Cisco Duo Alternatives 2026: 5 Options, 4 Free
Cisco Duo alternatives: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, authentik, Keycloak and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Passwords, Privacy & Identity
Verdict:A note on the name: this page covers Cisco Duo, the multi-factor authentication service, and not other products that share the name. Duo Free is $0 for up to 10 users, and Essentials is $3 per user a month. Leave Duo if you have more than 10 users and the per-user bill matters, or if you want MFA bundled with your identity provider. Microsoft Entra ID is the natural choice in a Microsoft 365 shop, since the free tier already includes MFA and SSO but needs an Azure subscription. Okta replaces Duo only if you want a full identity platform; at $6 per user a month with a $1,500 annual minimum it costs more. If you can run servers, authentik and Keycloak are free open-source options, and ZITADEL charges by daily active users, which suits apps with many occasional users. The trade-off is operations. Duo is a hosted service with push-based authenticator apps and integrations out of the box. Self-hosted tools make you responsible for uptime, upgrades and the MFA enrolment flow. Small teams under 10 users should stay on Duo Free.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Entra ID | Free (Entra ID Free: MFA, unlimited SSO and password self-service; requires an Azure subscription); paid from $7 per user/month, billed annually (Entra ID P1) | Web (SaaS) | Microsoft 365 organisations | Docs only |
| Okta | Paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually (Workforce Identity Starter Suite; $1,500 annual contract minimum) | Web (SaaS) | Teams that need full workforce identity | Docs only |
| authentik | Free (Open-source self-hosted edition is free); paid from $5 per internal user/month, billed annually (Enterprise; external users $0.02/month) | Self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes) | Self-hosted SSO and MFA | Docs only |
| Keycloak | Free (free open source; you host and run it) | Self-hosted | Teams that can run their own identity server | Docs only |
| ZITADEL | Free (cloud Free tier: 100 daily active users, unlimited users); paid from $100 per month (Pro, 25,000 daily active users) | Self-hosted, Web | Apps with many occasional users | Docs only |
| JumpCloud | Paid from $3 per user/month, billed annually (MFA, $4 monthly) | Web browser | Identity & Access | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You use Microsoft 365 and want MFA included (Microsoft Entra ID is the pick)
- You want a full identity platform and accept the cost (Okta is the pick)
- You can self-host and want a free SSO server (authentik is the pick)
- You need standards-based SSO and run Java services (Keycloak is the pick)
- Your app has many users but few active per day (ZITADEL is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Cisco Duo features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Cisco Duo today: Free (Duo Free: up to 10 users); paid from $3 per user/month (Duo Essentials) (Cisco Duo pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Why people look for Cisco Duo alternatives
Duo Free covers only 10 users with basic MFA and an authenticator app. Single sign-on, passwordless login and phishing-resistant MFA arrive with Essentials at $3 per user per month; risk-based authentication and session theft protection need Advantage at $6; VPN-less remote access and device trust require Premier at $9. Self-service licenses are sold in blocks of 10 users below 100 users and 25 above, so growth comes in bulky steps.
Microsoft Entra ID
Compared with Cisco Duo: Entra ID Free includes MFA, unlimited SSO and password self-service but needs an Azure subscription; P1 is $7 per user a month billed annually. Fits Microsoft 365 shops, but ties MFA to the Microsoft ecosystem.
Price: Free (Entra ID Free: MFA, unlimited SSO and password self-service; requires an Azure subscription); paid from $7 per user/month, billed annually (Entra ID P1) (Microsoft Entra ID pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web (SaaS). Proprietary.
Best for: Microsoft 365 organisations.
Okta
Compared with Cisco Duo: Paid-only, Workforce Identity Starter Suite at $6 per user a month billed annually with a $1,500 yearly minimum. Costs more than Duo Essentials at $3 but covers wider identity management.
Price: Paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually (Workforce Identity Starter Suite; $1,500 annual contract minimum) (Okta pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web (SaaS). Proprietary.
Best for: Teams that need full workforce identity.
Worth knowing: Workforce Identity has a 30-day free trial. Customer Identity Enterprise starts at $3,000 per month billed annually, not per user. A non-production Integrator Free Plan allows 10 active users.
authentik
Compared with Cisco Duo: Open-source self-hosted edition is free; Enterprise is $5 per internal user a month billed annually. You run it yourself, so you give up Duo's hosted service for control and a lower bill.
Price: Free (Open-source self-hosted edition is free); paid from $5 per internal user/month, billed annually (Enterprise; external users $0.02/month) (authentik pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes). MIT (authentik/enterprise directory under a separate license) (open source).
Project activity: 26.1k GitHub stars · latest release version/2026.8.5 (Oct 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted SSO and MFA.
Keycloak
Compared with Cisco Duo: Free open-source identity server supporting SSO, OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0. You host it and manage MFA yourself, with no vendor support like Duo's.
Price: Free (free open source; you host and run it) (Keycloak pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 37.6k GitHub stars · latest release 26.8.1 (Oct 13, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams that can run their own identity server.
Worth knowing: Supports SSO, OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0 per the project site. CNCF incubating project.
ZITADEL
Compared with Cisco Duo: Cloud free tier covers 100 daily active users with unlimited users, AGPL-3.0 self-hosting is possible. Pricing counts daily active users rather than seats like Duo's per-user plans.
Price: Free (cloud Free tier: 100 daily active users, unlimited users); paid from $100 per month (Pro, 25,000 daily active users) (ZITADEL pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted, Web. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 15.5k GitHub stars · latest release v4.20.0 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Apps with many occasional users.
Other popular options (paid)
JumpCloud
Compared with Cisco Duo: MFA is sold separately at $3 per user per month billed annually, with SSO at $11 and device management at $9. There is no permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial, whereas Duo Free covers 10 users.
Price: Paid from $3 per user/month, billed annually (MFA, $4 monthly) (JumpCloud pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You use Microsoft 365 and want MFA included: Microsoft Entra ID
- You want a full identity platform and accept the cost: Okta
- You can self-host and want a free SSO server: authentik
- You need standards-based SSO and run Java services: Keycloak
- Your app has many users but few active per day: ZITADEL
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, authentik, Keycloak, ZITADEL: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Cisco Duo. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
Related guides
Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, authentik, Keycloak, ZITADEL, JumpCloud. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.