Cybersecurity · head to head
Cisco Duo vs Very Good Security
Very Good Security
Cybersecurity
Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope
- From
- $1000/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Cisco Duo has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Cisco Duo free tier limited to 10 users maximum; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cisco Duo and Very Good Security actually diverge.
| Attribute | Cisco Duo | Very Good Security |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | $1000/month |
| Pricing model | subscription | Per month |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web | Web, API |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Cisco Duo
Nothing recorded that Very Good Security does not also cover.
Only in Very Good Security
- Aliasing proxy
- PCI scope reduction
- Network tokenisation
- Processor optionality
- Card issuing data
- Vault and access controls
- Data residency options
- Compliance artefacts
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cisco Duo
- Eliminating phishing with passwordless authnot Very Good Security
- Implementing zero trust with device trustnot Very Good Security
- Protecting sessions from hijacking and theftnot Very Good Security
- Managing compliance for regulated industriesnot Very Good Security
Very Good Security
- A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Cisco Duo
- A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Cisco Duo
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Cisco Duo
- A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Cisco Duo
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Cisco Duo
- Free tier limited to 10 users maximum
- Licenses must be purchased in 10-user increments (under 100 users) or 25-user increments (100+ users)
- Pricing is per-user per-month with minimum purchase increments
Very Good Security
- VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
- Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
- Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
- Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
- Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.
Pricing, plan by plan
Cisco Duo
Free- FreeFree
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Seamless integrations
- Authenticator app
- Essentials$3/month
- All Free features
- Duo Directory
- Phishing-resistant MFA
- Advantage$6/month
- All Essentials features
- Identity intelligence
- Cisco Identity Intelligence (ISPM, ITDR)
- Premier$9/month
- All Advantage features
- Complete device trust
- VPN-less remote access
Very Good Security
$1000/month- Starter$1000/month
- Aliasing proxy
- Vault storage
- PCI scope reduction
- Growth$undefined/month
- Network tokenisation
- Multiple processors
- Data residency options
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- Custom vault architecture
- Dedicated support and SLA
- Contractual compliance coverage
Which should you pick?
Choose Very Good Security if
- You need aliasing proxy.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want pci scope reduction.
Questions people ask
- Is Cisco Duo or Very Good Security better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cisco Duo starts at Free and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cisco Duo or Very Good Security?
- Cisco Duo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cisco Duo and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
- Does Cisco Duo or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
- Cisco Duo runs on Web. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
- Can I use Cisco Duo for free?
- Yes. Cisco Duo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
- What is Cisco Duo best used for?
- Cisco Duo is most often used for eliminating phishing with passwordless auth, implementing zero trust with device trust, protecting sessions from hijacking and theft, managing compliance for regulated industries. Of those, eliminating phishing with passwordless auth and implementing zero trust with device trust are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
- What can Cisco Duo do that Very Good Security cannot?
- Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Cisco Duo: How much does Cisco Duo cost?
Cisco Duo Free is $0/user/month (up to 10 users). Paid plans start at $3/user/month (Essentials), $6/user/month (Advantage), and $9/user/month (Premier). Billing is per-user per-month.
SourceVery Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?
No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.
Cisco Duo: Is Cisco Duo free to try?
Yes, Duo Free offers multi-factor authentication and seamless integrations at $0/user/month for up to 10 users.
SourceVery Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?
Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.
Cisco Duo: What is the minimum purchase for Cisco Duo?
Organizations must buy licenses in 10-user increments for under 100 users, or 25-user increments for 100 or more users. Plans are modifiable at any time.
SourceVery Good Security: What does it cost?
Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.
Cisco Duo: What does the Advantage plan add over Essentials?
Advantage ($6/user/month) adds identity intelligence, Cisco Identity Intelligence (ISPM, ITDR), Duo Passport, session theft protection, Active Directory Defense, and risk-based authentication.
SourceVery Good Security: Is it only for card data?
No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.
Related pages
More on Very Good Security
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