What is Duo Security used for?

Duo Security is Cisco's workforce identity service offering multi-factor authentication and device trust, with SSO, passwordless sign-in and identity threat detection. It is a good fit for adding MFA to company applications and enforcing device health before granting access.

Is Duo Security free?

Yes. Duo Security has a free plan, and paid plans start at $3 per seat per month. A free trial is also available.

Is Duo Security open source?

No. Duo Security is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Duo Security include Authelia, Keycloak and Aegis Authenticator.

What are some alternatives to Duo Security?

Duo Security competes with Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity and OneLogin. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Duo Security alternatives.

Duo Security: features, pricing and alternatives

About Duo Security

Duo Security, now sold as Cisco Duo, is a commercial identity security service for organizations. It verifies that users and devices can be trusted before granting access to applications, and it is used by small businesses, enterprises, government bodies, education institutions and managed service providers.

The product set includes multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, a cloud directory, Duo IAM, passwordless authentication, Duo Passport, device trust and phishing-resistant MFA. Identity intelligence features add identity threat detection and response and identity security posture management, and newer content covers Active Directory defense and agentic IAM.

Duo is proprietary and delivered as a cloud service. Its homepage lists three editions: Essentials at $3 per user per month, Advantage at $6 and Premier at $9, and a comparison page, ROI calculator and buy-now option are available.

Key features

Multi-factor authentication for workforce logins
Single sign-on for applications
Passwordless authentication options
Device trust checks before access
Phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication
Identity threat detection and response

Good fit for

→Adding MFA to company applications
→Enforcing device health before granting access

Tags: security; mfa; sso; passwordless; device-trust; identity; cisco

Duo Security: questions and answers

What is Duo Security used for?: Duo Security is Cisco's workforce identity service offering multi-factor authentication and device trust, with SSO, passwordless sign-in and identity threat detection. It is a good fit for adding MFA to company applications and enforcing device health before granting access.
Is Duo Security free?: Yes. Duo Security has a free plan, and paid plans start at $3 per seat per month. A free trial is also available.
Is Duo Security open source?: No. Duo Security is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Duo Security include Authelia, Keycloak and Aegis Authenticator.
What are some alternatives to Duo Security?: Duo Security competes with Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity and OneLogin. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Duo Security alternatives.