Cisco ISE
Cisco Identity Services Engine is a network administration product that enables you to create and enforce security policies for users and devices connecting to your organization's network infrastructure.
Kentik
Kentik is a network observability platform that provides real-time visibility and analytics for complex hybrid, multi-cloud, and internet networks to help you optimize performance and resolve connectivity issues.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Cisco ISE | Kentik |
|---|---|---|
| Website | cisco.com | kentik.com |
| Pricing Model | Custom | Custom |
| Starting Price | Custom Pricing | Custom Pricing |
| FREE Trial | ✓ 90 days free trial | ✓ 30 days free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 1984 | 2014 |
| Headquarters | San Jose, USA | San Francisco, USA |
Overview
Cisco ISE
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) gives you a centralized way to manage security across your entire network. You can see exactly who and what is connecting to your environment, whether they are using a wired, wireless, or VPN connection. By gathering real-time data from users and devices, you can make informed decisions about who gets access to specific resources and under what conditions.
You can automate your network security by creating granular policies that adapt based on the user's role, device type, and location. This helps you stop threats before they spread by automatically isolating suspicious devices. Whether you are managing a corporate office or a distributed workforce, it provides the visibility you need to maintain a zero-trust security posture without slowing down your team.
Kentik
Kentik gives you a unified view of your entire network infrastructure, whether it lives in the data center, the public cloud, or across the internet. You can stop guessing about performance issues and start using real-time traffic data to understand exactly how your applications and users are connecting. It helps you map your entire network topology automatically, so you always have an up-to-date picture of your digital footprint.
You can proactively identify traffic spikes, investigate DDoS attacks, and optimize your routing costs using granular telemetry data. The platform is designed for network engineers and SREs at mid-to-large organizations who manage high-traffic environments. By consolidating flow logs, SNMP, and streaming telemetry into one interface, you can reduce your mean time to resolution and ensure your digital services remain fast and reliable for every customer.
Overview
Cisco ISE Features
- AI Endpoint Analytics Identify and profile every device on your network automatically using AI-driven behavioral modeling to eliminate blind spots.
- Zero Trust Access Enforce software-defined segmentation to ensure you only grant users access to the specific applications they need for work.
- Automated Containment Block or quarantine compromised devices instantly through integrations with your security tools to prevent lateral movement of threats.
- Guest Access Management Create custom web portals for your visitors to provide secure, time-limited internet access without compromising your internal data.
- Compliance Monitoring Check the security posture of every device before it connects to ensure they meet your corporate encryption and antivirus standards.
- Centralized Policy Management Define your security rules once and push them across your entire global network from a single, unified management console.
Kentik Features
- Hybrid Map. Visualize your entire network topology across on-premises, VPCs, and internet paths to instantly spot where connectivity breaks down.
- Synthetics Monitoring. Test your application performance from the perspective of your users with automated probes that identify latency before it impacts customers.
- Cloud Observability. Monitor traffic within and between AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud environments to optimize your multi-cloud spend and performance.
- DDoS Defense. Detect and mitigate volumetric attacks in seconds with automated alerting and integration with leading scrubbing center solutions.
- Traffic Engineering. Analyze your peering relationships and transit costs to find more efficient routes and reduce your monthly bandwidth expenses.
- Query Engine. Run complex queries on billions of network records to get answers about specific traffic patterns in just a few seconds.
Pricing Comparison
Cisco ISE Pricing
Kentik Pricing
Pros & Cons
Cisco ISE
Pros
- Unmatched visibility into every device connected to your network
- Granular policy control for complex enterprise environments
- Seamless integration with the broader Cisco security ecosystem
- Powerful automation for isolating and remediating infected endpoints
- Highly scalable for global organizations with thousands of users
Cons
- Significant learning curve for initial setup and configuration
- Requires substantial hardware resources for on-premise deployments
- Licensing structure can be complex to navigate and manage
Kentik
Pros
- Exceptional speed when querying massive datasets
- Deep visibility into public cloud traffic flows
- Intuitive map interface simplifies complex troubleshooting
- Excellent support from highly technical engineers
- Automated insights reduce manual data analysis
Cons
- Pricing can be high for smaller organizations
- Initial setup requires significant configuration time
- Learning curve for advanced custom query language