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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

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...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
142
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 26.3%, down from 31.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

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.
Abdul  Basit - PeerSpot reviewer
An affordable solution that provides web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering
Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control Sophos Network Access Control needs improvement regarding its slow interface, loading time, and reporting. Big companies with 1,000 or 1,500 users might face difficulties using…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It integrates with the rest of our platform, like our firewall, and helps us a lot. It also does a good job establishing trust for every access request."
"Cisco ISE provides authentication for various applications. It can integrate with other applications to manage access, including Privileged Access Management for those applications. For a comprehensive environment, Cisco ISE should be able to integrate and provide asset management for an IT organization or any organization."
"It has allowed us to pull in multiple authentication databases, then centralize them into a captive portal system."
"Cisco ISE's profiling and posturing features ensure that all devices are compliant with regulatory authorities."
"The features that do work, work well, and we use it on a daily basis."
"The WiFi portal in Cisco ISE is very useful for WiFi customers."
"It is a good product for what it does...So, it is one of the most critical systems that we have."
"We were originally a Cisco shop and Cisco ISE integrated well with our other Cisco switches and networks."
"Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control."
"The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price."
"What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices."
"Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything."
"The platform's most valuable features include robust reporting and analytics capabilities, which provide deep insights into our sales performance and customer behavior."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The user interface makes it easy to configure and use."
"I am very satisfied with this solution overall. All of the features that we use have been working successfully."
 

Cons

"The pricing and licensing structure are not ideal for customers."
"Third-party integration is important, as well as the continuous adaptation feature which is the AIOps. It would be helpful to include the AIOps."
"The software is a little bit complicated to understand in the beginning, meaning the implementation. It needs proper documentation so that we can understand the options more easily."
"The knocks I have against the product are the number of bugs that we encounter, constantly, and the amount of upgrading that we have to do."
"There should be more visibility into TrustSec policy actions. When TrustSec blocks something or makes any kind of changes to the network, we don't always see that. We have to log into the switch itself, or we have to get some type of Syslog parsing to do that."
"The solution lacks properly knowledgeable support, especially internationally, and this is why I am exploring other applications."
"The installation is not straightforward, it took us approximately one month."
"In the next release, I would want to see this kind of solution in the cloud as opposed to on prem because when enhancements are made to the software, if it's in the cloud, it's overnight. I mean you're not going to have to respin the servers that the license sits on, it's all microservices kinds of things in the cloud. That would be my recommendation. If I'm a customer, that's what I'm looking at - for cloud based software subscriptions."
"I would like to be able to fully customize the reports."
"It would be beneficial to consider some improvements regarding the dashboard."
"Continuous development in specific areas might be required."
"I would like to see mobile administration capabilities in the next release so that we can administer the device from a mobile device."
"Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. Pricing could also be improved because it's costly."
"One area in which the product could be improved is the user interface. While functional, it can be somewhat cluttered and unintuitive, especially for new users."
"What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."
"The solution could increase the integration with other platforms or other systems. This would be very useful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is fairly expensive and that's part of why we have implemented it in the type of 'hack' that we did, to service multiple clients."
"For the Avast virus scan, we pay around USD $95 per machine for five years which includes all updates and technical support."
"The pricing is complicated."
"The licensing is subscription-based and based on the user account."
"The price is a bit on the high side."
"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."
"The licensing can be confusing, but it is still pretty good."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."
"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"It is quite expensive."
"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."
"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Construction Company
6%
 

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 Sophos Network Access Control?
Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?
I am not able to say much on the financial specifics as it pertains to the sales unit.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
For now, I may not be able to say exactly what needs improvement. However, continuous development in specific areas might be required.
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
No data available
 

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
Rushmoor Borough Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs. Sophos Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.