Telephony Credits

Overview

Duo's main authentication methods — Duo Push and Duo Mobile-generated passcodes — are app-based and have no telephony cost, but require a smartphone or other mobile device. Duo also supports telephony-based authentication via phone calls and SMS messages. Each authentication call or SMS message is debited against your telephony credit balance (as per rate card).

If you ever exhaust your telephony credit balance, your users will not be able to receive authentication phone calls or text messages. They will still be able to authenticate using non-telephony methods: Duo Push, Duo Mobile passcodes, and hardware tokens.

Paid accounts are issued credits yearly, and may purchase extra telephony credits as needed. Duo Free account holders can also purchase additional telephony credits.

Types of Telephony Credits

There are two types of telephony credits: allowance credits and backup credits. All account holders — even those using free accounts — can purchase backup credits, but only paid accounts are issued allowance credits.

• Allowance credits are refilled automatically every year for all paid accounts. Duo Beyond, Duo Access, and Duo MFA plan accounts with automatic billing receive 100 credits per user per year for the first 500 users. For example, a customer subscribing to the "Up to 30 users" Duo MFA plan will receive 3,000 Allowance Credits per year. Unused allowance credits do not roll over.

  Invoiced customers (typically those with more than 2,500 users) choose the amount and frequency of allowance credit refills.

  For additional information on telephony credits in Duo's paid plans, please contact us.

  Please note that Duo Free plan customers and educational institutions subscribing to any Duo plan do not receive allowance telephony credits.

• Backup credits are used if you run out of allowance credits during the year. Purchase backup credits at any time with a 1,000 credit minimum. A batch of 1,000 credits costs $10. All customers on all Duo editions may purchase backup credits. Backup credits do not expire, and the unused balance carries forward. Backup credits are used only when no allowance credits are available.

Monitoring and Purchasing Credits

Duo automatically notifies all account administrators when the credit balance falls below a pre-determined percentage of your total credits. You can configure the low-credit alert and set the maximum credits per user authentication in your account's Settings.

Role required: Owner or Billing.

You can check your balances for both types of credits and purchase backup credits using the Telephony Credits page. Here's how:

1. Log in to the Duo Admin Panel and click Billing in the left sidebar, and then click Telephony Credits in the submenu.

2. The Telephony Credits page shows your available allowance and backup telephony credits.

   

   For a detailed view of the calls and SMS messages that have debited your account, click the Telephony Logs button in the upper right corner.

3. To purchase backup credits, enter the number of credits you wish to buy (minimum 1,000) in the "Credits to add" box. The total cost of the credits is calculated and displayed. Click the Purchase Credits button to finish.

   

A valid credit card must be associated with your account to purchase backup telephony credits. Click Billing then Payment Info in the Duo Admin Panel to add your card information.

You can also access the Telephony Log from the Duo Admin Panel Dashboard:

1. Log in to the Duo Admin Panel and click Reports in the left sidebar. Click Telephony Log in the Reports submenu.

2. The Telephony Log page lists SMS and phone events with the associated phone number and telephony credit usage for that event. The log also includes each event's context, or the type of action that triggered the telephony usage. For example, "Authentication" is an end user requesting SMS passcodes or a phone call verification during Duo two-factor login.

Rate Card

Text messages to the US/Canada cost 1 credit each and phone calls to the US/Canada cost 2 credits each. See the table below for credit charges to other countries.

• Cells marked "N/A" are not supported at this time.
• Cells with multiple values (like "10 / 20") mean that cost depends on the type of phone. For example, calling mobile phones is generally more expensive than calling landlines.
• Some countries have phone numbers that are prohibitively expensive (certain mobile carriers, satellite phones, etc.). These numbers are not supported at this time.
• By default, users may not use more than 20 credits for a single phone call or SMS. The maximum credits per action can be changed from the Duo Admin Panel in the “Phone Calls” section on the Settings page.

Note: This rate card is provided as a general guide to telephony costs. Certain individual phone numbers may in fact be more expensive.

