Symantec Advanced Authentication vs Symantec VIP Access Manager comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Symantec Advanced Authentication and Symantec VIP Access Manager are both solutions in the Authentication Systems category. Symantec Advanced Authentication is ranked #22, while Symantec VIP Access Manager is ranked #16. Symantec Advanced Authentication holds a 1.5% mindshare in AS, compared to Symantec VIP Access Manager’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of Symantec Advanced Authentication users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Symantec VIP Access Manager users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

Symantec Advanced Authentication and Symantec VIP Access Manager compete in the robust security solutions category. Symantec VIP Access Manager has the upper hand due to its superior features and overall value despite higher costs.

What features are offered by Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Symantec VIP Access Manager?

Symantec Advanced Authentication users value its multi-factor authentication capabilities, integration with various platforms, and reliable performance. Symantec VIP Access Manager stands out with its single sign-on (SSO) functionality, comprehensive policy management, and high scalability. Users find VIP Access Manager's features more beneficial and wide-ranging.

What areas of improvement can be found in Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Symantec VIP Access Manager?

Users suggest Symantec Advanced Authentication could enhance its documentation quality, add support for more diverse authentication methods, and improve interface usability. Symantec VIP Access Manager users recommend improving mobile app stability, expanding integration capabilities, and increasing speed. Symantec VIP Access Manager sees fewer critical improvement requests.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Symantec VIP Access Manager?

Symantec Advanced Authentication is known for its straightforward deployment but receives criticism for limited customer service responsiveness. Symantec VIP Access Manager is recognized for its smooth deployment process and reliable customer support, offering an advantage in this aspect.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Symantec VIP Access Manager?

Symantec Advanced Authentication has a reasonable setup cost and satisfactory ROI. Symantec VIP Access Manager, while more expensive, delivers higher ROI due to its extensive features and benefits, making it a worthwhile investment for many users.

To learn more, read our detailed Symantec Advanced Authentication vs. Symantec VIP Access Manager Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Advanced Authentication vs. Symantec VIP Access Manager

November 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.7%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 1.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec VIP Access Manager is 2.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	3.7%
Symantec VIP Access Manager	2.1%
Symantec Advanced Authentication	1.5%
Other	92.7%

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.

Read full review

Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque

Group CEO at Flexsolutions

Ensures robust security features and ease of deployment, although it may lack some of the more modern authentication options

There has been a need for aggressive development to modernize the product and align it with contemporary security requirements. While the rebranding has been a step forward, further enhancements are essential to meet the evolving demands of the market. It lacks features such as ActiveSync Exchange security, and it doesn't offer alternatives like password-less authentication via biometrics or patches. While Symantec mainly relies on traditional token-based or password-based methods, newer authentication methods are missing from its repertoire. Support services often lack promptness and depth of knowledge, leaving customers waiting for weeks to resolve issues. In the realm of multifactor authentication, swift resolution of problems is critical, as any slowdown or interruption can significantly impact operations. Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation.

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Berk Onur

Presales Consultant at Cyberwise

With its mobile application, this tool offers a convenient and user-friendly experience to its users

To improve the tool, I think that the solution should consider integrations with other cybersecurity and IT technologies, such as Privileged Access Management and Site Integration. Additionally, the implementation of second-factor authentication via Symantec VIP Access Manager, CyberArk, and Delinea, among other technologies, could be best for the product. While the existing technology is okay, improving the integration capabilities for Symantec VIP Access Manager would benefit the product. I would like to see the solution meet the integration needs at our company. While many cybersecurity solutions can function independently, they often lack integration with our systems due to missed integration points. Improving the solution's integration feature would be beneficial.

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

"I like the set time that users can log into devices during the day and how many times they can do so. I also like the ability to restrict the regions from which the user can get in. Users outside of our country or even the town cannot log in."

"The benefit of the features of Cisco Duo is that it secures our environment; nobody can access or join the network without it, and Cisco Duo will recognize and ensure that only people who are allowed in our environment can access our devices."

"My total rating for Cisco Duo is ten out of ten."

"Looking back at my initial investment in Cisco Duo versus the total value it has delivered over time, that choice has paid off for my company massively."

"Duo Security just adds another layer; it's a great addition to the security of any network infrastructure."

"The best feature Cisco Duo offers is its simplicity."

"Cisco Duo's authentication means people cannot get into our network without the second step."

