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BlueCat Edge vs Cisco Umbrella comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BlueCat Edge
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (3rd), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of BlueCat Edge is 3.3%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 22.2%, down from 28.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

David Muscat - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good visibility and control, and we can quickly put it in place and integrate it
About Nine months ago, we were still using their Edge endpoint version 3. We recently moved to version 4 of their Edge endpoint. In Edge endpoint version 3, we did not have the ability to clean up our dashboards properly. As we decommissioned sites and commissioned new sites, we were left with a mess of data still sitting there because of the way they had originally designed version 3. Now the old data is gone, and the function of the new version 4 has really helped with that. It was a nuisance for the past few years. One pain point concerning DNS Edge is the inability to see per Edge endpoint, what devices are querying against it. They do have the capability for you to look at that data, but the data is roughly 24 to 48 hours old. I am looking for real-time data, and I cannot get that per Edge endpoint. I would call it a work in progress. I am still finding things that bug me in terms of how something functions. I might find out how to do something when it is not documented. That is great, but documentation becomes an issue with me on that.
Sabbir Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Blocks threats before they reach the user's device
Cisco Umbrella can be improved in terms of limited coverage and wind vulnerability. The product can only shield a small area, making it less effective for larger spaces or multiple users. Additionally, strong winds can disrupt its functionality, and the opening and closing mechanism can be awkward in tight spaces.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"BlueCat has increased security efficiency tremendously within the first month of deployment."
"Edge has reduced the complexity and has been more reliable."
"The unparalleled visibility offered by BlueCat Edge is arguably the most critical benefit we receive."
"What I found most valuable is the ability to put it in place and integrate it very quickly. It allows us to create routing rule sets to route DNS traffic where it needs to go most efficiently in our environment."
"IP Address Management (IPAM) is the most valuable."
"The namespace and access control features are notable."
"We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having."
"It allows us to easily monitor our subnets and routers."
"It has helped reduce my unit's security events."
"The most valuable feature for us is the DNS-based protection."
"I was able to implement it myself. It was really easy to install. You could install it on a server locally if you want to. If you have the biggest site, you would do that, but for my site, it was just directing all the traffic out through the Cisco Umbrella DNS. It was really handy. When the owners of the company went overseas, I knew that they would be secure because even if they were not on the company network, they would still go through the Cisco Umbrella servers. It was a complete solution for protecting the company with outgoing data."
"Cisco Umbrella is such a solution and can be implemented very fast and easy. All that we must do is redirect the DNS registers in their routers, or the active directory service of the enterprise that are going to use in Umbrella services. If you buy the service now, in two hours you are protected by the service because it's very fast to put in service."
"Umbrella enables customers to be secure. We are happy with this and this is the most important benefit for customers."
"The DNS data exfiltration and the blocking of DNS tunneling are the most effective features for threat prevention in our company."
"When it comes to hybrid work it's pretty effective. We've got the agents. We can protect people inside our building and, when they're using their laptops out in the field, they're still protected. It's working well."
"DNS protection, domain blocking, SIP component, and the Cisco Umbrella roaming client are the valuable features of Cisco Umbrella."
 

Cons

"BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement."
"A more graphical user interface would be a benefit."
"One pain point concerning DNS Edge is the inability to see per Edge endpoint, what devices are querying against it. They do have the capability for you to look at that data, but the data is roughly 24 to 48 hours old. I am looking for real-time data, and I cannot get that per Edge endpoint."
"I have concerns about several aspects of BlueCat's site management."
"The main improvement for BlueCat Edge's security configuration would be more granular control."
"BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement."
"I would like to see improvements in threat detection and the ability to add categorization for blocking queries, such as those related to adult entertainment."
"Its price is on the higher side."
"The pricing is a bit high. Being outside of the USA, we have issues with the exchange rate."
"Its price could be better."
"Actually, we recently switched over to Zscaler because it has more features and it's more scalable than Cisco Umbrella."
"The pricing could always be a little bit better."
"It needs better integration with external threat feeds to improve scoring."
"They need to improve analytics so they report on more of the specifics of user activity."
"I'd like to see this solution more closely integrate with other products Cisco has in its portfolio."
"In the future, they should combine some of the Cisco AMP features that they already have, for anti-malware purposes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model for BlueCat Edge seems very good, although I can't confirm if it's specific to our contract."
"We find the current pricing model more reasonable compared to the previous per-IP pricing."
"One of the nice benefits of getting DNS Edge is that you buy the subscription, and you are allowed to deploy as many Edge endpoints as you need. You do not need a separate license for each one. If you deploy 20 of them, you will not be billed for that many. It is one subscription. You can deploy as many as you need and consume as much as you need. The cost comes in based on the number of IPs that you are consuming and running through DNS Edge. We have that pretty much locked in for what we need for internal purposes. Being able to save money on deploying Edge endpoints has saved us drastically from deploying other BlueCat products in lieu of that."
"I'm doing a costing and licensing comparison between the BlueCat DNS Integrity and Micetro by Men&Mice. BlueCat has given me a range instead of a specific price. They gave me a range of ten thousand to two hundred thousand USD. That was a bit too wide for the cost comparison. Based on what I'm seeing, they are definitely on the higher side and very expensive."
"There are no hidden costs with Umbrella. Everything is included in the package."
"Cisco Umbrella is expensive and could be cheaper."
"The price is fair, and the licensing cost is based on the number of users. We have seen a good ROI."
"It has a reasonable price. It is certainly not as expensive as it used to be. It is in line with other offerings on the market. There are a number of different flavors of Umbrella. They could bring Umbrella SIG down a bit because its price is a little bit high for what it does, but I also understand why its price is high."
"The pricing was marvelous."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"As an educational partner, we get better licensing structures. We are very happy with that. It has been very nice that Cisco has partnered with the educational sector to bring that."
"There is a subscription cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
Educational Organization
23%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BlueCat Edge?
We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BlueCat Edge?
I'm not aware of the exact pricing and licensing as I was not part of the procurement process. However, there was a significant cost reduction thanks to BlueCat Cloud DNS managing external solutions.
What needs improvement with BlueCat Edge?
BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement. They need to focus and deploy such features in the next version itself, which woul...
Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Zscaler?
Cisco Umbrella and Zscaler Internet Access are two broad-spectrum Internet security solutions that I have tried. Zscaler Internet Access is a good option for carrying out multiple security functi...
Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Microsoft Cloud App Security?
Cisco Umbrella is an integral component of the Cisco SASE architecture. It integrates security in a single, cloud-native solution, unifying multiple features like DNS-layer security, threat intelli...
What do you like most about Cisco Umbrella?
Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy.
 

Also Known As

BlueCat DNS Edge
OpenDNS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Swisslos, Cologne Bonn Airport, TYROLIT
Chart Industries, City of Aspen, Eastern Mountain Sports, FLEXcon, George Washington University, Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, Ohio Public Library Information Network, PTC, Richland Community College, Smart Motors, Tulane University, VeriClaim
Find out what your peers are saying about BlueCat Edge vs. Cisco Umbrella and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.