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Aruba ClearPass vs Portnox comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

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
5.5
Aruba ClearPass enhances security and management ease but faces challenges with licensing, high add-on costs, and pricing concerns.
Sentiment score
7.3
Portnox CORE improved network visibility, security, and efficiency, reducing costs and enhancing decision-making through detailed analytics and automated features.
Using Aruba ClearPass has resulted in less engineering time compared to other products we've used.
The investment is huge for enterprise clients, but Aruba ClearPass makes processes easier.
If you were moving from a traditional on-premise NAC that was 100% managed by the IT department, there would be great savings in going to a cloud-based NAC with Portnox.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Aruba ClearPass customer service is highly rated for efficiency, though some desire more thorough, in-depth technical assistance.
Sentiment score
7.3
Portnox customer service is highly rated for responsiveness and efficiency, with room for improvement in local services and communication.
Portnox is one level up, as their customer support is outstanding.
We have faced delays in the resolution of production issues after raising tickets, which impacts productivity.
We have escalated questions to tech support, and I would rate the technical support an eight out of ten.
They respond very immediately and provide detailed, amazing support.
I was seeing weird things, and they were able to explain things to me and help me quickly find a resolution.
They resolved issues quickly and provided clear explanations.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Aruba ClearPass is praised for scalable flexibility, handling extensive users effectively but some find it average compared to alternatives.
Sentiment score
7.5
Portnox is scalable and flexible, supporting growth efficiently, though larger setups may require more resources, rated seven to ten.
I believe the scalability of ClearPass is rated as ten out of ten.
Everything will be handled when you add new users because all configurations are deployed from the beginning.
In our environment, ClearPass handles up to 100,000 users, which is better than some other NAC solutions like Fortinox that scale up to 25,000.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Aruba ClearPass is stable and reliable, with minor issues usually due to configuration, rated highly by users.
Sentiment score
7.6
Portnox offers reliable uptime, though CORE users report issues with vendor support and configuration, while Clear performs smoothly.
There are issues with some versions, especially in integrating with AD and SSL configurations over port sixty-three.
There aren't many stability issues, but sometimes the guest management function occasionally throws errors.
The product itself is available and its uptime is 100%.
In the four years that I used Portnox, if it crashed or the server crashed, that would not have been more than once.
 

Room For Improvement

Aruba ClearPass needs improvements in user interface, setup, integration, documentation, reporting, certificate handling, and licensing.
Portnox can improve with better GUI, integration, scalability, support, licensing, false positives, documentation, and Wi-Fi and AI analytics.
The language and policy enforcement mechanisms are not clear, making it difficult to use the product effectively.
It is also better to improve threat intelligence for built-in threat detection and prevention.
A more streamlined menu of licensing options would be helpful.
Ideally, we should be able to search for any MAC address in the database, regardless of its authentication status, to see all its associated groups and potential conflicts.
When I'm doing filtering at times, it doesn't filter the items properly.
They don't have much support during Asia Pacific hours.
 

Setup Cost

Aruba ClearPass pricing is considered competitive but complex, varying by licensing model and requirements, with potential long-term benefits.
Portnox offers scalable, competitive pricing based on ports, with annual fees, appreciated value, but no perpetual license option.
Achieving the best price requires careful selection from a menu of licensing options.
We cannot mix in prices, and of course, prices are going higher.
Aruba ClearPass is a premium product with higher pricing, which seems unnecessary given its complexity.
If you compare Portnox with all other well-known standard products, it is the cheapest.
The pricing is a bit high, possibly due to the cloud features and running instances across regions like the US, Asia, and Europe.
It is a bit on the high side, but considering the cloud features and how much it costs to run the instance in the cloud, it is not unreasonable.
 

Valuable Features

Aruba ClearPass offers strong network security with seamless integration, advanced authentication, centralized control, and flexible deployment options.
Portnox provides scalable, agentless network visibility with intuitive dashboards and automated security integration, enhancing efficiency and endpoint compliance.
The ClearPass solution has reduced the amount of engineering time compared to previous solutions, making it more efficient for our purposes.
The most effective feature for us is the OnGuard feature.
Aruba ClearPass is a very user-friendly solution compared to Cisco ISE.
It's notable how Portnox has improved operational efficiency.
It is very easy to implement on our current network hardware.
We use Meraki for our switching, making it simple to point all our networks and offices to Portnox.
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba ClearPass
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Portnox
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (11th), Passwordless Authentication (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Aruba ClearPass is 24.3%, down from 24.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portnox is 4.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Aruba ClearPass24.3%
Portnox4.2%
Other71.5%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Abdelhamid Saber - PeerSpot reviewer
Secures the network with flexible controls and excellent support
We use Aruba ClearPass as a network access control solution. It prevents unauthorized access and allows access for users in the internal environment, performing checks and onboarding We use ClearPass to secure our environment. Before ClearPass, our environment wasn't as secure. The most…
Scott Kerr - PeerSpot reviewer
It is seamless and integrates well with our Azure setup
We use devices like PLCs and controllers, and when we receive a request to allow one on the network, we bypass typical authentication, associate it with a group account, and push it to a firewalled VLAN. However, problems arise when the same MAC address is requested for a different project. Our current system only finds authenticated MAC addresses, making it difficult to troubleshoot when the same device is used for multiple purposes. Ideally, we should be able to search for any MAC address in the database, regardless of its authentication status, to see all its associated groups and potential conflicts.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
6%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise6
 

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 is the biggest difference between Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC?
I've done quite a lot of work with ClearPass, and not a lot with FortiNAC/Bradford. ClearPass incorporates a number of different functions including ClearPass Guest for creating complex wireless g...
What do you like most about Aruba ClearPass?
If you are looking at the base installation, then it was a very straightforward process, which I would rate an eight or nine out of ten.
What do you like most about Portnox CORE?
It's easy to manage and troubleshoot thanks to the lightweight components.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox CORE?
It's not cheap. It's not expensive. It's in the middle, so I'll probably give it a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with Portnox CORE?
We have been having some issues with it. That's why we're considering migrating to Portnox Clear due to some limitations with CORE. At the end of the day, Portnox Clear's capabilities are much more...
 

Also Known As

Avenda eTIPS
Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Data Realty, Royal London, Wales Millennium Centre, McLaren Construction Group, EL AL Israeli Airlines, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba ClearPass vs. Portnox and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
866,088 professionals have used our research since 2012.