"Once you break that curve, it gives end users a sense of security where they know that if they're trying to sign on to Office 365 or some other application, they need to authenticate with Duo to make sure that they have the multi-factor authentication."

More Cisco Duo pros

"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."

"One of the most valuable features of this solution is that it's a strong authentication solution that's able to integrate with applications."

"Ease of deployment: no need to keep up with physical devices for multi-factor authentication; no software to deploy on end-user computers requiring administrative rights."

"It allows us to assure our customers that we are protecting their data."

"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."

"Symantec Advanced Authentication can be useful for wherever you require a strong authentication."

"The most valuable feature is that we get a wide range of authentication methods and authentication integrators, so different platforms can get service authentication with transparency to the final user while providing strong authentication forms and connectors."

"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."

More Symantec Advanced Authentication pros

"After the initial integration, the overall support calls dropped, and customer satisfaction for VPN increased."

"Mostly from a product expert's point of view, it provides solutions for my clients."

"I like the whole solution, and I would recommend it."

"Integration with Citrix Access Gateway, Microsoft Office 365 and Single Sign-On (through Symantec Validation and ID Protection Access Manager) has increased the productivity of the employees for accessing resources."

"It offers more platform support, like Apple, Android, and Microsoft."

"The tool has been very stable, in my experience. Also, I haven't faced any issues or problems with integration or connectivity."

"The VPN we are using is good and working quite well."

"If you're looking for a fairly lightweight client that works very well for remote access purposes, I think Symantec is definitely a good product."

More Symantec VIP Access Manager pros

Cons

"While two-factor authentication with mobile devices provides a high level of security, it's still not foolproof, as someone could potentially steal your phone. It would be beneficial to have information about the authentication location."

"It could be a little bit more intuitive when it comes to the sign-up process. I know they send out an email, but sometimes our users get a little confused. It could be an end-user problem, but Cisco could work on that a little."

"Cisco Duo could benefit from improvements in certain areas that are important to us."

"Microsoft is somehow making it harder for Cisco Duo to do its job seamlessly with some of the hooks that Microsoft has in the OAuth connection."

"There is a little bit of apprehension for some users thinking, well, "How do I know this app is not collecting personal information from my personal device?""

"Reducing or eliminating the "telephony credits" system used by Duo would be great."

"I think Cisco Duo could improve the dashboard to make logging in and credential management more visible."

"The reason I chose a seven rating for Cisco Duo is that, as I mentioned before, it's not cheap, and one of the key features that comes to mind is its dependency on the internet to make Cisco Duo reachable, which can lead to a failure."

More Cisco Duo cons

"Advanced Authentication talks about the Device ID. But how the device ID is captured, I want to know more about that."

"Sometimes getting this set up does take a bit longer. It's not always install, next, next, next, finish."

"The initial setup of the tenant is a big cost element of the service and we were doing multiple tenants for our customer."

"Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation."

"They definitely need to automate a few processes like the Wiley process."

"Symantec has very bad support, so I have no words for it. It's one of the worst support experiences I've ever had."

"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."

"It needs faster implementation on the cloud for our customers."

More Symantec Advanced Authentication cons

"In my opinion, for this solution, the technical support is not so expert when we talk about integration using the API."

"Geofencing needs improvement."

"Maybe Symantec could consider providing a step-by-step guide for first-time users."

"There are some shortcomings on the reporting side, such as how many connections you can get per month."

"The User Store synchronization part needs to improve. Also, the logs, reports, and dashboard can be improved."

"Our only issue was with user training. The additional challenge was not well received."

"The reporting on the VIP Manager is not correct."

"The VIP Manager can be accessed from the outside which is a security vulnerability."

More Symantec VIP Access Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is reasonable. It is not highly expensive."

"Duo Security's pricing is good, fair, and very comparable to today's market."

"It falls in line with everything else."

"My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco Duo has been great. We've been there for 10 years. While we haven't gone through the setup part for a while, licensing is straightforward and convenient for higher education because student populations are included. So, we don't have to pay extra for it. We just pay for our knowledge workers, which has been great, and the cost is reasonable."

"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."

"The pricing was a lot more than what we were paying for our previous solution."

"Duo Security is free."

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

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"The price is reasonable."

"There are eventually going to be implementation costs. Sometimes you're required to have custom code developments there, so that has to be part of the implementation price."

"There are additional costs for maintenance."

"There is a one-time setup fee plus the licenses are provided as per the number of users. For SMS and voice calls, the costs are separate."

