Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle comparison

The compared Cisco and RSA solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #2 in NAC , with an average rating of 7.6, and holds a 21.7% mindshare in the category. RSA is ranked #20 in IAM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of RSA users who would recommend it.

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

Read 144 Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) reviews

15,070 Views
9,796 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

RSA Identity Governance and...

Read 10 RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle reviews

1,016 Views
732 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

RSA Identity Governance and...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC).

To learn more, read our detailed Network Access Control (NAC) Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Network Access Control (NAC)

February 2026

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Helped 884,873 peers since 2012

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

Cisco Identity Services Eng...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

144

Ranking in other categories

Network Access Control (NAC) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)

RSA Identity Governance and...

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Identity Management (IM) (20th)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is designed for Network Access Control (NAC) and holds a mindshare of 21.7%, down 27.1% compared to last year.
RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Management (IM), holds 1.2% mindshare, down 1.3% since last year.

Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)	21.7%
Aruba ClearPass	20.8%
Fortinet FortiNAC	15.0%
Other	42.5%

Network Access Control (NAC)

Identity Management (IM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle	1.2%
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud	12.2%
Microsoft Entra ID	8.8%
Other	77.8%

Identity Management (IM)

Featured Reviews

NicolasFigaro

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.

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Harshul Nayak

Senior Project Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Streamline identity lifecycle management with intuitive interfaces and robust policy features

The functions of RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle, especially the IGA, are quite strong with their custom forms and workflows integrated. The user interface is very friendly and easy to use, making it a good product overall. However, it still has to be on-premise and the cloud version is not easily accessible, as dedicated instances are required and machines cannot be shared as multi-tenant for various customers. The advanced policy features of RSA definitely help in defining certain policies such as segregation of duties. That's particularly useful along with creating different access reviews. Regarding access control in simplifying access management, RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle has strong foundations of groups and roles, which help in defining all policies very easily. This makes it very easy to integrate with other access management tools or privileged access management tools.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Since migrating towards doing wired ports over ISE with 802.1X and MAB authentication, our organization's security risk has been better. We have been able to establish better layouts, so devices can move and we don't have to worry about where they need to go."

"It has allowed us to pull in multiple authentication databases, then centralize them into a captive portal system."

"It does what it's supposed to. We use a certificate-based authentication method for corporate-managed devices. That means when a user walks in with their managed laptop and plugs it into the network, it chats with Cisco ISE in the background, allows it on the network, and away they go."

"Cisco ISE integrates with everything else."

"The most valuable feature is the integration with StealthWatch and DNA as one fabric."

"The feature that I found most valuable is profiling. We use that to profile certain types of devices, and then depending on the manufacturer, drop them into the appropriate VLAN without us having to go in and manually add the devices."

"The solution enables us to do everything from one interface."

"I have found that all of the features are valuable. It is very easy to deploy because we are able to port users directly from Active Directory (AD) and LDAP."

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pros

"Roles, connectors for provisioning and re-accreditation or reviews help greatly to govern user access."

"Soft and hard tokens for two factor authentication has been introduced."

"Customer service was always exceptional and if we needed to call the regular customer support number for administrative tasks on the account, they were always helpful and resolved our cases within a few days."

"The user interface is very friendly and easy to use, making it a good product overall."

"Never - one thing I can say about RSA is that the boxes are stable and solid."

"The data collection is excellent and easy to do. It does not require a lot of configuration nor does it require rules to be written like other competitors do."

"It improved security."

"The most valuable feature is the security, in particular, the One Time Password support."

More RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle pros

Cons

"We are waiting for TACACS integration to completely replace the Cisco ACS line of products."

"Cisco ISE can become quite complex, especially with policy sets, the entire authentication process, and everything involved."

"The solution can lag somewhat as we have a large database."

"I would rate this solution a 7.5 out of ten. To make it a ten they should have more people on tech support. They need to invest more in the product. It's a good product. They should just work on tech support. More support for the customer. It's not that easy to get somebody to understand this product. I have had some issues with tech before for the solution. One of them brought the solution down due to some of his activity. They need to hugely invest in their tech support."

"They could incorporate some AI features."

"An area that could be improved is the agent. The challenge now is that agent and most of the computers have changed. They could think about agent-less deployment."

"If you have someone taking care of it, it can be quite easy to manage the solution. Otherwise, if you don't look after it and take care of it day-to-day, then it will become more complex to run."

"The admin interface is really slow. It's horrible."

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) cons

"There are scalability issues. This product does not scale very well. It is not a good product for load balancing / active–active architecture."

"The user interface and workflow need improvement, and more connectors would help."

"Every connector that you have in the product needs to be custom-built, so there are not a lot of standard connectors available in the product, because of which there are a lot of hidden consultancy costs."

"This product is missing a lot of features which other competitors are providing. One of the key features that are missing right now is risk scoring. Additionally, there is not much scope for customization - everything is hard-coded and predefined, so it does not allow the developers to make many modifications."

"It could be a little more flexible with the installation of the product."

"If you use the appliance version then it won't handle a huge database volume."

"It was expensive initially, but day to day costs are minimal."

