Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) vs Tenable Security Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco ISE (Identity Service...
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
139
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Tenable Security Center
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (12th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is 25.7%, down from 32.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Security Center is 0.7%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC)
Unique Categories:
Cisco Security Portfolio
22.4%
Vulnerability Management
8.8%
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
2.3%
 

Featured Reviews

Adarge Ekholt - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 3, 2023
The ability to see what devices are online for a particular user helps a lot with our troubleshooting
Another big benefit for us is definitely security in terms of wireless user activity. We spent a lot of time looking at live logs and user logs to figure out where they've been in the network and in which buildings. We can get rogue granular with locations of where people are and where they're experiencing issues. We have definitely saved time since using ISE when it comes to building some of the policies around the types of users, like library users versus student union or even admin users. The policy building is complicated, but after a while, it's pretty straightforward in terms of repeatability of staff turnover, and things like that. It's not the learning curve that's hard for continuous maintenance.
SB
Dec 21, 2023
The solution is completely stable and can be setup very easily
We work as System Integrators and my team has experience in using Tenable Security Center. We provide solutions to work for various customers in BFSI, Telcos, and the Government sector.  We use this solution mainly for vulnerability assessment and management. With the scanning feature set, we do…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"It has allowed us to pull in multiple authentication databases, then centralize them into a captive portal system."
"The TACACS and RADIUS have been the most valuable features so far."
"So far, we have had no issues with the stability."
"Since migrating towards doing wired ports over ISE with 802.1X and MAB authentication, our organization's security risk has been better. We have been able to establish better layouts, so devices can move and we don't have to worry about where they need to go."
"For device administration, all devices have multifactor authentication in collaboration with IT, so it secures access to all of our devices. For guest and wireless access, it's a matter of a lowly manager who we give access to the portal and he can assign access to the guests, so it's a very simple process now. It keeps the IT focusing on their work, and gives the business people the right access."
"Cisco ISE is a powerful solution. It gives us the ability to control who's accessing our network, and Cisco has made it very easy."
"The most valuable features are the ability to retrieve information about Active Directory user names, viewing the log files to see which MAC address tried to connect with the created SSIDs, portal designing for your company, hotspot tools, and creating network rules for WiFi access."
"The scanning part, the agent part – that's the valuable aspect."
"This solution has a much lower rate of false positives compared to competing products."
"We really love the Security Center dashboard. It basically performs vulnerability scanning and then outputs a vulnerability data."
"Tenable is the leading product for vulnerability scanning."
"The Auto-Remediate feature is good."
"The usability is really good. It's very easy to use and a good platform. It is scalable and very stable. The technical support is fine and the setup is super easy."
"Compliance and vulnerability scans are most valuable. Compliance scan helps in validating how our teams are complying, and vulnerability scan helps in future-proofing. Its vulnerability detection is accurate."
"I think that this is a good solution for evaluating vulnerability in the network."
 

Cons

"Support and integration for the active devices needs to be worked on. Their features mainly work well with Mac devices. If we use an HP the Mac functionalities may no longer be able to deliver."
"Segmentation can be improved."
"The installation is not straightforward, it took us approximately one month."
"Deploying to a machine, as opposed to a dedicated appliance, can be a bit difficult."
"I believe that Cisco can improve the way its policies are built because it's a little complex."
"The compliance and posture don't always work. They should make it more stable. With each upgrade, we lose some functionality. We have to wait for another upgrade."
"In an upcoming release, it would be nice to have NAC already standard in the solution."
"We would definitely like to see a little bit of an improvement in the web GUI navigation. Some of the things are a little bit hidden in the drop-down menu. If we could get a way to get to those quicker, it'd be much more useful."
"Tenable SC can improve by adding more integrations with HCI-type tools and more accurate vulnerability detection."
"The user interface can be improved."
"A good plugin editor would be a good additional option for the Security Center."
"The solution is expensive."
"The solution needs to improve the vulnerability assessment because we have experienced some challenges with accuracy."
"Tenable SC could improve by making the creation of the initial reports easier that correspond to our network."
"The web application is not very functional."
"We would like to see the inclusion of external IPs and simplified reporting that's easier to deal with"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"The price can be lower, especially for subscriptions. It should be a lot cheaper to have a wide range of customers. The price should be comparable to competitive products like Forescout or Fortinet FortiNAC. Forescout is cheaper for customers looking for a cloud solution."
"It's damn expensive and the licensing is terrible... If you have perpetual licenses on 2.7 and you upgrade to 3, you are forced to go with Essentials. That is one of the issues that I'm seeing with my clients now."
"It's an expensive solution when compared to other vendors."
"I have complaints. I don't enjoy the licensing model. Once we moved from 2.7 to 3.1, switching from Base, Plus, and Apex to Essential and Advantage in Premier, we went from a perpetual, with our base licenses, to now a subscription-base. So, we will have to renew those licenses every year, and I'm not a fan of that for our base licenses. Apex/Premier, we already expected, which is fine, but for basic connectivity, I am not a fan of that."
"It would be beneficial to have a single license that included all of the features."
"There are three levels of pricing: basic, plus, and apex. Basic satisfied our needs."
"The price is okay."
"The price can start at €10,000 ($13,000 USD) for between 500 and 1,000 assets, and the price can climb into the millions as more assets are added."
"We pay around 60,000 on a yearly basis."
"The tool costs around 15,000 Saudi riyals monthly."
"Tenable SC is priced per asset, with the basic solution starting around US$12,000 for 500 assets."
"We're able to save because we don't have to employ more staff members to help wit ht he scheduling of the scans, running the reports or sending them out to the systems owners. That alone is a big ROI for us."
"The pricing depends upon the number of IPs."
"Costing is pretty reasonable compared to the competition."
"This solution's price is quite high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

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 ...
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 Tenable SC?
The tool's dashboard and reporting capabilities match our company's needs since we are able to modify the basic view to create a new dashboard, and it works out very well for our needs.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable SC?
I rate the solution's price as seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. The tool is quite expensive.
What needs improvement with Tenable SC?
The tool's initial configuration is not so easy. The hardware requirements related to the tool need to be better because we need a lot of memory to achieve speed in the solution. If our company nee...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Tenable.sc, Tenable Unified Security, Tenable SecurityCenter
 

Learn More

 

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
IBM, Sempra Energy, Microsoft, Apple, Adidas, Union Pacific
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Forescout and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.