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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs SAP Identity Management 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
143
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
SAP Identity Management
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (6th), Identity Management (IM) (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and SAP Identity Management 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 25.1%, down 30.7% compared to last year.
SAP Identity Management, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Management (IM), holds 2.5% mindshare, down 3.1% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC)
Identity Management (IM)
 

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.
Kiril Petkov - PeerSpot reviewer
Stable, especially if you're an experienced user and is suitable for managing access rights for accounts, process sharing, and file sharing, but it isn't straightforward to use or maintain
I'm not so happy about the features provided by SAP Identity Management, but I'm not sure where the problem lies, if it's a product issue, an issue with its deployment, or both. I find SAP Identity Management complicated to use. Maintaining it is also complex. The solution is integrated with only two core systems, so it's not compatible with all applications in terms of providing single sign-on, which makes no sense to me, so this is another area for improvement in SAP Identity Management. Still, the issue could be with the supplier my company is working with, as that supplier provides consultancy and deployment services. It's a popular, experienced, and well-ranked supplier in the local market. However, it's still not guaranteed that the business requirements have been understood correctly and that the deployment was done properly. What I'd like to see in SAP Identity Management in its next release is a more innovative way to use it for handling all access rights rather than having to use different products.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the automation of the collection of information."
"For guests we give them limited access to the internet when they come in so that access has been useful. Previously, we just used to give them the APN key which they would leave with. Now, we give them credentials to use that are for a limited period of time."
"The implementation is very simple."
"The biggest value of ISE is that it can get so granular with gaming systems, versus IoT and BYOD."
"It is scalable because we use a network load balancer at the front of the PSN. It can be extended as we want to multiply. It's scalable to our environment. We have around 8,000 users and we are planning to expand it."
"The most valuable features are the NAC and the bundles that are available with Cisco ISE, such as Cisco ACS being integrated."
"The posture assessment is a valuable feature because of the ability to do assessments on the clients before they connect to the network."
"Cisco ISE is a powerful solution. It gives us the ability to control who's accessing our network, and Cisco has made it very easy."
"The most valuable features of SAP Identity Management are business roles and automated user provisioning."
"Rather than implement a basic SSO, this solution assisted us with setting up two-factor authentication."
"The tool's most valuable features are its access control and approval of access requests. The self-service password reset feature is efficient. Role management capabilities streamline user access by assigning and revoking roles."
"What I found most valuable in SAP Identity Management is process automation. The solution also gives transparency about what is happening and why which I find beneficial. Another feature I found valuable in SAP Identity Management is integration. It has very good integration."
"It provides basic automatic user administration and role provisioning to save time."
"What's most valuable in SAP Identity Management is that it's easily an out-of-the-box solution for connectivity with SAP applications. We do not have to do any customizations, and this makes the solution very compatible with most SAP applications. SAP Identity Management is also very user-friendly."
"What I like about SAP Identity Management is that it's stable for experienced users and suitable for access management, not just for SAP accounts, but for Active Directory, including file sharing and process sharing."
"The most valuable feature is the user experience for managing information."
 

Cons

"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."
"The web UI should be made similar to the one in DNAC."
"I'd like to see the logging be a bit more robust in terms of what it has baked in. If I want to do any in-depth searching, I have to export all the logs to an external platform like Elastic or LogRhythm and then parse through them myself. It would be nice if I could find what I want, when I want it, on the platform itself."
"There are issues with respect to the posture assessment function. It's been observed that customers are not receiving total access to the network because the assessment agent is glitchy and malfunctions from time-to-time. I would like to see refining of the compliance assessment and adding more detailed compliance of endpoints on the user end."
"I would like to see integration with other vendors, and the RADIUS integration needs to be improved a little bit."
"It would be nice if it could be configured easily by default."
"It is too complex. It should be easy to use. We are not such a big team. We only have three engineers to work with this, and we don't use all of the functionality of the product. Its range of functionality is too wide for us, and this is the reason why we are thinking of switching to a more simple product. We have shortlisted a Microsoft solution. We have a big footprint for Microsoft products, especially in security. As a global strategy, we try to leverage to the maximum what is possible around Microsoft."
"Sometimes, there are instances when Cisco ISE simply fails to function without any apparent reason, and regardless of the investigation we undertake, the logs indicate that everything is functioning properly, making it somewhat inexplicable."
"One of the areas for improvement in the solution is its user interface which needs to be up-to-date and fancier, in particular, have better visualization in terms of the tabs and buttons. The user interface of SAP Identity Management should be improved based on the latest trends."
"The pricing could be better."
"For SAP support in Brazil, everything is in English, which poses a difficulty for many customers."
"What needs improvement in SAP Identity Management is its compatibility with third-party applications. We'd like to get connectors or plugin settings to make it easier to manage other applications, whether SAP or non SAP applications. As SAP Identity Management is not compatible with non SAP applications, some of the clients are looking for other IDM applications such as SalePoint and Saviynt, so this is an issue we've observed in the solution."
"A lack of startup connectors to different systems, and could have better connectors for SAP IDM."
"It needs to have the SSO for the HANA modules that SAP is releasing."
"I have encountered issues with the host authentication feature."
"I find SAP Identity Management complicated to use. Maintaining it is also complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not that cheap."
"The licensing can be confusing, but it is still pretty good."
"It is difficult to measure security breaches, but since we have not been attacked so far, it has paid for itself over the years."
"According to my sales and account team, the prices we're getting are pretty good."
"If you go directly with Cisco for the implementation it's very, very expensive."
"The pricing is complicated."
"The price for Cisco ISE is high."
"It is not that pricey."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"When evaluating the price of any product, I first look at how it meets my business requirements and if it meets requirements adequately and predictively. Currently, I don't see this from SAP Identity Management, so pricing for it is expensive, in my opinion."
"The licensing cost varies depending on the specific requirements and deployment size."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

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 SAP Identity Management?
The tool's most valuable features are its access control and approval of access requests. The self-service password reset feature is efficient. Role management capabilities streamline user access b...
What needs improvement with SAP Identity Management?
I have encountered issues with the host authentication feature.
What is your primary use case for SAP Identity Management?
Our clients utilize the tool to automate user provisioning and manage identity, security, and user roles within their IT environment. It is configured as a tenant for this purpose, and it includes ...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
SAP NetWeaver Identity Management, NetWeaver Identity Management
 

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
State of Indiana, Automotive Resources International (ARI), Alliander N.V., Chemion Logistik GmbH, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH)
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: June 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.