)
June 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Microsoft Enterprise Mobili...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
11
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 25.1%, down 30.7% compared to last year.
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), holds 0.9% mindshare, up 0.7% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC)
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
 

Featured Reviews

SunilkumarNaganuri - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Read full review
Majid-Ali - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with products that fall under the same brand name, but the licensing model needs improvement
Since Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security needs to deal with the competition from VMware and Ivanti, I visited PeerSpot's website to see how Microsoft can compete with its competitors. Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security lacks some remote-related features that VMware offers its users. In the future, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security should offer some remote-related features that VMware offers to its users. Microsoft outsources the support services to some of its partners who need to understand that the modern-day users of the product don't live in the 2000s, where they want someone to ask if they have restarted the router or not. There are certain shortcomings in the licensing model of the product where improvements are required. There is no simple licensing model where my company can suggest our customers purchase a plan that includes every feature in the tool.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The user experience of the solution is great. It's a very transparent system."
"Technical support is okay."
"The return on investment we have seen is related to time in terms of troubleshooting. The logs, such as the security logs, inform us of the issues that people have had. ISE has been very instrumental in helping isolate those issues. We've seen a lot of cost savings because we don't have to pay an IT person to waste time doing something that should be instantaneous."
"It works as a good RADIUS server. It has lots of features. It works with all the proprietary Cisco AB pairs and features."
"Cisco ISE now competes with any other product in the space because of its centralized and unified highly secure access control with ISE."
"It does what it's supposed to. We use a certificate-based authentication method for corporate-managed devices. That means when a user walks in with their managed laptop and plugs it into the network, it chats with Cisco ISE in the background, allows it on the network, and away they go."
"Being able to authenticate wired users through 802.1X is valuable as it enhances our security."
"Using this solution gives us the ability to allow proper access to the network."
More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pros
"The solution is scalable."
"You can scale the solution up or down by department."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"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."
"Integration between our departments has been the most valuable."
"The solution offers excellent documentation that is easily available online."
"I am very happy with it currently."
"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."
More Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security pros
 

Cons

"An issue with the product is it tends to have a lot of bugs whenever they release a new release."
"I would like the product to include support for OSVS version three."
"Cisco ISE can become quite complex, especially with policy sets, the entire authentication process, and everything involved."
"The price could be better. I would like to see more integration with third-party solutions in the next release. This is because many of my clients don't have Cisco."
"Sometimes some of Cisco ISE's graphical interfaces could be a little bit smoother. However, with the different versions, the product is getting better and better."
"The integrations with the switches and the wireless controllers are not really straightforward. There is what they call the best practice for them, but it may not be what we have on-premise."
"Compatibility and integration with other vendors is what needs to be improved in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine)."
"The upgrades could be better. Every time we try to do an upgrade, we have problems. It's a pain."
More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) cons
"Sometimes the application gets hung or restarts multiple times in the background, consuming battery life."
"There are certain shortcomings in the licensing model of the product where improvements are required."
"Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is expensive."
"The licensing is quite expensive."
"The licensing can be messy at times."
"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."
"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."
"The MDM part of the engine could be better."
More Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security cons
 

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."
"It's an expensive solution when compared to other vendors."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, one being cheap and ten being expensive."
"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"
"The price of the solution is price fair for the features you receive."
"The solution’s pricing is okay."
"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."
"Hardware appliances are expensive...Now moving to DNA-styled licensing, we have subscription-based licensing for everything. I hope it will continue to be fair, but we will have to wait and see."
More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pricing and cost advice
"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."
"We have to pay 10 dollars per user. I would rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Pharma/Biotech Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
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. Initially, my company used to ha...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
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 back...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Aruba ClearPass vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Logo
Aruba ClearPass vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Compared 25% of the time
Fortinet FortiNAC vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Logo
Fortinet FortiNAC vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Compared 21% of the time
Forescout Platform vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Logo
Forescout Platform vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Compared 9% of the time
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Logo
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Compared 4% of the time
Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Logo
Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Compared 3% of the time
More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Competitors
Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security Logo
Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security
Compared 32% of the time
ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security Logo
ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security
Compared 13% of the time
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security Logo
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security
Compared 6% of the time
More Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
July 2025
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) reportDownload Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) product report
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security
July 2025
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security reportDownload Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security product report
 

Also Known As

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

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

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) is the only comprehensive solution designed to help manage and protect users, devices, apps, and data in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

Microsoft
 

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
Buyer's Guide
Network Access Control (NAC)
June 2025
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