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Cisco DNA Center 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Cisco DNA Center enhances efficiency by reducing configuration time, despite licensing costs, with positive but varied ROI evaluations.
Sentiment score
8.4
Cisco Identity Services Engine enhances security and efficiency, providing cost savings and IT consolidation, making it vital for network management.
Although Cisco DNA Center is expensive, we have seen a return on investment in terms of time savings.
Direct comparisons with Forescout reveal up to 30% to 40% difference in cost savings.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Cisco's DNA Center support is praised for responsiveness but criticized for slow responses and challenges with complex issues.
Sentiment score
5.9
Cisco Identity Services Engine customer service is praised for commitment, but technical support feedback varies due to delays and complexities.
Overall, Cisco DNA Center rates eight out of ten as a complete solution.
I rate the technical support as one out of ten.
Sometimes it's challenging to identify which support team is responsible for certain issues, which is a significant concern.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco DNA Center is highly scalable, effectively supports small to large networks, but licensing costs can be high.
Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco ISE excels in scalable environments, efficiently supporting deployments with flexibility for thousands of endpoints across various sizes.
The solution is designed for large enterprise companies.
Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco DNA Center is generally stable, with some users reporting occasional bugs and needed updates affecting stability.
Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco ISE is reliable with high user satisfaction, though some report stability issues, especially during upgrades and high capacity.
The stability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is poor for certain use cases, like authentication.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is considered very reliable and stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco DNA Center needs better integration, user-friendliness, and support, with pricing, scalability, and compatibility issues impacting its effectiveness.
Cisco ISE struggles with setup complexity, non-intuitive UI, integration challenges, upgrade issues, and demands for better features.
The AI-driven insights have contributed significantly to faster troubleshooting and predictive analytics.
The whole setup works well with Cisco access points and Cisco switches, but when you have multiple vendors in the environment, such as HP switches or access points like Aruba, you'll find they will not work well with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).
Pricing can be more expensive compared to other vendors, and there is a significant price gap observed, which doesn't seem justified by some specific features.
Additionally, the product is vulnerable and has many bugs.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco DNA Center is costly, justified for enterprises, challenging for mid-market, with SaaS and promotions occasionally aiding affordability.
Cisco ISE offers strong features with complex, expensive pricing, but discounts through partnerships can help alleviate costs.
Compared to other solutions like HPE ClearPass, Cisco is more costly, and the conversation suggests a possible forty percent price gap compared to competitors.
The license costs can range between $50,000 to $100,000 per year for enterprises.
The cost is about 100 million Ugandan shillings, which converts to approximately $30,000 per year.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco DNA Center provides centralized management, security, AI-driven insights, and automation, enhancing network control and operational efficiency.
Cisco ISE provides comprehensive access control, seamless integration, and enhanced security with intuitive management for versatile network operations.
The most valuable features include AI-driven insights which make troubleshooting much easier.
There is value because it helps us secure the network and prevents certain things from happening which could cause financial loss.
This solution ensures organizations have secure environments and also supports robust policy enforcement, allowing control over who has access to various parts of the network.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is very good at device administration.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (12th), Network Automation (2nd)
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco DNA Center is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 24.0%, down 29.2% compared to last year.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), on the other hand, focuses on Network Access Control (NAC), holds 25.1% mindshare, down 30.7% since last year.
Network Management Applications
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Q&A Highlights

Aymen FHOULA - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 07, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed  Helmy - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience unified visibility and monitoring for enterprise campus and significant time savings and enhanced troubleshooting with reliable support
We have been working with Cisco DNA Center for ten years. Our clients use Cisco DNA Center for unified visibility/monitoring across Enterprise Campus both LAN & WLAN along with Access and fast technical issues troubleshooting The solution provides fast troubleshooting capabilities and fast…
SunilkumarNaganuri - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced device administration hindered by complex deployment and security limitations
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) needs to improve the profiling preauthentication. They are very poor in asset classification and should focus on improving the preauthentication profiling, especially for NAC use cases. This will give them a roadmap for software-defined access (SDA) use cases and network segmentation. Threat detection capabilities are very weak. Additionally, the product is vulnerable and has many bugs.
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Answers from the Community

Aymen FHOULA - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 7, 2023
Jul 7, 2023
Prerequisite: 1) ISE and Cisco DNAC are compatible versions. 2) ISE GUI password matches ISE CLI password. 3) ISE and DNAC should have full privilege Credential. 4) Enable pxGride Service. 5) Enable ERS Read/Write service. 6) ISE and DNA Should be reachable.
See 2 answers
MOHAMEDELSHERIF - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 9, 2023
Hi Anyman 1- first you need to enable pixgrid setting at CIsco ISE at Admin setting. 2- You Need to activate ISE as Radius in DNA Setting tab at the left corner (user name and password is any ISE administrator user ). 3- From Network Hierarchy Tab in DNA Cisco  choose ISE as your AAA server. 4- You need to create STG  group at policy tab to create the proper user grouping. 4-Then go to provision / fabric / switch interface then apply ISE as your authentication profile. Most Importantly you need to ensure that your fabric switch has DNA advantage license
VK
Jul 7, 2023
Prerequisite: 1) ISE and Cisco DNAC are compatible versions. 2) ISE GUI password matches ISE CLI password. 3) ISE and DNAC should have full privilege Credential. 4) Enable pxGride Service. 5) Enable ERS Read/Write service. 6) ISE and DNA Should be reachable.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
The system is working fine for me currently.
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

DNA Center
Cisco ISE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.