Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Cisco Duo comparison

Cato Networks and Cisco are both solutions in the ZTNA as a Service category. Cato Networks is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.0, while Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8. Cato Networks holds a 11.1% mindshare in ZaaS, compared to Cisco’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cato Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

We compared Duo Security and Cato Networks across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

Ease of Deployment: Users found Duo Security's setup to be simple and fast, with no major problems. Similarly, the setup for Cato Networks was also efficient, but in some cases, it took longer due to the need to manage remote sites and schedule deployments.

Room for Improvement: Duo Security could improve in terms of compatibility with other vendors, user-specific permissions, and providing password-free login options. On the other hand, Cato Networks could enhance their security measures, improve networking features, and expand language options in their user interface.

Pricing: Duo Security has a range of setup costs, with some customers finding it affordable and flexible. However, it may be expensive for small businesses. In contrast, Cato Networks is seen as costly but beneficial in the long run, and customers are generally happy with the pricing.

ROI: Duo Security offers benefits in terms of enhanced security, risk reduction, and cost savings. On the other hand, Cato Networks demonstrates cost savings and efficiency enhancements, although its ROI is currently under assessment.

Service and Support: Duo Security's customer service is commended for its quick and knowledgeable assistance. On the other hand, Cato Networks generally receives positive feedback, but some users encountered delays and inconsistent support, suggesting a need for better internal communication.

Comparison Results: Based on the reviews, Duo Security is commended for its user-friendly setup process and extensive documentation. It offers valuable features like two-factor authentication, easy management, and integration capabilities. However, there are areas that need improvement, such as compatibility, user-specific permissions, technical support, and device insights. The pricing is fair and competitive, with positive ROI and satisfactory customer service. On the other hand, Cato Networks also has a straightforward setup process, but it lacks some security measures and advanced networking features. The pricing is considered expensive but profitable, with positive ROI and generally good customer support.

To learn more, read our detailed Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Duo Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Duo

March 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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the ZTNA as a Service category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.4%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 11.1%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Duo is 2.3%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

ZTNA as a Service Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	2.3%
Cato SASE Cloud Platform	11.1%
iboss	2.4%
Other	84.2%

ZTNA as a Service

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851

Managing Director

Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment

I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.

Read full review

reviewer2697738

Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Cloud security has unified global network design and has simplified threat visibility

I think all of the functionalities, such as the secure web gateway feature, are quite good. I also believe Cato SASE Cloud Platform is one of the only solutions that has not only a software firewall solution but also a physical software solution where you can change the company's firewalls and put in sockets from Cato SASE Cloud Platform, which I see as an advantage for them. The single-pass architecture has improved user experience with Cato SASE Cloud Platform as it provides security teams in companies a platform where they can easily obtain information if there are breaches or security issues. I assess the benefit of integrating WAN optimization as good. There is ease in making rules between WAN optimization, especially when it comes to global connections because of all their points of presence that are spread over the world. I think the real-time threat protection of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is also good. Their points of presence are quite efficient, and I do not see any delays in that area.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."

"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

More iboss pros

"My rating for Cato Networks is eight out of ten because it's an excellent product, especially for what it offers."

"The ability for this system to handle outages on one circuit out of four meant that we didn't have any downtime because of one of our circuits going down or having a performance issue."

"When we went to Cato Networks it was an always-on automatic VPN, it reduced our help desk calls by about 10 percent."

"What I found most helpful in Cato Networks is that it works out of the box. One of its main advantages is that it's a simple product to deploy. You subscribe, and you're ready to run."

"The main features we use are the firewall and secure web gateway."

"If you really want to have a solution that has an easy deployment and provides SD-WAN and firewall abilities, go with Cato Networks."

"The scalability is quite good."

"Additionally, Cato has a global point of presence, which means instead of using other technologies to connect branches and provide access for a retail organization or any organization with branches, we can utilize Cato's backbone. Furthermore, by consolidating different technologies into one solution, there are additional cost savings from that perspective."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pros

"My overall rating for the solution is ten out of ten."

