No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.
Network and Security Manager at Exolum
Real User
Top 20
Feb 10, 2026
Multi-factor access has strengthened remote protection for our OT environment and users sign in flexibly
Pros and Cons
  • "I can say that it is difficult to measure the direct return on investment, but what I can say is that we are safer and feel more comfortable having this security implemented than before."
  • "The deployment experience was more difficult than we expected because we had some problems with the version of the OS that we have in our servers."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Cisco Duo is to protect the OT environment from remote access.

What is most valuable?

The feature I like the most about Cisco Duo is that I can choose which device I want to sign in.

It is valuable for me that I can choose because not all people have a corporate phone, so they can use their personal phone for access or different methods for performing second-factor authentication.

I can say that it is difficult to measure the direct return on investment, but what I can say is that we are safer and feel more comfortable having this security implemented than before.

What needs improvement?

I cannot think of any improvements for Cisco Duo at this time.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Duo for approximately half a year.

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Duo
August 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Duo. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I do not have problems with stability or reliability. Being a cloud solution, I think it is difficult to have problems, and we also use Umbrella with Cisco, which is very reliable and has high availability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable for our growth.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used Okta sometime before Cisco Duo.

We used Okta in a different environment, and we finished our license; we were not seeing the need to keep using Okta. For this new environment, we chose Cisco because we wanted to have a homogeneous solution, and our colleagues in other countries were happy, so it was easy for us to choose.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment experience was more difficult than we expected because we had some problems with the version of the OS that we have in our servers. We also had concerns about opening the mandatory connection to a specific URL and port from our OT environment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that the price is acceptable because the license is by user.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We were considering different solutions, but we are a global company, and in another place in our company, they were using Cisco Duo, so it was our first option because we want to have a homogeneous scenario.

What other advice do I have?

I do not think I am using Cisco Identity Intelligence.

I have not seen an increase in phishing attacks recently; I think they are more or less constant, but not increasing, particularly in the last three or four months.

We have seen the number of phishing attacks increase every year, but I do not know if that surprises us; we are accustomed to having this type of risk.

I think I have deployed Duo Directory to manage the user identities.

I think I used it as an identity broker in front of the IDPs.

My review rating for Cisco Duo is 8.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Feb 10, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
SreejeshSoman - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at Vertex Techno Solutions (B) Pvt Ltd
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Jun 10, 2026
Multi-factor access has strengthened identity security and provided deeper risk visibility
Pros and Cons
  • "Regarding stability and reliability of Cisco Duo, I would say it is 99.9% reliable and stable."
  • "When discussing areas for improvement in Cisco Duo, especially for Secure Access, I noted that the licensing structure could be better and more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

I have completed a couple of installations for SSO or MFA using Cisco Duo, and it is possible. I have been working with Cisco Duo for nearly three years. Mostly, I have implemented it for MFA or SSO use cases, along with all these secure platform or user platform, especially for email security platform or user company or organization access security platform.

Cisco Duo mainly serves as a security layer and a central control point, integrating with other security products. It is mostly integrated with other security products, especially Cisco Duo along with the Cisco security platform or Cisco fabric. Obviously, seamless integration will be possible. However, I am not sure about Cisco Duo's integration with other platforms as I have not done any integration of Cisco Duo with other platforms.

In terms of deployment, I would say Cisco Duo is straightforward for the Cisco workload, with easy deployment. However, for other use cases, I do not think it will be that much easy, but I do not have personal experience; that is based on normal readings of marketing information.

As for the deployment model, Cisco Duo works for hybrid, on-prem, or cloud platforms. Use cases and customer setups, like customer IT infrastructure, do not matter; the exact use case will be served if we evaluate it the right way.

What is most valuable?

The advantages of Cisco Duo include three categories: Essential, Premium, and Advantage. All these features may vary depending on these license SKUs. MFA is the primary use case for Cisco Duo. Phishing-resistant authentication based on the end-use, end-device profile is another use case, and obviously, ZTNA, or zero-trust security, addresses user identity, device health, and location. All those aspects are another advantage or another use case.

