Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs. Okta

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
Okta
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Okta is an enterprise grade identity management service, built in the cloud. IT can manage access across any application, person or device. Whether the people are employees, partners or customers or whether the applications are in the cloud, on premises or on a mobile device, Okta helps IT become more secure and maintain compliance. The Okta service provides directory services, single sign-on, authentication, provisioning, workflow, and built in reporting. ment systems.
$2
Per User Per Month
Pricing
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Single Sign on
$2.00
Per User Per Month
Multi Factor Authentication
$3.00
Per User Per Month
Single Sign on Adaptive
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Multi Factor Authentication Adaptive
$6.00
Per User Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsBrowse products and price points that make the most sense for your organization on the Okta website.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
Considered Both Products
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

No answer on this topic

Okta
Chose Okta
The Okta Identity Cloud was highly recommended to us by other business partners, so there was not a lot of comparison to other products other than the fact we knew we weren't happy with our existing Cisco Identity Services Engine. From what we've worked with in the past, this …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
Identity Management
Comparison of Identity Management features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
-
Ratings
Okta
8.6
133 Ratings
6% above category average
ID-Management Access Control00 Ratings9.0123 Ratings
ID Management Single-Sign On (SSO)00 Ratings9.0132 Ratings
Multi-Factor Authentication00 Ratings8.6128 Ratings
Password Management00 Ratings8.2123 Ratings
Account Provisioning and De-provisioning00 Ratings8.8111 Ratings
ID Management Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.5104 Ratings
ID Risk Management00 Ratings8.498 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Nmap
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Score 10.0 out of 10
OneLogin by One Identity
OneLogin by One Identity
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Nmap
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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OneLogin by One Identity
Score 9.6 out of 10
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User Ratings
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(91 ratings)
8.7
(175 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(3 ratings)
8.0
(18 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(3 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
8.8
(3 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(6 ratings)
10.0
(12 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.8
(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
6.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)Okta
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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Okta
It has extensive compatibility and rich feature set of integrating with a wide array of core systems and SaaS platforms. Daily I utilize Okta's user-friendly central hub to simplify access the numerous applications we utilize within my company (Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, among many others.)
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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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Okta
  • Centralized control of enterprise passwords
  • Extensive customization of acceptable password criteria
  • One system for Identity and Access Management to learn
  • Scalable throughout the university for all central services
  • Uniform login experience for students, faculty, and staff
  • Single point of response to address termination of access
  • Ability to use FastPass for lower priority systems
  • Excellent support of multi-factor requirements
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Okta
  • I'm not sure it's really a room for improvement thing, but due to the granularity offered by Okta, sometimes it can be challenging to find exactly what you're looking for.
  • There was an instance in which we had issues getting SAML configured for an application. I feel this challenge was mostly user error (on our part) because we didn't realize the SAML instructions were SPECIFIC to each app integration and changed (codes) each time. We attempted to mirror the settings/configurations of an existing app (same app, but different domain). I think having a note somewhere that indicated that the instructions were unique to each integration would have saved us a bit of time. Again, I'm not sure this is really an issue with Okta though, more of a user learning curve thing.
  • Sometimes searching for things is a challenge (without the "Rockstar" add-in). For example, if you have a user group called "Okta_users_everyone", searching for "everyone" will not find it. You have to search for the beginning of the object name (not just any part of it). The ability to search partial or wildcard would greatly enhance search functionality.
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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.
Read full review
Okta
Okta has a passion to provide secure and scalable identity solution. Their passion has come across as advocacy in a way that has deepened my knowledge of the field of authentication. I took identity for granted before but after seeing features such as external authentication I know that Okta can enable my business to reach new heights
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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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Okta
Some of its features are great and some are slightly complex and not easy without vendor support.
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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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Okta
The Okta Identity Cloud advertises 4 9's of reliability and I would go as far to say that it may even do better than that. As a true Global organization that operates in just about every region of the world, we have yet to have an issue with The Okta Identity Cloud that has impacted our business operations.
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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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Okta
From my perspective, for the things that my group uses it for, Okta is very fast. It is as least as fast as the local password database methods that it replaces on our campus enterprise services. I do not believe that it slows anything down at all. In fact, not having to think too much about the login, because they all look the same, probably speeds things up somewhat.
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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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Okta
We've had a few support cases over the years and every case has been handled by the Okta support team beautifully. We received clear answers to questions we had regarding setup and even were provided simple to follow guides on how to setup their product to use with custom applications.
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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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Okta
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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Okta
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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Okta
With respective to user interface and license cost, we thought The Okta Identity Cloud was better than other tools for use. Their customization of license was another reason for us to go with The Okta Identity Cloud over other tools.
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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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Okta
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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Okta
Being a cloud native application, The Okta Identity Cloud is extremely scalable and easy to setup. By integrating into existing directories and applications via standard techniques and protocols, it is very easy to both initially setup and add additional users as required. Once all the necessary integrations are setup, it's a simple rinse and repeat process to onboard additional users (which can be automated with imports as well)
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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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Okta
  • Customer experience has been a big win for us. Extremely minimal issues reported.
  • We did not have a PAM in place at all until The Okta Identity Cloud
  • Relatively easy to deploy. No major downtimes to deploy was a nice bonus.
Read full review
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