Two-factor authentication has emerged as an important safety measure for organizations to boost the safety of their customers. Duo and Microsoft Authenticator are two in style apps that present this degree of safety.
Duo makes use of push notifications, time-based, one-time passwords, bodily tokens, and biometrics to confirm the id of customers at login. Equally, Microsoft Authenticator makes use of push notifications and one-time passcodes that may combine with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID (previously Azure Lively Listing.)
Whereas each 2FA choices share some similarities, key variations can sway your resolution to decide on one over the opposite.
- Duo: Greatest for additional safety capabilities like adaptive authentication, granular entry insurance policies, and menace detection.
- Microsoft Authenticator: Greatest for Microsoft-centric environments that need seamless integration with Microsoft Entra ID and different Home windows providers.
Duo vs Microsoft Authenticator: Comparability desk
Options | ||
---|---|---|
Push notifications | ||
Biometrics authentication | ||
One-time passcodes | ||
Integrations with different services | ||
Backup and restoration | ||
Pricing | ||
|
|
Duo vs Microsoft Authenticator pricing
Beneath is how Duo and Microsoft Authenticator sq. up towards one another when it comes to pricing.
Duo pricing
Duo follows a tiered system primarily based on options and providers you desire to added to the appliance. In the intervening time, it presents 4 subscription tiers:
Plan | Duo Free | Duo Important | Duo Benefit | Duo Premier |
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Free | $3 per consumer, per 30 days | $6 per consumer, per 30 days | $9 per consumer, per 30 days |
Options variations | Permits 1-10 customers; MFA, integrations, and free authenticator app | All Free plan options plus, Single Signal-On, passwordless authentication, and consumer group insurance policies | All Important plan options plus Duo Passport, risk-based authentication, Cisco Identification Intelligence, and menace detection | All Benefit options plus VPN-less distant entry to non-public sources, endpoint safety test, and 0 belief entry |

Microsoft Authenticator pricing
Microsoft Authenticator is free and comes bundled with all Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Lively Listing) and 365 Enterprise accounts.
For a full checklist of costs and options, you possibly can go to our articles on Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Lively Listing).
Function comparability: Duo vs Microsoft Authenticator
Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator current glorious options to customers, however here’s a head-to-head function comparability:
Utility Programming Interface integration
Most enterprise organizations contemplating Duo or Microsoft Authenticator will need to combine these apps with present or customized software program and server purposes.
Duo helps limitless utility integrations by its platform in all accessible editions.
Then again, whereas Microsoft Authenticator additionally integrates with different third-party services, it’s far simpler to combine with Microsoft-supported providers as a result of it’s already bundled with a few of them.
Security measures
Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator prioritize safety and provide strong options to guard consumer accounts. Duo helps adaptive authentication, which assesses the danger of every login try and prompts for added verification when crucial. It additionally offers granular entry insurance policies, permitting directors to outline particular authentication necessities primarily based on consumer roles and situations.
Microsoft Authenticator leverages the facility of Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Lively Listing) to ship superior safety features, corresponding to conditional entry insurance policies, risk-based authentication, and seamless single sign-on experiences throughout purposes. It additionally helps hardware-backed safety keys for enhanced safety towards phishing assaults.
Authentication strategies
Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator present a number of authentication strategies. Duo presents quite a lot of authentication choices, together with push notifications, WebAuthn and biometrics, tokens, passcodes, and {hardware} safety keys.
In the meantime, Microsoft Authenticator helps push notifications, OTPs, and biometric authentication (fingerprint, facial recognition) on supported gadgets.

Backup and restoration
Duo’s Restore function lets customers backup Duo-protected accounts and third-party OTP accounts for restoration to the identical or new machine. This lets you again up your Duo accounts on cloud providers like iCloud and Google Drive.
Equally, Microsoft Authenticator presents backup and restoration choices that enable customers to securely retailer their accounts and settings within the cloud. This function allows simple account restoration on new gadgets or in case of machine loss.