"I can say that the solution is worth the money."

"Licensing and pricing seems very fair."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

15%

Construction Company

15%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Construction Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	66
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	93

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	10

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 Du...

See all answers

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

Regarding the pricing, what actually happened was that we got the product purchased through our HQ, so the costing as...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Duo Security?

I do not have a straight answer for how Cisco Duo can be improved at this time. With the implementation that we are g...

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Comparisons

Microsoft Entra ID vs Cisco Duo

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Duo

Compared 6% of the time

Okta Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

RSA Authentication Manager vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 13% of the time

RSA Adaptive Authentication vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 5% of the time

Thales Authenticators vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 5% of the time

Certificate Lifecycle Manager vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 3% of the time

More Symantec Advanced Authentication Competitors

Identity Manager by One Identity vs Symantec VIP Access Manager

Compared 8% of the time

Okta Platform vs Symantec VIP Access Manager

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Symantec VIP Access Manager

Compared 6% of the time

Symantec Siteminder vs Symantec VIP Access Manager

Compared 5% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs Symantec VIP Access Manager

Compared 4% of the time

More Symantec VIP Access Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

November 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Advanced Authentication

October 2026

Download Symantec Advanced Authentication product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec VIP Access Manager

October 2026

Download Symantec VIP Access Manager product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort

Symantec VIP

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 Advanced Authentication provides robust security solutions aimed at safeguarding digital identities through multifactor authentication, ensuring secure access control for businesses.

With increasing cyber threats, businesses need reliable authentication systems. Symantec Advanced Authentication delivers enhanced security protocols, blending risk-based authentication with seamless user experiences. It supports a range of authentication methods and integrates effortlessly into existing systems, offering scalable security options.

What are the key features of Symantec Advanced Authentication?

Risk-Based Authentication: Evaluates risks in real-time to adjust security measures dynamically.
Multifactor Authentication: Supports various means like biometrics, tokens, and smart cards for secure login processes.
Cloud and On-premise Options: Flexible deployment choices to suit different IT environments.
Integration Capabilities: Easily integrates with existing IT infrastructure for seamless operation.

What benefits can users expect from reviews?

Enhanced Security: Reliable protection against unauthorized access.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs without compromising on performance.
Flexibility: Multiple authentication options catering to different user preferences.
Cost Efficiency: Reduction in potential security-related financial losses.

Symantec Advanced Authentication is utilized in healthcare, finance, and other industries to secure sensitive information. In healthcare, it enables compliance with regulations by safeguarding patient data. Financial institutions leverage it to protect client information and ensure secure transactions. Its versatility makes it an ideal choice for industries requiring strict security protocols.

Broadcom

Symantec VIP Access Manager offers seamless integration with applications, providing robust user authentication and enhanced security for remote work. Its cloud-based design ensures consistent connectivity and is convenient for users.

Designed for strengthening access security, Symantec VIP Access Manager features strong user authentication and easy application integration. Its fast interface and reliable VPN access support risk-based authentication. Users can securely work remotely, leveraging a mobile app for generating digital codes, crucial for multifactor authentication. The cloud-based solution ensures access even when company VPNs are down, reducing hardware costs with Mobile Credential and offering enhanced dashboards in version 9.1.

What are the standout features of Symantec VIP Access Manager?

Strong Authentication: Provides robust multifactor authentication enhancing security.
Application Integration: Seamlessly integrates with existing applications.
Mobile Utility: Allows secure work through mobile devices for remote access.
Cloud Connectivity: Ensures access even if company VPNs experience issues.
Enhanced Dashboards: Version 9.1 introduces advanced dashboard features.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Reduced Hardware Costs: Mobile Credential lowers expenses by lessening hardware dependencies.
Secure Remote Work: Facilitates safe access to networks and emails while working remotely.
Reliability: Provides consistent access through cloud services.
Enhanced Security: Risk-based authentication strengthens data protection.

Symantec VIP Access Manager is commonly used in industries requiring secure remote connectivity. Organizations implement it to generate login codes for multifactor authentication, critical for employees accessing networks via VPN tools like Palo Alto GlobalProtect and Fortinet VPN. It supports secure remote workflows, vital in sectors prioritizing data protection and remote access.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec

Maine Medical Center, Aria S.p.A

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Advanced Authentication vs. Symantec VIP Access Manager

November 2026

Free Report: Symantec Advanced Authentication vs. Symantec VIP Access Manager

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