Cisco Duo improves the visibility into identity-based risks, especially with the report for failed logins and authentication attempts. That provides more insight about our network and the users and how they are using our network. These are the two major features when we discuss the visibility part on Cisco Duo. Then obviously there is device compliance and user activity, but especially authentication attempts and failures and logins will give more insight to the IT team to secure their devices and their IT infrastructure.

In terms of operational efficiency, using Cisco Duo helps organizations or management secure their workload. Also, they can reduce security threats, which will help them protect their financial partners.

What needs improvement?

When discussing areas for improvement in Cisco Duo, especially for Secure Access, I noted that the licensing structure could be better and more user-friendly. During a POC for some use cases, especially on SAML use cases, we could see gateway-level rejection being possible, but we are unable to get a list of how many emails have been rejected from the gateway level. If we could obtain those kinds of insights when integrating Cisco Duo for SAML integration, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, it would help us.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Cisco Duo for nearly three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding stability and reliability of Cisco Duo, I would say it is 99.9% reliable and stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo will adopt to growing needs for the company, offering more expandable possibilities for customers.

How are customer service and support?

For customer support, I would rate Cisco Duo the same as Secure Access, as nine points out of ten.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before implementing Cisco Duo, my clients were particularly concerned about phishing or credential-based attacks, typically involving user password theft or fake logins and credential stuffing.

As far as I understand from our conversation, my clients usually choose Cisco Duo as a comprehensive identity security platform, not only as a standalone MFA.

What was our ROI?

Regarding return on investment for Cisco Duo, it is possible to observe a good ROI because, from a security standpoint, Cisco Duo provides more ROI since its rich features help customers avoid using multiple agents. The single agent could secure their entire endpoints.

What other advice do I have?

I have never worked with AWS Marketplace and do not have experience with their marketplace.

Regarding AI integration in Cisco Duo, I did not go through the AI part of Cisco Duo, but as per my theoretical knowledge, it will help us to get protection. Cisco Duo will help us with some sort of AI security part as well.

As previously mentioned for Cisco Secure Access, my clients using Cisco Duo do utilize AWS as the main cloud provider.

Cisco Duo contributes to clients becoming more resistant to phishing attacks because its device health check before authorizing to the network helps us ensure clean device access to our network. If that device is compromised, it will obviously be quarantined and will resist connecting to our network. That will help us.

I would say Cisco Duo helps to evolve the IAM strategy from simple authentication to a more comprehensive identity security platform, as mostly all these SSO or MFA is for protecting from these simple authentication parts. Cisco Duo integrates well into the environment, acting not only as a security layer but also as a central control point that integrates with various other products.

I give this review an overall rating of ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
Last updated: Jun 10, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Duo
August 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Duo. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2848827 - PeerSpot reviewer
Bdm at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
Top 20
Jun 4, 2026
Strong authentication has reduced password issues and improves daily security operations
Pros and Cons
  • "Cisco Duo has definitely improved my operational efficiency and reduced costs in areas like authentication and IT support, as evidenced by a reduction in security tickets since we don't see too many password change requests or forgotten password calls anymore."
  • "To improve Cisco Duo, wherever the team can try to reduce the number of clicks an end user needs to go through to authenticate would be good."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Cisco Duo is authentication. Currently, I am only using Cisco Duo for authentication, which is the first piece. I cannot comment on the whole architecture because I don't work on that team. I would say I'm using Cisco Duo as an added security layer.

I can only talk to the human identities because that's the use case I have seen. I don't think we have, or at least I don't know if we have deployed it for the agentic use case.

What is most valuable?

The feature I like the most about Cisco Duo is the iWatch.

The benefit of using Cisco Duo's features for my organization is better security. We don't have to worry about changing passwords very often and things of that nature. Overall, it improves our security posture.

What needs improvement?

