We performed a comparison between Aruba ClearPass and Cisco ISE (Identity Service Engine) based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Although Cisco is a worldwide, well-known, trusted, and respected branded product, with many known complexities, Aruba ClearPass is flexible, versatile, and more user-friendly than Cisco. Aruba’s aggressive stance on keeping hackers out with strict authentication policies and its cost-effective business model and excellent technical service make it a NAC solution to consider seriously.
"The setup is simple."
"If you are looking at the base installation, then it was a very straightforward process, which I would rate an eight or nine out of ten."
"The interface is very easy to use and the workflow is quite straightforward."
"We find that at the end of the projects we manage, all functionalities perform quite well. We've tested it a lot and find it to be overall a very good solution."
"Its clustering model saved us staff time and reduced errors by eliminating the need to manage individual RADIUS servers."
"Aruba is a highly scalable product. It just works. We have no issues with scalability."
"Aruba ClearPass is a simple solution for customers to see what is happening on their network."
"The most valuable feature is flexibility as it supports solutions from multiple vendors."
"Cisco offers automation, visibility, and control as well as third party integration capabilities."
"The WiFi portal in Cisco ISE is very useful for WiFi customers."
"Being able to authenticate wired users through 802.1X is valuable as it enhances our security."
"We found all the features of the product to be valuable."
"The most valuable feature is the provisioning of the device so as to ensure that they are compliant with the security policy that we need to have."
"I like the automation of the collection of information."
"The most important feature for us is visibility in terms of user connections. It's the ability to see what devices are online for a particular user that helps a lot with our troubleshooting."
"Among the most valuable features is TACACS."
"The technical support has some room for improvement. It takes them a long time to respond sometimes. I rate Aruba support six out of 10."
"Aruba needs to improve and the processes must be clear."
"Aruba ClearPass could improve the user interface, it is a bit chunky."
"Because some users use OS 10, it would be good if the solution could group its functions better."
"TLS authentication onboarding in Aruba ClearPass needs to be improved. The biggest problem we've seen in our environment is Huawei not being able to get onto Google Play. No Huawei device can be onboarded via Aruba ClearPass easily."
"ClearPass' GUI could be more user-friendly."
"The solution should be more precise for VMs and allow for management of the entire system."
"ClearPass' interface could be more user-friendly."
"The installation is not straightforward, it took us approximately one month."
"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."
"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."
"We do tend to run into a lot of issues with ISE when it comes to bugs."
"Some of ISE's features need to be more agile. For example, we couldn't integrate our data because Cisco needs your data to be in its own format."
"Sometimes some of Cisco ISE's graphical interfaces could be a little bit smoother. However, with the different versions, the product is getting better and better."
"There should be more visibility into TrustSec policy actions. When TrustSec blocks something or makes any kind of changes to the network, we don't always see that. We have to log into the switch itself, or we have to get some type of Syslog parsing to do that."
"Cisco ISE is very complex and not very easy to deploy."
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Aruba ClearPass is ranked 2nd in Network Access Control (NAC) with 75 reviews while Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is ranked 1st in Network Access Control (NAC) with 138 reviews. Aruba ClearPass is rated 8.6, while Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Aruba ClearPass writes "Easy to use, multifeatured, and reliable policy management platform for identity authentication and new device onboarding". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) writes "Gives us that extra ability to assist the end user and make sure that we are making them happy". Aruba ClearPass is most compared with Fortinet FortiNAC, Forescout Platform, Microsoft Intune, Ruckus Cloudpath and macmon Network Access Control, whereas Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is most compared with Fortinet FortiNAC, Forescout Platform, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, Fortinet FortiAuthenticator and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security. See our Aruba ClearPass vs. Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) report.
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