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ARCON Privileged Access Management vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) 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

ARCON Privileged Access Man...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Privileged Access Management (PAM) (9th)
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)
 

Mindshare comparison

ARCON Privileged Access Management and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ARCON Privileged Access Management is designed for Privileged Access Management (PAM) and holds a mindshare of 2.5%, down 3.8% compared to last year.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), on the other hand, focuses on Network Access Control (NAC), holds 21.7% mindshare, down 27.1% since last year.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ARCON Privileged Access Management2.5%
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager11.4%
Delinea Secret Server4.9%
Other81.2%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)21.7%
Aruba ClearPass20.8%
Fortinet FortiNAC15.0%
Other42.5%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

DS
System and DBA at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Enhanced security through session monitoring and activity recording
From an end-user point of view, it would be beneficial if the system could provide information about the last login. This would help identify if the server was accessed by me or if someone has potentially stolen my credentials. It would provide a clearer picture of whether ARCON Privileged Access Management is accessed by an authentic user.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For compliance, each change I do, in each of the servers, is clearly recorded. We recently faced an audit and this was an awesome feature. Even our auditor had praise for it saying, "This is really a good feature.""
"It has really helped us a lot."
"It was very easy for us to move this application and database from on-premise to cloud, as well as configure new things, such as load balancing. The product is very compatible."
"The best part of this product is the administrator convenience. The portal is very user-friendly. An administrator can use it very easily."
"The video logs help us to identify any misuse of privileged accounts."
"By manually keeping the user logs, we can understand and manage all the operationalized tasks."
"Session recording is the most valuable feature, as it covers compliance and it also covers our in-house applications."
"We use ARCON Privileged Access Management to monitor and record our admin users' activity."
"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."
"I've had no issues with scalability. I started using it on two campuses, and now I'm using it across the country and scaling it across subsidiaries in other countries."
"The flexibility to grant anyone access to the network easily and in a secure way is its most valuable feature."
"The solution enables us to authenticate with AD."
"The interconnection with the ecosystem and the ability to force rules all over the network are the most important features."
"Using this solution gives us the ability to allow proper access to the network."
"The return on investment we have seen is related to time in terms of troubleshooting. The logs, such as the security logs, inform us of the issues that people have had. ISE has been very instrumental in helping isolate those issues. We've seen a lot of cost savings because we don't have to pay an IT person to waste time doing something that should be instantaneous."
"I like that Cisco ISE is easy to use."
 

Cons

"Hazard flow could be improved, the data compliance portion."
"A few areas for improvement in ARCON would be performance optimization, ensuring smoother management."
"They should respond to open queries within the time limit they have set."
"One thing which needs improvement is where it is keeping video logs of Windows Servers, whatever activities are being carried out by the administrator."
"ARCON Privileged Access Management is not a user-friendly solution, and the application flow from one screen to another is very complex."
"It should support the SQL Always On platform with FQDN name instead of IP, so where all the databases are managed centrally."
"The adaptability to move quickly towards a new environment is lacking and they are deficient in having integration with other OEMs."
"Managing users is difficult, so that is something that can be improved."
"In order to make it a ten, it should be more user-friendly; you need somebody who is knowledgeable about it to use it, and it's not easy to use so we have to rely heavily on technical support."
"I would definitely improve the deployment and maybe a little bit of the support. Our first exposure to ISE had a lot of issues."
"I would rate this solution a 7.5 out of ten. To make it a ten they should have more people on tech support. They need to invest more in the product. It's a good product. They should just work on tech support. More support for the customer. It's not that easy to get somebody to understand this product. I have had some issues with tech before for the solution. One of them brought the solution down due to some of his activity. They need to hugely invest in their tech support."
"Cisco ISE has almost all the features we are looking for now, but sometimes the configuration, such as the conditions, is a little difficult to understand and not so easy to navigate."
"Cisco ISE has numerous features that are impractical, and I won't utilize them since they require payment."
"A main issue is that the upgrade process, over time, is extraordinarily fragile. Repeatedly, over the past several years, when we've tried to upgrade our Cisco ISE implementation, the upgrade has broken it. Ultimately, we have then had to rebuild it because we need it."
"The web UI should be made similar to the one in DNAC."
"There is room for improvement in its ability to allow end users to self-enroll their devices. Instead, you should be able to assign that permission by AD group, which is currently not available."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Their licensing model is very simple, as it is based on the number of endpoints which you want to manage along with the number of users and administrators which you want to use."
"Pricing is reasonable."
"It is good value for our business. According to me, their competitors are more costly. Therefore, it is quite affordable. I find the ARCON to be much cheaper than the other products in the market."
"ARCON is a will give you all the features in a very cost-effective solution. Pricing and licensing is very good compared to other players in the market."
"I am not in a position to give any financials, but whatever we have paid, it is value for money. Their licensing model is good. They have been flexible for us."
"The product's pricing is good value. Go for user-based licensing, without any limit on the target servers."
"The product's pricing is a good value. It's appropriately priced. The product has all the required features. It doesn't work in some of the areas but, right now overall, it's pretty good."
"They do have some licenses, which are required for things like Linux servers. However, in my environment, we do not have Linux servers."
"Cisco has actually transitioned to a lot of subscription models, fees, and licenses."
"The solution is not that cheap."
"The pricing is fair for what it does."
"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."
"The price for Cisco ISE is high."
"I think the price is okay."
"Cisco is expensive, but it's the cost for all the functions and value it brings. Functions like internet solutions, integrations, security, and many more features are important, but it's expensive for some clients."
"It's an expensive solution when compared to other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ARCON Privileged Access Management?
From an end-user point of view, it would be beneficial if the system could provide information about the last login. This would help identify if the server was accessed by me or if someone has pote...
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...
 

Also Known As

ARCON ARCOS, ARCON PAM
Cisco ISE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

RAK Bank, AXIS Bank, Reliance Capital, Kotak Life Insurance, MTS
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
Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk, One Identity, Okta and others in Privileged Access Management (PAM). Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.