Appgate SDP vs Cisco Duo comparison

Appgate and Cisco are both solutions in the ZTNA as a Service category. Appgate is ranked #12 with an average rating of 9.0, while Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8. Appgate holds a 3.1% mindshare in ZaaS, compared to Cisco’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Appgate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

We compared Appgate SDP and Duo Security across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

Ease of Deployment: Appgate SDP's setup process was considered moderately complex and time-consuming, taking several days or even a week to complete. On the other hand, the initial setup for Duo Security was generally described as simple, easy, and fast, with few problems encountered.

Features: Appgate SDP is highly praised for its adaptability, reliability, and powerful customization options. Conversely, Duo Security stands out in delivering dual-factor authentication, effortless registration, and seamless integration with diverse platforms.

Room for Improvement: Based on the reviews, Appgate SDP has room for improvement in terms of cost, non-split tunnel functionality, enterprise-level solutions, and user interface. On the other hand, Duo Security can improve compatibility, user management, password-free login, and integration options.

Pricing: Appgate SDP's setup cost is considered expensive. In contrast, Duo Security offers flexible and affordable licensing options, making it accessible to a wide range of customers. Some small businesses find Duo Security expensive, but large enterprises see the cost as justified due to potential data breaches.

ROI: Appgate SDP's ROI is uncertain, whereas Duo Security offers a positive ROI through enhanced security, defense against cyber-attacks, compliance with regulations, and cost reduction.

Service and Support: Appgate SDP's customer service receives positive feedback for technical assistance and quick response times. Some customers believe that support could be enhanced. On the other hand, Duo Security's customer service is highly acclaimed, providing remote assistance and prompt issue resolution. Users with upgraded licenses receive even better support. However, without a service agreement, response times may be slower, potentially leading to financial losses.

Comparison Results: Appgate SDP requires a more intricate setup process, but it offers flexibility, resilience, and powerful configuration options. It is considered costly and lacks user-friendly interface. Conversely, Duo Security has a simple setup, provides two-factor authentication, and is commended for its simplicity and time-saving advantages. It faces some compatibility and integration difficulties, but offers affordable pricing and a favorable return on investment. Customer service and support receive high praise for both products.

To learn more, read our detailed Appgate SDP vs. Cisco Duo Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Appgate SDP vs. Cisco Duo

December 2025

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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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the ZTNA as a Service category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.6%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Appgate SDP is 3.1%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Duo is 2.3%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

ZTNA as a Service Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Duo	2.3%
iboss	2.6%
Appgate SDP	3.1%
Other	92.0%

ZTNA as a Service

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851

Managing Director

Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment

I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.

Read full review

IgnitiusMolepo

Senior IP Network Defense at MTN

Helps us manage traffic-related issues and streamlines access management for the network

Appgate SDP has significantly streamlined our access management, providing a notably efficient solution compared to traditional VPNs. The simplicity of the SDP platform is a standout feature; instead of navigating through intricate details, users can seamlessly connect to the company's network or switch to the internet with minimal effort, unlike VPNs which often involve waiting for connection handling and unblocking. Recognizing the robustness of SDP, we made strategic decisions to minimize reliance on VPNs, reserving only two for administrative purposes. In a scenario where Appgate SDP significantly improved our network security posture, the platform played a crucial role in fortifying defenses against major threats. The encryption algorithms utilized by SDP provide a high level of security to our network architecture. Compared to Cisco, SDP proves to be most critical in protecting resources with the help of role-based policies. It only provides selective access to the application. The dynamic policy engine significantly enhances our access control mechanisms. It has single sign-on and multifactor authentication features. It makes processes faster and easier. It has helped our IT team to manage the workload with ease. It gives an intelligent solution whenever they face traffic-related problems. I rate it a nine out of ten.

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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

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

"The solution has massively improved our security posture, giving us full visibility into what our staff does online."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."

More iboss pros

"It is pretty stable."

"The flexibility of the tool is valuable. It is very robust. It has a very robust configuration capability."

"It is a scalable solution...The support answers your questions very fast."

"One of the most important features is stopping lateral movement across our network."

"The interface is really friendly. It's simple to understand."

"The simplicity of the SDP platform is a standout feature; instead of navigating through intricate details, users can seamlessly connect to the company's network or switch to the internet with minimal effort."

"Regarding the valuable features, I would say that Duo Security is easy to use, has speed, and is dependable."

"At the moment, the ease of use is what is the best feature for me. Once it has been set up and the security can hoc to my mobile device, it's very simple to use my single sign-on, get prompted for a Duo Security, push, go to my phone, accept the push, and I'm done. It's a very simple process."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Duo for us is the multi-factor authentication."

"We get fewer threats to remediate due to the two-factor authentication, which does not allow as many threats through."

"The feature of Cisco Duo that I appreciate most is the push notifications. They are great."

"The most valuable features of Duo Security are visibility and OTP authentication. The OTP is very important because it is a self-enrollment feature, you are able to enroll users very quickly with a shorter time period."

