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Cisco Duo vs Fortinet FortiAuthenticator comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Cisco Duo offers time-saving, improved security, reduced costs, and productivity gains, leading to a favorable return on investment.
Sentiment score
4.9
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator may enhance security and compliance, leading to varying ROI perceptions, from cost-saving to essential expense.
We were able to implement zero trust extremely quickly because of the platform and its ongoing developments, including Cisco Duo Network Gateway, which enabled that transition to zero trust extremely quickly.
Global Associate Director, Services at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Not having MFA means you cannot put a price tag on that because you will be hit with ransomware immediately.
Director at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I think Cisco Duo offers a good return on investment for startups, newer organizations, or those utilizing cloud-based applications.
Identity and Access Management Principal at Mobily
It enhances security by ensuring only the right person can access systems, even if their login credentials are compromised.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Cisco Duo's support is praised for expertise, responsiveness, and effectiveness, despite minor delays, with consistently high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator's support is generally favored for expertise but faces issues with variability in response times and depth.
They got back to us quickly, were nice, and gave us what we needed.
Infrastructure Engineer at a government with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate their support 10 out of 10.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
I would rate support for Cisco Duo a 10, as I have never had a negative experience.
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
At times, some technical staff lack knowledge, which delays issue resolution.
DevOps Engineer at YASH Technologies
Customer service and support are excellent.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
Technical support from Fortinet deserves a rating of 10.
Infrastructure Manager at Scandinavian Highlands Holding A/S
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Duo offers scalable, cloud-based security with easy user management, supporting both small and large deployments globally.
Sentiment score
7.8
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is highly scalable, supporting thousands of users, with room for improvement in deployment and user management.
In my last contracting position, it was a large one for a major worldwide airline that had hundreds of thousands of devices that could use Cisco Duo, and it scaled very well.
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
You would not need many more engineers to manage Cisco Duo even if we scale up to 500 employees because it is so simple to manage.
Manager, Customer Success at SRC.SI sistemske integracije d.o.o.
Cisco Duo is scalable for organizational growth.
Technical Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The scalability of FortiAuthenticator is good, and I would rate it an eight on a scale of one to ten.
IT Manager at PTECH
I find Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to be highly scalable, and I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator should be sufficiently scalable.
Network Engineer at Coop Money
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Duo is highly stable, with rare minor issues mostly due to user configurations or external factors, ensuring dependable authentication.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is reliable but may face stability issues during setup or with high user volumes.
We have not had any Cisco Duo outages across all the companies I have worked for that utilize Cisco Duo.
Senior Engineer at Frontline Fighter Ltd
The stability has been excellent.
Manager, Customer Success at SRC.SI sistemske integracije d.o.o.
I did not notice any downtime or crashes with Cisco Duo.
CTO at Red IT Solutions
It remains stable even when the number of concurrent users increases.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Duo faces challenges in system integration, cost, support, and functionality, needing better integration and management improvements.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator struggles with integration, complex setup, limited customization, high pricing, and needs better support and documentation.
If you don't have internet access, you can't access your computer, only local access is available.
Security and Network Team Lead
It lacks some dynamic identity management features compared to other products such as SailPoint.
Senior Iam Associate at Cognizant
Cisco should allow easier integration with third-party equipment because Cisco's own equipment is expensive.
Procurement Officer at Emerging Systems
For example, authentication for wireless users expires after 24 hours, requiring re-authentication daily.
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
For example, Cisco Duo is on the cloud, so we cannot compete with that part if a user requires a cloud-based two-factor authentication solution.
Presales Consultant
I recommend Fortinet make its images migratable between environments.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Duo offers fair, straightforward per-user pricing with flexible, robust features, providing value despite appearing expensive.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is cost-effective, offers scalable licensing, and is favored over competitors for budget-conscious enterprises.
The pricing is acceptable to them.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
Their website lists $3 per month per user for the Essential license.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
One of my customers recently received a billing statement charging 3,600 US dollars for 100 users for one year.
Sr. Network Security Engineer at Topnet Internet Services Provider. Riyadh, Saudi A
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is not overly expensive compared to other Fortinet subscriptions.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Duo offers simple, secure authentication with easy integration, streamlined access, and multi-device support, improving security without user burden.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator offers secure, efficient user access management with seamless system integration, strong two-factor authentication, and cost savings.
From a management perspective, I appreciate that we can enroll or control devices on the back end for people who get a new phone and forget to handle Cisco Duo properly and need to add a new device.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Our company benefits from all those features of Cisco Duo with confidence, and we feel very secure with it in terms of authentication of our logins.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
The benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in our organization is that it's gotten people away from using the sticky note under their keyboard - which is a huge problem.
Director, Technology at Deer Creek High School
The integration with FortiToken is outstanding, adding a layer of security for authentication.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
We use multi-factor authentication for enhancing security.
DevOps Engineer at YASH Technologies
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator can be used from anywhere in the world, and the authenticator services function globally.
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Duo
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
4th
Ranking in Authentication Systems
2nd
Ranking in Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Access Management (4th), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
7th
Ranking in Authentication Systems
4th
Ranking in Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.2%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is 3.6%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Duo3.2%
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator3.6%
Other93.2%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Supports secure remote authentication and provides comprehensive user activity tracking
The most important feature is the security capability because it provides a substantial amount of security for admin-related activities. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator can be used from anywhere in the world, and the authenticator services function globally. This global accessibility is one of the critical advantages, particularly since admin features are critical and security is a real concern. With Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, secure usage of firewall services and related functions is achieved. A complete log of all users who access the authenticator setup is maintained. Monthly logs are reviewed to check for any unnoticed activities. Each authenticated user's complete activity history is recorded. This logging capability allows for providing access to more admin users while ensuring security is not compromised and all users can be monitored.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise57
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise11
 

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 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.
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...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator?
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator could benefit from some artificial intelligence functionality and resolution of some glitches that may exist.
 

Also Known As

Duo Security
FortiAuthenticator
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
889,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.