September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › IT › Identity and access › MFA · September 2026 Edition

Multi-factor authentication

Asked as “MFA solution”, and as “multi-factor authentication tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 53 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
43%
Clear leader
43Cisco Duo30Microsoft Entra ID09Okta Verify17others

43% of first choices, clear leader.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Cisco Duo43%2%61endorsed leader
02Microsoft Entra ID30%2%49endorsed leader
03Okta Verify9%12%50accepted challenger
04Microsoft Authenticator6%5%19accepted challenger
05Google Authenticator Lab in the set4%32%22criticized challenger
06Ping Identity2%13%15accepted challenger
07Authy2%25%16criticized challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
10RSA SecurID0%17%12accepted challenger
08YubiKey0%0%29accepted challenger
09JumpCloud Protect0%0%10accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.

Google Authenticator is made by Google, whose model Gemini 3.5 Flash is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice zero times of 4; the other eleven models two times of 44. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.

All twenty-one head-to-head pages: the top seven products, each against each

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Cisco Duo43%
02Microsoft Entra ID30%
03Okta Verify9%
04Microsoft Authenticator6%
05Google Authenticator4%
06Ping Identity2%
07Authy2%
08YubiKey0%
09JumpCloud Protect0%
10RSA SecurID0%

What they warned about

Four of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Google Authenticator
32%
7 of 22 labels negative · 6 of 12 models
“Applications like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator generate 6-digit codes ... they are vulnerable to Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) phishing.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Okta Verify
12%
6 of 50 labels negative · 4 of 12 models
“Cons: It is expensive, and sales negotiations/licensing can feel heavy for companies on the smaller end of the mid-market spectrum.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, direct prompt
Authy
25%
4 of 16 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Be Cautious With: Authy (and similar Cloud-Backed Apps)... Authy’s master encryption key had been compromised.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
1Password
100%
2 of 2 labels negative · 2 of 12 models
“Use With Caution: Built-in MFA in Password Managers ... (Bitwarden, 1Password, Dashlane)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

What they cite

Twelve of the twelve models returned a source list in this edition: four return the pages they cited and eight the search results they consulted.

Sites the answers cite

61 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 676 links across 180 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Rippling29 answers · 32 citations · 8 models
26 answers · 26 citations · 10 models
23 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
vendor site · miniOrange22 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
20 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
vendor site · WorkOS15 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
vendor site · G215 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Plivo15 answers · 15 citations · 6 models
14 answers · 22 citations · 8 models
14 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
12 answers · 13 citations · 8 models
12 answers · 12 citations · 6 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best mfa solution”, “mfa solution”, “mfa solutions”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Cisco parent site
Cisco Duo 43%
43%189165,00048,352
Microsoft parent site
Microsoft Entra ID 30%, Microsoft Authenticator 6%
36%4992,240,000403,136
Okta Verify okta.com9%12249,5001,3221,959,740118
Google Authenticator google.dev4%60165,0002,858881,346109
Ping pingidentity.com
Ping Identity 2%
2%26412,10024973,959 company$3055
Authy authy.com2%169,90043513,979
Google Workspace workspace.google.com
Google Workspace 2-Step Verification 2%
2%17368,0007,42240,583,075$2,344
Google Workforce Identity2%
YubiKey yubico.com0%5349,5002,53697,36332
JumpCloud Protect jumpcloud.com0%321706108,479$8,612807