"Application and appliance stability needs improvement."

More RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"That's where things got a bit more complicated. Previously, it was a one-time purchase and we just had to renew support. These days, there's a subscription model, which is supposed to be easier and cheaper as well, but it's more pricey"

"In terms of the licensing and the pricing structure of the Cisco Identity Services Engine, there's been a huge advantage to our clients recently with the advent of the enterprise agreement."

"For the Avast virus scan, we pay around USD $95 per machine for five years which includes all updates and technical support."

"The pricing is complicated."

"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."

"Previously, Cisco ISE had a perpetual licensing model, but now they have shifted to a subscription-based licensing system."

"Cisco ISE is not inexpensive, but the solution is well-built and worth the expense."

"I don't know too much about the actual pricing on it. The licensing part is pretty straightforward. It's a lot more simple than some of the other Cisco licensing models. In that aspect, it's great."

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pricing and cost advice

"Pricing varies based on user count/number of modules you need."

"We are using the cloud platform, but we don't find it compatible to be served as a multi-tenant platform. This is a large drawback. It becomes expensive because it is then an all-dedicated solution. You have to have a separate tenant for each client, which increases the cost. The overall unit pricing can be less expensive than how it is right now."

"I rate the product's price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Comms Service Provider

13%

Computer Software Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	45
Midsize Enterprise	32
Large Enterprise	91

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

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 ...

See all answers

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, ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle?

There is room for improvement with RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle. As the size becomes larger, the collections and unifications of the IDs process become quite slow, which can be improved fu...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle?

We provide RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle as a service, mainly to oversee the digital identity lifecycle, from the initiation to the off-boarding at the end of that digital identity. Our cli...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle?

Overall, I would rate RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle at an eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba ClearPass vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 26% of the time

Fortinet FortiNAC vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 17% of the time

Forescout Platform vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 7% of the time

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 3% of the time

Portnox vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Competitors

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle

Compared 38% of the time

One Identity Manager vs RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle

Compared 13% of the time

Saviynt Identity Cloud vs RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle

Compared 7% of the time

Symantec Identity Governance and Administration vs RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle

Compared 7% of the time

SAP Identity Management vs RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle

Compared 4% of the time

More RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

March 2026

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) report

Download Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) product report

Buyer's Guide

RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle

March 2026

RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle report

Download RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle product report

Also Known As

Cisco ISE

SecurID

Overview

Cisco Identity Services Engine offers robust authentication, posture profiling, guest and secure access, and dynamic policy management. Known for its seamless integration with Cisco tools and network access control features, it ensures secure device and user authentication across networks.

Cisco Identity Services Engine is renowned for its capabilities in managing authentication, guest access, and policy management through segmentation. Its TrustSec functionality, alongside RADIUS and TACACS+ support, provides enhanced security, further augmented by its ability to operate in diverse environments. Its scalability and integration with Cisco solutions aid in maintaining network visibility and access control. Challenges include the complexity of initial deployments, somewhat cumbersome documentation, and limited integration in multi-vendor environments. While encountering issues in stability and updates, the demand for better analytics and straightforward troubleshooting alongside cost-effective licensing is notable.

What are the key features of Cisco Identity Services Engine?

Authentication: Secures user and device access to networks using robust authentication protocols.
Posture Profiling: Provides in-depth analysis of device compliance with security policies.
Guest Access Management: Allows controlled network access for guest users through streamlined processes.
Dynamic Policy Management: Enables automatic adjustment of security policies based on real-time data.
Segmentation via TrustSec: Enhances security levels by segmenting network traffic based on identity.

What benefits or ROI should users expect from Cisco Identity Services Engine?

Comprehensive Security: Ensures enforceable security policies across network access points.
Enhanced Integration: Facilitates seamless collaboration with existing Cisco infrastructures.
Improved Compliance: Helps meet industry security standards for network access and user rights.
Increased Visibility: Provides detailed insights into network traffic and user activities.
Device Management Efficiency: Streamlines the process of managing diverse devices within a single framework.

Industries implement Cisco Identity Services Engine primarily for network access control, ensuring secure authentication and segmentation in both wired and wireless environments. Supporting policies like bring-your-own-device and compliance standards, ISE manages identity-based access control, especially beneficial for entities that require detailed user rights management and integration within enterprise networks.

Cisco

RSA SecurID provides world-leading two-factor authentication, protecting 25,000 organizations and 55 million users. RSA SecurID extends security to bring your own device (BYOD), cloud, and mobile as well as traditional virtual private network (VPN) and web portals. RSA SecurID solutions comprise three primary components: authenticator, platform, and agents.

RSA

Sample Customers

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

NTT Com Asia, Virgin Blue, Bank of Uganda, EMEA Telecommunications Company, LAit (Lazio Innovazione Tecnologica), NyNet, OTP Bank, Red Bull Racing, Rupert House School, Signify, UK Local Authority, Bancolombia, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (BPPR), TIVIT, Array Services, International Computerware, KPMG LLP, Moffitt Cancer Center

Buyer's Guide

Network Access Control (NAC)

February 2026

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