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

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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

Auconet Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Auconet Network Access Control is 1.0%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 18.4%, down from 24.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)18.4%
Auconet Network Access Control1.0%
Other80.6%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1194 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Infrastructure at a tech company with 51-200 employees
A very good Network Access Control application with emphasis on MAC layer authentication
1) Auconet provides comprehensive control mechanisms for securing networks of any size. 2) Can support network devices of any make. 3) Provides MAC layer (layer 2) authentication of all network hardware, which has higher security, compared to other NAC tools. 4) It works on the basic assumption that VPN, Firewalls, etc. are only capable of blocking external sources of danger and the actual problem lies within the company itself. 5) PortSecurityManager, which is part of Auconet Network Access Control, can be implemented very quickly. 6) Gives a visual depiction of your network structure in real time. 7) Can be seamlessly integrated with the existing infrastructure.
NF
IT Network Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
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

"Overall, it's a good Network Access Control application and it does a good job by checking both in house, as well as external traffic."
"The access policies, and all of the policies in Cisco ISE, are important to us."
"Cisco ISE's profiling and posturing features ensure that all devices are compliant with regulatory authorities."
"The product has many useful features, enhances compliance and security posture, and provides client provisions and profiling as well as guest access, features not available in other solutions."
"From my assessments so far, however, ISE still wins the show and it's likely that the partner that was doing the deployment originally on behalf of Cisco probably missed out on a number of things."
"SGTs are valuable because they make it easy to enforce policies, instead of pushing them across all the other platforms."
"For device administration, all devices have multifactor authentication in collaboration with IT, so it secures access to all of our devices. For guest and wireless access, it's a matter of a lowly manager who we give access to the portal and he can assign access to the guests, so it's a very simple process now. It keeps the IT focusing on their work, and gives the business people the right access."
"The user experience of the solution is great. It's a very transparent system."
"The core point is that Cisco ISE is the same globally compared to FortiAuthenticator, and whether I deploy in China, the US, South Africa, or wherever, I can get all the capabilities, plus it allows me to directly integrate with 365, which is a good capability from a communications point of view."
 

Cons

"Though officially advertised that it supports network hardware of any vendor, in reality, the lesser known vendors are not well supported and often you have to struggle to fix them."
"Cisco ISE is complex. The deployment and design of networks with it is so complex. If it could change it would be better."
"Cisco ISE integration with Cisco ACI is something that can be done in a less complex way. And the simplification in that area may help us do better."
"The user interface could be improved to make it more user-friendly."
"Also, the menus could have been much simpler. There are many redundant things. That's a problem with all Cisco solutions. There are too many menus and redundant things on all of them."
"It's damn expensive and the licensing is terrible."
"The licensing documentation needs to be better."
"There is much room for improvement, especially after having perused the documentation on the solution's website. The solution lacks properly knowledgeable support, especially internationally, and this is why I am exploring other applications."
"Documentation is probably the worst part of the software."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price is okay."
"If you're not going through an agreement, it's very expensive."
"There are three levels of pricing: basic, plus, and apex. Basic satisfied our needs."
"We are running Version 2.9 because Version 2.9 of the ISE has a persistent license — it's a one-time payment. The latest version (3.1) is only available if you do a yearly subscription."
"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."
"It's damn expensive and the licensing is terrible... If you have perpetual licenses on 2.7 and you upgrade to 3, you are forced to go with Essentials. That is one of the issues that I'm seeing with my clients now."
"This solution requires an annual license and it is a bit expensive than competitors."
"It has a fair price. It is better than it was before."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
 

Questions from the Community

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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

No data available
Cisco ISE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Krone, DHL, Toll Collect, Reise Bank, BASF, T Systems, ING, Saint Martin's University, Euronet Worldwide, Muller, Uniqa
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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, ThreatLocker and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: September 2026.
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