September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since.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 › Small business · September 2026 Edition

Multi-factor authentication for small business buyers

Asked as “MFA solution”, and as “multi-factor authentication tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 60 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
45%
Clear leader
45Cisco Duo30Microsoft Entra ID07Microsoft Authenticator18others

45% 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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Cisco Duo45%5%61endorsed leader
02Microsoft Entra ID30%2%46endorsed leader
03Microsoft Authenticator7%21%19accepted challenger
04Google Authenticator Lab in the set5%16%25accepted challenger
05Google Workspace 2-Step Verification Lab in the set3%8%13accepted challenger
06Okta Verify2%27%33criticized challenger
07LastPass MFA2%10%10accepted challenger
08Authy2%19%16accepted challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11Auth00%23%13accepted challenger
10YubiKey0%9%22accepted challenger
09JumpCloud Protect0%0%20accepted 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 three times of 44. Google Workspace 2-Step Verification 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 one time of 4; the other eleven models one time of 44. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.

Head to headHead-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.
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
11
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Cisco Duo45%
02Microsoft Entra ID30%
03Microsoft Authenticator7%
04Google Authenticator5%
05Google Workspace 2-Step Verification3%
06Okta Verify2%
07LastPass MFA2%
08Authy2%
09JumpCloud Protect0%
10YubiKey0%
11Auth00%

What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, 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.
Okta Verify
27%
9 of 33 labels negative · 7 of 12 models
“No free tier for small businesses; Minimum commitment is 1,500 users for the lowest tier; Overkill for most small companies” GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt
Cisco Duo
5%
3 of 61 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“Third-party Identity Providers (like Okta, Duo, or Azure AD P1/P2) can carry "punishing licensing fees"” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Google Authenticator
16%
4 of 25 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“Be Cautious With: Standard Authenticator Apps (TOTP) for Admins Using apps like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator (in standard mode)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Microsoft Authenticator
21%
4 of 19 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“Push Notifications (e.g., simple "Approve/Deny" prompts from apps like Microsoft Authenticator) (Use cautiously; prefer enhanced versions)” Grok 4.20, 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. 686 links across 184 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

33 answers · 33 citations · 10 models
31 answers · 34 citations · 9 models
30 answers · 35 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Rippling28 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Okta24 answers · 35 citations · 11 models
vendor site · miniOrange23 answers · 27 citations · 9 models
vendor site · G220 answers · 24 citations · 10 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 7 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 6 models
16 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Plivo15 answers · 15 citations · 8 models
vendor site · CISA10 answers · 13 citations · 8 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 days
Cisco parent site
Cisco Duo 45%
45%189165,00048,352
Microsoft parent site
Microsoft Entra ID 30%, Microsoft Authenticator 7%, Microsoft 365 0%
37%4992,240,000403,136
Google Authenticator google.dev
Google Authenticator 5%, Google Authenticator/Workspace 0%
5%60165,0002,858881,346109
Google Workspace workspace.google.com
Google Workspace 2-Step Verification 3%
3%17368,0007,42240,583,075$2,344
Okta Verify okta.com2%12249,5001,3221,959,740118
LastPass MFA lastpass.com2%826001,804,249$1,22053
Authy authy.com2%169,90043513,979
WorkOS workos.com2%3012,10010733,47875
Microsoft Entra security defaults + Microsoft Authenticator2%
Thinfinity Workspace2%

