Amazon Cognito vs ForgeRock comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Ping Identity are both solutions in the Access Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0, while Ping Identity is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.6% mindshare in AM, compared to Ping Identity’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 82% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Ping Identity users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

ForgeRock and Amazon Cognito compete in the identity and access management category. ForgeRock has the upper hand in features and flexibility, while Amazon Cognito is favored for its seamless integration with AWS.

Features: ForgeRock provides comprehensive identity management, policy enforcement, and extensive customization. Amazon Cognito offers seamless integration with AWS services, automatic scaling, and user authentication management.

Room for Improvement: ForgeRock could improve documentation, reduce the learning curve, and enhance UI/UX. Amazon Cognito needs better support, more detailed feature documentation, and additional customization options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ForgeRock’s deployment is complex due to extensive customization, but has highly rated customer service. Amazon Cognito is easier to deploy in AWS environments, but its support needs improvement.

Pricing and ROI: ForgeRock has higher setup costs justified by its comprehensive features, providing strong ROI. Amazon Cognito offers lower upfront costs, making it cost-effective within AWS ecosystems, though sometimes lacking advanced features.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Cognito vs. ForgeRock Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Cognito vs. ForgeRock

September 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.1%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon Cognito is 2.6%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ForgeRock is 3.4%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Access Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	3.1%
ForgeRock	3.4%
Amazon Cognito	2.6%
Other	90.9%

Access Management

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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Bibhupada Meher

Staff Software Engineer at Visa

Custom authentication has enabled secure multi-factor logins and unified access across apps

The features or capabilities of Amazon Cognito that I have found the most valuable so far include its seamless operation and the requirement of fewer integrations from the client side. All the features are there, enabling us to create the users, manage the groups, and manage access. Mostly, the access management is very good in Amazon Cognito, I would say. The benefits and positive impacts that Amazon Cognito has had in my experience include the fact that earlier we needed to implement so many things on behalf of the product itself. Now, the go-to-market strategy requires less than a week to complete integrations of the user flow, specifically mentioning that a basic authentication flow could be completed in a week itself. We don't have to care about how we manage the passwords, how we manage groups, and how we manage access management because all those things are there. It's handy, the documentation is very good, and it is easy to integrate. That's the reason I would say that the impact AWS is building on the product is great.

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Shreya Reddy

Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Centralized access control has improved secure onboarding and supports strict compliance

I wish we had used ForgeRock's adaptive risk-based authentication, which allows dynamic adjustment of authentication requirements based on user behavior. This could have helped us further strengthen our security. Another hidden gem is the built-in support for custom authentication modules and scripting, which gives a great deal of flexibility to tailor authentication flows. The self-service capabilities for password resets and account recovery have been very helpful in reducing support overhead and improving user experience. Discovering and utilizing these features would have definitely made our integration even smoother and would have provided additional value for both our users and our security team. One area of improvement would be the user interface for policy and workflow configuration, which can become complex and sometimes unintuitive, especially for new administrators. A more streamlined and user-friendly UI would help reduce the learning curve. Enhanced out-of-the-box analytics and reporting would also be valuable, as our current options often require custom development or integration with external tools. While extensibility is a strength, documentation for advanced customizations and integrations could be more comprehensive and easier to follow. Improved support for seamless upgrades and backward compatibility would also help minimize downtime. In terms of performance, optimizing the platform for high concurrency environments would be beneficial, especially for organizations with large user bases or peak usage periods. Enhanced scalability features such as more granular or horizontal scaling options would provide better support for distributed deployments. For integrations, having more pre-built connectors and easy integration with modern cloud-native services would accelerate adoption. Improved monitoring and real-time health dashboards would help proactively identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.

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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

"Cisco Duo was fairly user-friendly and operated on a set and forget basis."

"Regarding the valuable features, I would say that Duo Security is easy to use, has speed, and is dependable."

"My experience with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been good; it is seamless and easy to integrate, and it is flexible."

