Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs RSA SecurID comparison

The compared Cisco and RSA solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #1 in NAC , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 24.5% mindshare in the category. RSA is ranked #9 in AS , with an average rating of 7.0, and holds a 6.1% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of RSA users who would recommend it.

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

Read 143 Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) reviews

17,586 Views
11,255 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

RSA SecurID

Read 9 RSA SecurID reviews

3,116 Views
2,773 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

RSA SecurID

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and RSA SecurID 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).

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

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Network Access Control (NAC)

August 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 (2nd)

RSA SecurID

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Authentication Systems (9th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (4th)

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 24.5%, down 30.0% compared to last year.
RSA SecurID, on the other hand, focuses on Authentication Systems, holds 6.1% mindshare, down 7.4% since last year.

Network Access Control (NAC) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)	24.5%
Aruba ClearPass	23.9%
Fortinet FortiNAC	18.0%
Other	33.599999999999994%

Network Access Control (NAC)

Authentication Systems Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
RSA SecurID	6.1%
Microsoft Entra ID	13.8%
Cisco Duo	8.5%
Other	71.6%

Authentication Systems

Featured Reviews

SunilkumarNaganuri

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

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

Chandan Tripathi

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.

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

"For us and our clients, the most valuable features of Identity Services Engine are really around the rich contact sharing that ISE gives you."

"The solution is integrated with other Cisco devices and can offer automation for an organization, making deployments more dynamic and providing real-time visibility."

"The policy sets give us more granular groups for end-user access."

"The integration with Active Directory is the most valuable feature for us."

"The core point is that Cisco ISE is the same globally compared to FortiAuthenticator. Whether I deploy in China, the US, South Africa, or wherever, I'm can get all the capabilities. It allows me to directly integrate with 365, and from a communications point of view, that is a good capability."

"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."

"The ability to integrate our Cisco AnyConnect connections to the active directory has been great."

"It does a good job of establishing trust for each access request, no matter the source. It's also very effective at helping with the distributed network and at securing access."

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pros

"I would say that the two-factor authentication and the ease of installation and configuration are the most valuable features of this solution."

"One of the most valuable feature is the ID soft token and hard token."

"The most valuable features of RSA SecurID Access are push notifications, multifactor authentication, and ease of integration and deployment."

"I think it is really good when it comes to the hard token side of things."

"It is a scalable solution."

Cons

"The UI and UX could be more seamless and easier to use."

"The customer server was great but it would have been better for me if they had support in other languages such as Spanish."

"There should be a single button that can be pressed to dismiss all of the alarms at once."

"Adding new devices was a little cumbersome. I haven't done it that many times, but I remember that adding new devices to the authentication piece of it was a little cumbersome. The way I was shown to do it, I thought it was odd because we had to go into the active device, copy the file down, export it, make some changes to it, and then reimport it as opposed to being able to click it and having a template to fill out."

"Migration could be better. Right now, we back up with the new version, and it requires a lot of licensing and other things. Whenever we choose a product, it's very difficult because we have to meet the requirements of each feature. There is no standard feature, so the best system that we bought may not fit the solution. We have to look at every feature that the customer uses. If you compare it with other products like Aruba, it's not the same. With Cisco, I have to read all about the features on this version and the licensing required for the product. In Aruba, that thing is covered when you get one license because it covers almost everything. It could also be more scalable."

"Third-party integration is important, as well as the continuous adaptation feature which is the AIOps. It would be helpful to include the AIOps."

"The interface is not very user-friendly and it is not simple to use."

"On the network services devices, when you click on filter, the filter comes up. However, when I type in a search and I want to click on something it defaults back to the main page. I keep having an issue with that, and I'm not doing anything wrong."

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) cons

"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."

"It doesn't offer an agent-based or reverse-proxy-based approach to integration, which could enhance its flexibility."

"The interface needs to improve a lot. It should be easier to manage and navigate."

"There are different compliances across the globe; RSA SecurID Access could be more complaint-based."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its licensing could be improved. It used to be perpetual, but now they are moving away from that."

"It costs around 50,000 baht in the first year, but I'm unsure about the second year."

"It is fair."

"Cybersecurity resilience has been very important to our organization and has been a big factor. We've had issues in the past, but one of the things I like about ISE is its logging features. Security wise or information wise, it really has been a powerful tool."

"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."

"I don't know too much about the actual pricing on it. The licensing part is pretty straightforward. It's a lot more simple than some of the other Cisco licensing models. In that aspect, it's great."

"I am not aware of the current price for Cisco ISE, but considering it is a Cisco product, it is likely to be quite high."

"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."

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pricing and cost advice

"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

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

13%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	43
Midsize Enterprise	31
Large Enterprise	90

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	4

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 RSA SecurID Access?

The most valuable features of RSA SecurID Access are push notifications, multifactor authentication, and ease of integration and deployment.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for RSA SecurID Access?

RSA SecurID Access is quite expensive. I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of costliness.

See all answers

What needs improvement with RSA SecurID Access?

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba ClearPass vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 23% of the time

Fortinet FortiNAC vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 22% of the time

Forescout Platform vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 9% of the time

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

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Competitors

Yubico YubiKey vs RSA SecurID

Compared 56% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs RSA SecurID

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco Duo vs RSA SecurID

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs RSA SecurID

Compared 5% of the time

RSA Authentication Manager vs RSA SecurID

Compared 2% of the time

More RSA SecurID Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

September 2025

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

Download Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) product report

Buyer's Guide

Authentication Systems

August 2025

Download RSA SecurID product report

Also Known As

Cisco ISE

RSA SecurID Access, RSA Access Manager

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

The RSA SecurID Suite combines the separate disciplines of access management and authentication with identity governance and user lifecycle management into one comprehensive suite. It goes way beyond the capabilities of traditional identity and access management systems by using risk analytics to provide identity and access assurance. This helps organizations solve two fundamental challenges:

Verifying that their users are who they say they are.
Providing their users with the right level of access.

RSA

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

Buyer's Guide

Network Access Control (NAC)

August 2025

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