Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Duo Security VS Smallstep Certificates

Compare Duo Security VS Smallstep Certificates and see what are their differences

Duo Security logo Duo Security

Duo Security provides cloud-based two-factor authentication. Duo’s technology can be deployed to protect users, data, and applications from breaches, credential theft, and account takeover.

Smallstep Certificates logo Smallstep Certificates

A private certificate authority (X.509 & SSH) & ACME server for secure automated certificate management, so you can use TLS everywhere & SSO for SSH.
  • Duo Security Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26
  • Smallstep Certificates Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-22

Duo Security features and specs

  • Easy Integration
    Duo Security offers seamless integration with a wide range of applications and services, making it easier for organizations to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA).
  • User-Friendly
    The platform is designed with simplicity in mind, providing a straightforward user experience for both end-users and administrators.
  • Comprehensive MFA Options
    Duo supports a variety of authentication methods including push notifications, biometrics, and hardware tokens, giving users flexibility in how they authenticate.
  • Strong Security Features
    Duo incorporates advanced security features such as device health checks and endpoint visibility, enhancing the overall security posture of an organization.
  • Good Customer Support
    Duo Security is known for its responsive and knowledgeable customer support, helping organizations address issues quickly.
  • Scalability
    The platform can easily scale to accommodate organizations of varying sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises.

Possible disadvantages of Duo Security

  • Cost
    The service can be expensive compared to other MFA solutions, particularly for smaller organizations with limited budgets.
  • User Management Complexity
    Managing a large number of users can become complex, particularly in organizations with high employee turnover.
  • Dependency on Mobile Devices
    Many of Duo's authentication methods rely on mobile devices, which can be inconvenient or impractical for users without access to smartphones.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite being user-friendly, there is still a learning curve for administrators new to the platform, particularly for advanced features.
  • Internet Dependence
    The service requires a reliable internet connection to function properly, which can be a limitation in areas with poor connectivity.
  • Limited Offline Options
    Duo Security has limited options for offline authentication, which may pose challenges in environments where internet access is intermittent.

Smallstep Certificates features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Duo Security videos

What is DUO Security 2FA and How it Works With Windows Remote Desktop

More videos:

  • Review - Powerful New Features from Duo Security
  • Review - An Introduction to Duo Security

Smallstep Certificates videos

No Smallstep Certificates videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Duo Security and Smallstep Certificates)
Identity And Access Management
Two Factor Authentication
Web Development Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Authentication
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Duo Security and Smallstep Certificates

Duo Security Reviews

20 Identity Management Solutions You Should Know
Used by WhatsApp and Etsy, Duo Security was designed with modern companies in mind. That means it prioritizes speed. The DuoMobile app, for instance, simplifies multi-factor authentication. Users can merely tap on a push notification instead of typing in an SMS code to complete their login. Duo also allows for a modern, mobile-friendly work culture by letting organizations...
Source: builtin.com

Smallstep Certificates Reviews

We have no reviews of Smallstep Certificates yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Duo Security should be more popular than Smallstep Certificates. It has been mentiond 31 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Duo Security mentions (31)

  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Duo.com — Two-factor authentication (2FA) for website or app. Free for ten users, all authentication methods, unlimited, integrations, hardware tokens. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Additional computer log-in protection
    You could use Duo - https://duo.com/. It can be set to require MFA when logging in locally or only when logging in via RDP (or both). It's free for up to 10 users. Source: about 2 years ago
  • [Data-Mining] Upcoming tunnels from the May 23 patch
    A quick google tells me that Duo is a 2FA service from Cisco. Maybe that's what Anet is using to manage the 2FA in the launcher behind the scenes? Source: about 2 years ago
  • what do you use for ssh brute force protection: fail2ban or sshguard ? or something else ? for ubuntu and fedora
    I have Duo (https://duo.com) enabled on my internet facing SSH server. It sits behind sslh on port 443 and uses public key authentication only. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Duo MFA with Serverless API Gateway for authentication
    Our organization uses Duo, which is an MFA tool that competes with Okta. I created a serverless application with API Gateway and Lambda that gives users access to Salesforce resources where they can directly update records. This was a workaround for getting around Salesforce community clouds expensive community licenses. Source: about 2 years ago
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Smallstep Certificates mentions (10)

  • A convert from Judaism to Catholicism goes to r/Catholicism to ask if it would be appropriate to pass down a century old Jewish prayer shawl to his son. Not everyone is welcoming.
    Just a little heads up https://smallstep.com/certificates/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Looking for an open source certificate management solution.
    Step-ca: Not web based, but the CLI is pretty user friendly: https://smallstep.com/certificates/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Using k8s-apiserver as AAA server for microservices?
    I was just looking at https://smallstep.com/certificates a few days ago. It looks like they have an operator that fits your description as well as example docs for setting up inter-microservice mtls. Source: over 2 years ago
  • What are SSH Certificate Authority solutions?
    In the quick search I learned about Ssh cert authority which looks very manual and also like a dead project Smallstep's step-ca who put together very nice article about how to begin certificate authority process Netflix' BLESS is AWS only Cashier which also looks quite ok. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Quickly prototyping and testing TLS services with valid certs
    If you want something a little fancier (I.e. Get automatic certs with all that ACME goodness) check out SmallStep. This is next on my list of homelab projects. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Duo Security and Smallstep Certificates, you can also consider the following products

Google Authenticator - Google Authenticator is a multifactor app for mobile devices.

BastionXP - BastionXP Identity Based Infrastructure Access Platform is a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) / Certificate Authority (CA) that creates, signs and distributes SSH, SSL X.509 certificates to servers and users upon successful SSO login via OAuth or SAML

Authy - Best rated Two-Factor Authentication smartphone app for consumers, simplest 2fa Rest API for developers and a strong authentication platform for the enterprise.

PKI.js - PKIjs is a pure JavaScript library implementing the formats that are used in PKI applications (signing, encryption, certificate requests, OCSP and TSP requests/responses). It is built on WebCrypto (Web Cryptography API) and requires no plug-ins.

Azure Multi-Factor Authentication - Azure Multi-Factor Authentication helps safeguard access to data and applications while meeting user demand for a simple sign-in process.

Smallstep SSH - Single Sign-on SSH