Cisco Duo vs Fortinet FortiAuthenticator comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jan 23, 2023

We performed a comparison between Duo Security and Fortinet FortiAuthenticator based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Duo Security users say that the installation is straightforward. Most Fortinet FortiAuthenticator users say that the deployment is straightforward, but some users say that the initial setup can be complex.


  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their scalability and stability.

    Duo Security users like its single pane of glass management and say that it meets their security needs, offers dual-factor authentication, and has good VPN capabilities.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator reviewers say that it is high-performing, easy to use, and secure.

Users of both solutions would like more integration options.

  • Pricing: The majority of reviewers of both products feel that their prices are fair.


  • ROI: Users of both solutions report seeing an ROI.


  • Service and Support: Duo Security reviewers report being very satisfied with the level of support they receive. Some FortiAuthenticator users say that sometimes it can be difficult to reach higher levels of support.


Comparison Results: Duo Security is the winner in this comparison. It received high marks for its ease of deployment and support. In contrast, some FortiAuthenticator users say that the initial setup is complex and feel that the support needs to improve.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Duo vs. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It meets our security needs very well. It is easy to use, and documentation is also available. It is also very stable and scalable, and its support is also very good. We are satisfied with this solution.""It has definitely reduced embedding. We found a lot of problems with attackers being able to compromise accounts. Now, when they try to access accounts, they are not able to do so because there is an added layer of protection. Once we know that a username and password are compromised, we just reset the password to protect the company.""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.""We're working remotely. It helps us keep people more safe. Its adoption has been fine. I like the fact that you can bypass it if you need to because there are situations where the internet doesn't work, etc.""Documentation is the most valuable feature, and if you ever have to reach out to them with a question, their support is also fantastic.""For me and my customers, the best feature is that it's very easy to integrate with the existing infrastructure. It takes a few minutes to configure it.""It is really scalable. It is easy once you get an application in. You can import users from Active Directory and enroll users really fast.""Regarding the valuable features, I would say that Duo Security is easy to use, has speed, and is dependable."

More Cisco Duo Pros →

"FortiAuthenticator is a very good solution. It is all jury-based. FortiAuthenticator is very easy for anyone to understand how it works and be able to take action.""The product’s most valuable feature is integration with FortiGate, FortiToken, FortiTalk, and multi-factor authentication.""The solution is easy to learn and makes it easy for our users to add FortiToken. It's very easy to integrate if you have other Fortinet devices.""The product's initial setup phase was easy. It is also easy to deploy.""FortiAuthenticator is really good software that integrates very well with Fortinet products.""I work a lot with Fortinet products and I call the support often. They are very quick to respond and the support is very good.""The first valuable feature is being able to see everything on one platform. This includes logs and authentication failure.""Features the addition and removal of access as needed for the VPN."

More Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Pros →

Cons
"The only challenge is finding the right person sometimes. From what I've seen, being a named account is a big deal.""One area that might be improved is that setting up SMS texting is not as easy as using the app, even though it does support it.""Technical support could be improved. I don't think all support should have to go through an agreement.""The dashboard needs to be improved.""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.""They could just continue to add more integrations.""We have had instances where Duo Security stops working on a user's device, which we have fixed by uninstalling and then reinstalling it.""Sometimes, it's a little harder for customers to adopt."

More Cisco Duo Cons →

"FortiAuthenticator's interface could be better.""For improvement, Fortinet needs to ensure that they provide quick support to users...Fortinet sometimes needs to respond to users facing issues within an hour.""The product must provide full support for third-party FIDO security keys.""We've had some issues with integration.""We have issues with HA (high availability). These should be addressed in future releases.""I would like to see some email options for Fortinet FortiAuthenticator.""There is a room for improvement. The log is a bit difficult to access, and searching the log codes is also a bit difficult. So it would be much better if, when we open a log, it could provide detailed information about errors, reasons for failure, and such.""The GUI has some shortcomings and can be made better. The GUI is not great."

More Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "During testing we are allowed a certain number of licenses for free."
  • "Its price is reasonable. It is not highly expensive."
  • "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."
  • "Our licensing fee is currently on an annual basis."
  • "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."
  • "Duo Security is free."
  • "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."
  • "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 →

  • "I would start off with a VM including the base license and scale according to the number of users you need to authenticate."
  • "You can pay as you go with them. You purchase a base license and add to it as needed."
  • "The product could be more competitively priced."
  • "It costs more to license the high-availability option."
  • "The licensing structure is cost-effective for us compared to some of the other solutions that have recurring monthly costs."
  • "FAC is an affordable solution for Middle Range (200E/400E) and also needs a package of mobility agents (2,000) perpetual."
  • "The cost of the license could be less expensive. The license is paid on a yearly basis."
  • "We pay for licensing on a yearly basis."
  • More Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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 and… more »
    Top Answer:They are users who, as mentioned before, utilize RDPAP and MDPAP. It includes functionalities related to finance, specifically in single sign-on.
    Top Answer:I am not aware of the pricing. There are two departments, and I don't have any information about them.
    Top Answer:The product's on-premise version doesn't have recurring costs.
    Top Answer:We pay a yearly support cost for the solution. It is very small. The cost of FortiToken is high. I rate the pricing a five out of ten.
    Top Answer:Fortinet FortiAuthenticator's initial setup process could be easier.
    Ranking
    2nd
    Views
    4,902
    Comparisons
    3,608
    Reviews
    43
    Average Words per Review
    758
    Rating
    8.9
    5th
    Views
    5,927
    Comparisons
    4,071
    Reviews
    24
    Average Words per Review
    427
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Duo Security
    FortiAuthenticator
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    Fortinet
    Demo Not Available
    Overview

