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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
IBM Security Identity Gover...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (14th), Identity Management (IM) (31st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence 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 20.5%, down 26.3% compared to last year.
IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence, on the other hand, focuses on User Provisioning Software, holds 2.8% mindshare, up 2.0% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)20.5%
Aruba ClearPass19.5%
Fortinet FortiNAC14.6%
Other45.4%
Network Access Control (NAC)
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence2.8%
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud20.1%
One Identity Manager10.1%
Other67.0%
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

NF
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
Has improved authentication management and simplified visitor network access
The log capacity in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced because today natively on the ISE can only have a look at the logs from the day before. You cannot search into the oldest logs; you have to use another tool for that. This can be blocking if you don't have any log consolidation solution. To do a search for an issue or something that happened two days ago, you cannot search directly in there. The capacity of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced. Something between one week and one month for the log capacity would be nice.
reviewer1830612 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head, Cybersecurity at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We use the solution to ensure organizations conform to industry base certifications and best practices
We use the product to ensure organizations conform to industry base certifications and best practices and do not contradict their security policies within the base points they specify in the system, which are used to match everything against their governance use cases I think the product's most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is great for establishing trust for every access request no matter where it comes from."
"The general usefulness of the product is not specific to a particular feature, as this is a comprehensive solution covering access to the network to create a zero trust environment, including Network Access Control, Network Segmentation and policy control, while integrating well with other Cisco solutions and offering very good functionality that is simple to configure, reliable, and scalable, with helpful technical support."
"The most valuable feature is network access control for the users coming into the network, which allows us to know who is in the network at any given time."
"We are a very secure enterprise now because only our corporate endpoints can be authenticated on our wireless."
"It provides client provisions and profiling as well as guest access."
"There are a lot of integrations available with multiple vendors. This has made the solution easier to work with."
"If you deploy it with the correct policies, it's a wonderful product."
"Before, our port would be wide open, anyone could come to the network and put their laptop into the port or any device and they would be able to get the IP; now, if someone tries to connect to our network through an IU port or internet, they will not be able to access it."
"This solution has a very good dashboard and the documentation is also very good, and life cycle management and governance are also good features in this solution."
"I would rate the price eight out of 10, with 10 as the best value for money."
"We use the product to ensure organizations conform to industry base certifications and best practices and do not contradict their security policies within the base points they specify in the system, which are used to match everything against their governance use cases."
"Lifecycle management, governance and documentation."
 

Cons

"One of the main issues in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is that it lags excessively."
"Once you purchase the DNA, you will need the SNA then the license, overall it's very expensive."
"I would definitely improve the deployment and maybe a little bit of the support. Our first exposure to ISE had a lot of issues."
"Whenever we see the authentication logs, we can't see what device we're logging into... We can see who logged in, but we can't see the IP address of the device... I'm sure that's available. We just haven't figured out how to properly deploy it."
"The price here in Brazil is very expensive."
"Difficult to figure out the protocols and nodes in order to implement correctly."
"The intuitiveness of the user interface could be improved."
"The web UI should be made similar to the one in DNAC."
"The solution is a bit pricey for some regions."
"Self service center is not always easy to understand."
"The solution is also a bit pricey for the Nigeria region."
"I think improvements could be made in the self service center, making it easier for the user to understand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, one being cheap and ten being expensive."
"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."
"The price is okay."
"I get very good pricing from Cisco, so I don't have a problem with that. I also don't have a problem with licensing because we get enterprise or global licensing."
"Licensing has got much simpler since Cisco moved to the DNA model because we just have the three tiers, but it could always stand to be improved upon."
"There is a license to use this solution and the price is reasonable."
"I think licensing costs roughly $2,000 a year. ISE is more expensive than Network Access Control."
"The licensing is subscription-based and based on the user account."
"I would rate the price eight out of 10, with 10 as the best value for money."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Construction Company
14%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
No data available
 

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...
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Also Known As

Cisco ISE
IGI, IBM Security Identity Manager, ISIM
 

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
E.ON Global Commodities
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: March 2026.
886,174 professionals have used our research since 2012.