We act as an MSP for our organization, and we use this solution as part of the service. We are the parent company and we acquire insurance agencies. Typically, these agencies have between twenty and one hundred and twenty people. We do not force them to move onto our system; However, we show them what value they will receive by us taking on their network infrastructure. This includes the firewall, switches, IP phones, email platforms, etc.
IT Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Unifies our expanding environment, making troubleshooting and maintenance easier
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of this solution is its reliability."
- "Security, overall, can always be improved."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
This solution allows us to manage our four hundred locations under the same umbrella, with the same configurations. It makes it easier to troubleshoot and provide the same solution to everyone.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this solution is its reliability.
What needs improvement?
Security, overall, can always be improved.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good, and we have had very few problems with the equipment. The problems that we've had have been with our carriers. I can, pretty much, put a solution in place and not even worry about it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My impression is that this solution is very scalable. It allows us to grow. We can add fifty sites per year, easily, and not really have to redesign from the ground up.
How are customer service and support?
When we need technical support, they're usually very responsive. I usually get a solution or an answer between thirty minutes and a couple of days, depending on what the technology is, and whether the issue is critical or not.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The smaller sites typically use non-enterprise grade equipment, and we switched because it is easier to manage the solution, especially when it's set up to our standards.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can vary in complexity depending on the size of the agency, as well as other factors including what they already have in place.
What about the implementation team?
We do all of our integrations in-house.
What was our ROI?
We have most definitely seen ROI. In most cases, when we take over, we're always saving on monthly costs. The turnaround investment is usually under a year.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user. Our fees end up being about $150,000 USD per year.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have one vendor, and interoperability is not an issue when we use Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
This solution had been pretty good and it fits our needs. If we have business needs change then we will look at whether the current solution can do it. If not then we have to reach out and find something else.
My advice to anybody who is researching this type of solution is to do their homework when it comes to comparing products. Compare apples to apples, and ensure feature parity. I would stress that the support organization behind the product is very important. For us, any of the other products that we've used just haven't performed up to the standards of what we are doing.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Team Leader at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Good interface and cloud dashboard for managing anti-malware control on the Web GW
Pros and Cons
- "The core business of Cisco Umbrella is non-malware. That's all it does: block the malware on the gateway."
- "The solution's technical support is not very good."
What is our primary use case?
We use Cisco Umbrella for one of our customers, one of Jordan banks. We are using that on the gateways, on the cloud to secure our customer web traffic.
They are happy with the distribution because they know it's straight on the DNS.
How has it helped my organization?
Cisco Umbrella uses the internet’s infrastructure to block malicious destinations before a connection is ever established. By delivering security from the cloud, it will save money and provide more effective security.
What is most valuable?
Umbrella stops threats over all ports and protocols—even direct-to-IP connections. Stop malware before it reaches your endpoints or network.
Even if devices become infected in other ways, Umbrella prevents connections to an attacker’s servers. Stop data exfiltration and execution of ransomware encryption
What needs improvement?
We would like to improve nothing in particular on Cisco Umbrella. They are very good.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Umbrella for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Cisco Umbrella is stable. I have heard no complaints from my customers at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco Umbrella is scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Cisco support is one of the best, their response is very fast and they are very supportive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes, we used Bluecoat ASG to block known Malwares.
usually, to complete Sandboxing solution (which used for unknown malwares), we used other solutions like Cisco Umbrella or Bluecoat ASG to block the known malwares on Web GW.
How was the initial setup?
it was very straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We (BMB company which is a Cisco Gold partner) are familiar with such solution and implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have no idea about cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No I did not.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate this product a nine. No one's perfect. They are fine with the interface and the dashboard that they have released.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner.
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Cisco Umbrella
February 2026
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IT Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
It has helped reduce my unit's security events
Pros and Cons
- "It has helped reduce my unit's security events."
- "Some countries don't have a DNS server leading to a domain resolution IP, not at a local level."
- "Its DNS service does not support IPv6 query."
What is our primary use case?
To replace my original DNS servers and configure more than 50,000 computers through domain name resolution.
How has it helped my organization?
It has helped reduce my unit's security events. It possesses a visual graphics table, which enables me to understand the resolution of the blacklisted domain. Sometimes, I can understand which URL is visited most often by reviewing the user's resolution.
What is most valuable?
- Black list
- Visual graphics table
These can reduce security events and can find out which users have security issues.
What needs improvement?
- Its DNS service does not support IPv6 query.
- Some countries don't have a DNS server leading to a domain resolution IP, not at a local level.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price could be lower.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Network Engineer/ Administrator at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Threats never come close to your network with security at the DNS level
Pros and Cons
- "Threats never come close to your network with security at the DNS level."
- "There should be a way to monitor traffic at the user level."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is security at the DNS level. This solutions was suggested by our account manager at Insight.
How has it helped my organization?
we didn't implement it in our environment because of the pricing concern. however, I am sure it would have done a great job considering my observations in the trail pack.
What is most valuable?
Threats never come close to your network with security at the DNS level. Like i said above, i used it for a very short time so I cannot comment on the what would've been valuable for us but I was pretty amazed by the wide variety of security features and reports on a single dashboard. Leveraging Custom API and reasons and visibility for each deep visibility for the network was something that caught my eye.
