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Auconet Network Access Control vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) comparison

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Executive Summary

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

Auconet Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Auconet Network Access Control is 1.0%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 18.5%, down from 24.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)18.5%
Auconet Network Access Control1.0%
Other80.5%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1194 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Infrastructure at a tech company with 51-200 employees
A very good Network Access Control application with emphasis on MAC layer authentication
1) Auconet provides comprehensive control mechanisms for securing networks of any size. 2) Can support network devices of any make. 3) Provides MAC layer (layer 2) authentication of all network hardware, which has higher security, compared to other NAC tools. 4) It works on the basic assumption that VPN, Firewalls, etc. are only capable of blocking external sources of danger and the actual problem lies within the company itself. 5) PortSecurityManager, which is part of Auconet Network Access Control, can be implemented very quickly. 6) Gives a visual depiction of your network structure in real time. 7) Can be seamlessly integrated with the existing infrastructure.
SunilkumarNaganuri - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Line Manager (Service Operations Expert) - Network Access Control at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, it's a good Network Access Control application and it does a good job by checking both in house, as well as external traffic."
"The authorization and accounts inside of ISE are very useful for us."
"Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is very good at device administration."
"There is good integration with third-party systems like antivirus patch management, MDM."
"Easy to use and provides good support"
"Typically, the installation is pretty simple."
"For me, the TACACS feature is the most valuable. I have also used Cisco ISE with LDAP, not with Active Directory. That works for me because I prefer LDAP versus Active Directory."
"The management part is much smoother, and it takes care of all the costs across branded devices as well, so that it is a single panel where we can manage all the end-to-end entry devices as well."
"We are very happy with the solution and we have no problem using Cisco ISE solutions."
 

Cons

"Though officially advertised that it supports network hardware of any vendor, in reality, the lesser known vendors are not well supported and often you have to struggle to fix them."
"Sometimes, there are instances when Cisco ISE simply fails to function without any apparent reason, and regardless of the investigation we undertake, the logs indicate that everything is functioning properly, making it somewhat inexplicable."
"They could incorporate some AI features."
"One of the main issues in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is that it lags excessively."
"It does a good job of establishing trust for every access request. We have had a little bit of a challenge with profiling, but we are probably about 80% there."
"I have complaints. I don't enjoy the licensing model."
"The one main thing that it can improve on is the GUI. As the newest addition to the team, I struggle a little bit to get around it just because it has so many features."
"The opinion of my coworkers, and it's mine as well, is that the user interface could use some tender loving care. It seems counterintuitive sometimes. If you go to the logs, it's hard to figure out which one you need to look at."
"There are issues with respect to the posture assessment function. It's been observed that customers are not receiving total access to the network because the assessment agent is glitchy and malfunctions from time-to-time. I would like to see refining of the compliance assessment and adding more detailed compliance of endpoints on the user end."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The recent changes in the licensing model have caused some issues with the team."
"I get very good pricing from Cisco, so I don't have a problem with that. I also don't have a problem with licensing because we get enterprise or global licensing."
"The price for Cisco ISE itself is very low, however, Cisco professional services are quite expensive. Subscription amount is dependent on number of users."
"Cisco is expensive, but it's the cost for all the functions and value it brings. Functions like internet solutions, integrations, security, and many more features are important, but it's expensive for some clients."
"The price for Cisco ISE is high."
"Hardware appliances are expensive...Now moving to DNA-styled licensing, we have subscription-based licensing for everything. I hope it will continue to be fair, but we will have to wait and see."
"Cybersecurity resilience has been very important to our organization and has been a big factor. We've had issues in the past, but one of the things I like about ISE is its logging features. Security wise or information wise, it really has been a powerful tool."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
 

Questions from the Community

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Also Known As

No data available
Cisco ISE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Krone, DHL, Toll Collect, Reise Bank, BASF, T Systems, ING, Saint Martin's University, Euronet Worldwide, Muller, Uniqa
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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, ThreatLocker and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: September 2026.
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