"My impression of Cisco's identity intelligence capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks effectively is that it's a great product."

"From an administrative point of view, I find Cisco Duo user-friendly because the console is very easy to use, and when it comes to the Cisco Duo agent installations, the documents are pretty clear."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Duo for us is the multi-factor authentication."

"At the moment, the ease of use is what is the best feature for me. Once it has been set up and the security can hoc to my mobile device, it's very simple to use my single sign-on, get prompted for a Duo Security, push, go to my phone, accept the push, and I'm done. It's a very simple process."

"Cisco Duo benefits the company by increasing the security footprint, and it is easy to manage users, disable users, or bypass if needed in case of an emergency."

More Cisco Duo pros

"The federation is one of the most efficient features as the pricing is competitive."

"The multi-factor authentication setup has room for improvement."

"What is quite valuable is that we can outsource storage of the credentials to AWS, and they manage it quite securely."

"I would recommend Cognito for users who are already AWS customers."

"The features or capabilities of Amazon Cognito that I have found the most valuable so far include its seamless operation and the requirement of fewer integrations from the client side."

"One of the key benefits of this software is its ease of integration with a wide range of applications, including mobile apps and web applications. This simplifies the process of integration, and it can be seamlessly incorporated with Azure, Kubernetes, and other software systems."

"Cognito speeds up our development and saves us time."

"They offer a permission tool to help us manage multi-factor authentication."

More Amazon Cognito pros

"The most valuable features are that it is easy to manage and it's stable."

"ForgeRock provides a complete solution for authentication and authorization, which is excellent."

"The support is good and prompt."

"The solution is very scalable, and we have a lot of users that have been increasing over the years that we have been using it, with approximately 20,000 users."

"Automated provisioning and deprovisioning of users and customers, and integration into our portals for self-service, with lots of customizations possible due to the powerful API."

"The solution integrates well and it is important for them to keep up with the current trends in the market quickly enough, and they have been doing a good job at it."

"We found this solution and we found someone who could create a proof of concept and we decided to change from Solaris IDM to this, as it has the same functionality."

"Almost all the notes which are required for these journeys are out of the box, and if you want to enable biometrics, you can get these notes from ForgeRock marketplace, so most technologies are out of the box or require a minimum configuration."

More ForgeRock pros

Cons

"I believe Cisco Duo needs to be improved on the delay process because there is a delay when we send a Duo Push or when we are signing into any applications."

"Cisco Duo can be improved by including some more pieces as far as pattern analysis."

"The reason I chose a seven rating for Cisco Duo is that, as I mentioned before, it's not cheap, and one of the key features that comes to mind is its dependency on the internet to make Cisco Duo reachable, which can lead to a failure."

"Cisco Duo can be improved, but additional features that should be included in the next release are not my area of responsibility."

"I think improving the user interface would be beneficial."

"I would appreciate seeing Cisco Duo improved with a tighter integration with Active Directory to secure not just Remote Desktop to a server, but all the remote levels of connection that you can make to a server."

"Integration was probably the toughest part for us with Cisco Duo, as with any new product."

"I'd like to see it integrated into other applications. I know there are some integrations, but I haven't been able to explore that any further."

More Cisco Duo cons

"The secure authentication of Amazon Cognito has benefited our company. We were previously using legacy signup systems."

"There is room for improvement in Amazon Cognito."

"Cognito triggers can improve by providing more direct use cases rather than giving a white paper. A white paper is not at all interesting, it has too many details. It would be a benefit to provide a smaller document that is summarized. The smaller version would bring microdata, macro data is not helpful."

"The setup and configuration can be complex, especially for advanced use cases."

"The ease and simplicity of integration could be improved when using this solution. When using Okta, scope is a single endpoint with a parameter as a scope, but in Cognito, for each scope, there is a separate endpoint."

