Cisco Duo vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and Broadcom are both solutions in the Authentication Systems category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.9, while Broadcom is ranked #21. Cisco holds a 3.7% mindshare in AS, compared to Broadcom’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 77% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Cisco Duo

Read 160 Cisco Duo reviews

14,498 Views
7,539 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Symantec Advanced Authentic...

Read 9 Symantec Advanced Authentication reviews

1,623 Views
1,558 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

Cisco Duo

Symantec Advanced Authentic...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Symantec Advanced Authentication and Cisco Duo are both utilized for secure access and authentication management. Users are happier with the feature set and integration capabilities of Cisco Duo, though Symantec Advanced Authentication scores better in deployment and customer service.

What features are offered by Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Cisco Duo?

Symantec Advanced Authentication provides a robust set of features tailored for enterprise-level secure access, including flexibility, customization, and high-security controls. Cisco Duo is noted for its ease of use, wide range of integration capabilities, and comprehensive features that cater to various business sizes, making it more appealing to users.

What areas of improvement can be found in Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Cisco Duo?

Symantec Advanced Authentication users frequently mention the product's complexity, steep learning curve, and need for better user interface design. Cisco Duo reviews highlight the pricing structure, limited customer support responsiveness, and areas for improved reporting capabilities.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Cisco Duo?

Symantec Advanced Authentication requires a more intricate setup process but benefits from excellent customer service support throughout deployment. Cisco Duo is praised for its swift and hassle-free deployment but receives mixed reviews regarding customer service responsiveness.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with Symantec Advanced Authentication in comparison to Cisco Duo?

Symantec Advanced Authentication users mention higher setup costs but recognize its ROI through high security and functionality for complex needs. Cisco Duo, while noted to have more competitive initial pricing, demonstrates strong ROI through its user-friendly interface and efficiency, making it worthwhile despite a few concerns over its tiered pricing model.

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication

September 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 Authentication Systems

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

160

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (4th), Access Management (5th), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st), AI Data Analysis (3rd)

Symantec Advanced Authentic...

Ranking in Authentication Systems

21st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

8.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.7%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 1.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Duo	3.7%
Symantec Advanced Authentication	1.4%
Other	94.9%

Authentication Systems

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas

Information Technology Contractor at Insight global

Supports seamless authentication for users across multiple organizations and personal portals

The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter. I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.

Read full review

Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque

Group CEO at Flexsolutions

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

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

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

"Compared with other products, Duo Security is excellent; I'm very impressed, and so are my colleagues."

"The feature I like the most about Cisco Duo is two-factor authentication, as it helps me to defend against phishing attacks and provides security for my organization."

"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."

"If you have to log in to something, you must go to Duo Security to confirm that you're who you are on your phone."

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

"Cisco Duo seems very scalable; in my experience, I started with a small-medium business, and in my last contracting position, it was a large one for a major worldwide airline that had hundreds of thousands of devices that could use Cisco Duo, and it scaled very well."

"The biggest benefit of Cisco Duo for my customers is the license because they count licenses for the user—one user can use many applications integrated with Cisco Duo."

"Duo features benefit my company by making logins more secure and simpler. Everything is in one box, so we don't have multiple servers trying to do the same thing."

More Cisco Duo pros

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

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

"It actually increases our revenue and the customer base."

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

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

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

"Being able to issue a soft token, but still having fairly strong security, is a big factor for us."

"CA products are the best fit with our backend systems."

More Symantec Advanced Authentication pros

Cons

"I wish that the support would be a little bit more prompt and a little bit more flexible because there are certain things that they will do and certain things they won't do."

"General announcements when new features come out with Cisco Duo should be broadcasted to customers who are using it, which might bring more accessibility to their documents so users can be more in tune with updates."

"The product price needs improvement."

"For the next release, Cisco Duo could be improved by adding touchless authentication and biometric features."

"Cisco Duo did not help reduce the cost of the overall authentication method that we have in our company; instead, it increased, obviously."

