Cisco Duo vs Opal comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and Opal Security are both solutions in the Access Management category. Cisco is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.9, while Opal Security is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.5. Cisco holds a 3.2% mindshare in AM, compared to Opal Security’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Opal Security users who would recommend it.

Cisco Duo

Read 160 Cisco Duo reviews

14,498 Views
3,625 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Opal

Read 2 Opal reviews

1,225 Views
466 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Duo

Opal

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Duo and Opal based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Access Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Duo vs. Opal Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. Opal

September 2026

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Helped 914,109 peers since 2012

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 Access Management

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

160

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (4th), Authentication Systems (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st), AI Data Analysis (3rd)

Opal

Ranking in Access Management

20th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

User Provisioning Software (10th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (21st)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.2%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Opal is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Access Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	3.2%
Opal	0.8%
Other	96.0%

Access Management

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.

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Pranay Jain

Senior software engineer at Simplify vms

Focused workdays have replaced doomscrolling and now reduce my daily screen time significantly

Opal can be improved in some ways. In the paid version, there are multiple features, but in the freemium version, there are fewer features. The blockage of the application can be more rigorous. Right now, if we play two to three games, then a math game or anything, we are able to remove that lock. It should be more rigorous in some manner, and for some applications, it should be more rigorous. Application-wise rigorousness should be introduced. The different modes are good, but they should be more customizable according to the person. The end goal should meet whatever the objective is, so if the person has used more than six hours, then it should remind the person frequently that this application has used this time and this is an application you should not use. It should give us a timer or some kind of notification that the person will not use it anymore.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features I value most about Cisco Duo are the push notification and the ability to select how I want to authenticate, and I primarily use the push method."

"Cisco Duo is so integral to our core operations that we cannot perform any task without it."

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

"Cisco Duo has improved my operational efficiency and reduced costs in areas such as authentication, IT support, and security operations."

"My experience with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been good; it is seamless and easy to integrate, and it is flexible."

"The authentication process is very smooth and secure."

"With Cisco Duo it's checking if you are allowed to submit a request to access this, doing a complete check of you before you access, instead of being just a simple MFA that only asks if you can go in or not."

"Duo has allowed us to add an additional layer of security to our organization and to establish trust for every access request and secures our environment."

More Cisco Duo pros

"Opal has positively impacted my organization by reducing stress and increasing effectiveness for all our employees; it works better so all our employees have more time to sleep and they can investigate more."

"Previously, my phone usage was around nine hours and fifteen minutes or more, but it has significantly reduced to around six hours and thirty minutes to seven hours, meaning two and a half to three hours has been reduced after using Opal as my primary screen time blocker."

Cons

"More automation and device insights would be helpful in achieving a seamless single pane of glass. Having the additional capability to streamline processes would also make things better."

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

"I think the prices of Cisco Duo are quite fair, but the main problem is that Microsoft Authenticator is built-in with Microsoft 365, so everyone is switching to that and not using Cisco Duo because it is a standalone product that costs extra, despite the price being fair."

"I wouldn't mind seeing some options for remembering a device for a short period of time or a specific login, particularly for administrative engineering staff, as we may be logging in to four or five different services."

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

"The only issue is the price is too high when compared to other products; Cisco Duo's pricing is high."

"My experience with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system is that sometimes there are difficulties, and sometimes users just won't be able to log in. We have to reset their password so they can use Duo."

"I know that Cisco Duo is pretty expensive; we have affiliates that use the Microsoft product just because Cisco Duo is so expensive, and they don't want to pay for it."

More Cisco Duo cons

"Opal can be improved in some ways."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"Their pricing model is a little bit weird. Currently, there is no price advantage in signing up for yearly contracts. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing costs."

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

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

"Overall, the pricing is fair. Customers can wrap it into their Enterprise Agreement, making it easier for them to solve their issues."

"I believe the licensing model is excellent as it offers flexibility to our customers, allowing them to adopt a crawl, walk, or run approach."

"Price wise, it's not cheap, but it's not expensive at all either. It's in the middle."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Educational Organization

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	64
Midsize Enterprise	27
Large Enterprise	79

No data available

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...

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

Regarding Cisco Duo's affordability for the Ukrainian market, I think it is affordable. It depends on an installation base. For a medium and mid-range market, I think it is a fully affordable price...

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What needs improvement with Duo Security?

Cisco Duo is a fully cloud-based solution. It would be beneficial if Cisco provided a fully on-premise solution. I have discussed this with the local Cisco office in Kyiv regarding any possibility ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Opal?

The paid version is a little costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Opal?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Opal?

The main use case of Opal for me is to reduce my screen time during my work hours, during my wake-up time, and during my sleeping time to improve my focus and feasibility towards my work and my act...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Entra ID vs Cisco Duo

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Duo

Compared 6% of the time

Okta Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs Opal

Compared 19% of the time

Okta Platform vs Opal

Compared 17% of the time

ConductorOne vs Opal

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Opal

Compared 10% of the time

Gluu Flex vs Opal

Compared 2% of the time

More Opal Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

September 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

August 2026

Download Opal product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

No data available

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

Opal is a comprehensive platform for identity access management and compliance automation. It excels in streamlining access control, audit preparation, and compliance tracking. Key features include an intuitive interface, robust security measures, and real-time collaboration, significantly improving organizational efficiency and productivity.

Free Report: Cisco Duo vs. Opal

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. Opal and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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