    Cisco Duo is a cloud-based access management platform that secures access to all applications, for any user and device, from anywhere. It’s designed to be both easy to use and deploy, while providing complete endpoint visibility and control.

    Duo verifies users' identities with strong passwordless authentication and industry-leading multi-factor authentication. Paired with deep insights into your users’ devices, Duo gives you the policies and control you need to limit access based on endpoint or user risk. Users get a consistent login experience with Duo's single sign-on that delivers centralized access to both on-premises and cloud applications.

    With Duo, you can protect against compromised credentials and risky devices, as well as unwanted access to your applications and data. This combination of user and device trust builds a strong foundation for a zero trust security model.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is the primary secure point of approved access into the Fortinet network, authorizing users, reviewing access permissions, and relaying the information to all Fortigate devices for comparison with identity-based protocols. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is a top-ranked authorization and SSO solution.

    Appropriate secure access is fundamental to every role in an enterprise ecosystem. It is an integral function of every organization to ensure that every access and privilege is secure and to mitigate any possible risk to an organization. Approved users should only have access to the necessary information when they need it, from the appropriate location(s) to safeguard an organization's security at all times.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is available as an appliance, virtual machine, or in the cloud.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Methods

    • FSSO: FortiAuthenticator Single sign-on user will easily identify users and assign role or group access based on preset identity-based protocols. FortiAuthenticator integrates well with third-party LDAP or active directories, is very flexible, and combines these methods to provide effective security.

    • Active Directory Polling: Active directory access is securely identified by consistent polling of domain controllers. As users log in, username, IP address, and other details are logged into the database and can be shared across devices as directed by FortiAuthenticator protocols.

    • FortiAuthenticator Portal and Widgets: If a user system does not support AP polling, or for other reasons it is not feasible, FortiAuthenticator offers a unique secure authentication portal. Users can be manually authenticated and, to diminish the effect of numerous logins, an intuitive set of widgets is available to integrate into an organization's ecosystem that will automatically grant access to users when they access the organization's intranet homepage.

    • RADIUS Accounting Login: For organizations that use RADIUS authentication, RADIUS Accounting is available for user identification. This process will prompt user access information (IP and group, etc.) and eliminate the need for multiple levels of authentication.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Ernesto C., Presales Engineer at a comms service provider, shares,

    ”Key Features and Benefits

    1. Two-factor/OTP Authentication with FortiToken: Enforce user-based policies. Fortitoken is available in soft and hard versions for flexible usage. Most Valuable in Mobile Phones App for OTP.
    2. Integration with LDAP and AD: This solution integrates with existing enterprise systems and technologies from diverse vendors of user information management systems.
    3. LPAD/AD/RADIUS/SYSLOG/KERBEROS/REST API/FSSO and Web Portals: There is flexible integration with these services.
    4. It is usable in network, WAN, wireless, and VPN Scenarios.
    5. The domain and guest-users support are good.”

    Ibrahim M., Senior Network & Security Engineer at a tech services company, relates, "The initial setup is a valuable point on Fortinet products. Most of the time, putting the theory into practice on the devices is quite friendly and straightforward. As long as you can read English you can find your way around the solution and make it work. This is a high value point on Fortinet - the way everything is laid out in the web UI is user-friendly and quite straightforward. The UI is quite simple."




    Sample Customers
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Government7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company29%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Healthcare Company8%
    Computer Retailer4%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise47%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business56%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Duo vs. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Duo vs. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Duo is ranked 2nd in Single Sign-On (SSO) with 55 reviews while Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is ranked 5th in Single Sign-On (SSO) with 50 reviews. Cisco Duo is rated 8.8, while Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Cisco Duo writes "Helps reduce the risk of a breach and is easy to deploy and onboard". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator writes "A reasonably priced solution that can be scaled toward different functionalities and offers flexible SMS messaging". Cisco Duo is most compared with Microsoft Entra ID, Fortinet FortiToken, Yubico YubiKey, UserLock and Zscaler Private Access, whereas Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is most compared with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Fortinet FortiToken, Microsoft Entra ID, Fortinet FortiNAC and CyberArk Privileged Access Manager. See our Cisco Duo vs. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator report.

    See our list of best Single Sign-On (SSO) vendors, best Authentication Systems vendors, and best MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) vendors.

    We monitor all Single Sign-On (SSO) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.