To improve Cisco Duo, wherever the team can try to reduce the number of clicks an end user needs to go through to authenticate would be good. Otherwise, I think it's pretty flawless.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Duo for maybe six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In all my years of using Cisco Duo, I've had maybe a couple of issues here and there, but there are so many different options to authenticate using Cisco Duo, so if one is not working, I can always revert to another. Thus, we've been able to work around things, and they come back up pretty soon as well. I think it has performed better than any other cloud platform.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo has scaled well with the growing needs of my organization, and because it's a cloud-based platform, we haven't really had any issues scaling the solution. It's been fairly seamless.

How are customer service and support?

I'm sure Cisco Duo's customer service and technical support are great, but I haven't had to call them, which is a good thing.

On a scale from one to 10, I would rate Cisco Duo's customer service and technical support a 10 just because I haven't had to use them, but I'm sure they are top-notch because they are a Cisco-based company.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to adopting Cisco Duo, I don't think we used anything else beforehand in my company, but I've used other products whenever I've accessed things that other companies are hosting. I've used Okta and Microsoft, which are not very seamless compared to Cisco Duo.

What about the implementation team?

I was not part of the deployment team, so I can't really comment on that, but as an end user, my experience with Cisco Duo was pretty seamless.

What was our ROI?

Cisco Duo has definitely improved my operational efficiency and reduced costs in areas like authentication and IT support, as evidenced by a reduction in security tickets since we don't see too many password change requests or forgotten password calls anymore. Everything is Cisco Duo authenticated these days, so that has been a very positive change.

What other advice do I have?

If Cisco Duo were removed, I guess we will have to use an inferior product from somebody else. I don't know how that's going to impact the end-user experience, but it's probably going to be worse.

I'm not sure exactly how Cisco Duo has helped our organization become more resilient to phishing attacks, so I'm probably not the right person to ask that question. But I'm guessing because most of our apps are secured behind Cisco Duo for authentication, that helps overall with phishing.

Before implementing Cisco Duo, I was concerned about increasingly sophisticated phishing or credential-based attacks, but because Cisco Duo keeps up with all those threats and things of that nature, we feel fairly secure using Cisco Duo.

As my organization adopts and deploys AI agents, most of the platforms we are deploying are secured behind Cisco Duo authentication. I'm not sure if deploying the agents includes Cisco Duo for those agents or not, but all those platforms we are using are secured behind Cisco Duo for authentication.

Looking back, Cisco Duo has helped me evolve my IAM strategy from simple authentication to a more comprehensive identity security platform, though right now, the only use case I know is more human identification purposes. I'm pretty sure my company is looking into deploying it for agentic AI as well. Cisco Duo has helped me evolve my IAM strategy.

When evaluating my identity strategy, I was not looking for a standalone MFA tool but rather a comprehensive identity security platform. I'm pretty sure we selected Cisco Duo because of its capabilities, not just for authentication, but for the overall solution. I think Cisco Duo represents more of a comprehensive security solution rather than just a standalone MFA tool.

The end-user experience stood out to me in my evaluation process, which is why my company selected Cisco Duo. The key capabilities beyond MFA that led me to choose Cisco Duo as my primary identity security partner include the end-user experience and the MFA piece, as well as the fact that Cisco has many other security solutions and is a very trusted company. That helps the overall story because all the other solutions work seamlessly together, making Cisco Duo a great solution.

We have expanded our usage of Cisco Duo. On a scale from one to 10, I would rate Cisco Duo overall a 10 and advise other organizations to go for Cisco Duo. They've been solid over the years, and they innovate and come up with better security every time. I would give them a 10 out of 10. I would also say don't compromise on such a crucial security posture item by getting something that's free but also far less secure, like Microsoft. My overall review rating for Cisco Duo is 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 4, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Architect at Greennet
Video Review
Real User
Top 20
Feb 12, 2026
Strong authentication has simplified secure access and supports evolving identity projects
Pros and Cons
  • "My advice for other companies that are considering getting Cisco Duo is to try it, and you will be amazed at how easy and how productive this tool is."
  • "Regarding the Premier licensing, it is a little bit pricey, but it is in the market range with the competitors."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases for Cisco Duo in my company start with multi-factor authentication, but I also have projects when I use Cisco Duo for things like mobile posture check and so on.