"I would rate its scalability as five out of ten. Moving users between different pools or accounts creates new identities, which means IDs stored in our database must also be changed."

"Amazon Cognito could improve by simplifying the configuration."

"Amazon Cognito’s UI needs improvement while onboarding new users."

More Amazon Cognito cons

"This solution is extensively used, but we are not happy with the performance of the product or the customizations."

"If a customer is looking for an identity management solution, then, I can't recommend it, but if they are asking for an access management product then I can strongly recommend this solution."

"We would like this solution to be developed for use with mobile applications."

"The only problem with ForgeRock is that it is derived from an open-source product, so sometimes it's a bit unstable."

"The identity management model needs a bit of improvement."

"Automatic Deployment needs improvement. it could be made easier."

"It's hard to speak with ForgeRock. It's very expensive."

"The solution requires more simplified customization."

More ForgeRock cons

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."

"I believe the licensing model is excellent as it offers flexibility to our customers, allowing them to adopt a crawl, walk, or run approach."

"You pay per user when using this solution and the pricing is fair."

"I haven't seen any information on the pricing in four years, so I can't comment on that."

"From a reseller perspective, it's still challenging to explain the whole license strategy to a client, so we really have to be ahead of that for all the true forward conversations."

"It is affordable for what's coming to the table with it, but in this day and age, the cost is looked at under a microscope, and companies need to very finely define what is needed versus what is critical. In some cases, it might not be cost-effective for a company to have it. In a lot of other cases, it is the cost of doing business."

"Overall, the pricing is fair. Customers can wrap it into their Enterprise Agreement, making it easier for them to solve their issues."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."

"The price of Amazon Cognito is expensive. We are on an annual subscription."

"We pay $600 monthly per user for licences and there are no other additional costs."

"The price of the solution depends on the number of users using it."

"The pricing is bad so I rate it a two out of ten."

"The pricing of this solution is good compared to other solutions on the market."

"The product is relatively inexpensive compared to other tools."

"The price of Amazon Cognito is low. The pricing model is based on the users."

"The license is purchased annually per user. However, you can negotiate if you are signing for a longer period of time. When comparing this solution to others on the market it is priced fair, it is not at the top of the price range or at the bottom end."

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis, but it also depends on the contract that you have with the vendor. They have multiple types of contracts. There are additional costs to the standard licensing fees. If you need some of the features, you have to pay more."

"It's a bit pricey and could be more competitive."

"ForgeRock is an expensive solution."

"ForgeRock's pricing is more competitive than other products."

"We have multiple clients we are looking at right now. We are at a very small number, however, the idea and the goal is to grow. We are looking at about $100,000 and $50,000 a minimum a month cost. That'd be minimum maybe in a couple of years."

"Its price is comparable to other products in the market."

"The pricing of the solution is fair but I do not have the full details."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

13%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	66
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	93

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	18

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 Du...

See all answers

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

Regarding the pricing, what actually happened was that we got the product purchased through our HQ, so the costing as...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Duo Security?

I do not have a straight answer for how Cisco Duo can be improved at this time. With the implementation that we are g...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Cognito?

I am aware that the pricing of Amazon Cognito is not managed by me directly but is managed by some other teams, speci...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Cognito?

I think Amazon Cognito provides less flexibility to customize at the moment. It is very tightly coupled with its own ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon Cognito?

The usual use cases for Amazon Cognito that I have been working with mostly involve working for TLG Apps for three an...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ForgeRock?

The pricing, setup cost, and licensing are very straightforward, which is a good success. I appreciate that it is ver...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ForgeRock?

There are some areas I want ForgeRock to improve. These areas include policy configuration, documentation clarity, UI...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ForgeRock?