"Cisco Duo has strengthened the ability to defend against both phishing and identity-based attacks."

"With respect to our users feeling safe, secure, supported, and included, Duo Security is among the best solutions that we have ever used."

"It is very easy for users to enroll, and there are a lot of insights that we get from using the app on devices that people use to authenticate."

"The solution is pretty secure."

"The multi-factor authentication process and the geo-locking features are great."

"I believe Cisco Duo is worth the investment, offering a good return on investment, as it is expensive but works very well without any downtime or high maintenance, and the support is also good."

"All features of the solution are effective, Duo supports BYOD policies by allowing users to authenticate securely from their personal devices."

More Cisco Duo pros

Cons

"The reporting feature needs improvement."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

"The area I would like to see improvement in is the ability within the reporter to navigate directly to the content the user is traversing."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

"One thing I would like to see differently with their Zero Trust platform is that some of the AI aspects related to high-risk activities have more false positives."

More iboss cons

"There's no principal in Malaysia, only a distributor."

"To improve Cato SASE Cloud Platform, I think they sometimes need more built-in features for security in larger networks when doing local authentication, as they currently leave that to other vendors."

"A little tweaking or improvement of the UI in terms of logging when troubleshooting would be an improvement because it's very detailed."

"For a packaged solution, needing external intervention or a system integrator to get other features not offered by Cato Networks could be an area for improvement. Cato Networks does what it's meant to do and is even overstretching capabilities when introducing new features. The product can only have very few features added on top of what its currently doing. Managed service providers can deliver the extra features you'd need. It's a set of managed services, and what Cato Networks does is very comprehensive. So, for the time being, when the actual incarnation of the SASE solution is deployed, Cato Networks is a very effective product. Naturally, technology will evolve, so everybody knows that in three, four, or five years, there will be a new kid on the block, a new game. Still, at the moment, Cato Networks only needs to improve a little regarding SASE delivery. The product is doing very well, but one feature the Cato Networks team is doing right is preparing for the future through deploying the SSE 360, so the security service is at that edge. It's an excellent strategy to prepare for the future. SSE 360 is what Cato Networks should invest in the most to keep prospering."

"They should add more sophisticated security features. It should also be integrated into the cloud."

"The solution could be made more user friendly for the administrator to use the portal. It is difficult to use it for people who are not experienced with Cato Networks."

"The different languages in the user interface should be enhanced to include other languages."

"The solution is not cheap."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform cons

"Integration with a product such as Microsoft Sentinel would be great."

"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."

"Technical support could be improved. I don't think all support should have to go through an agreement."

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

"We were considering purchasing other products, like AMP for Endpoints, and it was not properly integrated with the firewall function. It might be better now with SecureX."

"Cisco Duo is definitely not doing things that others are not doing, so there is no unique selling proposition."

"One area that might be improved is that setting up SMS texting is not as easy as using the app, even though it does support it."

"Technical support seems to be lacking. It takes a long time for them to come back to the customer."

More Cisco Duo cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"The platform is expensive."

"The price is not an issue for us, as it is priced more competitively than some other vendors."

"The solution's pricing is flexible."

"If you compare with VeloCloud, the price is the same or even cheaper."

"I rate the price of Cato Networks a four out of five."

"You pay yearly based on the speed of your network. If you increase the speed of your network, you increase the cost for your throughput. It is by bandwidth for the most part and then licenses for VPN. There is some per-seat licensing for VPN access, but the majority of it is minimal. It is like $30 a year per client. The rest is based on how much bandwidth you'll use. You pay for that upfront for the year, and if you have to increase it, you increase it, and then they let you send more data through. There are no additional costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"The price of Cato Networks is in the middle range compared to other solutions. NetFoundry is a less expensive solution than Cato Networks."

"The product is very competitively priced, and that's compelling. They don't charge the customer based on the operational cost like other brands such as Palo Alto. Cato has its own fully-fledged cloud, with their own data centers, equipment, and so on, which is an advantage. I rate the solution five out of five for affordability."

