Elisity Alternatives: 2026 Guide

This guide covers:

• Elisity's identity-based policy engine and how it works
• Seven platforms that approach microsegmentation and network access control differently
• The practical differences between agentless and agent-based enforcement
• A short list of questions that narrows the field fast

How Elisity's Platform Works

Elisity discovers users, workloads, and devices through IdentityGraph. This component pulls identity data from sources like Active Directory, CrowdStrike, and Armis, then correlates it into a single record for each asset. The Dynamic Policy Engine builds and enforces context-aware segmentation policies from that identity data. Elisity runs this model without agents or new hardware: a lightweight container called Virtual Edge sits on existing network switches and syncs policy from a cloud-based Control Center.

Elisity states its platform discovers 99% of users, workloads, and devices within a day of going live. Gartner named Elisity a Cool Vendor in its Cyber-Physical Systems Security 2025 report, published September 18, 2025. A separate component, Elisity Intelligence, analyzes traffic patterns to score risk, recommend policy changes, and flag anomalies for ongoing review.

Elisity targets healthcare systems that secure IoMT devices, manufacturers that converge IT and OT in line with IEC 62443, and enterprise IT teams that pursue Zero Trust maturity.

Elisity Alternatives at a Glance

Each platform below handles device identity, policy enforcement, and rollout differently. Those differences matter more than any single feature on a list.

A closer look at each platform shows where the differences matter most:

• ORDR: Uses agentless, passive monitoring to discover and classify IoT, OT, and IoMT devices, then builds AI-driven segmentation policies that teams can simulate before enforcement.
• Cisco ISE: Uses Security Group Tags instead of relying on IP addresses and VLANs. TrustSec works best in Cisco-heavy environments.
• Forescout: Combines eyeSight for discovery, eyeSegment for policy design, and eyeControl for enforcement, all without agents.
• Illumio: Focuses on data centers, cloud workloads, and endpoints. Each protected asset requires a VEN agent, making it less suited for IoT and OT.
• Akamai Guardicore Segmentation: Supports a broad mix of environments using agents, agentless collectors, and VPC flow logs.
• Portnox CLEAR: Runs as a cloud service with no on-premises appliance and uses certificate-based device authentication.

Agentless vs. Agent-Based: A Closer Look

The enforcement model shapes what a segmentation project looks like in practice. Agent-based platforms such as Illumio install a Virtual Enforcement Node on every server, VM, and container. This provides granular control over workload-to-workload traffic, but it also requires IT teams to deploy, patch, and monitor an agent on each asset. Agentless platforms skip that step and read traffic through existing infrastructure or passive monitoring instead. This gets a project live faster, but it ties enforcement to the switches, firewalls, or NAC systems already in place.

Elisity and ORDR both take the agentless route, though they pull device identity from different sources. Elisity correlates identity metadata from directory services and security tools already running in the environment. ORDR builds a device profile from passive network traffic analysis and deep packet inspection, then validates each segmentation policy in simulation before enforcing it.

Questions to Ask Before You Choose

A short, consistent set of questions narrows the field faster than a long feature checklist:

• Does the platform discover unmanaged IoT, OT, and IoMT devices, or only IT assets that can run an agent?
• Does policy enforcement require new hardware, or does it run on the existing infrastructure?
• How does the platform validate a segmentation policy before it goes live in production?
• Which existing firewalls, NAC systems, and SIEM platforms does the vendor already integrate with?
• Does the segmentation approach work across mixed-vendor network hardware, or does it depend on a single manufacturer's switches?
• How much of the vendor's customer base operates in the same industry and regulatory environment?

Further Reading

These resources cover platform capabilities, asset visibility, and how connected-device security tools compare in more depth:

• The ORDR Platform: Connected Asset Security
• Real-Time Asset Visibility & Management
• AI Protect for Security
• Best IoMT Security Platforms 2026 Rankings
• IoT, OT & Connected Asset Security Glossary

Curious how agentless, simulation-validated segmentation would look on your own network? See it in a live platform walkthrough.