I am using ForgeRock for standard support, policy configurations, and documentation clarity. The pricing, setup cost,...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Entra ID vs Cisco Duo

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Duo

Compared 6% of the time

Okta Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Amazon Cognito

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Amazon Cognito

Compared 11% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Amazon Cognito

Compared 10% of the time

Delinea Fastpath vs Amazon Cognito

Compared 8% of the time

Ping Identity Platform vs Amazon Cognito

Compared 3% of the time

More Amazon Cognito Competitors

SecureAuth Identity Platform vs ForgeRock

Compared 6% of the time

Symantec Identity Governance and Administration vs ForgeRock

Compared 6% of the time

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs ForgeRock

Compared 4% of the time

Ping Identity Platform vs ForgeRock

Compared 4% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs ForgeRock

Compared 4% of the time

More ForgeRock Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

November 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Cognito

November 2026

Download Amazon Cognito product report

Buyer's Guide

ForgeRock

November 2026

Download ForgeRock product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

No data available

ForgeRock Identity Platform, ForgeRock OpenIDM

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

Amazon Cognito provides comprehensive user authentication and access control supporting OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML 2.0. Ideal for seamless integration and efficient user management tasks, enhancing security with features like password and group management.

Amazon Cognito is an efficient tool for managing user authentication and implementing custom workflows. It offers features like token-based authentication and integrates seamlessly with AWS services. With capabilities in user onboarding for mobile applications and social sign-in, it simplifies complex authentication tasks including multi-factor authentication. Users find its pricing competitive, though there are calls for improvement in documentation, interface customization, and setup processes, particularly for international contexts.

What are Amazon Cognito's most important features?

Seamless Operation: Offers smooth integration with AWS services.
Efficient Access Management: Handles password and group management effectively.
Single Sign-On: Facilitates access across multiple applications.
Secure Credential Storage: Protects user credentials with robust security.
User Verification: Provides strong verification options including OTP.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Competitive Pricing: Cost-effective particularly for larger deployments.
User Management Features: Simplifies managing user access and identity.
Integration with AWS Lambda: Enables custom authentication workflows.
Swift Authentication: Ensures quick and seamless user verification processes.

In industries like fintech, Amazon Cognito supports secure user authentication for applications requiring high levels of security, while in e-commerce, it streamlines user sign-in and onboarding processes, enhancing the customer experience by providing faster access and maintaining data integrity.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

ForgeRock offers robust integration, customization, and identity management with support for SAML, OAuth 2.0, and DevOps readiness, ensuring enhanced security and scalability.

ForgeRock stands out in identity and access management featuring flexible authentication flows, risk-based authentication, centralized policy management, and comprehensive data protection. Its open-source foundation and cloud capabilities allow versatility and ease of use. While it provides excellent user path orchestration through the Journey feature, challenges exist in integration support and user-friendly customization. Improved documentation and streamlined interfaces are necessary to overcome deployment complexities. Additionally, the cost and support model may be burdensome for smaller organizations.

What are the key features?

Flexible Authentication Flows: Personalizes user login experiences.
Risk-Based Authentication: Adjusts security measures based on user behavior.
Identity Management: Manages digital identities efficiently.
Policy Configuration: Automates access control policies.
DevOps Readiness: Integrates seamlessly with DevOps workflows.

What benefits should users expect?

Enhanced Security: Protects data and user identities.
Scalability: Supports growing business needs.
Developer-Friendly: Simplifies deployment and management processes.
Centralized Management: Streamlines access control and policy enforcement.
Versatile Cloud Offerings: Facilitates deployment across cloud environments.

ForgeRock is widely utilized in industries like telecommunications, insurance, and open banking for secure user authentication and access management. It supports microservice authentications, customer identity management, single sign-on, and multi-factor authentication, integrating effectively with existing infrastructures to enhance security and user experience.

Ping Identity

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Geico, Thomson Reuters, Salesforce, McKesson, Trinet, SKY, BNP Paribas, Deloitte, Capgemini, North Western University

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Cognito vs. ForgeRock

September 2026

Free Report: Amazon Cognito vs. ForgeRock

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Cognito vs. ForgeRock and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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