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 24 sites; 2 of them are among the sites the models cited here (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 small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which multi-factor authentication tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top MFA solutions for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best MFA solution for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a MFA solution. What should we look at?”Negative“Which MFA solutions should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Cisco Duo
Two alternativesGoogle Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID
Authy, Microsoft AuthenticatorChanged
Three alternativesCisco Duo, Google Authenticator, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID
Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
Four alternativesAuthy, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, Windows Hello
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesFIDO2 security keys, Windows Hello
Microsoft Entra IDChanged
One alternativeCisco Duo
against: Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
One alternativeMicrosoft Entra ID
against: Google Workspace 2-Step Verification
Microsoft Entra security defaults + Microsoft Authenticator
One alternativeCisco Duo
Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verifynothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashCisco Duo
Five alternativesClerk, Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID, WorkOS, miniOrange
against: Auth0
Cisco Duo, WorkOSChanged
Four alternativesAuth0, Datawiza, Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID
Cisco Duo
Six alternatives1Password, Bitwarden, Google Authenticator, Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID, YubiKey
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesBitwarden, Google Authenticator
against: Authelia, Authentik, Keycloak
Google Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, JumpCloud Protect
against: Okta Verify
against: Active Directory Federation Services, Ping Identity, RSA SecurID
Perplexity SonarCisco Duo
Two alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID
against: privacyIDEA
Cisco DuoHeld
Seven alternativesAuth0, Clerk, Descope, JumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Authenticator, OneLogin MFA, Stytch
Cisco Duo
Four alternatives1Password, Google Authenticator, JumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID
Cisco Duo
Three alternativesGoogle Authenticator, JumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20Cisco Duo
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco DuoHeld
Three alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
Three alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
against: LastPass MFA
Cisco Duo
Six alternativesAuthelia, Authy, Google Authenticator, Keycloak, Microsoft Authenticator, privacyIDEA
no first choice
Five alternativesCisco Duo, Google Authenticator/Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify, YubiKey
against: Rippling
against: Microsoft Authenticator
Mistral SmallCisco Duo
Two alternativesJumpCloud Protect, LastPass MFA
Cisco DuoHeld
Three alternatives1Password, JumpCloud Protect, LastPass MFA
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesLastPass MFA, Okta Verify
Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
One alternativeCisco Duo
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
One alternativeOkta Verify
Microsoft Entra IDChanged
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID (Azure AD) / Microsoft Authenticator, YubiKey
against: Authy, Google Authenticator, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesAuthy, Google Authenticator
against: YubiKey
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Four alternativesOkta Verify, OneLogin MFA, Rippling, YubiKey
nothing named
Llama 4 MaverickCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra IDLastPass MFAChanged
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Cisco Duo
Three alternativesJumpCloud Protect, LastPass Authenticator, Microsoft Entra ID
against: Okta Verify, Ping Identity
Thinfinity Workspace
Three alternativesAuthy, Cisco Duo, Google Authenticator
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
nothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesAuth0, Google Cloud Identity
Cisco DuoChanged
Four alternativesAuthy, Google Prompt, Microsoft Authenticator, YubiKey
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
One alternativeGoogle Identity-Aware Proxy / Google Workspace Advanced Protection
against: Authy, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesGoogle Workspace 2-Step Verification, Microsoft Entra ID
against: Authy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
Microsoft Entra ID
Five alternativesAuth0, Clerk, Google Cloud, SentinelOne, Zscaler
against: Cisco Duo
against: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
Kimi K2Microsoft Entra ID
Three alternativesCisco Duo, JumpCloud Protect, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra IDChanged
One alternativeOkta Verify
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesJumpCloud Protect, Microsoft Entra ID
against: Auth0, Okta Verify, OneLogin MFA
Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Google Authenticator
against: YubiKey
no first choice
One alternativeYubiKey
against: Auth0, Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
GLM 4.7 FlashXCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Three alternativesLastPass MFA, Okta Verify, Rippling
Cisco DuoChanged
Three alternativesLastPass MFA, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Four alternativesAuth0, Google Authenticator, JumpCloud Protect, Okta Verify
Cisco Duo
Two alternativesAuth0, Microsoft Entra ID
against: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Okta Verify
no first choiceagainst: Cisco Duo, Okta Verify, Twilio Verify
MiniMax M2.5Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
One alternativeOkta Verify
Microsoft Entra IDChanged
Two alternativesCisco Duo, LastPass MFA
Cisco Duo, Google Authenticator
Three alternativesJumpCloud Protect, LastPass MFA, OneLogin MFA
Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator
Two alternativesCisco Duo, Okta Verify
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 14:13yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 14:05yes37 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:42yes1120 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:43yes205 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 11:04yes1110 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:19yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:32yes1216 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:12yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:40no038 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:44yes921 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:48yes1255 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:24yes2051 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:01no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:24yes45 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:36yes721 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:25yes166 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 10:34yes138 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:43yes54 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:17yes816 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:39yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:05no039 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:07yes1325 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 14:04yes10135 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:45yes530 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:51yes1813 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 14:14yes37 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:54yes1126 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:50yes208 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 11:00yes4018 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:24yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:05yes1823 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:54yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:35yes523 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:01yes1543 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:22yes7113 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:15yes524 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:32no05 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:25yes34 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:00yes1326 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:47yes204 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 11:20yes1810 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:21yes56 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:04yes912 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:19yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:35yes527 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:20yes1445 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:41yes19263 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:32no011 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:13no010 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:05no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:44no015 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:32yes208 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 12:36yes1510 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:54no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:25yes1020 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:56yes55 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 14:03no040 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:19yes928 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:25no011 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:52yes516 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:48yes179 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:44yes45 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:23yes1123 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:25yes196 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 10:48yes1713 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:15yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:34yes1720 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:35yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:47yes1452 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:14yes1544 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:01yes2730 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:55yes529 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
Google Workspace read as Google Workspace 2-Step Verification
JumpCloud read as JumpCloud Protect
LastPass read as LastPass MFA
Microsoft (Entra ID/Azure AD) read as Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Authenticator/Azure MFA read as Microsoft Authenticator
Okta read as Okta Verify
Okta Adaptive MFA read as Okta Verify
Okta Workforce Identity read as Okta Verify
OneLogin read as OneLogin MFA
Onelogin Workforce Identity read as OneLogin MFA
Unresolved, counted raw
Active Directory Federation Services
FIDO2
Google Identity-Aware Proxy / Google Workspace Advanced Protection
Google Prompt
Microsoft Entra security defaults + Microsoft Authenticator
OpenOTP/RCDevs
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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