Buyer help
On the subject of buyer help, each suppliers provide an honest quantity of choices.
For Duo, they’ve a devoted help web page with a web based information base categorized for Duo customers and directors — making it simple to get help for each forms of customers.
In addition they have a weblog, documentation portal, and chatbot function. Apart from that, you possibly can file a help case, contact a stay agent through cellphone, or electronic mail the Duo help group.
Conversely, help for Microsoft Authenticator falls below the umbrella help providers you get with Microsoft as a complete. You’ll be able to contact Microsoft’s help brokers by their official help web page, make a cellphone name to one in every of their regional help numbers, or go to their Microsoft Neighborhood discussion board for stay discussions.
In addition they have an intensive FAQs web page for Microsoft Authenticator itself, offering documentation from setup to troubleshooting widespread points.
Duo professionals and cons
Whereas Duo presents many advantages to customers, it additionally has some drawbacks. Here’s a abstract of the professionals and cons.
Execs
- Single sign-on.
- Passwordless.
- A number of authentication strategies.
- Push Phishing Safety.
- Risk Detection.
- Backup and restoration.
Cons
- Duo Free accounts are restricted to 10 customers.
- Barely cluttered UI in sure locations because of the large number of authentication choices.
- Safety notifications generally take longer than anticipated.
Microsoft Authenticator professionals and cons
Microsoft authenticator presents highly effective two-factor authentication options, however there could also be just a few drawbacks some customers say they’ve skilled whereas utilizing the product. Beneath are some professionals and cons.
Execs
- Passwordless sign-in.
- Push notifications by the cellular app.
- The authenticator app can be utilized as a software program token.
- Backup and restoration help.
Cons
- Multi-factor report possibility is simply supported within the larger plans.
- Pricing mannequin could also be difficult for some customers to navigate.
- Will not be preferrred for firms that shouldn’t have Microsoft ecosystems.
Ought to your group use Duo or Microsoft Authenticator?
Selecting one 2FA software program over one other may be difficult, particularly when many placing similarities bind the merchandise collectively. For Duo and Microsoft Authenticator, the principle level of reference when deciding between the 2 ought to revolve round your general know-how stack, ease of use, and pricing.
When you closely depend on Microsoft merchandise corresponding to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Lively Listing), Microsoft 365, and different Microsoft providers, Microsoft Authenticator could present a extra seamless and built-in expertise.
Then again, when you’ve got a various set of platforms and purposes, Duo’s broad compatibility and intensive integration capabilities make it a extra versatile alternative. Duo integrates simply with providers like Slack, Atlassian, Salesforce, Dropbox, and extra.
You also needs to take into account the pricing fashions and the way they meet your online business necessities and budgets. Duo’s pricing construction varies relying on the options and help degree chosen, whereas Microsoft Authenticator is often bundled with Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
Duo’s pricing is extra complete and clear, in contrast to Microsoft’s, which is extra difficult on account of its bundling with Microsoft subscriptions. Take time to guage your group’s particular wants and take into account the related prices when evaluating the pricing of those options.
Lastly, look into every service’s consumer expertise and ease of use. Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator present seamless consumer experiences, however preferences could fluctuate relying in your group’s tech stack, consumer base, and the way acquainted they’re with every platform.
Use the free variations every resolution presents to get hands-on expertise with every product. When testing, assess issues such because the simplicity of setup, the intuitiveness of the authentication course of, and any extra options that improve usability.
Think about conducting a pilot check with each options to guage their efficiency and compatibility inside your online business setting. This lets you collect firsthand expertise and suggestions out of your customers and directors earlier than making a closing resolution.
For a extra complete analysis of two-factor authentication primarily based on safety impression and strategic enterprise initiative, take a look at this two-factor authentication analysis information.
SEE: Securing Linux Coverage (TechRepublic Premium)
Methodology
To attract a good comparability between Duo and Microsoft Authenticator, we began by going by the documentation pages of every product, the place we realized about their key options and the way they combine with different applied sciences. We additionally checked out consumer critiques from trusted third-party assessment websites to get some opinions from verified customers. The author additionally makes use of Microsoft Authenticator, making it simpler to debate the product primarily based on my expertise. All these offered sufficient perception to assist form our assessment.
This text was initially written by Franklin Okeke in August 2023 and was up to date by Luis Millares in January 2025 to account for function and product modifications, like Azure Lively Listing’s identify change to Microsoft Entra ID.