We performed a comparison between Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) vs Fortinet FortiAuthenticator based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Fortinet FortiAuthenticator has an edge in this comparison because it received higher marks in the ease of deployment and pricing categories, and users are more impressed with its features.
"Stable network administration solution that can be installed easily, and comes with fast technical support."
"They provide you multiple ways to achieve security, not only on-prem, but also when you have remote and guest workers. Especially post-pandemic, a lot of our customers have remote workers. So, it has been really helpful."
"It is scalable because we use a network load balancer at the front of the PSN. It can be extended as we want to multiply. It's scalable to our environment. We have around 8,000 users and we are planning to expand it."
"Authentication is the most valuable feature because it puts our company at another level of security."
"The product is useful for device administration."
"My team has gained a lot from Cisco ISE as it does also provide automation, which is a big asset in the eighth hour. After setting it up, it took a lot of the weight off in many ways. We have a co-worker, who we call the ISE Master because he's in charge of the ISE configurations. He's able to save a lot of time by being able to monitor everything from there. So it did take off a lot of time that we would waste by going individually to that different device and trying to figure out what was wrong."
"The feature that I most like is that it can notify me whenever someone plugs in their device, which is not allowed. I get notifications for new laptop devices. I think the user interface looks good compared to previous versions."
"TACACS and .1X security are the most valuable features. TACACS acts for user control, so no one can authenticate to our network devices, and .1X is to validate that unauthorized devices are plugged into our network."
"The product’s most valuable feature is integration with FortiGate, FortiToken, FortiTalk, and multi-factor authentication."
"This is a scalable product."
"The web feature is quite versatile. It serves as the sole server authenticator and is valuable not only with FortiGate products but also within the entire Forti system, making it highly useful for me."
"It integrates very tightly with the rest of the Fortinet ecosystem."
"FortiAuthenticator is a very good solution. It is all jury-based. FortiAuthenticator is very easy for anyone to understand how it works and be able to take action."
"The solution's most valuable aspect is that it easy to install. The user experience is very good."
"For someone concerned with multifactor authentication, I'm satisfied with the product."
"The initial setup is so easy and there is no problem in the implementation."
"I believe that Cisco can improve the way its policies are built because it's a little complex."
"The UI and UX could be more seamless and easier to use."
"Cisco ISE can become quite complex, especially with policy sets, the entire authentication process, and everything involved."
"Segmentation can be improved."
"In the next release, I would want to see this kind of solution in the cloud as opposed to on prem because when enhancements are made to the software, if it's in the cloud, it's overnight. I mean you're not going to have to respin the servers that the license sits on, it's all microservices kinds of things in the cloud. That would be my recommendation. If I'm a customer, that's what I'm looking at - for cloud based software subscriptions."
"I would like to see integration with other vendors, and the RADIUS integration needs to be improved a little bit."
"There are still some bugs in ISE that need to be worked out."
"I think some areas where ISE could be better are perhaps in the number of integrations that they offer from a virtual standpoint, as well as having a better and more comprehensive pathway for the customer to go from a physical environment to a virtual one."
"We've had some issues with integration."
"We had issues trying to integrate the keys properly during the initial setup."
"The integration with third-party tools must be better."
"The product must provide full support for third-party FIDO security keys."
"The product must provide 2FA for applications."
"I would like to see more security features in reference to identity login or identity identification."
"It can not use SQL to query FortiAnalyzer directly."
"The integration with other products, for example, some SAML authentications, would make it more flexible."
More Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is ranked 1st in Network Access Control (NAC) with 135 reviews while Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is ranked 5th in Single Sign-On (SSO) with 52 reviews. Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is rated 8.2, while Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is rated 8.0. 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". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator writes "A reasonably priced solution that can be scaled toward different functionalities and offers flexible SMS messaging". Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is most compared with Aruba ClearPass, Fortinet FortiNAC, Forescout Platform, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security, whereas Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is most compared with Fortinet FortiToken, Fortinet FortiNAC, Microsoft Entra ID, Cisco Duo and CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.
We monitor all Network Access Control (NAC) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.