Cisco Duo vs Nok Nok Labs comparison

Cisco and Nok Nok Labs are both solutions in the Authentication Systems category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while Nok Nok Labs is ranked #33. Cisco holds a 4.8% mindshare in AS, compared to Nok Nok Labs’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Nok Nok Labs users who would recommend it.

Cisco Duo

Read 116 Cisco Duo reviews

7,616 Views
4,950 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Nok Nok Labs

Read 1 Nok Nok Labs review

385 Views
373 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Duo

Nok Nok Labs

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Duo and Nok Nok Labs based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Authentication Systems.

To learn more, read our detailed Authentication Systems Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Authentication Systems

March 2026

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Helped 884,933 peers since 2012

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

Cisco Duo

Ranking in Authentication Systems

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

116

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (3rd), Access Management (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (3rd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st)

Nok Nok Labs

Ranking in Authentication Systems

33rd

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 4.8%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nok Nok Labs is 0.9%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	4.8%
Nok Nok Labs	0.9%
Other	94.3%

Authentication Systems

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas

Information Technology Contractor at Insight global

Supports seamless authentication for users across multiple organizations and personal portals

The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter. I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.

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reviewer1217064

Head : Security Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Easy to use, reliable, and offers a straightforward setup

We are customers and end-users. We've dealt with the solution for a long time. We've seen how they developed as a startup, and how they've matured over time. They're actually quite advanced and they are sometimes cutting edge compared to other competitors. I'd recommend the solution. They do things very differently. They're very advanced and they're standards-based. They basically have got a very good vision in terms of how they do strong authentication. Other companies are actually following suit and following what they've done to support standards. They're quite advanced and simple to use, with a good support model. They have the edge compared to other solution providers. In general, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability for users to authenticate via phone, from any random phone number, has been very helpful for managing a distributed workforce. Using it across a distributed network for securing access to our applications is big for us."

"I like the set time that users can log into devices during the day and how many times they can do so. I also like the ability to restrict the regions from which the user can get in. Users outside of our country or even the town cannot log in."

"The winning point for Cisco Duo over others is its simplicity; it is just a security solution in a box, and it integrates very easily."

"Cisco Duo benefits my organization because we do not have too many logins since everything is in one place and we can use Cisco Duo for VPN, applications, and cloud solutions."

"It's easy to use for the security part, and it helps to improve our security posture."

"Cisco Duo benefits my organization by making it easy for me to reach out to customers using Cisco Duo so they can integrate on my platform using their credentials."

"We like the different ways that it allows you to push notifications to people. It can do text, a phone call, and email. We liked the versatility for all of our different end-users, regardless of their level of understanding of the technology."

"The feature of Cisco Duo that I appreciate most is the push notifications."

More Cisco Duo pros

"The technical support is quite good."

Cons

"I evaluate the stability and reliability of the solution as somewhat tricky. Cisco Duo Access Gateway is mostly VM-based, and while I'm not sure whether there is an on-premises hardware-based solution, having this VM-based solution can be buggy."

"I would like to see some features simplified, such as securing, configuring, and implementing Microsoft Remote Desktop. Other than that, the solution was rock solid throughout my time administering it."

"Most of my colleagues from other companies use the Microsoft MFA solution because it's included in Office 365. Few people are considering Cisco Duo. That's the primary problem in our area. It's a solution mostly adopted by Cisco users."

"Its documentation must be in French because we are a French-speaking country. They should also provide more training documentation. Its management interface should also be improved. They should also improve its update period. If I compare its update period with other products such as Palo Alto firewalls, this solution is really slow in updates."

"I think that the dashboard needs to be improved."

"We found it difficult to integrate it into our broader product family of Microsoft tools and other applications used across our organization."

"Cisco Duo can be improved with better ways to set users up. Currently, we might not be doing it perfectly as we're having them email in phone numbers to get them set up with Duo Mobile. I wish there was more of a self-service option than there is currently, at least to my understanding of Duo."

"Duo Security could be improved with the addition of more applications."

