Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Fortinet FortiAuthenticator compete in the network security and access management category. Cisco ISE appears stronger with its comprehensive features and integration capabilities, while Fortinet FortiAuthenticator stands out for its cost-effective solutions and ease of use.
Features: Cisco ISE offers strong integration with Cisco products, TrustSec, and 802.1X support, alongside extensive profiling and authorization features. Its compatibility with Microsoft products and granular policy enforcement further enhances its offerings. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is notable for its cost-effective two-factor authentication, ease of integration within the Fortinet ecosystem, and flexible user identity management, including managing credentials from various sources.
Room for Improvement: Cisco ISE could enhance its ease of deployment, improve reporting capabilities, and simplify its user interface. The initial complexity and confusing licensing model can be challenging for new users. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator would benefit from better documentation, broader third-party vendor support, and improved high availability features.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco ISE's deployment is supported by extensive partner programs and varied customer service experiences, depending on case complexity. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator offers straightforward deployment and competitive pricing, often regarded as easier to set up and use than Cisco solutions.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco ISE is priced higher with a complex licensing model but offers strong ROI for enterprises leveraging its features fully. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator provides cost-effective security solutions with a straightforward licensing approach, offering better affordability while maintaining high security measures.
Direct comparisons with Forescout reveal up to 30% to 40% difference in cost savings.
It enhances security by ensuring only the right person can access systems, even if their login credentials are compromised.
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.
At times, some technical staff lack knowledge, which delays issue resolution.
Customer service and support are excellent.
Technical support from Fortinet deserves a rating of 10.
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.
The scalability of FortiAuthenticator is good, and I would rate it an eight on a scale of one to ten.
I find Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to be highly scalable, and I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator should be sufficiently scalable.
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.
It remains stable even when the number of concurrent users increases.
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.
For example, authentication for wireless users expires after 24 hours, requiring re-authentication daily.
I recommend Fortinet make its images migratable between environments.
The technical support could be improved as some staff lacks the necessary knowledge to assist effectively.
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.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is not overly expensive compared to other Fortinet subscriptions.
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 integration with FortiToken is outstanding, adding a layer of security for authentication.
We use multi-factor authentication for enhancing security.
The most valuable feature I find in FortiAuthenticator is web filtering.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) | 24.2% |
| Aruba ClearPass | 23.6% |
| Fortinet FortiNAC | 17.9% |
| Other | 34.30000000000001% |
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiAuthenticator | 5.6% |
| Microsoft Entra ID | 19.1% |
| Okta Workforce Identity | 7.9% |
| Other | 67.4% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 44 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 31 |
| Large Enterprise | 91 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 38 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 17 |
| Large Enterprise | 10 |
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?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.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is the primary secure point of approved access into the Fortinet network, authorizing users, reviewing access permissions, and relaying the information to all Fortigate devices for comparison with identity-based protocols. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is a top-ranked authorization and SSO solution.
Appropriate secure access is fundamental to every role in an enterprise ecosystem. It is an integral function of every organization to ensure that every access and privilege is secure and to mitigate any possible risk to an organization. Approved users should only have access to the necessary information when they need it, from the appropriate location(s) to safeguard an organization's security at all times.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is available as an appliance, virtual machine, or in the cloud.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Methods
Reviews from Real Users
Ernesto C., Presales Engineer at a comms service provider, shares,
”Key Features and Benefits
Ibrahim M., Senior Network & Security Engineer at a tech services company, relates, "The initial setup is a valuable point on Fortinet products. Most of the time, putting the theory into practice on the devices is quite friendly and straightforward. As long as you can read English you can find your way around the solution and make it work. This is a high value point on Fortinet - the way everything is laid out in the web UI is user-friendly and quite straightforward. The UI is quite simple."
We monitor all Network Access Control (NAC) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