Country	Phone Call	SMS Message
Afghanistan	50	5
Albania	20 / 50	5
Algeria	10 / 20 / 30	10
American Samoa	20	10
Andorra	10 / 50	5
Angola	30 / 40	5
Anguilla	20 / 40 / 150	5
Antigua and Barbuda	20	5
Argentina	5 / 30	10
Armenia	20 / 40	10
Aruba	20 / 30 / 40	10
Australia	5 / 20	5
Austria	5 / 20 / 50	10
Azerbaijan	40	10
Bahamas	10 / 150	5
Bahrain	30 / 40 / 150	5
Bangladesh	10	20
Barbados	20 / 30 / 40	5
Belarus	50	10
Belgium	5 / 20	10
Belize	40 / 50	5
Benin	40	5
Bermuda	20 / 150	5
Bhutan	30	10
Bolivia	20 / 30	10
Bosnia and Herzegovina	20 / 60	5
Botswana	20 / 40	10
Brazil	5 / 30	10
Brunei	10	5
Bulgaria	10 / 60 / 70	20
Burkina Faso	40	5
Burundi	40	10
Cambodia	20	5
Cameroon	30 / 40	5
Canada	2 / 30 / 150	1
Canary Islands	5	N/A
Cape Verde	50	5
Cayman Islands	20 / 30 / 150	5
Central African Republic	N/A	5
Chad	50	5
Chile	5 / 20 / 40	10
China	5	10
Colombia	10 / 20	10
Comoros	90	10
Congo	40	10
Cook Islands	N/A	5
Costa Rica	10	10
Cote D'Ivoire	N/A	10
Croatia	10 / 40	5
Cuba	N/A	5
Cyprus	10	20
Czech Republic	10 / 40	10
Denmark	5 / 20	5
Djibouti	60	5
Dominica	40 / 150	5
Dominican Republic	10 / 20 / 30 / 150	5
Ecuador	20 / 40	10
Egypt	30	5
El Salvador	40	5
Equatorial Guinea	40	5
Eritrea	60	5
Estonia	10 / 60 / 90	10
Ethiopia	40 / 50	5
Faroe Islands	40	5
Fiji	60	5
Finland	10 / 20	10
France	5 / 20	10
French Guiana	20 / 60	10
French Polynesia	50	20
Gabon	30 / 40	5
Gambia	70	5
Georgia	10 / 30	10
Germany	5 / 20 / 30	10
Ghana	20 / 40	5
Gibraltar	20 / 40 / 50	5
Greece	5 / 30	10
Greenland	90	5
Grenada	20 / 30 / 40 / 150	5
Guadeloupe	20 / 50	20
Guam	10 / 130	20
Guatemala	30	10
Guinea	40	5
Guinea-Bissau	N/A	5
Guyana	40	10
Haiti	30 / 40	10
Honduras	20 / 40	10
Hong Kong	5	5
Hungary	5 / 30	10
Iceland	10 / 40 / 50	5
India	5	5
Indonesia	10 / 20	5
Iran	30	5
Iraq	20 / 30	5
Ireland	5 / 20 / 30	10
Israel	5 / 20 / 50	10
Italy	5 / 20 / 30 / 40	10
Jamaica	20 / 30 / 40 / 150	5
Japan	5 / 30	10
Jersey	N/A	5
Jordan	10 / 20	10
Kazakhstan	N/A	10
Kenya	20 / 30	5
Kiribati	N/A	5
Korea	5 / 20	10
Kuwait	20	5
Kyrgyzstan	20	5
Laos	20	5
Latvia	10 / 40 / 60	10
Lebanon	20 / 30	5
Lesotho	60	10
Liberia	50	10
Libya	50	5
Liechtenstein	10 / 130	5
Lithuania	20 / 40 / 90	5
Luxembourg	5 / 40	5
Macau	10	5
Macedonia	20 / 50	5
Madagascar	50	5
Malawi	30	5
Malaysia	5 / 10	5
Maldives	40	5
Mali	30 / 40	5
Malta	20 / 50	5
Martinique	20 / 60 / 80	20
Mauritania	40	5
Mauritius	30	5
Mexico	5 / 10 / 20	5
Micronesia	40	5
Moldova	30 / 40	10
Monaco	10 / 50	5
Mongolia	30	5
Montenegro	30 / 50	5
Montserrat	30 / 150	5
Morocco	N/A	5
Mozambique	30 / 40	5
Namibia	20 / 50	5
Nauru	N/A	5
Nepal	30 / 40	5
Netherlands	5 / 10	10
Netherlands Antilles	20 / 30	10
New Caledonia	50	5
New Zealand	10	10
Nicaragua	30 / 40	5
Niger	30	5
Nigeria	20 / 30	5
Northern Mariana Islands	20 / 130	N/A
Norway	5 / 30 / 40	10
Oman	30	5
Pakistan	30	5
Palestinian Territory	50	10
Panama	5 / 10 / 20	10
Papua New Guinea	N/A	5
Paraguay	20 / 40	5
Peru	5 / 10 / 20 / 40	5
Philippines	30	5
Poland	5 / 30	5
Portugal	5 / 20	10
Puerto Rico	5	5
Qatar	40	5
Réunion Island	50 / 60	20
Republic Of The Congo	N/A	10
Romania	10 / 30 / 50	10
Russia	5 / 20 / 30	5
Rwanda	20 / 30	5
Saint Kitts and Nevis	N/A	5
Saint Lucia	N/A	5
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	N/A	10
Saint Vincent	N/A	5
Samoa	70	5
San Marino	10	10
Sao Tome and Principe	N/A	10
Saudi Arabia	20 / 30	5
Senegal	30 / 40	10
Serbia	20 / 40 / 50	5
Seychelles	30	10
Sierra Leone	70	10
Singapore	5	5
Slovakia	10 / 40	10
Slovenia	10 / 50 / 60	5
Solomon Islands	N/A	5
Somalia	80	10
South Africa	10 / 30	10
South Sudan	N/A	5
Spain	5 / 20	10
Sri Lanka	30	5
Sudan	30	5
Suriname	40	5
Swaziland	20 / 40	5
Sweden	5 / 10	10
Switzerland	5 / 20 / 40 / 70	5
Syria	40	5
Taiwan	5 / 20	5
Tajikistan	30	5
Tanzania	30	5
Thailand	5	5
Timor-Leste	N/A	10
Togo	60	5
Tonga	60	5
Trinidad and Tobago	30 / 150	5
Tunisia	40 / 70	5
Turkey	10 / 30	5
Turkmenistan	40	10
Turks and Caicos Islands	40 / 150	5
Uganda	30	5
Ukraine	20 / 30	10
United Arab Emirates	30	5
United Kingdom	5 / 30 / 40	5
United States	2 / 5	1
United States (Alaska)	2 / 5 / 40	1
Uruguay	20 / 40	10
Uzbekistan	20	10
Vanuatu	N/A	20
Vatican City	5	N/A
Venezuela	5 / 10 / 30	10
Vietnam	10 / 20	5
Virgin Islands (U.S.)	5 / 230	5
Virgin Islands (British)	40 / 150	5
Yemen	30	5
Zambia	20 / 40	5
Zimbabwe	20 / 60 / 80	5

Troubleshooting

Need some help? Try searching our Knowledge Base articles or Community discussions. For further assistance, contact Support.