Proof Holdings vs Cisco Duo
Cisco Duo is the workforce MFA standard — it protects employee logins to corporate apps with push, WebAuthn, and device trust. Proof Holdings is a customer-facing passwordless verification layer: prove control of an asset, get a portable proof token, no app to install. Workforce versus customer — here's exactly where the line falls.
Protect your workforce with Duo. Verify your customers with Proof: no app to enroll, no $3–$9 monthly seat — €0.0079 a passwordless check over a channel they already have, with a signed token you keep on file.
One API · One key
One key does what a stack of vendors does
Every tool on this page delivers or bundles a second factor. Proof is a single API where the factor is control of an asset — and every check returns a signed, offline-verifiable ES256 token for each of these:
Flat price · Any asset
One flat price for every asset — phone, email, and domain today, with wallet and social coming soon. No per-seat, no per-MAU, no per-verification tiers — the meter that makes every rival's bill jump.
- Free every month
- 300 proofs
- Pay as you go
- €0.03 / proof
- At volume
- €0.0079 / proof
Feature Comparison
Swipe to compare →
| Feature | Proof Holdings | Cisco Duo |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Verify customer asset control → portable proof token | Protect employee logins → MFA + device trust |
| Who it's for | Your customers / anyone (often no account) | Your workforce (enrolled employees) |
| App / enrollment needed | None — channels people already have | Duo Mobile + device enrollment |
| Passwordless | Reverse OTP (native, no password ever) | WebAuthn (Essentials tier+) |
| MFA methods | Reverse OTP over Telegram/WhatsApp/SMS, email magic link | Duo Push, Verified Push (number-match), WebAuthn, FIDO2, TOTP |
| Reverse / number-matched flow | Reverse OTP → portable signed token | Verified Push number-match (in-app, not portable) |
| Domain verification | DNS TXT, HTTP, admin email, auto-verify | No |
| Wallet / social | Coming soon | No |
| Portable proof token (offline) | ES256 JWT — verify offline, share with third parties | No |
| HITL approvals for AI agents | Telegram/WhatsApp with signed tokens | No |
| Pricing model | Per-proof (any asset type) | Per-user / month (per employee seat) |
| Free tier | 300 proofs/month | Up to 10 users |
Pricing
Pricing model
Proof Holdings
Per-proof: €0.0079 (Business). Pay when a verification happens.
Cisco Duo
Per-user/month: Essentials $3, Advantage $6, Premier $9 — you pay for every employee seat.
Free tier
Proof Holdings
300 proofs/month, any asset type
Cisco Duo
Free for up to 10 users (MFA + Duo Push; SSO/passwordless need Essentials+)
What you're paying for
Proof Holdings
Discrete verifications of customers and assets
Cisco Duo
Ongoing MFA seats for a known, enrolled workforce
Workforce MFA + device trust
Proof Holdings
Not what Proof does — no device posture or SSO
Cisco Duo
Best-in-class: push, WebAuthn, device trust, Zero-Trust access
Two different jobs
Cisco Duo secures a *workforce*. It sits in front of employee logins to corporate apps, VPNs, and cloud consoles and proves the person signing in is a trusted employee on a trusted device — Duo Push, number-matched Verified Push, WebAuthn/FIDO2, and device-posture checks, now packaged as Duo IAM. If your problem is "stop account takeover of our employees," Duo is a market leader.
Proof Holdings secures a *verification*. It proves a person controls a specific asset — a phone, an email, a domain — and hands back a portable ES256 token. There's no directory, no employee enrollment, no app to install: the user acts over Telegram, WhatsApp, or email they already have. It's the passwordless verification step you call from your own product, often for people who will never have an account with you.
So this isn't a head-to-head — it's a boundary. Use Duo to protect employees signing in. Use Proof to verify control of an asset and get evidence you can hand to a third party.
Number-matching vs a portable proof
Both products moved past raw SMS — on the same reasoning. Duo is retiring SMS and phone-call MFA (SMS from around mid-2025, phone-call from late 2025) because they're phishable and SIM-swappable. Proof never sends a server-initiated code at all: its Reverse OTP has the user send a code *to* the service over a messaging app.
Duo's closest analog is Verified Duo Push — number-matching, where a code shown on the login screen is typed into Duo Mobile. It's a strong anti-push-fatigue measure. But it lives *inside* Duo's trust plane: it needs the enrolled Duo Mobile app, and it yields an access decision, not an artifact. Proof's reverse-OTP produces an ES256 proof token — portable, offline-verifiable by anyone with the public key, shareable with a third party. That's the difference between *approving a login* and *minting a proof you can hold*.
Email as a second factor, demonstrated
Proof's second factor isn't tied to one channel. The same reverse-OTP flow runs over Telegram, WhatsApp, SMS — or email: a magic link or one-time code to a verified address returns the same signed token. Proof dogfoods exactly this — its own dashboard step-up 2FA uses the same primitive it sells.
That's the auth thesis in one line: every asset, every channel, no passwords. A phone, an email, or a domain can each be the factor; the output is always a portable proof. Duo's factors, by contrast, are workforce authenticators (push, WebAuthn, tokens) bound to an enrolled device — excellent for employees, not a customer-facing, channel-flexible verification.
When to use Cisco Duo
- You're securing employee/workforce logins to corporate apps, VPNs, or cloud consoles
- You want device trust and posture checks (managed vs unmanaged, health) before access
- You're standardizing on Zero-Trust access and phishing-resistant WebAuthn/FIDO2 for staff
- You want push-based MFA with number-matching and an enrolled authenticator app
- You're in the Cisco ecosystem and want workforce identity + MFA in one suite
When to use Proof Holdings
- You need to verify customers or third parties who have no account and won't install an app
- You want a portable, offline-verifiable proof token, not an in-app access decision
- You need domain verification (DNS/HTTP/admin-email), which Duo doesn't do
- You want passwordless 2FA over channels people already have — Telegram, WhatsApp, email
- You want human-in-the-loop approvals over messaging with signed tokens
- You'd rather pay per verification than per employee seat
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to try Proof Holdings?
300 free proofs per month. No credit card required.
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