More Cisco Duo cons

"There's nothing wrong with the solution that we can see. However, maybe they could improve slightly by incorporating decentralized identity blockchain models into their solution."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing was a lot more than what we were paying for our previous solution."

"Duo Security's pricing is good, fair, and very comparable to today's market."

"My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco Duo has been great. We've been there for 10 years. While we haven't gone through the setup part for a while, licensing is straightforward and convenient for higher education because student populations are included. So, we don't have to pay extra for it. We just pay for our knowledge workers, which has been great, and the cost is reasonable."

"It falls in line with everything else."

"Its price is reasonable. It is not highly expensive."

"I only need the solution for IT staff, which makes it relatively cheap. If I deployed it for the whole company, it would be costly, so it depends on the number of users. Duo Security is affordable compared to other products in the segment."

"Their pricing model is a little bit weird. Currently, there is no price advantage in signing up for yearly contracts. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing costs."

"It's a bit confusing because we're on a three-year plan with a certain number of licenses, and we've gone over that number. They told us that when we renew, they will add all these licenses. We've expanded quickly, so everyone's kind of scared because no one knows what the bill is with the long pricing cycle."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	54

No data available

Questions from the Community

How does Duo Security compare with Microsoft Authenticator?

We switched to Duo Security for identity verification. We’d been using a competitor but got the chance to evaluate Duo for 30 days, and we could not be happier. Duo Security is easy to configure a...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?

I cannot speak to the financial planning of the organization, but I can confirm that Cisco Duo falls within the security budget that has been allocated to us.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Duo Security?

Areas that have room for improvement in Cisco Duo include pricing, as Cisco is quite expensive, and the fact that Cisco Duo relies heavily on external identity providers such as Active Directory or...

See all answers

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Comparisons

Microsoft Entra ID vs Cisco Duo

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Duo

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiToken vs Cisco Duo

Compared 5% of the time

Yubico YubiKey vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

Microsoft Entra ID vs Nok Nok Labs

Compared 66% of the time

Ping Identity Platform vs Nok Nok Labs

Compared 34% of the time

More Nok Nok Labs Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

March 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Authentication Systems

March 2026

Download Nok Nok Labs product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

No data available

Overview

Cisco Duo is a cloud-based identity security platform safeguarding critical resources for any user and device worldwide. Known for its ease of use, Duo offers seamless protection across multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.

Cisco Duo is designed to secure access with identity-first protection and provides extensive visibility throughout an organization's identity ecosystem. Offering multi-factor authentication, Duo facilitates easy integration and management, allowing teams to protect data effectively on VPNs, applications, and networks. Its single-pane management improves security processes while enhancing trust, making it suitable for diverse IT infrastructures.

What are the key features of Cisco Duo?

Multi-factor Authentication: Strengthens user verification with multiple methods.
Push Notifications: Simplifies authentication with quick approvals.
Single Sign-On: Enhances convenience by allowing one set of credentials.
VPN Access: Secures remote connections with reliable authentication.
User Activity Visibility: Offers comprehensive insights into access patterns.

Which benefits and ROI should users consider?

Quick Deployment: Facilitates rapid integration within existing systems.
Effective Management: Streamlines IT operations with centralized control.
Regulatory Compliance: Aids in meeting industry standards for data protection.
Enhanced Trust: Strengthens security posture across networks.
User-friendly Approach: Simplifies authentication for non-technical users.

In industries like education and finance, Cisco Duo is widely employed to secure multi-factor authentication across platforms such as email, databases, and servers. Its integration capabilities with Microsoft 365, Active Directory, and VPNs like AnyConnect are instrumental in verifying user identities using mobile apps or OTPs, catering effectively to both remote and on-premise environments.

Cisco

Nok Nok Labs software solutions enable organizations to deploy simple, secure and scalable FIDO-based authentication across their internal and consumer-facing infrastructure, including mobile and web applications. The Nok Nok solution allows organizations deploying end-user applications to provide superior user engagement, better security and increased privacy, all while lowering development, deployment and support costs.

Nok Nok Labs

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

FIDO Alliance

Buyer's Guide

Authentication Systems

March 2026

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