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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Ruckus Cloudpath comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

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...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
142
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Ruckus Cloudpath
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 26.3%, down from 31.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Cloudpath is 1.9%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Xander Janse Van Rensburg - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps to onboard corporate users based on certificate-based authentication
The tool's most valuable features include the phenomenal functionality of DPSK. The ease of use, particularly when it is correctly set up, is remarkably simple. Tracking users is straightforward and dynamic. This allows us to identify where a user might encounter issues within the process. Its most valuable feature is CA certification. You cannot get access without this. The tool's device policy enforcement feature has had a positive impact on customer network security. Customers are now more at ease, knowing that their employees connect to a secure network, and unauthorized individuals cannot easily access the corporate network. Overall, it has positively influenced their security measures. The user experience when connecting to networks via Ruckus Cloudpath is seamless. I would highly recommend it to anyone in need of an onboarding system for multiple users. Whether you want to move away from the standard connection, Active Directory, or even free keys, it is a reliable choice. Additionally, the product's licensing is user-based, not device-based. This means that regardless of the number of devices, the licensing is per-user.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Easy to use and provides good support"
"Not having to trust devices and being able to set those levels of trust and more finely control our network is a benefit."
"The endpoint profiling feature is among the most valuable because it keeps me from having to manually maintain a MAC address bypass list to track endpoints. I can have ISE profile them for me and then put them in the right bucket."
"From a configuration point of view, it's simple."
"Our clients like Cisco ISE because they already use various Cisco solutions. It's easy for them to use this solution because they have an engineer with Cisco certifications."
"Cisco offers automation, visibility, and control as well as third party integration capabilities."
"It's keeping our company safe from rogue devices connecting to our network. From a security standpoint, there's peace of mind knowing that every device that connects is a good one."
"When you push out the policy, it is able to populate the entire network at one time."
"The tool's most valuable features include the phenomenal functionality of DPSK. The ease of use, particularly when it is correctly set up, is remarkably simple. Tracking users is straightforward and dynamic. This allows us to identify where a user might encounter issues within the process."
"The wireless devices are used to control access, transmit messages, and integrate with the main system."
"The solution has good features for authentication, policies, and allowing users to self-provision devices for network access via their logins."
"I have found it easy to use with no significant issues once the small initial problems were resolved."
"The ease of use is great, and the automation wizards can do a lot."
"Ruckus technical support is very good and helpful whenever we need them."
"Ruckus Cloudpath is very stable."
"Ruckus Cloudpath is effective for network security since it points out errors, especially when working with APIs."
 

Cons

"The admin interface is really slow. It's horrible."
"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."
"They could incorporate some AI features."
"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."
"The initial setup was a little bit complex. It's not that simple because it requires a lot of prerequisites for the solution to get a hold on."
"There is room for improvement in CLI. Most things are done through the GUI, and there aren't many commands or troubleshooting options available compared to other Cisco products like switches and routers."
"Segmentation can be improved."
"An issue with the product is it tends to have a lot of bugs whenever they release a new release."
"There is room for improvement in deployment."
"I believe the solution is missing some great features which are present in other solutions like Aruba, UiPath, and Cisco ISE."
"The scalability could be better."
"The solution could improve by adding more detailed information that customers have available on the dashboards."
"There is room for improvement in deployment. I would like to see more effort put into troubleshooting."
"The setup process is a bit complex."
"The tool needs to support multi-vendor environments. Currently, my experience with it has been primarily within Ruckus environments. However, I haven't explored it for multi-vendor scenarios. It would be great to see newer builds that are multi-vendor capable of full integration."
"The hardest part we've had to deal with is trying to find some physical product recently as everything is going like hotcakes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is complicated."
"It is difficult to measure security breaches, but since we have not been attacked so far, it has paid for itself over the years."
"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"
"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."
"The Essentials licensing is reasonable, but I would like the Premier version to be perpetual instead of a subscription."
"Standard licensing gives backup access and very few features, and then there's VM licensing - each VM we use needs to be licensed."
"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."
"It costs around 50,000 baht in the first year, but I'm unsure about the second year."
"I would rate the tool's pricing as a seven on a scale of one to ten. Compared to others, it's not overly expensive, but it does come with a cost. Since it's a licensed-based product, it can become expensive, especially if there is a need for additional licenses."
"The pricing is a little bit high."
"The cost was somewhere around $700 for the access points, however, there was a discount."
"The licensing of the solution is user-based and the price is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 ...
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...
What do you like most about Ruckus Cloudpath?
The tool's most valuable features include the phenomenal functionality of DPSK. The ease of use, particularly when it is correctly set up, is remarkably simple. Tracking users is straightforward an...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ruckus Cloudpath?
Ruckus Cloudpath is a bit above medium in terms of pricing. On a scale of one to ten, I rate it a seven.
What needs improvement with Ruckus Cloudpath?
There is room for improvement in deployment. I would like to see more effort put into troubleshooting.
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs. Ruckus Cloudpath and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.