"I think Cisco Duo could be improved by including email authentication, as there is currently only SMS, SMS push, and code generation, but having email authentication could be beneficial when you don't have a phone."

"I think the prices of Cisco Duo are quite fair, but the main problem is that Microsoft Authenticator is built-in with M365, so everyone is switching to that and using it instead of Cisco Duo because it costs extra as a standalone product."

"The only thing I would say that may lead to a more negative experience would be allowing the engineers to help the customers whether it is a twenty-minute call or a four-hour call."

More Cisco Duo cons

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

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

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

"Arcot itself is based on a browser technology. This means that the office ID is effectively stored as a cookie in the browser."

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

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

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

"This solution could be improved with risk-based authentication. I think that this product has everything that most customers are looking for, but modern technology has people looking for security tools with risk-based authentication, which they have a separate tool for. If they could integrate this, it would improve Symantec Advanced Authentication. They have to look at what's newly trending and how things are moving forward, and then adapt and adopt those features. Symantec's technical support should also be improved, in terms of response time."

More Symantec Advanced Authentication cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been good, with no issues. I am pleased that the prices remained stable after Cisco acquired the solution."

"During testing we are allowed a certain number of licenses for free."

"I only need the solution for IT staff, which makes it relatively cheap. If I deployed it for the whole company, it would be costly, so it depends on the number of users. Duo Security is affordable compared to other products in the segment."

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

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

"It's very simple. Its price is fair. We use the hardware tokens as well. You get what you pay for. In terms of licensing, Cisco has very complicated products, but Duo Security was surprisingly easy."

"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."

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

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"The price is reasonable."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Construction Company

17%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	64
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	80

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	7

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?

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...

See all answers

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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Comparisons

Microsoft Entra ID vs Cisco Duo

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Cisco Duo

Compared 6% of the time

Okta Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Cisco Duo

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Duo Competitors

RSA Authentication Manager vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 13% of the time

RSA Adaptive Authentication vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 7% of the time

Symantec VIP Access Manager vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 6% of the time

Thales Authenticators vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Symantec Advanced Authentication

Compared 4% of the time

More Symantec Advanced Authentication Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

September 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Advanced Authentication

August 2026

Download Symantec Advanced Authentication product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

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

Overview

Cisco Duo is a cloud-based identity security platform safeguarding critical resources for any user and device worldwide. Known for its ease of use, Duo offers seamless protection across multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.

Cisco Duo is designed to secure access with identity-first protection and provides extensive visibility throughout an organization's identity ecosystem. Offering multi-factor authentication, Duo facilitates easy integration and management, allowing teams to protect data effectively on VPNs, applications, and networks. Its single-pane management improves security processes while enhancing trust, making it suitable for diverse IT infrastructures.

What are the key features of Cisco Duo?

Multi-factor Authentication: Strengthens user verification with multiple methods.
Push Notifications: Simplifies authentication with quick approvals.
Single Sign-On: Enhances convenience by allowing one set of credentials.
VPN Access: Secures remote connections with reliable authentication.
User Activity Visibility: Offers comprehensive insights into access patterns.

Which benefits and ROI should users consider?

Quick Deployment: Facilitates rapid integration within existing systems.
Effective Management: Streamlines IT operations with centralized control.
Regulatory Compliance: Aids in meeting industry standards for data protection.
Enhanced Trust: Strengthens security posture across networks.
User-friendly Approach: Simplifies authentication for non-technical users.

In industries like education and finance, Cisco Duo is widely employed to secure multi-factor authentication across platforms such as email, databases, and servers. Its integration capabilities with Microsoft 365, Active Directory, and VPNs like AnyConnect are instrumental in verifying user identities using mobile apps or OTPs, catering effectively to both remote and on-premise environments.

Cisco

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

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

What are the key features of Symantec Advanced Authentication?

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

What benefits can users expect from reviews?

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

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

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication

September 2026

Free Report: Cisco Duo vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication

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