Cisco Duo vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

Cisco and Broadcom are both solutions in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while Broadcom is ranked #13 with an average rating of 6.8. Cisco holds a 3.5% mindshare in SSO, compared to Broadcom’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Cisco Duo

Read 85 Cisco Duo reviews

6,543 Views
2,028 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Symantec Siteminder

Read 75 Symantec Siteminder reviews

2,039 Views
1,325 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Cisco Duo

Symantec Siteminder

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Symantec Siteminder and Cisco Duo are two leading solutions in the authentication and access management space. Cisco Duo seems to have the upper hand due to its extensive features and overall value.

Features: Symantec Siteminder is valued for robust policy management, strong enterprise-level capabilities, and comprehensive security controls. Cisco Duo stands out for its user-friendly design, seamless integration, and adaptive authentication strengths.

Room for Improvement: Symantec Siteminder users highlight the need for a more intuitive design, better integration with cloud services, and enhanced user interface. Cisco Duo users request enhancements in detailed reporting, more flexible deployment options, and improved offline capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Symantec Siteminder’s deployment is noted for being complex, requiring significant time and resources. Customer service is responsive but sometimes slow. Cisco Duo is praised for its straightforward deployment process and efficient customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Symantec Siteminder's setup costs are perceived as high, with users reporting a substantial investment and gradual ROI. Cisco Duo is considered competitively priced, offering quicker ROI with lower initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Siteminder Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Siteminder

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 879,711 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 Single Sign-On (SSO)

3rd

Ranking in Access Management

4th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Authentication Systems (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (5th), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st)

Symantec Siteminder

Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)

13th

Ranking in Access Management

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Access Management (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.5%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 2.7%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Single Sign-On (SSO) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Duo	3.5%
Symantec Siteminder	2.7%
Other	93.8%

Single Sign-On (SSO)

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.

Read full review

Muzi Lubisi

Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa

Improved user experience with seamless integration and easy installation

The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows. Additionally, it is very beneficial for deploying single sign-on sessions between different windows on a web browser, provided I am connected to the right identity provider. That seamless integration significantly improves user experience and efficiency.

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

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

"It's a lot easier for our end users to connect to our network. You don't have to type in a code. You get push notifications, that's probably the best thing about it. The fewer clicks they have to do to be online, the better it is. They can easily get into the network and do remote work."

"The most valuable feature is the ability for users to connect securely to the office using the VPN."

"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."

"What I most appreciate about Cisco Duo is the ease of use."

"The integration with Azure Active Directory and the AWS cloud is amazing, as most products nowadays require the creation of a customized integration. With Duo Security, it was more like native integration, and it took me five minutes to register."

"Since Duo Security provides a single place to log in for our SaaS applications, we don't have to manage user accounts and remember passwords for each specific application."

"The authentication process is very smooth and secure."

More Cisco Duo pros

"SAML is the best thing we're using right now because there is no need for creating an external account."

"You can quickly deploy the entire product with a basic config within couple of hours."

"I liked the debugging part. There are only two files (trace file and log file) that you need to look into while performing debugging, and the logs give you the exact info on where and what needs to be fixed."

"The authentication and single sign-on features of Symantec Siteminder are valuable."

"Authentication & Authorization are important because all the sites need authentication for security purposes. That has been handled pretty well all these years with SSO."

"The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows."

"The single sign-on is the solution's most valuable feature"

"Ease of use is very good, for administrating it. It's very well known."

More Symantec Siteminder pros

Cons

"I faced a significant issue about a year back when I tried to integrate Cisco Duo with Citrix NetScaler and enable MFA for Citrix NetScaler integration."

"Cisco Duo is stable, but occasionally there are emails about incidents that affect some services temporarily."

"We have had instances where Duo Security stops working on a user's device, which we have fixed by uninstalling and then reinstalling it."

"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."

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

"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."

"I believe there are two new features. I am interested in adding auto-admin services and incorporating icons for easier navigation. This could contribute to a new business idea platform. I have seen the features, and they make things easier, resolving issues from before. The platform has been updated, and there's now another link in my platform for media access. When it comes to improvements, the UI can be more user-friendly, and there is room for easier navigation. Perhaps there could be enhancements in customization. I haven't faced issues in storage or backup, but I am open to improvements in customization functionality. It's not my environment, but I see possibilities for improvement in the deployment of funds. The addition of new features is appreciated, and for customization, it could provide more freedom for users."

"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

"CA has reporting at the moment. With the reporting, every particular segmented product has a reporting engine. I would like to see centralized reporting for all of them together."

"The support could be faster."

"The GUIs are not very clear, especially when integrating with other products from CA."

"In future releases, I would like to see maybe more capabilities with some more modern authentication."

"The main thing is we do not have the traceability and good monitoring that CA can provide us to capture problems when they occur."

"Some of the new protocols, like OAuth 2.0, could be improved."

"While I have some integration with a few major providers, support for more would be advantageous."

"We would like to the OAuth be more stable, more issues being fixed rather than not."

More Symantec Siteminder cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost was reasonable. Licensing was pretty straightforward for a change."

"Our licensing fee is currently on an annual basis."

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

"From a business perspective, it is a little bit costly. The licensing is on a per-user basis."

"Price-wise, the solution has been very, very reasonable...Licensing is the last thing I think about Duo Security because it's so easy, and I had no problems with it."

"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."

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

"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."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."

"The solution's pricing is competitive."

"Siteminder is a little costly. You pay for licensing, and they offer packages, so if you have less users, then you have to buy different products at different prices. If you have more of a user base, then the package is different. They also include other features—for example, if you have a database and you're using Siteminder, then it's good to use a Semantic-specific database, but if you are using less, then you have to purchase the database separately. Whereas if you are going for a bigger license, then it comes within the package. It depends on which plan you are using."

"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."

"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."

"The licensing is fair for this solution."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

27%

Insurance Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	38

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	69

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 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.

See all answers

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

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing reveals that one of the most powerful features is the licensing model and the price. According to the pricing, it is really fantastic to get th...

See all answers

What do you like most about Symantec Siteminder?

It's agent-based. It's convenient to deploy and integrate.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Siteminder?

My experience with pricing is that it is all good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Symantec Siteminder?

Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features. Currently, multi-factor authentication is available as a separate solution, and it ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Duo

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Cisco Duo

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiToken vs Cisco Duo

Compared 7% of the time

Yubico YubiKey vs Cisco Duo

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

Ping Identity Platform vs Symantec Siteminder

Compared 24% of the time

Okta Platform vs Symantec Siteminder

Compared 12% of the time

Keeper Enterprise Password Manager vs Symantec Siteminder

Compared 11% of the time

ForgeRock vs Symantec Siteminder

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Symantec Siteminder

Compared 9% of the time

More Symantec Siteminder Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

January 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Siteminder

December 2025

Download Symantec Siteminder product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder

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

Symantec® SiteMinder is designed to secure the modern enterprise through a unified access management platform that applies the appropriate authentication mechanism to positively identify users; provides single sign-on and identity federation for seamless access to any application; enforces granular security policies to stop unauthorized access to sensitive resources; and monitors and manages the entire user session to prevent session hijacking. Finally, Symantec SiteMinder is battle-tested and has been deployed in the largest IT environments in the world.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Siteminder

December 2025

Free Report: Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Siteminder

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Siteminder report.

See our list of best Single Sign-On (SSO) vendors and best Access Management vendors.

We monitor all Single Sign-On (SSO) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.