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Cisco Duo vs RSA Authentication Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

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
7.9
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (6th), Cisco Security Portfolio (3rd), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
RSA Authentication Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 9.6%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Authentication Manager is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Chandan Tripathi - PeerSpot reviewer
Starts quickly with quick deployment but needs more support for older applications
Cisco Duo ( /products/cisco-duo-reviews ) is quick to deploy and easy to start. A valuable feature of the solution is its hybrid structure, which involves proxy agents running on-premises while other services are on the cloud. This setup makes it scalable, as the deployment section is in the cloud, allowing the installation of agents according to needs.
Akinwale Sekiteri - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly effective and versatile solution that excels in terms of security, integration, scalability, and customer support
I highly recommend it because when you compare RSA with other products, it has consistently stood out. In the past, one area where people encountered challenges was in terms of price flexibility, but it significantly improved. You can now negotiate, discuss terms, and work with it to achieve a pricing arrangement that suits your needs, and if they recognize you as a loyal customer, they are more than willing to accommodate your requirements and reach mutually agreeable terms. Overall, I would rate it around nine out of ten when considering factors like durability, data performance, scalability, integration, and security, and excels in these areas.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability for users to connect securely to the office using the VPN."
"It has continuously evolved by introducing new solutions and products to address emerging security threats in our industry, demonstrating its commitment to staying ahead of evolving security challenges."
"I appreciate the simple login feature of Cisco Duo; being able to log into your actual page and then having all your apps there is convenient."
"Multifactor authentication and secure two-factor authentication are the most valuable features. It's been around for a while, but now it's becoming an enforced behavior as opposed to something that you used to do as optional."
"The multi-factor authentication process and the geo-locking features are great."
"If you have to log in to something, you must go to Duo Security to confirm that you're who you are on your phone."
"All features of the solution are effective, particularly those involved in identifying vulnerabilities and updates."
"The most valuable feature of Duo Security is the ability for the user to easily approve access. The application prompts the user, and they can see the location and the IP address. This makes it easy for the user to approve it and go through the process of logging in to the VPN."
"RSA Authentication Manager is the best available solution."
"The single sign-on feature is the most important."
"The most valuable feature is the SecurID."
"The most valuable feature is the provision part. The mapping and the logging is also very good. In addition, the troubleshooting, from a console point of view, is easy for administration and on the provisioning and logging part."
"It is a stable solution. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten."
"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."
"Easy setup, deployment, and integration in different infrastructures, including virtual ones."
"It is a good solution for token identification."
 

Cons

"I'm unsure how to disable the ping notification sound on my phone when using Cisco Duo. I don't know how to silence it."
"I'm not a big fan of relicensing products every year or two years, but that's the model at the moment. I prefer to go back to licensing perpetually or permanent licensing."
"Cisco Duo can be improved by exploring a way to make it a more seamless integration and by deploying an in-house server."
"My experience with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system is that sometimes there are difficulties, and sometimes users just won't be able to log in. We have to reset their password so they can use Duo."
"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."
"The technical engineers in the first line of support should improve their knowledge."
"We have a 24 hour timer for our Duo cookie and we would like to reduce this to a shorter time when using Duo."
"The only challenge is finding the right person sometimes. From what I've seen, being a named account is a big deal."
"Perhaps parts of the the user interface should become more intuitive."
"We are not planning on using the solution in the future."
"Enhancing the user interface and expanding their marketing efforts in regions like Nigeria and West Africa could be beneficial."
"We found technical support was not very responsive to our requests for assistance."
"The product's capabilities to protect cloud environments need improvement."
"There is room for improvement in the RSA support."
"RSA Authentication Manager is perfect. We do not see current missing products or enhancements yet emphasize the importance of a continuous development roadmap."
"We have encountered issue when trying to expand this particular solution for a large set of users across the country."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You pay per user when using this solution and the pricing is fair."
"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."
"Overall, the pricing is fair. Customers can wrap it into their Enterprise Agreement, making it easier for them to solve their issues."
"Duo Security is free."
"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."
"I believe the licensing model is excellent as it offers flexibility to our customers, allowing them to adopt a crawl, walk, or run approach."
"Cisco has the most expensive products because market leaders tend to charge a lot."
"With regard to pricing, for a small business buying a one off, it's pretty expensive. If it's an enterprise that has thousands of employees, however, it's really nothing to protect your data because if your network goes down or it's breached, you're losing millions of dollars every minute. When it comes to a large enterprise, it's priced where it should be because you're talking business to business. You're not talking business to consumer."
"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."
"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 solution is costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
13%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about Duo Security?
They are users who, as mentioned before, utilize RDPAP and MDPAP. It includes functionalities related to finance, specifically in single sign-on.
What do you like most about RSA Authentication Manager?
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-m...
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...
 

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: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.