Aruba ClearPass vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

Aruba ClearPass vs. Sophos Network Access Control

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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

Aruba ClearPass

Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Sophos Network Access Control

Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Aruba ClearPass is 19.5%, down from 24.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 2.5%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Aruba ClearPass	19.5%
Sophos Network Access Control	2.5%
Other	78.0%

Network Access Control (NAC)

Featured Reviews

Darko Skurla

Senior Enterprise Customer Solutions Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Role-based policies have simplified secure access control for all users and smart devices

I do not know about the functionality of Aruba ClearPass integration with a third party. If you ask me if there is support for Zebra and for different IoT devices, they have it. However, I do not know how to describe integration with other products. Aruba ClearPass can act as a RADIUS server and it can connect to the domain RADIUS server, for example. The biggest problem is when a customer does not know what they want with Aruba ClearPass. I can recommend Aruba ClearPass to other users because it is very stable. My review rating for this product is ten out of ten.

Read full review

HirenPatel2

Manager at rspl

Have faced delays in support despite strong multi-layer policy configuration

I have observed some disadvantages as we have experienced one particular problem. We were facing an issue of synchronization of the endpoint with our firewall with help on a cloud for heartbeat syncing. However, it was not syncing as per our requirement. The user has to connect our firewall with the help of VPN. We were supposed to assume a solution on a cloud, which has good synchronization on a cloud with Sophos Central. It will sync with our firewall as well with the help of Sophos Central. Endpoint and firewall synchronization is not as smooth as we are expecting from Sophos Network Access Control. We have to connect with VPN. We are expecting that if we have already installed an endpoint on our system and it is connected to the internet, then it must be synchronized on a cloud with Sophos Central. Through Sophos Central, it must connect with our firewall. If the endpoint is configured on Sophos Central and the firewall is also configured in Sophos Central, then there should be no need to connect to VPN.

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 most valuable feature, I would say, is the cost-effectiveness of the solution when compared to others."

"The advantage of Aruba is that it is open to any operating system or mobile app."

"I recommend Aruba ClearPass. It is more flexible, stable, and easy to redeploy compared to ISE or FortiNAC."

"It's a great solution with multi-vendor support. That's always useful."

"ClearPass prevents hackers from accessing the network. No one can get inside without authentication. It provides a lot of features we are missing. It's incredibly powerful and stable."

"I like the integration options with a multitude of other vendors and Aruba applications."

"We are able to satisfy many different organizational needs because of its flexibility."

"I like the stability and the GUI, which is always improving."

More Aruba ClearPass pros

"The return on our investment was huge, mostly due to the time saved in managing thousands of physical endpoints."

"The role-based access controls feature of Sophos Network Access Control allows persons at different positions in an organization to have different types of roles."

"The solution offers very good visibility."

"There is good documentation that helps to deploy a new wireless access point and a controller in a very easy way."

"We get full visibility into the network as a product, which is one of the key features of the product because recently they have acquired another product called Secure Wave, which is integrated into Sophos Network Access Control and provides advanced capabilities for managed detection and remediation, MDR, a major plus for customers."

"What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices."

"The solution offers very good visibility."

"I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful."

More Sophos Network Access Control pros

Cons

"I felt we did not get a return on investment."

"The user interface should be improved. The logs and how the logging mechanism works can also use an upgrade."

"The user interface of Aruba ClearPass should be user-friendly like Fortinet FortiNAC."

"Aruba ClearPass could improve when it comes to troubleshooting, it can be difficult. Some advanced problems are difficult."

"How the licenses-in-use counting works in educational environments could be improved."

"For future updates of Aruba ClearPass, I would like to see improvements to the GUI, and adding wizards for specific tasks would be helpful."

"An issue with Aruba ClearPass is the lack of information and poor community support. You can't find the material easily on the internet for any issues. For example, if you're looking for any configuration or exploring any issue, it's not easy to find information, and this is the problem with Aruba ClearPass. Access to helpful information and poor community support could be improved. Another area for improvement in Aruba ClearPass is that some of its advanced features aren't easy to find. For example, my team needed to apply Google single sign-on, but it wasn't easy to find. Aruba ClearPass is a big solution with a lot of capabilities, and it's a very advanced solution, so you need to either have some experience with it or undergo some training. Aruba ClearPass is a very good solution from the network perspective, but the issue is the poor support you get from the community. When you try using the solution, some areas aren't easy. When you search on YouTube, you'll find very few materials about Aruba ClearPass. It isn't like Cisco where you can find information from hundreds of websites, on YouTube, etc. This is bad for Aruba, so this area should be improved. Aruba has a training center, but the usual training offered is only for Aruba Wireless and Aruba Switches. If you have another solution, it's not easy to integrate it with Aruba ClearPass, so this is an area for improvement. You need to do some research to successfully integrate your solution with Aruba ClearPass. We integrated Aruba ClearPass with Ubiquiti WiFi, and it's working fine with no issues. My next project is to start integrating Aruba ClearPass with Cisco Switches. The solution is good, but on the website, there's no book and no video, and you can't find the material on Aruba ClearPass easily. This is one of the issues with Aruba."

"The scalability could improve."

More Aruba ClearPass cons

"Sometimes we encounter intermediate-level support staff who use trial-and-error approaches, but sometimes we receive support from excellent staff members who resolve issues within seconds."

