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Cisco Duo vs RSA Authentication Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
6.9
Number of Reviews
161
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (5th), Access Management (5th), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st), AI Data Analysis (3rd)
RSA Authentication Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.7%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Authentication Manager is 2.5%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Duo3.7%
RSA Authentication Manager2.5%
Other93.8%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
US
VP Business Development at SDVG
Enhancing security with seamless single sign-on and Microsoft integration
We use RSA Authentication Manager for web applications and internal applications. We have a number of applications connected to it, serving over thirty thousand clients. It is integrated into everything from our standard login to Windows in the morning, as well as our applications Due to its…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Since we onboarded it, since we started using Cisco Duo, we have never had any operational glitch."
"My experience with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been good; it performs very well when logging in."
"I appreciate the features that Cisco Duo offers."
"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."
"The app has greater stability than rival solutions such as Google Authenticator, and Duo Push authentication is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable features of Duo Security are visibility and OTP authentication. The OTP is very important because it is a self-enrollment feature, you are able to enroll users very quickly with a shorter time period."
"Duo has allowed us to add an additional layer of security to our organization and to establish trust for every access request and secures our environment."
"Duo allowed us to greatly enhance our security."
"In 2005 we started with a managed authentication service for three small companies with each having approx. 250 users, and now we have 25 large enterprises/government departments with over 150,000 authenticating users and an uptime of nearly 100% over the last five years."
"It is a good solution for token identification."
"It is a stable solution. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is the SecurID."
"RSA Authentication Manager is the best available solution."
"The product has addressed our remote access security needs while making our work force mobile thus enhancing productivity and customer service initiatives."
"The technical support has been great; their service is perfect."
"It stands out as a comprehensive and adaptable solution that excels in both on-premises and cloud-based authentication, offers strong security with multi-layered authentication, and boasts a well-maintained product with reliable performance."
 

Cons

"End-users find it more annoying than anything else."
"Duo has some issues that we're trying to work through. For example, if I install it on a WordPress site and another admin needs to log in, they can't because Duo hasn't been set up for them. It doesn't appear that I can add permissions on a user-by-user basis. It's not obvious."
"I know that Cisco Duo is pretty expensive; we have affiliates that use the Microsoft product just because Cisco Duo is so expensive, and they don't want to pay for it."
"Cisco Duo is a fully cloud-based solution. It would be beneficial if Cisco provided a fully on-premise solution."
"Duo Security could improve by being more compatible with other vendors."
"Cisco Duo could definitely be improved, particularly regarding some of the reporting it does, as it currently lacks detail; for example, we had an issue where someone was getting prompted multiple times, but the console only detected it that one time."
"My experience with deploying Cisco Duo was a bit rough at first, but after we got it smoothed out, it has worked ever since."
"There is always room for improvement."
"Enhancing the user interface and expanding their marketing efforts in regions like Nigeria and West Africa could be beneficial."
"We are not planning on using the solution in the future."
"RSA Authentication Manager is perfect. We do not see current missing products or enhancements yet emphasize the importance of a continuous development roadmap."
"The price needs to be improved."
"We found technical support was not very responsive to our requests for assistance."
"Our major problem is the authentication via Microsoft, via Microsoft cloud systems. This is our major aim, to be a valued product for the future. The biggest problem is to work against cheap cloud systems. Cloud identification is our main problem at this time."
"We have encountered issue when trying to expand this particular solution for a large set of users across the country."
"The product's capabilities to protect cloud environments need improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Duo Security is free."
"Cisco has the most expensive products because market leaders tend to charge a lot."
"Price wise, it's not cheap, but it's not expensive at all either. It's in the middle."
"The pricing is pretty competitive. It's pretty cheap. Anybody can adopt it."
"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 has a fair pricing model. I know they have different tiers, but it would be nice to have different types of licenses for certain groups of users in our organization. That way, we wouldn't have to lump everybody into one group. That would be also one complaint."
"I haven't seen any information on the pricing in four years, so I can't comment on that."
"As a new customer, the minimum cost would be four dollars, but you have room for negotiation, potentially bringing it down to as low as three dollars."
"The pricing is a little bit complicated because sometimes resellers are able to make prices that are too low. Our price, with a discount, is typically not as high as some of our competitors."
"The solution is costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise79
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cisco Duo indicates that the main setup cost for us has been the time and effort required to integrate Duo with existing applications, auth...
What needs improvement with Duo Security?
Cisco Duo is generally easy to use, but there are a few areas where it could be improved. The initial setup and configuration can require some technical knowledge, especially when integrating Duo w...
What needs improvement with RSA Authentication Manager?
RSA Authentication Manager is perfect. We do not see current missing products or enhancements yet emphasize the importance of a continuous development roadmap.
What is your primary use case for RSA Authentication Manager?
We use RSA Authentication Manager for web applications and internal applications. We have a number of applications connected to it, serving over thirty thousand clients. It is integrated into every...
What advice do you have for others considering RSA Authentication Manager?
RSA Authentication Manager is the best available solution. However, for other companies, it might seem expensive. It's important for RSA to keep developing new features and maintain a robust roadma...
 

Also Known As

Duo Security
ACE/Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Tiera, Fred Loya, BRE Leasing, ADP, BlueFort Security, New Hanover County
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. RSA Authentication Manager and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
916,582 professionals have used our research since 2012.