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Auconet Network Access Control 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

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 August 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 24.9% 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
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

"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."
"In terms of scalability, I think it's scalable, quite scalable and very intricate, easy to use and provides good support."
"It gives us a better way to authenticate users."
"ISE helps us protect our industrial control systems and SCADA systems by segmenting them off from the rest of the network, eliminating trust, and making our government and law-enforcement-related audits go a lot faster and a lot smoother than they used to."
"The most valuable features of this solution are guest authentication and stop authentication."
"With NAC, the profiling feature is valuable. We're able to see what we have out there in the network and dynamically assign policies to it. We can then use that to enforce TrustSec policy or anything else with NAC."
"It does a good job of establishing trust for each access request, no matter the source, and it's also very effective at helping with the distributed network and at securing access."
"Assisting a larger number of users in gaining access and guiding them through the process of getting on Cisco ISE has been seamless."
"The feature that I most like is that it can notify me whenever someone plugs in their device, which is not allowed. I get notifications for new laptop devices. I think the user interface looks good compared to previous versions."
 

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."
"Migration could be better. Right now, we back up with the new version, and it requires a lot of licensing and other things."
"The customer server was great but it would have been better for me if they had support in other languages such as Spanish."
"I'd like to see an easier way to upgrade to larger versions, as well as more best practices that are easier to locate on their support page."
"Their technical support isn't good."
"One of the issues that we used to have was with profiling because we're working with a service provider that uses a lot of bring your own devices."
"The support could be faster and the pricing could be reduced."
"We face many bugs."
"The UI is not as intuitive as some other products, even products inside of Cisco's wheelhouse."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is good. The last time we purchased four new appliances the price was doable for any organization of our size."
"Standard licensing gives backup access and very few features, and then there's VM licensing - each VM we use needs to be licensed."
"In general, licensing can be quite complex with Cisco products. It would be nice if it was a bit more intuitive and had fewer "gotchas" in there."
"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'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."
"The pricing is fair for what it does."
"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."
"The technology is good, but to use some of the other features, and capabilities, they request that we purchase the Cisco DNA Center. As a result, the bundled price is a little high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Government
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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Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
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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

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, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: July 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.