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Portnox vs Secret Double Octopus comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Portnox
Ranking in Passwordless Authentication
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (3rd), ZTNA (7th)
Secret Double Octopus
Ranking in Passwordless Authentication
9th
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (36th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Passwordless Authentication category, the mindshare of Portnox is 12.8%, down from 15.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Secret Double Octopus is 4.7%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Passwordless Authentication Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Portnox12.8%
Secret Double Octopus4.7%
Other82.5%
Passwordless Authentication
 

Featured Reviews

Maurice Mwaura - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited
Unified access control has improved compliance visibility and simplified passwordless access
There is work to be done when it comes to making the solution more seamless. For example, when a user is denied access, they would need a way to maybe self-resolve themselves, perhaps a way to generate a ticket on their own, something around resolutions. When it comes to users using the product, that is where good products are differentiated from products that are a bit of a challenge. Portnox has much to do in terms of their reporting. The generated reports need improvement. Things that other tools would say are normal are usually not present. For example, there is a page called NAS devices or NAS network that is able to show the switches that have been managed. Currently, there is no way of generating an easy report or an easy way of just generating something to tell the customer what they have been able to achieve so far. This is not done yet and is still very manual. I think there is work to be done there. More integrations around the various products being used would be beneficial. So far I have not encountered any major challenge. Where there was a challenge, I think support came in and helped us resolve. In fact, most of the challenges are not with the product; they are with the customer environment. I think that is just to update their documentation where they have come across a new vendor for easier integrations in the future.
Gaurav Gaurav - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Portnox's AI capabilities are excellent in terms of accuracy and reliability, consistently providing correct information or alerts."
"Portnox provides excellent security by following Zero Trust security principles."
"Portnox integrates seamlessly with existing identity providers such as Azure AD, Okta, and Google Workspace, and its integration capabilities and security features such as zero-trust and passwordless authentication contribute significantly to an organization's security posture."
"The minute people have issues on their network, we can see what is happening right away."
"It's so easy to set up, you don't need outside assistance."
"Previous to the deployment we didn't have complete visibility of all the endpoints, all the devices that are connected to the network, but with the deployment of portnox, we could see all the devices and where they're connecting, and we can equally segregate and apply different rules and policies to each location that we didn't monitor specifically."
"CLEAR is one of the best of its kind on the market with respect to compatibility."
"Portnox has positively impacted my organization by ensuring that only authorized devices connect to the local network, serving as the first point of defense for our network devices."
"This solution has a mobile application, which comes with multi-factor authentication; allowing for more flexible usage, without having to sacrifice system security."
 

Cons

"We have seen instances where the older version stops working properly, and we have to update each system individually."
"I do not have anything in mind for Portnox to improve, perhaps except for the interface to make it much easier to use."
"I believe there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of integration."
"One area for improvement would be deeper reporting and analytics capabilities for Portnox, particularly for long-term trend analysis and compliance reporting."
"One area for improvement in Portnox is the initial setup complexity and documentation for custom policy creation."
"The solution did have some stability issues, however, all I had to do was restart it."
"While Portnox is solid, there is definitely room for improvement, particularly with the user interface."
"We have been having some issues with it. That's why we're considering migrating to Portnox Clear due to some limitations with CORE."
"The product suffers from frequent disturbances in service, that have impacted our end users when we deploy software updates."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's not cheap. It's not expensive. It's in the middle."
"The users are not very happy with the new licensing option where there is only a subscription license. There is no perpetual license."
"The cost of Portnox Clear is reasonable."
"Portnox CORE's pricing is adequate and cheaper compared to other complex solutions. Its licensing costs are yearly and include support. Cost is calculated per device."
"The licensing module should be reviewed to count the number of devices instead of port numbers of total switches. There is a case for this where not all ports for a switch are used by devices. Unused ports are calculated in the license, then the customer pays for license for those unused ports."
"Pricing is quite reasonable."
"We pay for port licensing and support on a yearly basis, and it's not cheap."
"Pricing is not cheap. It is based on licenses per port. After licensing is purchased, you only pay for support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Healthcare Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Educational Organization
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise15
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox Clear?
The pricing and setup cost as well as licensing is a bit high compared to the competition. If it were better, we could also have some pricing specific or special discounts to cater for SMBs.
What needs improvement with Portnox Clear?
If the MSSP offering could be the primary push or primary concern, it would be the best thing that could happen. Based on the Tanzanian market, AI governance is something that is coming through. Fo...
What is your primary use case for Portnox Clear?
Portnox is for the network access control use case. The use case focuses on wired network access, specifically how users are connecting to the network and how we are checking their security posture...
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Also Known As

Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR
Octopus Authenticator
 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sallie Mae, Roku, Vuori, Legal Zoom, Anaplan, Aecon, H.I.G. Capital, McLaren Construction Group, PFCU, UK Mortgage Lending Limited, CCC Intelligent Solutions
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.
Find out what your peers are saying about Portnox Security, Yubico, HYPR and others in Passwordless Authentication. Updated: October 2026.
920,223 professionals have used our research since 2012.