What is most valuable?

The features of Cisco Duo that I prefer the most include, first of all, 2FA. 2FA is pretty good because it is simple, and the simple way is what all users love. That is the top feature for Cisco Duo. I also appreciate all the features overall. I appreciate that with Cisco Duo, many people may think that it was just for 2FA, but now it functions as a full identity provider. That is a pretty good upgrade. I like the whole product and how it increases and develops on a huge scale.

I can tell you that for my company, these features benefit us because we work for other customers, so we help them to use these features. When we listen to the client and when we hear that there is something we can use, for example, Cisco Duo, it will be 2FA, it will be for device posture check, and so on. We are offering Cisco Duo straight away because, first of all, we have expertise in Cisco Duo, we know this product, and we have good experience with it.

What needs improvement?

I would think about how Cisco Duo can be improved, but currently, with all of its features, I believe that it is enough, more than enough. However, Cisco Duo is making surprising updates because you do not know that a feature exists, but then the next day you find out that it is available on Cisco Duo and it works very well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Duo for more than three years, and it has been quite a good experience. The first time I had the opportunity to use this product, it was interesting that it was so easy to work with. I also have to mention that all the documentation that administrators or users would like to have is all available and easy to get. It is pretty easy.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Duo as excellent. For these three years that I have been working with Cisco Duo, I have not had any incident or downtime because of Cisco Duo being down.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo scales with the growing needs of my clients' companies very well. When we are starting to work with Cisco Duo, clients come to us and they are asking us for a multi-factor authentication solution. They start with this, but when they know the other features that are behind Cisco Duo, they learn that it is bigger than that and the features are more extensive. When our clients know the features, they are stepping towards using these new features progressively.

How are customer service and support?

I would evaluate customer service and technical support, but I have not had the experience to work with them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

My clients chose Cisco Duo over Okta because we told them that Cisco Duo, in this case, is much better. Additionally, it is easy to work with.

How was the initial setup?

I would describe the experience of deploying Cisco Duo as easy because I have mentioned several times that I appreciate Cisco Duo because it is so easy to work with. The deployment part is pretty easy. You have all this documentation, and you are just making several clicks and some changes, and you are up and running. You just have to deploy these mobile clients. The one thing Cisco Duo does not need to improve is the easiest part because I do not know what they can do to make it even easier.

What was our ROI?

I believe Cisco Duo has helped my company and my clients reduce their overall authentication-related costs. I would like to tell some numbers, but I am just an architect, and I do not have this kind of data.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that pricing depends on the license. For the essential license, I think the pricing is pretty normal. Regarding the Premier licensing, it is a little bit pricey, but it is in the market range with the competitors.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Other solutions my clients consider before choosing Cisco Duo include competitors such as Okta, for example. Okta was the main competitor.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for other companies that are considering getting Cisco Duo is to try it, and you will be amazed at how easy and how productive this tool is. I would rate this review a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partnership
Last updated: Feb 12, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
reviewer2848665 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Support 1 Professional at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 3, 2026
Identity security has transformed our network access and now protects every privileged action
Pros and Cons
  • "Without Cisco Duo, that would be very tough because Cisco Duo is a one-stop-shop, especially with their console."
  • "However, I know that sometimes integrating it with the Linux environment is a bit of a pain."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a Duo console admin. One example is that we can completely lock down our Linux command-line interface. We require Cisco Duo authentication for any privilege escalations, and we have to have Cisco Duo throughout all of our infrastructure at all times.

Without Cisco Duo, that would be very tough because Cisco Duo is a one-stop-shop, especially with their console. We would have zero visibility into anything identity related, especially securing our network.

With Cisco Duo in place, we don't have to worry about random phone calls and somebody replicating the dial tone from that. Even though that's still something we have to try to mitigate since threat actors are always finding new ways, especially with this new AI, to get around that.

