Cisco Duo vs Secret Double Octopus comparison

Cisco and Secret Double Octopus are both solutions in the Authentication Systems category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while Secret Double Octopus is ranked #32. Cisco holds a 4.8% mindshare in AS, compared to Secret Double Octopus’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Secret Double Octopus users who would recommend it.

Cisco Duo

Read 116 Cisco Duo reviews

7,616 Views
4,950 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Secret Double Octopus

Read 1 Secret Double Octopus review

543 Views
445 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Duo

Secret Double Octopus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Duo and Secret Double Octopus 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 885,264 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)

Secret Double Octopus

Ranking in Authentication Systems

32nd

Average Rating

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Passwordless Authentication (9th)

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 Secret Double Octopus is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	4.8%
Secret Double Octopus	0.7%
Other	94.5%

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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Gaurav Gaurav

Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

A solution with good capabilities across a wide range of platforms that comes with a useful mobile application, but upgrades cause issues

We have noticed that patches and upgrades cause issues with how the application functions, due to the lack of stability of the product. However, we would recommend the solution because it has good capabilities, across a wide range of platforms, and the mobile application allows for use via Bluetooth, so users don't have to be connected to the internet. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

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

"We get fewer threats to remediate due to the two-factor authentication, which does not allow as many threats through."

"I now have the Identity Intelligence feature, which makes me very happy, and it was indeed the big feature, the big step ahead that we achieved thanks to Cisco Duo."

"The thing that I appreciate the most about Cisco Duo is the ease of setup."

"For me and my customers, the best feature is that it's very easy to integrate with the existing infrastructure. It takes a few minutes to configure it."

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

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

"Cisco is the perfect product for our current size, and I don't think we'll have problems with scalability as we grow."

More Cisco Duo pros

"This solution has a mobile application, which comes with multi-factor authentication; allowing for more flexible usage, without having to sacrifice system security."

Cons

"I would appreciate it if Duo Security could improve its integrations with Windows Hello."

"I'm unsure how to disable the ping notification sound on my phone when using Cisco Duo."

"We have a 24 hour timer for our Duo cookie and we would like to reduce this to a shorter time when using Duo."

"Certain customers can not use this product because it is cloud-based."

"Duo Security could improve by being more compatible with other vendors."

"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."

"The product could be more intuitive on the app."

"They can make authentication easier. It should be done in a shorter time. Sometimes, it can take a bit more time to get the answer on your phone. You have to wait a bit longer to get the SMS code and other things. There can be some internet or connection issues. They should make it faster because sometimes, it's urgent, and you need to access something as soon as possible."

More Cisco Duo cons

"The product suffers from frequent disturbances in service, that have impacted our end users when we deploy software updates."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been good, with no issues. I am pleased that the prices remained stable after Cisco acquired the solution."

"It was very reasonable."

"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."

"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."

"Cisco's licensing is always a bit complicated to understand, but the price is fair. It could be more expensive than others, but the way they integrate everything, it has a fair price."

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

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

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Educational Organization

10%

Hospitality Company

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...

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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 4% of the time

Yubico YubiKey vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

Microsoft Entra ID vs Secret Double Octopus

Compared 21% of the time

Thales Authenticators vs Secret Double Octopus

Compared 18% of the time

HYPR vs Secret Double Octopus

Compared 14% of the time

Yubico YubiKey vs Secret Double Octopus

Compared 13% of the time

Ping Identity Platform vs Secret Double Octopus

Compared 12% of the time

More Secret Double Octopus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

March 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Authentication Systems

March 2026

Download Secret Double Octopus product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

Octopus Authenticator

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

Secret Double Octopus (SDO) is the most widely deployed workforce Passwordless MFA solution today. It offers the most non-disruptive and comprehensive way for enterprises to gain the benefits of truly secure authentication.

SDO is the only passwordless MFA provider that enables organizations to achieve passwordless benefits incrementally, with options that range from extending existing MFA solutions to desktops to implementing full end-to-end passwordless MFA across all use cases end users encounter.

SDO is FIDO-certified and makes access frictionless and passwordless secure for desktop end users, administrative users, remote workers and legacy app users.

https://doubleoctopus.com/

Secret Double Octopus

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

United Technologies (UTC), American Family Association, ASL Airlines France, BNP Paribas, A Fortune 50 Bank, Bingham County Idaho, Britannia Financial Services, Carolina Behavioral Health Alliance LLC, European Commission, County of Midland Michigan, JRM Construction Management, Greer Commission of Public Works, Poste Italiane, Kennedy Wilson Europe, Key Mechanical, Marker Therapeutics Inc, Mediawan, Ministero Dell'interno, FairPrice, NTUC Health, Mercatus, TBC, Techni-Photo, Tinsa Group, Yates Law, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Z-Medica Corporation, A Member of the 5 largest US law firms.

Buyer's Guide

Authentication Systems

March 2026

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