More Cato SASE Cloud Platform pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The pricing is pretty competitive. It's pretty cheap. Anybody can adopt it."

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

"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."

"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 rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."

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

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

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	11

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

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

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What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?

I can see that I am a consultant at a reseller and I am the architect of Cato SASE Cloud Platform designs. In the bas...

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What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?

It is difficult to find types of companies I would not recommend Cato SASE Cloud Platform to, and I believe you can u...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cato Networks?

I do not find it particularly expensive, but for some companies, they may not have the budget to be at that level of ...

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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...

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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 secur...

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 Cis...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Netskope vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

Compared 6% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Cato SASE Cloud Platform

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Compared 8% of the time

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Yubico YubiKey vs Cisco Duo

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

March 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Cato Networks

Duo Security

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

Cato Networks is a leading SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform, combining SD-WAN and network security to obtain a cloud-native service. Cato Networks optimizes and secures application access for users and identities. The platform delivers a next-generation secure networking architecture that minimizes legacy IT infrastructures’ complexity, costs, and risks. The goal of Cato Suite is to connect any user to any application securely and optimally.

Cato Suite runs on a private global network of more than 65 PoPs (points of presence) connected via SLA-backed network providers. The service can connect branches, data centers, users, and clouds. Cato can be deployed in stages to augment legacy network services.

Cato Suite delivers end-to-end route optimization for WAN and cloud traffic. The architecture is self-healing, enabling a high service uptime.

Cato Features

Cato Cloud has a global backbone to deliver a reliable, global network. Here are some key SD-WAN features of Cato Cloud.

Optimizes traffic flows: The Cato Suite can individually optimize traffic flows in the last mile - from the customer’s location to the point of presence, and also between PoPs. This feature eliminates the need for internet providers to hand off traffic to each other, avoiding the resulting latency and congestion.
Controls and manages bandwidth: The software-defined overlay is encrypted across the entire cloud infrastructure. This overlay uses application-aware routing, analyzing latency and loss data to choose the best route according to network conditions. These features, like protocol priority marking, enable the system to ensure the performance of real-time applications.
Delivers redundancy and failover: By connecting the points of presence with multiple Tier-1 IPs, Cato builds the redundancy needed to ensure security and highly available service.
Cloud-native: Cato is built as a scalable, resilient, and elastic cloud service.
Converged: The platform converges SD-WAN and network security into a single infrastructure framework.
Secures all edges: Cato Network can secure and optimize traffic from all users, locations, applications, and clouds.

What challenges does Cato Network solve?

Migration to SD-WAN

MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) networks are usually expensive and limited in their capacity. Cato simplifies migrating to a faster, higher-capacity internet and SASE cloud. Cato SD-WAN appliances enable customers to improve usable capacity and resiliency.

Global connectivity optimization

Customers who suffer from the challenge of high latency and network inconsistency can use Cato to deliver a consistent connection and user experience to access on-premises and cloud applications.

Securing branch internet access

Cato’s complete network security stack connects all branch locations to the Cato cloud, therefore protecting all traffic, both internet-bound and WAN, with enterprise-grade, cloud-based security services. This capability avoids having to backhaul internet traffic to a data center or hub or having to implement stand-alone cloud security solutions.

Cloud acceleration and control

Organizations using Cato notice an acceleration of cloud traffic. Cato achieves this by routing all traffic from the edges to the PoP closest to the data center. Because of the close distance between the two, the latency is near zero.

Reviews from Real Users

An IT manager/project coordinator at a healthcare company says that “[Cato is] a cloud-based solution that integrates well with everything. They are the classic SaaS solution.”

Yeong-Gi L., a network engineer at Snetsystems, notes that “The solution is very stable. The scalability is quite good. Technical support was always helpful and responsive. The integration capabilities are not a problem at all.”

"The most valuable feature is that it also works as a next-gen firewall because it has security features," says Lorenzo S., senior solutions consultant Lead at MDI.

Cato Networks

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

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Duo

March 2026

Free Report: Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Duo

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