No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Auconet Network Access Control vs Portnox comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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)
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Portnox
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (7th), Passwordless Authentication (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Auconet Network Access Control is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portnox is 8.1%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Portnox8.1%
Auconet Network Access Control1.0%
Other90.9%
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.
Maurice Mwaura - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited
Unified access control has improved compliance visibility and simplified passwordless access
There is work to be done when it comes to making the solution more seamless. For example, when a user is denied access, they would need a way to maybe self-resolve themselves, perhaps a way to generate a ticket on their own, something around resolutions. When it comes to users using the product, that is where good products are differentiated from products that are a bit of a challenge. Portnox has much to do in terms of their reporting. The generated reports need improvement. Things that other tools would say are normal are usually not present. For example, there is a page called NAS devices or NAS network that is able to show the switches that have been managed. Currently, there is no way of generating an easy report or an easy way of just generating something to tell the customer what they have been able to achieve so far. This is not done yet and is still very manual. I think there is work to be done there. More integrations around the various products being used would be beneficial. So far I have not encountered any major challenge. Where there was a challenge, I think support came in and helped us resolve. In fact, most of the challenges are not with the product; they are with the customer environment. I think that is just to update their documentation where they have come across a new vendor for easier integrations in the future.

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 ability of the product to search the entire network and know what you have hidden on your network."
"The Vidahost feature is currently in action, and it appears to be providing valuable data insights."
"CLEAR is one of the best of its kind on the market with respect to compatibility."
"The visibility of the product is excellent."
"Portnox is a winner for me compared to other vendors, especially other NAC vendors, in terms of pricing."
"We are very satisfied with this solution; we like it because it is agentless."
"The minute people have issues on their network, we can see what is happening right away."
"Most customers feel value immediately upon deployment; they are able to see what is connected and apply the policies."
 

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."
"It would be good to integrate Portnox CORE with CLEAR."
"While Portnox is solid, there is definitely room for improvement, particularly with the user interface."
"Regarding improvements, maybe in terms of integration, they could look into something the guest captive portal features."
"As there are no agents in Portnox Clear, the customers of the product cannot download any agents on their devices, making them unsure if the product offers proper security."
"Their filtering system tends to lag quite a bit, so when I'm doing filtering at times, it doesn't filter the items properly."
"Portnox has design considerations that limit its applicability."
"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."
"One of the things for the on-premise is that sometimes you click on it and it takes a while for it to respond."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is very expensive and I would rate it 10 out of 10."
"The users are not very happy with the new licensing option where there is only a subscription license. There is no perpetual license."
"It's not cheap. It's not expensive. It's in the middle."
"Portnox CORE's pricing is adequate and cheaper compared to other complex solutions. Its licensing costs are yearly and include support. Cost is calculated per device."
"The vendor price is fair."
"The licensing module should be reviewed to count the number of devices instead of port numbers of total switches. There is a case for this where not all ports for a switch are used by devices. Unused ports are calculated in the license, then the customer pays for license for those unused ports."
"It is not bad. 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. We do have RADIUS servers for the US, Asia, and Europe."
"The cost of Portnox Clear is reasonable."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Access Control (NAC) solutions are best for your needs.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Healthcare Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox Clear?
The pricing and setup cost as well as licensing is a bit high compared to the competition. If it were better, we could also have some pricing specific or special discounts to cater for SMBs.
What needs improvement with Portnox Clear?
If the MSSP offering could be the primary push or primary concern, it would be the best thing that could happen. Based on the Tanzanian market, AI governance is something that is coming through. Fo...
What is your primary use case for Portnox Clear?
Portnox is for the network access control use case. The use case focuses on wired network access, specifically how users are connecting to the network and how we are checking their security posture...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Krone, DHL, Toll Collect, Reise Bank, BASF, T Systems, ING, Saint Martin's University, Euronet Worldwide, Muller, Uniqa
Sallie Mae, Roku, Vuori, Legal Zoom, Anaplan, Aecon, H.I.G. Capital, McLaren Construction Group, PFCU, UK Mortgage Lending Limited, CCC Intelligent Solutions
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, Portnox Security and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.