What needs improvement?
There should be a way to monitor traffic at the user level. I use Meraki Dashboard and Cisco Firepower to do this for different networks. I understand this tool monitors the network as a whole but adding that information will let us cut the cost for other tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
Which solutions did we use previously?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
It is a pretty good product for a small business.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Network Manager at a performing arts with 501-1,000 employees
Reports provide insight into internet usage and information helpful in creating QoS rules
Pros and Cons
- "They have a wealth of articles in their knowledge base. This has given me the freedom to troubleshoot on my own time. "
- "Reports provide insight into internet usage and information helpful in creating QoS rules."
- "If the virtual appliances could also gather traffic bandwidth reports, that would be great."
What is our primary use case?
Protection and security provided by using Umbrella are the two top areas that I looked at when considering. With three campuses, Umbrella has proven itself with the detection and blocking of malware, viruses, and preventing users from visiting malicious sites. We have two Umbrella virtual appliances at each campus, with two campuses using Hyper-V, and the primary data center running VMware.
How has it helped my organization?
The reports have given us insight into what the Internet is being used for at all three campuses. They provide insight into internet usage and information helpful in creating QoS rules.
What is most valuable?
- My favorite feature is the command and control callback blocking. It provides protection from crypto attacks by blocking the connection back to the attacker's server giving an added layer of defense.
- Policies make the work easier by providing appropriate filters for locations.
- The interface is simple, easy to navigate and set up.
What needs improvement?
If the virtual appliances could also gather traffic bandwidth reports, that would be great.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
How is customer service and technical support?
The customer support is exceptional.
They have a wealth of articles in their knowledge base. This has given me the freedom to troubleshoot on my own time.
What other advice do I have?
Cisco Umbrella's interface is easy to use and the visibility of user activity is extremely useful.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Lead Enterprise Security Architect at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reporting is simplistic. Needs better integration with external threat feeds to improve scoring.
Pros and Cons
- "It provides centralized, device-agnostic management of the Internet experience."
- "It has the ability to quickly block new threats."
- "It needs better integration with external threat feeds to improve scoring."
What is our primary use case?
We are in trial mode and use it for a distributed national environment. It provides category and security coverage for endpoints regardless of their location. As a mobile-first workforce, Umbrella always provides DNS-based security, even if endpoints roam in unfriendly waters.
How has it helped my organization?
It provides centralized, device-agnostic management of the Internet experience. It has the ability to quickly block new threats.
What is most valuable?
- Holistic approach
- DNS fronts most traffic.
- Quick console
- Instant management across platform
- Reporting is simplistic.
What needs improvement?
- It needs better integration with external threat feeds to improve scoring.
- I would like it to automatically feed to the customer's SIEM.
For how long have I used the solution?
Trial/evaluations only.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It needs a better price point.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Advanced Technology Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Improves security through DNS visibility
Pros and Cons
- "Improves security through DNS visibility, which can block malware, phishing, C&C, etc."
- "If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud."
What is our primary use case?
My customers would like to protect users in company and outside their companies.
How has it helped my organization?
Improves security through DNS visibility, which can block malware, phishing, C&C, etc.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to implement.
What needs improvement?
If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No scalability issues.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would rate technical support as an eight out of 10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not switch solutions. We just added an extra layer of defense.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is fair.
You can request an evaluation license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. My company is a Cisco Gold partner.
Director of IT Support at a marketing services firm with 501-1,000 employees
It enables a whitelist-only browsing mode, which helps us monitor traffic and perform web content filtering.
What is most valuable?
We needed the product to enable a whitelist-only browsing mode for certain computers for a client. After that was implemented, I was able to configure a virtual appliance (which became the DNS server) to connect to a local AD server and relate traffic to an AD user name. From there, we could track and monitor where users were going and perform web content filtering to prevent video streaming and certain social media sites. This in turn positively affected productivity.
I don’t remember the specific examples of data I was trying to filter out but it was related to ads being hosted by a CDN such as Akamai. Links and images were being hosted there for quicker localized delivery yet the users were not actually going to those sites. Due to that it was showing that those sites were being visited the most, which wasn’t the case.
How has it helped my organization?
There was a positive effect on productivity because we could track and confront the users that were frequently using social media or streaming video during the work day. They weren’t wasting as much time after OpenDNS was implemented.
It gave us new capabilities and made users accountable for their browsing while at work.
What needs improvement?
I would like to have the ability to prevent certain sites/data from showing on the reports. I have had this feature request open for a couple of years. It would be useful to have for filtering out unuseful data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for the past two years. I previously used the free solution 6-8 years ago.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
I did not encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability. I had a Sales Engineer assist with the setup for one portion, but was able to figure out the rest with no issues.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Excellent
Technical Support:Excellent, their Sales Engineer was very helping in getting the AD sync setup.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
No
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup was straightforward. Any questions I had were already answered on the forums.
What about the implementation team?
A vendor team was only needed for one small portion, which was setting up the virtual appliance. I would recommend trying to figure out the setting on your own first before reaching out to support. I found it very simple.
What was our ROI?
We were able to resell the service for a 100-200% profit.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Due to past experience, I knew it would do what we needed and the website has an intuitive interface, so there was no reason to research alternatives.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. I use OpenDNS under an MSP Partner agreement.
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