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Cisco Duo vs Thales Authenticators 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) (4th), ZTNA as a Service (7th), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
Thales Authenticators
Ranking in Authentication Systems
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 8.5%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Thales Authenticators is 2.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Duo8.5%
Thales Authenticators2.4%
Other89.1%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Thomas Botts - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing security policies effectively with seamless authentication
The feature of Cisco Duo that I prefer the most is the policies, being able to control what we need to within the policies. You can get pretty granular. There isn't a lot of training that goes on in school districts. Email is an easy way where many people give out their credentials, so the level of protection is something that we definitely need in a school district. Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been easy when logging in, although the teachers don't appreciate it as much. We have it configured so users essentially just hit accept. If it sees any sort of built-in risk, then it steps up authentication. It's pretty easy. I appreciate it. I've encountered advantages with Cisco Duo in that it has stopped significant pushback from teachers. It has prevented credential sharing and unauthorized access. We've seen a huge decrease since we've rolled it out across the entire district.
Gustavo Merighi - PeerSpot reviewer
Has an easy-to-use management interface and a straightforward initial setup process
Our primary use cases include multifactor authentication for VPN connections and access to security tools like jump servers and firewalls. We also use it to enhance security measures in an enterprise environment The most valuable feature is the YAML 2.0 integration. It has an easy-to-use…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Duo Security improved my organization by helping us secure all access points within the company infrastructure."
"By deploying Duo, we have virtually eliminated the risk of direct deposit redirection as a result of credentials that have been compromised via phishing."
"Cisco Duo has made us more secure. We've managed to stop some threats with it and keep our users and devices safe."
"It is a good solution for hybrid environments and VPN."
"Cisco Duo is quick to deploy and easy to start."
"The administrator tool in the dashboard is the most valuable feature. It's really easy to quickly see if users are locked out from their device, firmware code, or just all the little dashboards and reports I can run to give the security for monthly reports. The dashboard's really good."
"We get fewer threats to remediate due to the two-factor authentication, which does not allow as many threats through."
"Cisco Secure solutions are great for detecting and remediating threats across our infrastructure from end to end. The integration of Talos in SecureX is great. Everything is clear in one dashboard. You have a dashboard there, your dashboard, and now you can have one look in your dashboard and see everything. It's on one pane of glass."
"One valuable feature is Thales' ability to provide off-site tokens."
"I like how the solution allows me to support different types of hardware tokens and integrate with OTP."
"The technical support services are good."
"Scalable and stable."
"The most valuable feature of SafeNet Authentication Manager is authentication."
"We use this solution to log into virtual machines like VMware and VMware Horizon."
 

Cons

"It already integrates with lots of products, but it can integrate with more products. There should be easy integration with Cisco products because sometimes, it can be quite complicated."
"Technical support could be improved. I don't think all support should have to go through an agreement."
"General announcements when new features come out with Cisco Duo should be broadcasted to customers who are using it, which might bring more accessibility to their documents so users can be more in tune with updates."
"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."
"It is easy to use when logging in, but at times, there's a delay in getting the pop-up on a phone, requiring users to occasionally retry authentication depending on backend services."
"Integration with a product such as Microsoft Sentinel would be great. As the product continually improves, I'm unsure if this feature is available."
"Removing the need for a password would be a positive change as well as the ability to cover all the different enterprise applications. They don't have coverage for everything."
"We found it difficult to integrate it into our broader product family of Microsoft tools and other applications used across our organization."
"The problem with SafeNet is that it's not integrated with Microsoft 365."
"The solution should allow for support of multi-tenant architecture."
"The product could be improved by adding more features for sending tokens via SMS or phone calls."
"We faced issues due to slow ticket responses, which improved over time."
"The stability could improve."
"Lacks integration with other platforms."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Duo Security's pricing is good, fair, and very comparable to today's market."
"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."
"I haven't seen any information on the pricing in four years, so I can't comment on that."
"It was very reasonable."
"You pay per user when using this solution and the pricing is fair."
"Price wise, it's not cheap, but it's not expensive at all either. It's in the middle."
"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 rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
"Thales is more expensive than its competitors."
"There is an annual licensing fee."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise36
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...
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco Duo is honestly above my pay grade. I don't know any of that.
What needs improvement with Thales Authenticators?
Currently, the solution fulfills our requirements. We are very satisfied with its features, and do not have any specific ideas for improvement right now. Perhaps, in the future, three-factor authen...
What is your primary use case for Thales Authenticators?
Our employees, whether working on-site or remotely, use Thales Authenticators for two-factor authentication to log in to their laptops or PCs. This is our primary use case.
What advice do you have for others considering Thales Authenticators?
From our past years of experience, the solution is very smooth, and we have had a good experience with it. We would definitely recommend Thales to others for its reliability and features. I'd rate ...
 

Also Known As

Duo Security
Gemalto Ezio, Ezio, Gemalto Authenticators, SafeNet Authentication Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Standard Chartered Bank (SCB)
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. Thales Authenticators and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.