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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Oracle Identity Governance 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.6
Cisco Identity Services Engine boosts security, simplifies IT, reduces costs, mitigates risks, and enhances efficiency with long-term support.
Sentiment score
5.9
Organizations experience mixed financial returns from Oracle Identity Governance, with benefits from automation but concerns over long-term costs.
Direct comparisons with Forescout reveal up to 30% to 40% difference in cost savings.
It is able to save time and money as everything is automated: user access provisioning, password policy management, and reporting.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Cisco ISE customer service is praised, but tech support varies, with fast resolutions or delays and inconsistent expertise.
Sentiment score
5.1
Oracle Identity Governance support quality varies; users experience inconsistent responsiveness and accessibility to skilled personnel across regions.
I rate the technical support as one out of ten.
Cisco support has pretty good teams for support and every time we had good answers and we could somehow solve the issues we had.
Sometimes it's challenging to identify which support team is responsible for certain issues, which is a significant concern.
The team is not very knowledgeable and takes too long to respond.
While they are familiar with me, the team is not large enough, which impacts their availability.
The technical support from Oracle is excellent.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Identity Services Engine scales flexibly for various environments, though virtual deployments and licensing necessitate careful planning and hardware selection.
Sentiment score
7.1
Oracle Identity Governance is scalable for enterprises but may face performance and hardware challenges at higher loads.
Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.
However, you can have some latency issues depending on where your devices are.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco ISE is stable and reliable, though occasional bugs occur, but technical support and proper management ensure performance.
Sentiment score
6.2
Oracle Identity Governance stability varies, with some users facing issues under high-loads, while proper setup enhances stability.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is considered very reliable and stable.
The stability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is poor for certain use cases, like authentication.
Sometimes when we have upgrades or failovers with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), we had some minor issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek simplified Cisco ISE setup, improved integration and UI, refined stability, transparent licensing, and enhanced logging and analytics.
Oracle Identity Governance struggles with complexity, high costs, poor user experience, and integration challenges, needing enhancements for competitiveness.
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).
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.
They are very poor in asset classification and should focus on improving the preauthentication profiling, especially for NAC use cases.
Incorporating AI to reduce manual work would be beneficial.
Oracle Identity Governance is a thick, heavy application and has fewer application connectors compared to SailPoint, which offers a large number of out-of-box connectors, making integration easier.
Improvements could include making Oracle Identity Governance a simpler plug-and-play product.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco ISE provides three tiers; complex, costly pricing is offset by comprehensive features and potential discounts through partnerships.
Oracle Identity Governance is costly with complex licensing, long implementation, and significant support expenses, ideal for large enterprises.
Compared to other solutions like HPE ClearPass, Cisco is more costly, and the conversation suggests a possible forty percent price gap compared to competitors.
The license costs can range between $50,000 to $100,000 per year for enterprises.
Cloud solutions are expensive, while on-prem setups with shared environments are cheaper but not effective.
They sell the solution cheaply, but setting up and maintaining it becomes very expensive.
If you want to implement it at full scale, it's not an entry-level product; it's an enterprise-class product and it is expensive.
Oracle Identity Governance is very expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Identity Services Engine enhances security via dynamic policy enforcement, seamless integration, and robust authentication for a zero-trust environment.
Oracle Identity Governance enhances IT efficiency with automated identity management, integration capabilities, and comprehensive security compliance across environments.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) offers authentication using RADIUS, enhancing network security by separating and segregating networks.
There is value because it helps us secure the network and prevents certain things from happening which could cause financial loss.
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.
The reporting function and Identity Audit function help with compliance, as they provide access review certification, segregation of duties, and a reporting feature.
The features I find most effective in Oracle Identity Governance include size and scale management, which is good for large organizations.
The solution's capabilities in provisioning, de-provisioning, terminations, and transfers are excellent.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)
Oracle Identity Governance
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (8th), Identity Management (IM) (18th), Mobile Identity (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Oracle Identity Governance 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 24.2%, down 29.5% compared to last year.
Oracle Identity Governance, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Management (IM), holds 2.3% mindshare, down 2.7% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)24.2%
Aruba ClearPass23.6%
Fortinet FortiNAC17.9%
Other34.30000000000001%
Network Access Control (NAC)
Identity Management (IM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Identity Governance2.3%
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud18.4%
Microsoft Entra ID11.8%
Other67.5%
Identity Management (IM)
 

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.
SurajShah - PeerSpot reviewer
Have streamlined user lifecycle processes and strengthened policy compliance through automation and audit capabilities
I see areas for improvement, as they need to introduce more connectors; they have around 20 plus connectors currently but can improve in that area. The only thing bothering me is the connectors, as they have the potential to enhance the number of connectors, allowing integration of a large number of applications. Without them, if an application doesn't have a connector, you can build an ICF connector, which Oracle supports. Oracle Identity Governance gives functionality to enhance this by allowing you to write custom code to integrate applications through ICF connectors or adapters. I see some big differences between Oracle and other vendors. For SailPoint, it is lightweight, while Oracle Identity Governance is a thick, heavy application and has fewer application connectors compared to SailPoint, which offers a large number of out-of-box connectors, making integration easier.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
26%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise91
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise46
 

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 do you like most about Oracle Identity Governance?
Role-based access control (RBAC) has been crucial for role-based management in my current company. Granular access restrictions based on role-based policies were beneficial.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Identity Governance?
In terms of pricing and setup cost for Oracle Identity Governance, it can be affordable (depends on the discounts you get and your needs). Since it is enterprise product, Its implementation can bec...
What needs improvement with Oracle Identity Governance?
Direct comparison of OIG/OIM/OAM would require several factors to count in. Other than being excellent product, it would be more convenient to have more 3rd party integrations/connectors available ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Oracle Identity Manager, Oracle IAM, Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite
 

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
Werkbank, Oshkosh, PeerPay, Boingo, Kellogg's, Pella, Slanska, Avaya, D+M
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: October 2025.
871,829 professionals have used our research since 2012.