"The ease of deploying Cisco Duo Security and onboarding has greatly benefited our customers."

"Duo offers dual-factor authentication for our logins. I put in my credentials and hit go. Then I get an alert on my Apple watch, and I approve it. That part is just phenomenal."

More Cisco Duo pros

Cons

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"One thing I would like to see differently with their Zero Trust platform is that some of the AI aspects related to high-risk activities have more false positives."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

More iboss cons

"One limitation is that it's harder to provide access to multiple applications in the company with Appgate, but that's probably because of poor management."

"One thing that kind of sticks out to me is the ability to do a proper non-split tunnel. VPN tunnel-wise, it is not really a true unsplit tunnel, but I think that's just because of the way it's designed. A split VPN basically allows your system to talk to other systems without being forced down the tunnel. A VPN running in a non-split tunnel mode forces all the traffic down the tunnel to wherever you're VPNing to. It forces the traffic down so that the traffic is subject to the firewall and rules that you have in your corporate environment and such. It helps to prevent remote malicious folks that may be talking directly to that box from piggybacking into the corporate environment through it. They do it partially, but it would be nice to see more of an enterprise-level solution there."

"They could provide a single-box solution to manage tools for 4000 users. Additionally, they could add extra features to enhance remote micro connection."

"On the cloud, when you make some changes, it may be difficult."

"It would be better to connect to an application portal from any device. Documentation and support could be better."

"The user interface should be improved as it is not very easy to work with the updates."

"An enhancement they might make is if they can log it to Splunk since they're big into Splunk. Instead of me having to go into that portal to look at things when someone is trying to log in and they forgot their password, I can look in and tell them they forgot their password or didn't respond to the prompt."

"Duo Security could be improved with the addition of more applications."

"The only time I really had some negative feedback for them was about the UI of their mobile app, but they improved it in the last version. It is good on the functionality side, but their pricing model is a little bit weird. Currently, there is no price advantage in signing up for yearly contracts. If you are on a monthly term or a yearly contract, you basically pay the same price, and that is very unusual. Normally, there is a discount when someone signs up for the 12-month system."

"The product price needs improvement."

"Removing the need for a password would be a positive change as well as the ability to cover all the different enterprise applications. They don't have coverage for everything."

"The technical engineers in the first line of support should improve their knowledge."

"The dashboard needs to be improved."

"With Cisco Duo, you have to do that, and customers complain about that process. At some point, you need to be technically savvy to understand how to use Cisco Duo."

More Cisco Duo cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"The pricing is according to the market price. It is not a very cheap solution. They have some very aggressive promotions to sell the product in the market."

"It is a pretty expensive tool. It is maybe about $20,000 per year for a hundred users or so."

"We pay $100 per user per month. One license for the site is around $17."

"I am not aware of the pricing. There are two departments, and I don't have any information about them."

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

"Our licensing fee is currently on an annual basis."

"Price-wise, the solution has been very, very reasonable...Licensing is the last thing I think about Duo Security because it's so easy, and I had no problems with it."

"With regard to pricing, for a small business buying a one off, it's pretty expensive. If it's an enterprise that has thousands of employees, however, it's really nothing to protect your data because if your network goes down or it's breached, you're losing millions of dollars every minute. When it comes to a large enterprise, it's priced where it should be because you're talking business to business. You're not talking business to consumer."

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

"The licensing is very good because it does not cost a lot of money. It's affordable for all-sized customers, including enterprises. There is an additional cost for premium support."

"I haven't seen it in a while, but it's at par with everything else licensing-wise."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	40

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

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What do you like most about Appgate SDP?

The simplicity of the SDP platform is a standout feature; instead of navigating through intricate details, users can ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Appgate SDP?

They could provide a single-box solution to manage tools for 4000 users. Additionally, they could add extra features ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Appgate SDP?

We use Appgate SDP as a substitute for traditional VPN.

See all answers

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?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing reveals that one of the most powerful features is the licensing...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Duo Security?

One downside of Cisco Duo is the expense, as there are clients that can afford only the basic package, which does not...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

ZTNA

January 2026

Download Appgate SDP product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

January 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

No data available

Duo Security

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

Appgate SDP is a network access control tool for local and remote access, multifactor authentication, and micro-segmentation. It is a flexible, robust, and configurable tool with good documentation, interface improvements, and ease of deployment.

It helps organizations prevent lateral movement across networks and servers and provides a more granular access control structure than traditional VPNs. Appgate SDP's valuable features include the ability to hide servers, good support, stability, scalability, and stopping lateral movement. It is currently being used as the main VPN solution for many companies.

Appgate

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

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

United States Air Force FINRA Weight Watchers Rackspace DataDog SageNet Verdant Norwegian Cruise Line VoiceBase The Third Floor

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Buyer's Guide

Appgate SDP vs. Cisco Duo

December 2025

Free Report: Appgate SDP vs. Cisco Duo

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