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Cisco OpenDNS vs Cisco Umbrella comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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

Cisco OpenDNS
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
2
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
123
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Cisco OpenDNS is 3.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 18.1%, down from 25.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella18.1%
Cisco OpenDNS3.2%
Other78.7%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1678521 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead - Global IT Networks at a recruiting/HR firm with 10,001+ employees
A stable solution that can be used for upgrades, vulnerability remediation, configuration, and standardization
I am using the latest version of Cisco OpenDNS. Users should prioritize the challenges that they have before implementing the solution. They need to be very clear about what they are looking for. Those parameters need to be defined, success criteria need to be checked, and then they can proceed with the solution that meets the requirements. Overall, I rate Cisco OpenDNS a nine out of ten.
BB
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Ensures comprehensive protection with seamless threat logging and efficient policy management
My favorite feature of Cisco Umbrella is probably just the DNS and the fact that when a security threat happens, all of that gets logged in their Umbrella portal, and it's very easy to find who's been accessing the site and how many people have accessed it, so that we can go to them and make sure they're not compromised. The features of Cisco Umbrella benefit my company by providing less time to search for things through logs, to look for what we need. It's just one place to go, and we just search for it, and we find it really fast. The fact that there's a virtual database that has all that information is great on our portal.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The platform is highly stable."
"We use Cisco OpenDNS for upgrades, vulnerability remediation, configuration, and standardization."
"Cisco Umbrella is absolutely stable."
"We've found it to be stable and good for our customers."
"This is a very good solution and my clients are impressed with it."
"The DNS data exfiltration and the blocking of DNS tunneling are the most effective features for threat prevention in our company."
"It will protect, give you more robustness, and faster responses, compared to any firewalls or any of the proxy web servers."
"I have found the malware protection feature valuable. It is helpful and deliverable and is able to protect my entire organization from getting compromised. It also prevents us from visiting any malicious sites which are not visible to the users."
"The Secure Internet Gateway benefits my company because now our whole traffic goes to the Umbrella Cloud and it gets checked there, so nothing malicious is coming into our network."
"The most valuable feature is the website protection capabilities because it prevents end-users from entering bad sites that potentially have malware or could be used for phishing."
 

Cons

"The platform's DNS database area needs improvement."
"The solution’s dashboard could be improved."
"Cisco Umbrella is difficult to manage and needs to include a dashboard. It needs to improve pricing as well."
"If a hardware platform were provided for Umbrella, that would definitely improve the market for it. Especially when we are addressing governmental customers, they hesitate to connect to the cloud."
"I'm hoping for the conversion of Cisco ZTNA's features from Duo to Umbrella."
"Looking at the full umbrella suite in the light of SASE, Secure Access Service Edge, they are clearly lacking in the inline CASB."
"Customization for basic users can be complex, as it is targeted toward only technical users."
"The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower."
"The pricing is a bit high."
"It needs a better price point."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive yet cost-effective. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."
"We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."
"The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower."
"There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."
"The pricing is pretty fair. It's good."
"Pricing depends on the automation requirements of the organization."
"It needs a better price point."
"The pricing was marvelous."
"I am not sure, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think it's $1.00 or so per device/month."
"There are three models for licensing with different feature sets."
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893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Non Profit
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise51
 

Questions from the Community

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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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Umbrella?
The pricing for Cisco Umbrella is fair compared to other platforms out there for DNS security. We acquired it as a bundle with other Cisco purchases.
 

Also Known As

No data available
OpenDNS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Netflix 2. IBM 3. Deloitte 4. Airbnb 5. Pinterest 6. Box 7. LinkedIn 8. Adobe 9. Spotify 10. Uber 11. Twitter 12. Cisco Systems (the parent company) 13. The New York Times 14. Verizon 15. Coca-Cola 16. General Electric 17. Microsoft 18. Facebook 19. Apple 20. Amazon 21. Google 22. Intel 23. Oracle 24. AT&T 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Salesforce 27. Cisco Webex 28. Cisco Umbrella 29. Cisco Talos 30. Cisco AMP for Endpoints 31. Cisco AnyConnect 32. Cisco Stealthwatch
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 Cisco OpenDNS vs. Cisco Umbrella and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.