Cisco Duo vs IBM Security Verify Access comparison

Cisco and IBM are both solutions in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 3.4% mindshare in SSO, compared to IBM’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Cisco Duo

Read 89 Cisco Duo reviews

7,041 Views
2,183 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM Security Verify Access

Read 8 IBM Security Verify Access reviews

2,133 Views
960 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Duo

IBM Security Verify Access

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Cisco Duo and IBM Security Verify Access are two competing products in the cybersecurity space. Cisco Duo has higher satisfaction rates for pricing and support, while IBM Security Verify Access is favored for its feature set and perceived value for the price.

Features: Cisco Duo is praised for its intuitive two-factor authentication, seamless integration functionalities, and user-friendly interface. IBM Security Verify Access stands out with its comprehensive access management features, advanced analytics, and robust policy enforcement capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Duo needs more granular control, better logging capabilities, and enhanced automation features. IBM Security Verify Access requires a more modern system, simplified deployment process, and improved user interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Duo offers straightforward deployment with notable ease and efficient customer service. IBM Security Verify Access, while more complex to deploy, benefits from highly responsive and knowledgeable customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Duo is cost-effective with a quick return on investment. IBM Security Verify Access, despite a higher setup cost, offers substantial ROI through its feature depth.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Duo vs. IBM Security Verify Access Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. IBM Security Verify Access

January 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

Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)

3rd

Ranking in Access Management

4th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Authentication Systems (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (4th), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st)

IBM Security Verify Access

Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)

14th

Ranking in Access Management

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Identity Management (IM) (20th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.4%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Security Verify Access is 2.6%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Single Sign-On (SSO) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Duo	3.4%
IBM Security Verify Access	2.6%
Other	94.0%

Single Sign-On (SSO)

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

Ateeq Rehman

Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited

Has improved secure user access while managing development through multiple technologies

I have already explained this in my previous call; I don't handle financial terms and commercials. Pricing is generally managed by functional teams and management looking after licensing matters. In Pakistan, vendors such as Oracle and IBM manage account relationships with clients and have tailored pricing models, so I do not have sufficient insights into that aspect.IBM Security Verify Access installation process is not straightforward; it requires underlying specialized knowledge upon which the IBM products are based. The complexity and scalability of the architecture necessitate in-depth technical knowledge and understanding of the system. Thus, installation is not as simple as clicking through; it requires extensive configuration of the underlying application servers, such as IBM WebSphere, where these products are deployed and configured.

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

"Multifactor authentication and secure two-factor authentication are the most valuable features. It's been around for a while, but now it's becoming an enforced behavior as opposed to something that you used to do as optional."

"The single pane of glass management works very well. That feature is very important because we have a lot of admins who have to manage Duo, and it's much easier when it's a single pane of glass. That single pane is also great because it's easy to enroll new devices."

"What I appreciate the most is that you can push a notification with your phone and log in to your computer."

"Cisco Duo is very easy to deploy and the documentation is very thorough, which makes deployment straightforward."

"The two-factor authentication is valuable because that is the use case for which we are using it."

"It's simple. It's reliable. I haven't had any issues with it."

"The authentication process is very smooth and secure."

"Cisco Duo has benefited our company overall by giving us the ability to have multi-factor authentication."

More Cisco Duo pros

"I have found this solution to be really practical and when a user wants to log in, it is effortless and runs smooth."

"IBM Security Verify Access, formerly known as ISAM, IBM Security Access Manager, now renamed to ISVA, integrates with central directory services for our organization and provides user management functionality."

"The tool provides a password vault, single sign-on, and multifactor authentication. It offers various authentication methods like fingerprint integration, one-time passwords, or tokens sent via email or SMS. This ensures secure access to your accounts by providing multiple authentication options."

"From the integration point of view, it supports SAML, OIDC, and OAuth. For legacy applications that don't have support for SAML and other new protocols, it provides single sign-on access to end-users. From the integration compatibility point of view, it is highly capable."

"The most valuable feature of IBM Security Access Manager, at least for my company, is multi-factor authentication. That's the only feature my company is using. The solution works well and has no glitches. IBM Security Access Manager is a very good solution, so my company is still using it."

"Its stability and UI are most valuable."

"The solution has powerful authentification and authorization. It offers a good way to increase security."

"IBM Security Verify Access is providing a secure way of handling the user login journey, and secure user authentication is fully managed by ISAM or ISVA."

More IBM Security Verify Access pros

Cons

"Compared to other vendors, Cisco Duo is on the pricey end."

"Cisco Duo can be improved with better ways to set users up. Currently, we might not be doing it perfectly as we're having them email in phone numbers to get them set up with Duo Mobile."

"Duo was clearly purchased, and Cisco has a lot of other panels for their Firepower products, et cetera. They need to continue bringing it, Umbrella, and the endpoint pieces even more together and make the integration a little more seamless among all of them."