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 24 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (aimultiple.com, miniorange.com, rippling.com). The first result for “best mfa solution” is miniorange.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best MFA solution for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which multi-factor authentication tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top MFA solutions and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best MFA solution for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a MFA solution. What should we look at?”Negative“Which MFA solutions should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceno first choiceHeldOkta Verify
Three alternativesCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID, One Identity Defender
Authy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
Two alternativesTitan Keys, YubiKey
against: FreeRADIUS, Keycloak
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Entra ID
One alternativeCisco Duo
against: Okta Verify
Cisco DuoChanged
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
One alternativeCisco Duo
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra IDno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashCisco Duo
Six alternativesClerk, Datawiza, Descope, Kinde, Microsoft Entra ID, WorkOS
against: Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra IDChanged
One alternativeOkta Verify
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Three alternativesOkta Verify, Ping Identity, YubiKey
Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, YubiKey
Microsoft Entra ID
One alternativeCisco Duo
against: Okta Verify
against: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
Perplexity SonarCisco Duo
Four alternativesDescope, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify, WorkOS
Cisco DuoHeld
Three alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Okta Verify
Six alternativesAuth0, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity, RSA SecurID, Twilio Verify, YubiKey
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesGoogle Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
against: Microsoft Entra ID
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20Cisco Duo
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco DuoHeld
Three alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify, Ping Identity
Cisco Duo, Okta Verify
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, YubiKey
against: Authy, Google Authenticator, RSA SecurID
Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Google Authenticator with Google Workspace MFA
no first choiceagainst: Authy, Google Authenticator
Mistral SmallOkta Verify
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Cisco DuoChanged
Two alternativesMicrosoft Authenticator, Okta Verify
YubiKey
Four alternativesCisco Duo, Microsoft Authenticator, Okta Verify, RSA SecurID
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Authenticator
One alternativeOneLogin MFA
against: Google Authenticator
no first choiceagainst: Push-based MFA, SMS-based MFA
DeepSeek V4 FlashCisco Duo
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra IDChanged
Two alternativesOkta Verify, YubiKey
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Four alternativesBeyond Identity, HYPR, RSA SecurID, YubiKey
Cisco Duo
Three alternativesAuthy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) / Microsoft Authenticator
Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Okta Verify
against: IBM Verify, Keycloak, Ping Identity
against: Authy, Google Authenticator
Llama 4 MaverickCisco Duo, Okta Verify
One alternativeMicrosoft Entra ID
Ping IdentityChanged
One alternativeCisco Duo
no first choiceCisco Duo, Google Authenticator
Two alternativesMicrosoft Authenticator, Microsoft Entra ID
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
One alternativeCisco Duo
Okta VerifyChanged
Three alternativesAuth0, Microsoft Entra ID, YubiKey
against: Google Authenticator
no first choice
Five alternativesCisco Duo, Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify, Ping Identity
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesPlivo, privacyIDEA
Google Workforce Identity, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Ping Identity
against: 1Password, Authy, Bitwarden, Cisco Duo, Dashlane, Okta Verify
Kimi K2Cisco Duo
Three alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco DuoHeld
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Okta Verify
Six alternativesBeyond Identity, HYPR, Microsoft Authenticator, Microsoft Entra ID, RSA SecurID, YubiKey
against: Google Authenticator
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Four alternativesAuthelia, Keycloak, Microsoft Authenticator, NordPass
Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Okta Verify
nothing named
GLM 4.7 FlashXCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra IDagainst: 1Password, LastPass MFA, Okta Verify, Ping IdentityCisco DuoChanged
Two alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID
against: Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
Eight alternativesAuth0, Beyond Identity, HYPR, Keycloak, Microsoft Authenticator, Okta Verify, Rippling, YubiKey
Microsoft Entra ID
Six alternativesAuthelia, Authentik, Cisco Duo, Google Authenticator, Keycloak, Microsoft Authenticator
no first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5Okta Verify
Three alternativesCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID, Rippling
Microsoft Entra IDChanged
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, YubiKey
Four alternativesBeyond Identity, HYPR, Microsoft Authenticator, Okta Verify
against: RSA SecurID
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Authenticator
Three alternativesAuthy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Entra ID
no first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:20no04 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:57yes35 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:01yes1927 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:07yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 12:44yes2312 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:36yes1812 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:06yes917 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:55yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:30no040 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:49yes1343 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:23yes27109 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:56yes625 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:03no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:45yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:23yes722 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:58yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 13:03yes138 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:51yes108 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:50yes911 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:44yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:30yes553 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:19yes1020 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:02yes12205 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:09yes928 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:14yes96 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:43yes26 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:15yes1722 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:20yes2010 s
ComparativeGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 11:56yes1411 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:30yes55 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:41yes1015 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:14yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:07no035 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 09:54yes1041 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:26yes1530 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:48yes823 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:05no05 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:18yes37 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:30yes1326 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:06yes206 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 09:56yes189 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:26yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:35yes1010 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:32yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:02yes528 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:07yes819 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:23yes942 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:10yes530 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:34no08 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:08no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:06yes1131 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:16yes209 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 11:51yes1310 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:49no07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:26yes1923 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 14:10yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:40no038 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:15yes1555 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:23yes1054 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:15yes515 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:54no04 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:50yes25 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:01yes1216 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:47yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 10:36yes199 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:27yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:19yes2420 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:42yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:49no037 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:11yes1029 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:05yes1437 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:12yes513 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Cisco Duo Access Gateway (Free Tier) read as Cisco Duo
Google Workspace read as Google Workspace 2-Step Verification
Google Workspace Security (BeyondCorp) read as Google Workspace 2-Step Verification
IBM read as IBM Verify
JumpCloud read as JumpCloud Protect
LastPass read as LastPass MFA
Microsoft Authenticator/Azure MFA read as Microsoft Authenticator
Microsoft Entra read as Microsoft Entra ID
Okta read as Okta Verify
Okta Adaptive MFA read as Okta Verify
Okta Identity Cloud read as Okta Verify
Okta MFA read as Okta Verify
Okta Workforce Identity read as Okta Verify
Okta Workforce Identity Cloud read as Okta Verify
OneLogin read as OneLogin MFA
OneLogin by One Identity read as OneLogin MFA
Ping read as Ping Identity
RSA read as RSA SecurID
Unresolved, counted raw
2FAS
Aegis
FIDO2/WebAuthn hardware keys
Google Authenticator with Google Workspace MFA
Google Titan keys
Google Titanium Key
Google Workforce Identity
Kanidm
LLDAP
One Identity Defender
Push-based MFA
Rauthy
SMS-based MFA
SoloKeys
Titan Keys
Vasco
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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