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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Omada Identity 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.4
Cisco ISE boosts security, reduces costs, and simplifies IT, enhancing mobility and compliance while avoiding breach-related expenses.
Sentiment score
6.4
Omada Identity's high initial cost is offset by reduced maintenance costs, improved security, and process efficiency, but ROI measurement is challenging.
Direct comparisons with Forescout reveal up to 30% to 40% difference in cost savings.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.3
Cisco ISE support is valued for expertise but criticized for delays, reactive approach, and integration challenges.
Sentiment score
6.9
Omada Identity's technical support is praised for responsiveness, but outdated documentation and inconsistent response times pose challenges.
I rate the technical support as one out of ten.
Sometimes it's challenging to identify which support team is responsible for certain issues, which is a significant concern.
We do not contact their technical support directly because we have a service agreement already in place with them with some dedicated and some non-dedicated resources.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco ISE offers scalable solutions for diverse enterprises, supporting expansions with additional nodes or licenses for efficient endpoint management.
Sentiment score
7.7
Omada Identity is praised for its scalability in cloud and hybrid environments, despite minor performance and customization feedback.
Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco ISE is generally stable, though some face issues during updates; reliability improves with proper configuration and recent versions.
Sentiment score
7.6
Omada Identity is stable, with minimal issues, occasional bugs, and high ratings for reliability and performance.
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.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco ISE users face challenges with complexity, performance issues, integration, intuitive interface, documentation, and licensing concerns.
Omada Identity needs UI improvements, better scalability, integration, documentation, and cost-effective upgrades, with enhanced API and automation.
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.
Additionally, the product is vulnerable and has many bugs.
The biggest issue, which is the reason why we are transitioning from their product to SailPoint, is the overall user experience.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco ISE's pricing model is complex and costly, with subscription expenses, though discounts benefit larger clients.
Omada Identity offers cost-effective on-premises pricing, though cloud options are pricier, with flexible negotiations available for enterprises.
Compared to other solutions like HPE ClearPass, Cisco is more costly, and the conversation suggests a possible forty percent price gap compared to competitors.
Cloud solutions are expensive, while on-prem setups with shared environments are cheaper but not effective.
They are lower than some of their competitors.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco ISE offers robust security and ease of use, integrating AAA management with scalability and improved GUI, enhancing network control.
Omada Identity provides governance, customization, integration, and automation for efficient identity lifecycle management with advanced reporting and strong API connectivity.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is very good at device administration.
The solution is integrated with other Cisco devices and can offer automation for an organization, making deployments more dynamic and providing real-time visibility.
Technically, the product does everything one would expect from an identity and access management platform.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
141
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Omada Identity
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (3rd), Identity Management (IM) (4th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (6th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Omada Identity 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 28.8%, down 31.6% compared to last year.
Omada Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Management (IM), holds 3.9% mindshare, down 4.0% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC)
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

Bill Masci - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps across a distributed network, giving you a central way of authenticating everybody
A lot of people tell you the hardware requirements for ISE are pretty substantial. If you're running a virtual environment, you're going to be dedicating quite a bit of resources to an ISE VM. That is something that could be worked on. The upgrade process is not very simple. It's pretty time-consuming. If you follow it step by step you're probably going to have a good time, but there are still a lot of things that could be a lot more user-friendly from an administrator's perspective. [They could be] easing a lot of the issues that people have. Instead of just saying the best practice is to migrate to new nodes [what would be helpful] would be to make that upgrade process easier. The UI is a lot nicer in 3.0. It's pretty slow, but for the most part, it's easy to find what you're looking for, especially things like RADIUS live logs, TACACS live logs. From a troubleshooting perspective, it's really nice finding stuff. For setting up policies, from that perspective, it could be a little bit better looking.
Pernilla Hulth - PeerSpot reviewer
The interface is easy to use and gives you a solid overview
The cloud-based deployment was straightforward, but the on-prem deployment was in a highly complex ecosystem. Omada has matured since then. I wouldn't say that it isn't straightforward, but it depends on the customer. A standard deployment is relatively easy, but it can be more painful if you need a lot of customization. We deployed the cloud solution in around four months, nearly meeting the 12-week benchmark. The on-prem deployment took three years. It was a highly complex ecosystem that was dependent on other systems. Depending on the size of your environment, you need a product owner and some specialists for maintenance. My last customer was a university with a complex environment. They had around 12 people involved in maintenance at that organization. Typically, it's between 2-5 people.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

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 Omada Identity?
We don't have to go in and do a lot of the work that we did before. It may have saved us somewhere in the range of 10 to 30 percent of the time we spent on provisioning access.
What needs improvement with Omada Identity?
There are some technical bits and pieces that we have looked at that could be better. For instance, when you do a recalculation of an identity, it's hard to understand what was incorrect before you...
What is your primary use case for Omada Identity?
We wanted a solution that could help us make HR the master of identities. We wanted a solution that could take that data and direct it into all our other directories and Active Directory.
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Omada Identity Suite, Omada Identity Cloud
 

Learn More

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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
Bayer, ECCO Shoes, Vattenfall, NuStar Energy, Unicredit, Schiphol Group, BMW Group, Deutsche Leasing
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: November 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.