Our network is fairly locked down to the outside world since we are in research. Penetrating in the first place would be very difficult. Cisco Duo is also tied in greatly with our on-prem AD, and it allows us to authenticate through there without the headache of trying to wonder if it's an authentication attempt or not.

The visibility and the ease of use led me to choose Cisco Duo as a primary identity security partner.

What is most valuable?

The ease of ability to add users into Cisco Duo and to work out their permissions into what areas would need to be implemented is valuable.

We have definitely tied in multiple ways to authenticate with Cisco Duo. The newest one is biometrics, and we have used Microsoft Authenticator. It's almost a dual MFA. It will send you Microsoft Authenticator, then it ties to Cisco Duo, then it will authenticate through there. There are several steps into authenticating to Cisco Duo.

Cisco Duo's border security approach is greatly valuable because the border control is so robust that we genuinely don't have to worry about that as much. Cisco Duo fits into our border security environment seamlessly.

With Cisco Duo console, you get clear visibility of all the Duo agents that are installed and if they've been checking in or if the attempts are actually being flagged as fraudulent or not. Cisco Duo console provides great visibility in exactly what's going on. That is one less step I have to take as an engineer in securing our environment.

It was more comprehensive because of the multi-layer network that we have. That's the easiest way to scale across our network.

Providing clear visibility is important. We don't have to worry about stale accounts or stale accounts will be brought to our forefront. We don't have to worry about too many fraudulent attempts because those would be flagged immediately. In the perfect world, all of the authenticated attempts would be obviously visible within Cisco Duo platform.

What needs improvement?

I'm pretty happy with Cisco Duo. However, I know that sometimes integrating it with the Linux environment is a bit of a pain. I would say some Linux usability improvements would be beneficial.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Duo for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been very minor crashes. Nothing significant to report.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo scales greatly since we don't have to hire that many new engineers. If we do hire new engineers, we could cross-train on Cisco Duo platform and it's very easy to use. It scales seamlessly and is very easy to scale with Cisco Duo.

How are customer service and support?

I have never had an issue. Anytime a problem comes up, they actually listen and then try to identify the problem based on what we're giving them.

How was the initial setup?

It was very simple. As long as you have the installer and you can run it properly with your environment, it's almost hands-off after running the installer.

What other advice do I have?

I'm sure we are running other third-party apps as well alongside Cisco Duo, but I know Cisco Duo is the main driver. If they're looking for ease of use and scalability, that's the product to go with. I would give this solution a rating of ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 3, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Sr. Network Security Engineer at Topnet Internet Services Provider. Riyadh, Saudi A
Real User
Top 20
Nov 21, 2025
Uses secure mobile push and code-based authentication to improve user login process
Pros and Cons
  • "The authentication process is very smooth and secure."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

I have been using Cisco Duo for one of my customers for three years. I have integrated Cisco Duo with the on-premises Active Directory and I am using two authentication methods: one is by code and one is through push notifications on Android mobile phones or Apple iPhones. The authentication process is very smooth and secure.

When any request is made to log in for email, the request is integrated with Cisco Duo and asks the user to enter a code via their mobile phone. This is the purpose I am using it for, and it represents a very smooth and secure authentication method.

How has it helped my organization?

The method is simple and secure, only thing i want to say about pricing will be reduce for old customers

What is most valuable?

Cisco Duo has a capability for Duo Push. When it comes to authentication, you get a notification and you just need to approve or reject the request, which allows the process to go smoothly. Although Microsoft Authenticator also has this function, other authenticators do not.

What needs improvement?

Pricing is an area that needs improvement because the pricing is high. One of my customers recently received a billing statement for one year charging 3,600 US dollars for 100 users. In my case, it costs me around 300 US dollars monthly for 100 users.

Initial deployment was smooth from an MFA point of view. However, 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. I encountered a lot of issues during the integration part and was unable to achieve that task due to a lack of documentation at that time. That project was eventually closed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I am using Cisco Duo for one of my customers for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not faced any issues with Cisco Duo so far. It is a very stable product and functions well.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good with Cisco Duo.

