Cisco Duo vs. Microsoft Azure

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Duo
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Duo is a two-factor authentication system (2FA), acquired by Cisco in October 2018. It provides single sign-on (SSO) and endpoint visibility, as well as access controls and policy controlled adaptive authentication.
$3
per month per user
Microsoft Azure
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure for building, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters.
$29
per month
Pricing
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Editions & Modules
Duo Essentials
$3
per month per user
Duo Advantage
$6
per month per user
Duo Premier
$9
per month per user
Developer
$29
per month
Standard
$100
per month
Professional Direct
$1000
per month
Basic
Free
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThe free tier lets users have access to a variety of services free for 12 months with limited usage after making an Azure account.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Considered Both Products
Cisco Duo
Chose Cisco Duo
We looked at user Azure AD MFA but ultimately went with DUO because of their level of experience and the installation services. After using both, I don't really have an issue with either one and would be happy with either product to support and to trust in the security.
Chose Cisco Duo
General user support, setting up new devices, migrating users (who have a new phone) is painless. It also provides options, so if push notifications don't work, or just because a users has a preference, you can receive phone call authentication - great feature which means you …
Chose Cisco Duo
Cisco Secure Access by Duo, against WatchGuard AuthPoint, is a broader tool with more applicability across applications to my knowledge. I also find it to be faster, and simpler for users to understand. For example, with Authpoint, the tokens that appear and "count down" seem …
Chose Cisco Duo
Our school is based in Microsoft 365. Azure has a product built into their licensing (provided you have purchased the appropriate level or the add-on product.) The MFA in Azure is a work in process and doesn't offer broad integration options as Duo does. We didn't look into any …
Chose Cisco Duo
Duo Security has everything that we need. Didn’t find any missing feature. Quality of support as I mentioned before, is amazing. Easy to set up and use as compared to others. Pleasurable in terms of doing business with. Provides multi device sync and also backs up data. …
Chose Cisco Duo
Azure is free so with our Microsoft 365 licenses so that is going to be tough to get away from that. Duo / Cisco Secure Access, by Duo, is a better platform for both Windows and Linux.
Chose Cisco Duo
Okta does offer similar solutions to Duo / Cisco Secure Access, by Duo, but Okta has a higher price-point from our initial investigations into which provider to use. The support that we received from Duo was top-notch and the ease of use really helped to decide which solution …
Chose Cisco Duo
Quite well. Ease of use and ability to integrate with multiple platforms is very strong.
Chose Cisco Duo
We looked at Okta, and Okta is a great solution, but much larger in scope than what we needed. When we start our journey to identify/access management we will definitely consider them.

Microsoft was useful too, and minimal cost. It didn't seem to have as much support from …
Microsoft Azure

