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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security 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
6.7
Number of Reviews
142
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Microsoft Enterprise Mobili...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security 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 26.3%, down 31.4% compared to last year.
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), holds 0.8% mindshare, up 0.8% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC)
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
 

Featured Reviews

SunilkumarNaganuri - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Dheen Jaabir - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration and easy implementation
Microsoft licensing has always been tricky. There have been several changes in the last quarter, such as the addition of a new SKU on top of the existing ones. The licensing can be messy at times. Apart from that, it's fine. One area where Microsoft lacks is network-level protection. Currently, it focuses on endpoint protection. However, with the shift to remote work, network-level protection has become less relevant since users take their devices home, and there is no physical boundary after COVID. So, investing in network equipment might not be as useful as protecting endpoints with features like EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and behavioral monitoring. That would probably be helpful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The features that do work, work well, and we use it on a daily basis."
"Our clients like Cisco ISE because they already use various Cisco solutions. It's easy for them to use this solution because they have an engineer with Cisco certifications."
"Using this solution gives us the ability to allow proper access to the network."
"The most valuable feature is the provisioning of the device so as to ensure that they are compliant with the security policy that we need to have."
"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."
"For my use cases, the in-depth troubleshooting into why a client can't connect or why they failed, is very valuable. I can go back to someone and say, 'Hey, it's not my network. It's their certificates or user error,' or something else."
"When we use ISE, one of the helpful things is that I can go through the dashboard and get every step along the way of how a device was authenticated. If it's failing, why did it fail? Why is it unauthorized? If there's an error, what is the error and how can I fix that error? If it's something that, if they should be passing, why are they failing?"
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"The solution is very good at securing files. For example, if I forward a secure document, it's blocked from others, as I can send it with restrictions in relation to who can open it."
"The product is centralized and we can use it for security purposes."
"The solution is scalable."
"A good feature that is present is MAM or Mobile Application Management. We can deploy this feature on the device, which is not managed by the organization. If I apply some security configuration on a personal device, the user would be really disappointed. What we do instead is that we give all access to the applications related to corporate and ask the users to use the application. We secure the application by putting the security features on the applications and not on the users' devices. This way, the users are happy, and we also meet our company's compliance standards. Then, everyone is happy."
"The product is a unified solution and you don't require to purchase tools from different vendors. The system analyzes behavior and activity and takes steps for protection."
"The solution offers excellent documentation that is easily available online."
"You can scale the solution up or down by department."
 

Cons

"There are always some things that I would request."
"The Cisco wireless​ controller needs to add more than one physical port."
"The Guest Network verification needs to add a QR code option."
"They should improve the upgrades. It's not easy to upgrade the solution."
"The user interface could be improved to make it more user-friendly."
"I would like for the next release to be easier to implement and to limit its dependencies around ISE, Windows, the network as a whole, etc."
"It would be helpful for us to know what needs to be deployed, configured, and what changes we need to make to our devices when we don't receive the specific login which is an indication of a lack of connection or incorrect configuration."
"Also, the menus could have been much simpler. There are many redundant things. That's a problem with all Cisco solutions. There are too many menus and redundant things on all of them."
"The MDM part of the engine could be better."
"The licensing can be messy at times."
"Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is expensive."
"Technical support could be improved. Sometimes they use a third party that's not so knowledgeable in the product and that can slow down things a bit."
"The licensing is quite expensive."
"The auditing and reporting could be updated and upgraded. I would like to see light applications because they consume a lot of the device's memory at present."
"We did the deployment with the help of Microsoft's consultants. But sometimes, we found it difficult to educate the application developers to integrate."
"Its performance needs enhancement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing can be confusing, but it is still pretty good."
"The price for Cisco ISE itself is very low, however, Cisco professional services are quite expensive. Subscription amount is dependent on number of users."
"The pricing is good. The last time we purchased four new appliances the price was doable for any organization of our size."
"The price is a bit on the high side."
"There is a license to use this solution and the price is reasonable."
"It is difficult to measure security breaches, but since we have not been attacked so far, it has paid for itself over the years."
"Its licensing could be improved. It used to be perpetual, but now they are moving away from that."
"If you consider money only, Cisco ISE is not a cheap solution."
"I would rate pricing at eight out of ten. It is a bit higher because of the security features that Microsoft provides."
"The increase in the prices of the product might not be the actual problem, but things become complex with some new plans that were introduced by Microsoft recently."
"We have to pay 10 dollars per user. I would rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten."
"The solution is cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Pharma/Biotech Company
9%
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
The increase in the prices of the product might not be the actual problem, but things become complex with some new plans that were introduced by Microsoft recently. Initially, my company used to ha...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
Since Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security needs to deal with the competition from VMware and Ivanti, I visited PeerSpot's website to see how Microsoft can compete with its competitors. Microso...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Enterprise Mobility + Security E3, Enterprise Mobility + Security E5, MS Enterprise Mobility + Security
 

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
Mars, Whole Foods, Land O'Lakes, Dow
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.