How are customer service and support?

The support process is very smooth. If I need any support, I can send an email to their support team and they reply on the same day. I normally send emails to billing support and have not needed to send support emails otherwise until now.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used AuthLogics MFA as well. I am also using Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator.

How was the initial setup?

Cisco Duo is a very simple product to understand. I searched for information on Google and integrated it using the guide provided by Cisco Duo during my first implementation. If I need any support, I can send an email to their support team and they reply on the same day. The support process is very smooth and initial deployment is smooth from an MFA point of view.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing needs improvement because it is high. One of my customers recently received a billing statement charging 3,600 US dollars for 100 users for one year. In my case, it costs me around 300 US dollars monthly for 100 users.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have used AuthLogics MFA as well. I am also using Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator.

What other advice do I have?

My clients are requesting MFA on their emails, third-party emails they are using for HTTPS, for cloud emails or cloud logins with different applications. I recommend Cisco Duo to them because the process is very smooth with Cisco Duo. I give Cisco Duo a rating of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Nov 21, 2025
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Thomas Botts - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 5
Jun 11, 2025
Managing security policies effectively with seamless authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "Improving Cisco Duo might involve alerting us about telephony credits when people receive texts. We hit zero at one point, and we were running around in circles without any idea until I discovered it. That's my only complaint."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case when using Cisco Duo is MFA into everything: email, making teachers MFA, and mostly email. We are rolling it out to other on-site resources that we have as well.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us significantly since we have many different applications and things of that nature to protect. Cisco Duo provides protection as we don't have a full cybersecurity team.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

Improving Cisco Duo might involve alerting us about telephony credits when people receive texts. We hit zero at one point, and we were running around in circles without any idea until I discovered it. That's my only complaint. Other than that, I appreciate Duo significantly.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have had Cisco Duo for a couple of years. That said, we just got it rolled out in our school district this past year. I have been more involved with it in this past year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of Cisco Duo are good. I haven't seen too many issues. Occasionally, a server will go down, but they send an email. They tell you who's having issues and that they're working on it. It has only happened once or twice over the couple of years that we've had it. It is very reliable, easy to use, and I don't have too many issues with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo scales very easily with the growing needs of our company. We have 25,000 students and 5,000 teachers, totaling about 30,000 users, and it's very easy to add when new people come on. Rolling it out was very seamless, as we could do a whole campus at a time.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and technical support of Cisco Duo is easy. It's really easy on the back end. I have no complaints. Dealing with customer service has been positive. I called them once about telephony credits, and I didn't have to sit through a queue. Someone answered the phone immediately and was very helpful. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did consider other solutions before choosing Cisco Duo as a school district. It has been so long that I'm not sure which ones, however, as a school district, we have to consider multiple options. We always evaluate all possibilities to see what's most advantageous to our system.

Cisco Duo fits the role since we're a Cisco shop. We typically lean toward Cisco solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment of Cisco Duo is simple and straightforward. It's actually very easy. We tied everything to AD groups and would do one site at a time. We didn't mass roll out. I would move a group over, sync with Duo, and it would automatically send them an email. It's pretty seamless.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Cisco Duo is protection and 2FA into anything that we need. As a school district, people are always trying to get teachers' credentials and student information. It's very important to protect PII.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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 other advice do I have?

We haven't started using any new features or functionalities in Cisco Duo recently as we just rolled it out. We are currently using basic features. We're looking to do more with it as part of the process. Having a complete passwordless environment in our company would lead to less pushback from people who don't necessarily want MFA. It makes it simpler for them and smooth.

I do not utilize the feature called Advanced Identity Threat Detection and Response. 

I don't know enough about Cisco Identity Intelligence capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks effectively. 

I have seen yet not used Duo's conversational AI interface for admin tasks.