"The solution could offer more useful documentation."

"I'd like to see them include direct integration with Active Directory."

"In order to provide better management, it would be ideal with they offered better plugins for their firewall."

"What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."

"Continuous development in specific areas might be required."

"It would be beneficial to consider some improvements regarding the dashboard."

"The interface on the cloud could be a bit better - just to give more performance on it."

More Sophos Network Access Control cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is not bad and everything is included."

"The product is very costly."

"The licensing model is very straightforward. There are two types of licensing for Aruba ClearPass, a perpetual license, and a subscription. Both of them are straightforward. We don't need to read an ordering guide, it's very clear."

"Aruba is a little more expensive than other products in the market here."

"The starting price of Aruba ClearPass is 200k Hong Kong dollars. The licensing is based on the endpoints. For example, 100 - 500 end points."

"Compared to the functionality, the pricing is very favorable. It's affordable and provides good value for the money."

"There is a license to use Aruba ClearPass."

"The price of Aruba ClearPass is expensive. However, Cisco ISE was as expensive when we were comparing."

More Aruba ClearPass pricing and cost advice

"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."

"It is quite expensive."

"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."

"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."

"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."

"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

University

Healthcare Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	33

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	3

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 is the biggest difference between Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC?

I've done quite a lot of work with ClearPass, and not a lot with FortiNAC/Bradford. ClearPass incorporates a number of different functions including ClearPass Guest for creating complex wireless g...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba ClearPass?

Compared to Cisco and others, the pricing is reasonable. Licensing costs are case-specific and have been manageable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?

The pricing of Sophos Network Access Control is good, but it is somewhat high.

What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?

In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a ...

What is your primary use case for Sophos Network Access Control?

Sophos Network Access Control serves primary use cases for both networking purposes and security purposes.

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Product Reports

Aruba ClearPass

Download Aruba ClearPass product report

Sophos Network Access Control

Download Sophos Network Access Control product report

Also Known As

Avenda eTIPS

No data available

Overview

Aruba ClearPass provides robust authentication and policy enforcement with seamless integration capabilities, enhancing security for corporate networks. It handles guest access, BYOD management, and offers dynamic segmentation and extensive network visibility.

Aruba ClearPass supports diverse environments through integrated device profiling, enhancing network and user security. Its intuitive GUI simplifies management while dynamic segmentation offers tailored user experiences. Though highly functional, users seek improvements in interface intuitiveness and simplified configurations. Streamlined integration, better support, and clarity in licensing are also desired to enhance user experience. Deployed primarily for network access control and wireless management, Aruba ClearPass ensures secure corporate network access with identity authentication, policy enforcement, and detailed visibility.

What are the core features?

Robust Authentication: Secure access management with support for multiple devices and protocols.
Policy Enforcement: Effectively enforce network access policies for enhanced security.
Seamless Integration: Integrates easily with third-party systems and existing infrastructures.
Guest Access: Reliable management for guest network connections.
Device Profiling: Accurately profiles and manages devices for better control.
Dynamic Segmentation: Offers tailored network experiences through role-based access.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Enhanced Security: Comprehensive authentication and enforcement raise organizational security.
Flexible Integration: Smooth integration capability with existing systems.
Improved Network Visibility: Facilitates detailed user and device insights for better management.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive in providing value through robust features.
Scalability: Supports growth with modular functionality and dynamic segmentation.

In healthcare, Aruba ClearPass manages secure access for medical devices and personnel, ensuring compliance and confidentiality. Schools utilize it for managing student and guest network access, while enterprises integrate it for consistent security across corporate environments.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sophos Network Access Control strengthens network defense with its comprehensive management and endpoint integration. Its seamless integration with firewalls and centralized visibility offers robust security for organizations looking to secure their network environments efficiently.

Sophos Network Access Control offers centralized management and seamless firewall integration, enhancing user protection with features like application filtering and web protection. Its modular design supports easy configuration and expansion, while advanced capabilities such as Managed Detection Response improve operational efficiency. Despite its robust offerings, users have noted areas for improvement, including integration with Active Directory and the interface. Organizations also seek better AI and machine learning capabilities, optimized performance, and clearer pricing models.

What features define Sophos Network Access Control?

Device Quarantine: Isolate suspicious devices to prevent unauthorized access to the network.
Endpoint Integration: Supports enhanced threat detection and response coordination with endpoint security.
Application Filtering: Controls access to applications to enhance security measures.
Role-Based Access: Assign roles to users to ensure appropriate access levels.
Centralized Visibility: Provides a comprehensive view of network activity for efficient monitoring.

What benefits do users find in Sophos Network Access Control?

Scalability: Easily adapts to growing organizational needs.
Reliability: Delivers consistent performance during high-demand scenarios.
Policy Enforcement: Ensures strict adherence to security protocols.
Improved Security: Strengthens defenses with advanced threat detection capabilities.
Efficient Management: Simplifies administrative tasks with centralized control.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Sophos Network Access Control is crucial for managing access control and ensuring regulatory compliance. It enhances cybersecurity through VPNs, firewall performance, and AI-driven threat detection, thereby securing enterprise systems like ERP and CRM from potential threats.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities

Rushmoor Borough Council

Aruba ClearPass vs. Sophos Network Access Control