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Duo
-
Ratings
Microsoft Azure
8.5
26 Ratings
4% above category average
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime00 Ratings8.125 Ratings
Dynamic scaling00 Ratings8.624 Ratings
Elastic load balancing00 Ratings8.723 Ratings
Pre-configured templates00 Ratings8.124 Ratings
Monitoring tools00 Ratings8.225 Ratings
Pre-defined machine images00 Ratings8.623 Ratings
Operating system support00 Ratings9.025 Ratings
Security controls00 Ratings8.725 Ratings
Automation00 Ratings8.223 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Small Businesses
WatchGuard AuthPoint
WatchGuard AuthPoint
Score 8.9 out of 10
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WatchGuard AuthPoint
WatchGuard AuthPoint
Score 8.9 out of 10
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Cloud App ID
IBM Cloud App ID
Score 10.0 out of 10
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(150 ratings)
8.8
(95 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(10 ratings)
10.0
(17 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(76 ratings)
8.4
(35 ratings)
Availability
9.9
(9 ratings)
6.8
(2 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(90 ratings)
8.0
(28 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.9
(10 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.9
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.5
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.5
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.5
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco DuoMicrosoft Azure
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Cisco Duois is well suited in all kinds of scenarios where you need to ensure proper security measurements, I think. We can't just rely on our passwords only, as they can be easily stolen through phishing or data breaches thus keeping multi factor authentication is quite essential. I always prefer MFA or at least 2FA for any critical system.
Read full review
Microsoft
Azure is particularly well suited for enterprise environments with existing Microsoft investments, those that require robust compliance features, and organizations that need hybrid cloud capabilities that bridge on-premises and cloud infrastructure. In my opinion, Azure is less appropriate for cost-sensitive startups or small businesses without dedicated cloud expertise and scenarios requiring edge computing use cases with limited connectivity. Azure offers comprehensive solutions for most business needs but can feel like there is a higher learning curve than other cloud-based providers, depending on the product and use case.
Read full review
Pros
Cisco
  • So outside the obvious of multifactor and it being important, one thing I really like about DUO is the integrations and the options it has for integrations are pretty great. And I'd say versatile. I use Cisco ICE as well and I find I'm more most impressed with Cisco Duo specifically with the weird applications we could come up with for it in using it. So I had say the versatility of authentication and other AAA factors with the Cisco duo are why we like it so much.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Microsoft Azure is highly scalable and flexible. You can quickly scale up or down additional resources and computing power.
  • You have no longer upfront investments for hardware. You only pay for the use of your computing power, storage space, or services.
  • The uptime that can be achieved and guaranteed is very important for our company. This includes the rapid maintenance for security updates that are mostly carried out by Microsoft.
  • The wide range of capabilities of services that are possible in Microsoft Azure. You can practically put or create anything in Microsoft Azure.
Read full review
Cons
Cisco
  • Documentation is oftentimes missing key information for proper implementation. This is circumvented by reading third-party guides or contacting support for additional details.
  • They do not push Fail-Closed as much as I think they should. Fail-Open is fairly trivial to bypass and it should be made known to the customer during setup how much this will affect overall security.
  • More vendor integration is something that is always craved by administrators. There are so many third-parties to integrate with.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • The cost of resources is difficult to determine, technical documentation is frequently out of date, and documentation and mapping capabilities are lacking.
  • The documentation needs to be improved, and some advanced configuration options require research and experimentation.
  • Microsoft's licensing scheme is too complex for the average user, and Azure SQL syntax is too different from traditional SQL.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
There are a lot of competing solutions on the market; however, Duo "just works", and there is little to no learning curve for the new members to be acclimated to it. As long as that continues I see it as the preferred option moving forward
Read full review
Microsoft
Moving to Azure was and still is an organizational strategy and not simply changing vendors. Our product roadmap revolved around Azure as we are in the business of humanitarian relief and Azure and Microsoft play an important part in quickly and efficiently serving all of the world. Migration and investment in Azure should be considered as an overall strategy of an organization and communicated companywide.
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Usability
Cisco
La interfaz es intuitiva y fácil de navegar, lo que permite a los usuarios administrar sus dispositivos y acceder a las políticas sin problemas. La integración con las aplicaciones SSO y SaaS facilita aún más el proceso de acceso, mejorando la experiencia del usuario.
Read full review
Microsoft
As Microsoft Azure is [doing a] really good with PaaS. The need of a market is to have [a] combo of PaaS and IaaS. While AWS is making [an] exceptionally well blend of both of them, Azure needs to work more on DevOps and Automation stuff. Apart from that, I would recommend Azure as a great platform for cloud services as scale.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Cisco
In the last 5+ years we've been using Duo, there may have been 1 outage that impacted us. We do receive periodic notifications of issues but, for the most part, they impact carriers or functionality that we either don't use, or do not care about.
Read full review
Microsoft
It has proven to be unreliable in our production environment and services become unavailable without proper notification to system administrators
Read full review
Performance
Cisco
We do not see any degradation of performance of the protected applications. There are occasional lags in receiving the push but no show stooppers.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
I have not needed direct support for Cisco Secure Access by Duo as I have not had a problem with it, but I have full confidence that the support is outstanding. It is now a core component of the corporate technology stack - a problem would mean a serious degradation in the ability of the company to function.
Read full review
Microsoft
We were running Windows Server and Active Directory, so [Microsoft] Azure was a seamless transition. We ran into a few, if any support issues, however, the availability of Microsoft Azure's support team was more than willing and able to guide us through the process. They even proposed solutions to issues we had not even thought of!
Read full review
In-Person Training
Cisco
There was no in person training but checking the box was the only way I could complete all of the questions.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Cisco
This was not organized training but the videos that Duo provides to teach you how to install a particular integration are top notch.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cisco
Implementation was straight forward and you can isolate different scenarios in order to test new application setup or add to an existing setup. Gui interface is pretty easy to understand and follow. I had no experience with Duo and still manage to easily set up new policies and rules.
Read full review
Microsoft
As I have mentioned before the issue with my Oracle Mismatch Version issues that have put a delay on moving one of my platforms will justify my 7 rating.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
It's easier to deploy. When comparing the quality of technical support, Duo Security is the preferred option. Duo has better integration options for out-to-the-box on-premise and cloud applications. The dashboard brings you more reports, and the access event logging is very complete. The quality of end-user training and documentation is superior. I think the relation price vs. value Cisco Secure Access by Duo has the best rating: service & support, integration & deployment, licensing, and capability.
Read full review
Microsoft
As I continue to evaluate the "big three" cloud providers for our clients, I make the following distinctions, though this gap continues to close. AWS is more granular, and inherently powerful in the configuration options compared to [Microsoft] Azure. It is a "developer" platform for cloud. However, Azure PowerShell is helping close this gap. Google Cloud is the leading containerization platform, largely thanks to it building kubernetes from the ground up. Azure containerization is getting better at having the same storage/deployment options.
Read full review
Scalability
Cisco
So far, the only limits we've encountered were tied to our imagination. Duo's strong list of supported integrations is amazing.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Very positive ROI given it is inexpensive for a small group and helps us secure our most valuable IT assets.
  • Lack of extreme policy granularity results in higher administrative overhead, as there is no middle ground (i.e. MFA every time or not at all).
Read full review
Microsoft
  • For about 2 years we didn't have to do anything with our production VMs, the system ran without a hitch, which meant our engineers could focus on features rather than infrastructure.
  • DNS management was very easy in Azure, which made it easy to upgrade our cluster with zero downtime.
  • Azure Web UI was easy to work with and navigate, which meant our senior engineers and DevOps team could work with Azure without formal training.
Read full review
ScreenShots