I would rate Cisco Duo overall at a nine out of ten. It's hard to be a ten, however, I don't have anything at the moment that they could improve.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Senior Director, Networking at Rackspace Technology
MSP
Top 20
Jun 3, 2026
Security platform has strengthened client authentication and has reduced credential attacks
Pros and Cons
  • "Cisco Duo has improved my operational efficiency and reduced costs by better managing authentication for our clients and helping to reduce potential compromises and brute force attacks."
  • "Cisco Duo can be improved, but additional features that should be included in the next release are not my area of responsibility."

What is our primary use case?

My main use for Cisco Duo is for authentication. If Cisco Duo were removed, we would have to find another authentication method. As my organization adopts and deploys AI agents, we are not doing that yet with agentic IAM to ensure these non-human identities are secure, and the role Cisco Duo plays in that strategy is not defined. Cisco Duo fits into my broader security environment as an added security layer for our clients. Looking back, Cisco Duo has helped me evolve my IAM strategy from simple authentication to a more comprehensive identity security platform by providing two-factor authentication for our clients' security needs. When evaluating my identity strategy, I was looking for a standalone authentication system to be able to be implemented on a per-client basis.

What is most valuable?

The features of Cisco Duo that I like the most are not my field of expertise. Examples of how these features benefited my organization include providing us with additional robustness in our security products for our customers. Cisco Duo has improved my operational efficiency and reduced costs by better managing authentication for our clients and helping to reduce potential compromises and brute force attacks.

What needs improvement?

Cisco Duo can be improved, but additional features that should be included in the next release are not my area of responsibility.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Duo for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of Cisco Duo are acceptable. We have had a few incidents and bugs related to Cisco Duo that caused some impact, but nothing out of the ordinary.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo scales very well with the growing needs of my organization. I have expanded usage of Cisco Duo and the process was very smooth. We have continually expanded it and have resold it to clients for the last six years.

How are customer service and support?

I would evaluate customer service and technical support on a scale from one to ten as a ten because Cisco does a great job supporting their services.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to adopting Cisco Duo, we were not using another solution to address similar needs.

How was the initial setup?

My experience with the deployment of Cisco Duo was good. Our administrators were trained on the product prior to deploying it, and we had no issues. We did not face any challenges during deployment, and the entire process went very well.

What was our ROI?

I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Duo.

What other advice do I have?

The steps my organization has taken to become more resistant to phishing attacks and the contribution of Cisco Duo's broader security approach are not my area of responsibility. The types of phishing or credential-based attacks I was concerned about before implementing Cisco Duo and how those threats have evolved are not my area either. Cisco Duo's visibility into identity-based risks has not improved my ability to manage the security of both human users and non-human users' identities across my environment because it is not my area of expertise. Key capabilities beyond MFA led to my choice of Cisco Duo as my primary identity security partner are not applicable. Data points or examples that I have are not available. I chose Cisco security because it offers the best unified partner solutions. I gave this review a rating of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Last updated: Jun 3, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Digital Technology Analyst Ii at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
Jun 3, 2026
Strong authentication has secured network access and prevents logins from untrusted devices
Pros and Cons
  • "Right now, I do not think there is anything about Cisco Duo that I would improve; I have been happy with everything so far."
  • "If I could improve Cisco Duo, I would suggest providing some notification back that the Cisco Duo system was not able to reach the remote device, because I was left in a situation where I did not know if it was actually my cell phone or something was wrong with Cisco Duo."

What is our primary use case?

The main use case for Cisco Duo is extra authentication into the network.

What is most valuable?

The feature that I appreciate the most about Cisco Duo is that it goes to my cell phone.

Cisco Duo's trusted endpoint device capabilities have helped improve my organization's security policies by preventing unauthorized access from unknown devices quite a bit.

What needs improvement?

