Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs. Snort

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) offers a network-based approach for adaptable, trusted access everywhere, based on context. It gives the user intelligent, integrated protection through intent-based policy and compliance solutions.N/A
Snort
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Sourcefire developed Snort, an open source intrusion prevention system capable of real-time traffic analysis and packet logging. Snort was acquired (and is now supported) by Cisco in 2013.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Snort
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Snort
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Snort
Considered Both Products
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Chose Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
I didn't make the selection. My company did.
Snort

No answer on this topic

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User Ratings
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Snort
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(92 ratings)
8.1
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Snort
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
One scenario I already mentioned is authentication integration. So that works well. We haven't run any situation where it is not suited, so we haven't run into that situation. So I am not really sure that would it work or not. But right now, so far so good.
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Cisco
If a colleague was looking to tighten down their network I can easily recommend Snort to them. It gives you some more peace of mind knowing that its always scanning traffic for malicious looking code. Even things your major firewalls and security hardware might miss, Snort has picked up. Its an easy recommendation for me.
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Pros
Cisco
  • The most beneficial thing that I love about it, there are tons of things that I love about ISE and that it does well, but the most fascinating that I feel about is its integration with DNA center or Catalyst Center using PX Grid as the protocol wherein ISE acts as a policy server for the entire campus hand in hand with Catalyst Center to make sure that the policy policy follows the user and also in the background hand in hand with DNA Center or Catalyst Center makes sure microsegmentation is implemented so that east west traffic is blocked and takes care of the campus.
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Cisco
  • IPS detection.
  • DoS detection.
  • Packet logging.
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Cons
Cisco
  • I guess the user experience itself, it's sometimes a little bit slow, but this is also dependent on the platform and the scale of the deployment of course. But actually functionality-wise it's really, really good. But yeah, it could sometimes be a little quicker to react on the good front.
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Cisco
  • At times can be unstable with Cisco bugs, require frequent upgrading.
  • FTD images that are being pushed for ASAs are less efficient from an administration standpoint, no CLI.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
We are so very reliant on Cisco Identity Services Engine at this point that finding another solution would be a big hassle for us.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Usability
Cisco
For us the solution is very easily useable on its own. Perhaps that has to do because we started using ISE in the 1.2 days and have seen it grow during the years. Policy creation, etc. is all very visible and thus easy to use. Deployment of multiple nodes is also incredibly easy and flexible. You can easily add or remove nodes as you wish.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Cisco
We do have to occasionally reboot the servers when they get low on memory, but we're also a few versions behind. Availability has generally been pretty good though with no major outages in the time that we've had it implemented.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Performance
Cisco
yes it does. depending on where you coming from. Logs are pretty busy same as report. it also depending on devices count and design.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
Cisco support is second to none, both in terms of how you access support but also the knowledge of the individual support teams. If you focus on one technology and provide "manufacturer support" then you can rest assured that you are accessing Cisco's top individuals. I feel like this is a USP for Cisco support.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Cisco
Training can only cover certain areas, there are a lot of areas training just can't cover. You have to learn by doing it.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cisco
I did participate in the implementation of Cisco ISE and while there were times when it was confusing and we had a lot of trial and error, overall the experience was fine.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
In our case, the entire core of our network is based on Cisco technologies as well as user access. For this reason it was the simplest choice given that both by integration and by knowledge of the platform it was the solution with the least complexity and the best adoption curve offered us.
At the level of capabilities, they seemed really similar to us, each option having some point where it surpassed the others and others where it was surpassed.
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Cisco
For our organization, the Cisco defense in depth concept works the best. While Cisco can be made to work with other vendors, we have found the best in depth protection by integrating Cisco products for maximum visibility. We had a Barracuda Web Filter, but it was difficult to maintain when you had limited scope on what you could block, so we created a whitelist only setup which required a lot of additional manpower. This wouldn't have covered new threats with DNS spoofing and the like. Sourcefire also integrated with our anti-malware platform (Cisco AMP) for even better visibility on what may be happening on the end users workstation. We are planning on adding in Cisco ISE to complete the approach and possibly stealthwatch to cover our bases in the future. The Palo Alto gear was interesting, but it was priced far out of our range.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Cisco
Cisco ISE was competitively priced and Cisco was able to leverage some of our existing contracts to help ease the purchase.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Cisco
It's fully customised and comprehensive. only thing is you need to know what you want. Proper research and planning would save lots of time and effort .
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Cisco ISE is fairly expensive, but I feel that the time it saves our team is well worth it.
  • We have been able to roll this our to all of our teams, and they can each manage their own device and it is really convenient to have each team mange their own devices
  • Once it is deployed and configured, it seems like there isn't much upkeep, so we don't have to hire someone to manage it we do it by committee.
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Cisco
  • Being open source, ROI on free is hard to beat for something that works.
  • I believe it greatly enhances the security of my network.
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