"Duo Security should have more customized use cases. For example, if a client needs to have more customization, it would be better to connect directly with Duo's R&D to try to discuss the issues together in order to add customizations."

"Often, people do not receive expiration messages, and sometimes, for security reasons, accounts get disabled without notifying the end user, so they mistakenly think something has gone wrong when it really just needs to be re-enabled on the external system."

"Smart Licensing needs improvement. It's terrible. We have problems with it every year and we need to involve support to fix it."

"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."

"Duo has some issues that we're trying to work through. For example, if I install it on a WordPress site and another admin needs to log in, they can't because Duo hasn't been set up for them. It doesn't appear that I can add permissions on a user-by-user basis. It's not obvious."

More Cisco Duo cons

"The solution could be classified as a hilt system. There are a lot of resources being used and it is suitable for very large enterprises or the public sector."

"IBM Security Verify Access installation process is not straightforward; it requires underlying specialized knowledge upon which the IBM products are based."

"The user interface for users and administrators could be improved to make it easier. Automating some functions could also be beneficial."

"What we'd like improved in IBM Security Access Manager is its onboarding process as it's complex, particularly when onboarding new applications. We need to be very, very careful during the onboarding. We have no issues with IBM Security Access Manager because the solution works fine, apart from the onboarding process and IBM's involvement in onboarding issues. If we need support related to the onboarding, we've noticed a pattern where support isn't available, or they don't have much experience, or we're not getting a response from them. We're facing the same issue with IBM Guardium. As we're just focusing on the multi-factor authentication feature of IBM Security Access Manager and we didn't explore any other features, we don't have additional features to suggest for the next release of the solution, but we're in discussion about exploring ID management and access management features, but those are just possibilities because right now, we're focused on exploring our domain."

"The user interface needs to be simplified, it's complex and not user-friendly."

"Configuration could be simplified for the end-user."

"IBM Security Verify Access installation process is not straightforward; it requires underlying specialized knowledge upon which the IBM products are based."

"There are a lot of areas that can be improved, but the main area is the lack of customization. You cannot easily customize anything in the product. It is not easy to tweak the functionality. It is challenging to change the out-of-the-box functionality."

More IBM Security Verify Access cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I haven't seen any information on the pricing in four years, so I can't comment on that."

"It was very reasonable."

"The pricing is pretty competitive. It's pretty cheap. Anybody can adopt it."

"The product’s pricing is reasonable."

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

"It is affordable for what's coming to the table with it, but in this day and age, the cost is looked at under a microscope, and companies need to very finely define what is needed versus what is critical. In some cases, it might not be cost-effective for a company to have it. In a lot of other cases, it is the cost of doing business."

"Cisco has the most expensive products because market leaders tend to charge a lot."

"It's a bit confusing because we're on a three-year plan with a certain number of licenses, and we've gone over that number. They told us that when we renew, they will add all these licenses. We've expanded quickly, so everyone's kind of scared because no one knows what the bill is with the long pricing cycle."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"The license and costs depend on the amount range of users you have. For just approximately 2,000 users, the price is practical and fair. However, when you have 20,000 users, it starts to become really expensive, and the discount per user is not attractive enough to go ahead and purchase."

"It costs about 300K AED for a year. Its pricing is a bit on the higher end, but in comparison to other products in the market, its price is still better. There are lots of other products that are very costly."

"The product is not expensive. It depends on the number of users."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

17%

Insurance Company

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	40

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

How does Duo Security compare with Microsoft Authenticator?

We switched to Duo Security for identity verification. We’d been using a competitor but got the chance to evaluate Duo for 30 days, and we could not be happier. Duo Security is easy to configure a...

See all answers

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

The pricing of Cisco Duo is quite reasonable compared to other products.

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 include Geo-fencing, leaving them unable to pay for the more expensive level, w...

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Security Access Manager?

The tool provides a password vault, single sign-on, and multifactor authentication. It offers various authentication methods like fingerprint integration, one-time passwords, or tokens sent via ema...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Security Access Manager?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Security Access Manager?

We are still using the IBM BPM platform to automate the processes for our organization.I generally use Microsoft Project for project planning and schedule management, especially in relation to Orac...

See all answers

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs IBM Security Verify Access

Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

February 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Verify Access

January 2026

Download IBM Security Verify Access product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

IBM Security Verify Access (SVA), IBM Security Access Manager, ISAM

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

IBM Security Verify Access is a complete authorization and network security policy management solution. It provides end-to-end protection of resources over geographically dispersed intranets and extranets.Provides a wide range of built-in authenticators and supports external authenticators.Provides permit and deny decisions for protected resources requests in the secure domain through the authorization API.Manages secure access to private internal network-based resources by using the public Internet's broad connectivity and ease of use with a corporate firewall system.

IBM

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

POST Luxembourg

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. IBM Security Verify Access

January 2026

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