Cisco Umbrella vs. DNSFilter

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Umbrella
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Cisco now offers OpenDNS Umbrella Web Filtering. Cisco acquired OpenDNS in August 2015, and rebranded the product as Cisco Umbrella.N/A
DNSFilter
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
DNSFilter headquartered in Waltham offers DNS-Based Content Filtering & Threat Protection.
$0.90
per month per user
Pricing
Cisco UmbrellaDNSFilter
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
BASIC
$0.90
per month per user
PRO
$1.80
per month per user
ENTERPRISE
$2.70
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco UmbrellaDNSFilter
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEach tier has a monthly minimum price. Contact sales today for more details. Add-On support is an additional 20% of plan cost.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco UmbrellaDNSFilter
Best Alternatives
Cisco UmbrellaDNSFilter
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies

No answers on this topic

Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Internet Access
Score 8.8 out of 10
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco UmbrellaDNSFilter
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco UmbrellaDNSFilter
Likelihood to Recommend
It is good for whole network protection, and individual PCs with the client. Provide good reporting on where your network is going on the net. One thing I would like is a longer history with the logs 14 and 30 days are too short some times.
Read full review
I like how easy it is to manage the filtering software from the web portal. It's super straightforward to set up my networking equipment with clear instructions. I like that it automatically blocks threats without me having to do anything. It also lets me remotely manage both of our locations and networks from the same portal with the same policies. Very useful for saving time setting up content filtering.
Read full review
Pros
  • Managing the overall security policies is quite seamless in Cisco Umbrella. it is quite easy to set up and implement web filtering rules and other necessary configurations without any hassle.
  • The reporting features like 'activity search' provides greater visibility of our user's internet activity within our organization. We can identify security related risks quickly and take decisions to mitigate them.
  • The deployment and integration of Cisco Umbrella with other vendors product is quite appreciable. We other non cisco security devices which Cisco Umbrella was integrated with without any major issues.
  • We can easily track down any user that goes to the internet through the activity search feature.
Read full review
  • Ease of Use
  • Ease of deployment
  • Simple to Understand Reporting
Read full review
Cons
  • There's always room for improvement in all products for sure. On the umbrella part, I would say that the room for improvement is on the data loss prevention part. So it sits on the PCs, it sees a lot of the traffic that goes on, it knows what files are on the PCs, but it's actually not stopping some of the intellectual property or personal identifiable information from going out. So we are able to block users from accessing applications and websites or even IP addresses, but we're not able to go a bit more granular, more on the data loss side. So that's a gap that I have in the product.
Read full review
  • Improved scalability: As an organization's needs grow and evolve, the software should be able to scale up and handle an increasing number of users and devices.
  • More granular controls: The ability to set more detailed and specific policies, such as the ability to block certain types of content for specific groups of users, would give organizations more flexibility and control over their internet usage.
  • Advanced threat protection: Increasing the software's ability to detect and protect against advanced threats such as zero-day exploits and APTs would provide a more comprehensive security solution.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
First off I never give anything a "10" unless it's perfect. LOL - I grade on the curve. I think OpenDNS/Umbrella is a very good product. I think that fact that Cisco absorbed them is one of the proofs of that. I have used the product back when it was free for companies our size. I have not always appreciated the cost - but in the post pandemic cyber chaos, I believe the cost benefit ratio is still very high. I have honestly not looked at other products because Umbrella continues to work to my satisfaction. I consider Umbrella to be one of the key layers in my cyber security strategy.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
The product was easy to install and get running. To maintain the product is also a simple matter of maintaining lists of wanted and unwanted domains or URLs. The basic and advanced security features all do what they are intended to do with no known erroneous outcomes
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Cisco umbrella services in the cloud are always available. However, the weakness is the VM installed in the data center that are the first resolvers. If the VMs become unavailable for any reason or the vSphere goes down, then all DNS is affected
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
our experience with cisco products has always been awesome and same is the case with cisco umbrella .Under umbrella cisco provides flexible and scalable software solution to use across different dept and sites . These softwares are very user friendly ,pages load quickly as these applications are designed for minimum latency and reports are also provided quickely
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Whilst the support is good once you get through to them, it's email only and the response is slow. This is a issue, because its a core system that needs to work. We have had issues in the past where several of our companies have gone down due to Umbrella and support is nowhere to be seen. It is very difficult to know whether Umbrella is having service issues, since they do not regularly update customers on the status of their services, such as is seen by providers such as Microsoft (status.umbrella.com just seems to show up all of the time, I'm not sure it's even updated)
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Quite easy to understand training modules prepared by knowledgeable trainers. Training modules have included all the desired features of these softwares and the content delivery is very good from the respective module trainers and it explains in details the features and apart from that further training material support is also provided if needed.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
At the time we were forced to move from Cloud Web Security to Cisco Umbrella, Cisco Umbrella was far from being a direct replacement. It was frustrating and difficult to migrate due to the lack of functionality. This has since been addressed, however we now have legacy rulesets that were built as bandaids that cannot be removed. Hopefully the migration to Secure Access will address this.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Different products in different spaces. The Z3 was more of a VPN endpoint so that users didn't have to worry about a client. If they are at home, they are on their corporate network and able to access resources. Cisco Umbrella can be used then to serve corporate DNS across the VPN tunnel to the Z3 device and extend the capabilities of Cisco Umbrella.
Read full review
For our use case, we find that we prefer DNSFilter over Cisco Umbrella. The pricing model on DNSFilter is much more attractive compared to Umbrella but we acknowledge that Umbrella does have more features. We find that DNSFilter is easier to manage, cheaper, and meets our requirements in terms of support. Cisco Umbrella is a close 2nd though.
Read full review
Scalability
Cisco umbrella provides fleaxible and scalable software solutions which are easy deploy across multiple departments and sites wherever needed and this softwares are very easy to use and provides the best interface along with cisco support for other devices apart from cisco infrastructure but still there is scope for improvement on the inclusion of latest features
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • It's too early for us to say now. We started with Cisco Umbrella with the migration and during the migration we choose all the specific access. Now we are going to Cisco Secure Access in our simulations there will be much of cost savings because we don't need the on-premise data center anymore for the ASARs and for the local firewalls and the people, they are managing that on-premise. So we estimate there will be a lot of cost savings, but currently it's not on the paper yet. So we have to wait what the experience is with it, but we are optimistic.
Read full review
  • types of malicious content, DNSFilter can help organizations protect themselves from security threats and data breaches. This can lead to a reduced risk of costly data breaches and reputation damage, as well as a lower total cost of ownership for security solutions.
  • Increased productivity: By enforcing internet usage policies and controlling access to non-work-related sites, DNSFilter can help organizations increase productivity and reduce distractions for employees.
  • Reduced Internet access : Depending on the strictness of the filtering policies, DNSFilter can also block access to legitimate websites, this could decrease productivity as employees may spend more time trying to access sites that they need to complete their job.
Read full review
ScreenShots