If I could improve Cisco Duo, I would suggest providing some notification back that the Cisco Duo system was not able to reach the remote device, because I was left in a situation where I did not know if it was actually my cell phone or something was wrong with Cisco Duo.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Cisco Duo for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Duo and note that the issues I have experienced were not from Cisco Duo, but from cellular devices. There have been instances where the Cisco Duo push took too long to come to my cell phone. I do not know if that is the carrier involvement, but there are times where I am waiting for the push and I never receive it. It appears to be a cell phone issue; I may be in a hotspot or dead spot and it is hard to tell.

How are customer service and support?

I have not had any issues with Cisco Duo's customer service and tech support. I would give Cisco Duo a 10 out of 10 for customer service.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before Cisco Duo, I used some type of grid chart.

How was the initial setup?

I would describe my experience with deploying Cisco Duo as very easy. I really do not think we had any challenges other than the fact that notification of teams that it was coming probably could have been better, but that was more of an internal thing. It happened so fast and with ease that it was very quick.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Those options were not looked at from my team when selecting Cisco Duo. It was our cybersecurity team that evaluated those options, so the network team did not really have a lot of involvement in exploring options.

What other advice do I have?

I use Cisco Duo's adaptive authentication feature. From my perspective on the network side, I do not think Cisco Duo's dashboards really apply to me; that is something that our security side handles. I have not used Cisco Duo's push notification method on my side, but I know there are other teams that have, and they definitely prefer it. Right now, I do not think there is anything about Cisco Duo that I would improve; I have been happy with everything so far. My advice for organizations considering Cisco Duo is to implement the service quickly. I would rate this review a 9 out of 10.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 3, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
reviewer2848365 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nsaii at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 2, 2026
Secure access has improved multifactor authentication and simplifies centralized device control
Pros and Cons
  • "The features of Cisco Duo that I like the most are all of the above, especially the multifactor authentication that is very easy to use now."
  • "I think Cisco Duo can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Cisco Duo is just authentication.

What is most valuable?

The features of Cisco Duo that I like the most are all of the above, especially the multifactor authentication that is very easy to use now. The ease of use and setting up users are excellent. It integrates well with everything.

Cisco Duo's trusted endpoint device capabilities have improved our organization's security policies quite well. The second tier of MFA is valuable.

Cisco Duo has improved the authentication times across the platforms as it is easy to use. One push of a button is all that is required. You do not have to memorize a code for thirty seconds.

Some examples of how Cisco Duo's features have benefited my organization include overall security. People take the laptops home and use VPN, so we can see where they try to log in and improve security. We are able to point multiple devices, switches, routers, firewalls, and everything to one offline location. Everything points back to one container.

What needs improvement?

I think Cisco Duo can be improved. Perhaps making it cheaper would be an improvement. Pricing is always a consideration.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Duo for two years, or perhaps we just got it recently.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Duo as strong, as I am not aware of any downtime, crashes, or performance issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco Duo scales with the growing needs of my organization quite well. I believe it is per license basis.

I have expanded usage. We did a small sample size and then we are slowly rolling out to the whole organization.

The process has been pretty smooth.

How are customer service and support?

I would evaluate my customer service and technical support for Cisco Duo as excellent since I have never needed to deal with them before, which is a positive thing.

On a scale from one being the worst to ten being the best, I would rate the customer service and technical support overall as ten out of ten. I have heard of no issues.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before selecting Cisco Duo, we had Cisco AnyConnect. It has been there since I have been here. This was implemented when I first got to my position, so I am not sure what we used before.

Prior to adopting Cisco Duo, I was not using another solution to address similar needs that I am aware of.

How was the initial setup?

I would describe my experience with deploying Cisco Duo as straightforward. We deploy switches and routers in our networking environment, and it is very easy. You just point TACACS to it and it pushes out very easily. We have not had any issues with deployment or conflicts compared to anything else. There have been no issues with device management.

What was our ROI?

I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Duo.

What other advice do I have?

The advice I would give to another organization considering using Cisco Duo is to start small and then scale out. Make sure you have all the kinks and all the bugs settled within ten to one hundred users before going to a grand scale. I would rate this product overall as ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 2, 2026
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Duo Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: August 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Duo Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.