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Cisco Umbrella vs F5 BIG-IP DNS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 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

Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
122
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
F5 BIG-IP DNS
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 21.6%, down from 25.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP DNS is 4.4%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Umbrella21.6%
F5 BIG-IP DNS4.4%
Other74.0%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

Emilio Montoya - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at PROA
Ensures internet navigation safety and boosts productivity
The features of Cisco Umbrella I prefer most are DNS protection and traffic redirect. With Cisco Talos's threat intelligence, we reduce the impact of malware traffic in our network, and we currently see the behavior of equipment and choose the correct sites. Cisco Talos has helped us reduce the impact of malware traffic. We can see the behavior and choose the correct sites. We're currently testing secure access with Umbrella in order to secure access to core applications. It's a product that the user doesn't even know is there, even though it is protecting them. It's not hard on the equipment. And, for us, it centralizes everything, which improves productivity. With the Experience Insights feature of Cisco Secure Access, we've seen impacts on the management of user connectivity by allowing us to deliver safe connectivity. We are testing the Secure Access product with Cisco Umbrella to improve our connectivity with our users in order to secure access to the corporate applications. Cisco Umbrella is in the cloud, which is nice.
reviewer2733993 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Ensures reliable web application security and offers comprehensive load balancing solutions
When it comes to denial of service or DNS security, F5 is not the best vendor as dedicated vendors such as Arbor for denial of service and Infoblox for DNS security offer more comprehensive solutions. The main features such as WAF and load balancing do not generate complaints. F5 BIG-IP DNS is not the best for DNS denial of service because they handle it as part of BIG-IP features, mainly used for GSLB, while other vendors provide complete DDI solutions, including DHCP, DNS, and IP address management, along with specialized DNS security, offering much more than just GSLB and basic recursive DNS security. The two main concerns are DNS related and denial of service, areas where F5 BIG-IP DNS could improve, and they could do better as they are not the best vendor, indicating ample room for improvement especially since those are not their main specialties.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Umbrella is its DNS security."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the Web Filtering and the APT."
"The feature that we find most valuable is to be able to filter out those web requests that you don't want."
"For me, it's important that I get a connection to my corporate network in a secure and fast way. This product just runs in the background and doesn't need any attention. For me, as a user, it's perfect."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its reliability."
"The single-pane-of-glass management is very important. We have a very small team. We can't spend a lot of time going from product to product to product to either investigate or set up policy. We need to have one place that we can go to and set everything up."
"The most valuable feature for us is the DNS-based protection."
"The solution is very easy to manage. We found the initial setup, for example, to be quite simple."
"BIG-IP DNS's best features are DNS monitoring and global service load balancing."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS has been rock solid in terms of stability for years."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is security."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS is useful, depending on how you use it."
"The configuration process is straightforward, making it easy to set up wide IPs and distribute traffic across local US sites and data centers via VPN."
"One of the most effective feature of F5 BIG-IP DNS is its robustness and integration with our existing F5 infrastructure. It helps us to geographically connect and form an internal topology network with our clients."
"BIG-IP DNS's best feature is the Global Traffic Manager (GTM)."
"The security features, DDoS mitigation facilities, and SQL configuration are the most valuable aspects of this solution."
 

Cons

"I would like to see DLP integration in the next release of this solution."
"In the next release, I would like to see the integration of VDI NSX with Cisco Umbrella."
"It could be more secure. It would be better if they provided a transferring proxy as an add-on and more integration."
"The channel of support needs improvement. It is not under normal Cisco support, and I cannot simply call for support."
"I feel that the application needs other characteristics that are available with other applications in the market."
"The main issue that we have is with the final steps or the full integration and getting rid of Zscaler. The company still has to fall back to Zscaler when something in Umbrella is not working as expected, such as when we enable SSL inspection. When something is not working 100%, the company is falling back to Zscaler."
"A feature I would appreciate seeing enhanced in Cisco Umbrella would be the ability to add or remove agents that we have, instead of just relying on how long the devices have been connected to the platform."
"I would like them to make some videos, practical videos, the kind with steps that people can use to learn and deploy"
"I would like to see the login facilities improved, as well as more troubleshooting."
"F5's technical support responds a little slowly."
"The support response time could use improvement."
"The monitoring capabilities of F5 BIG-IP DNS could be improved."
"The initial setup is a step-by-step process, so it can be a bit complicated for someone who's using it for the first time."
"CNC (control and command) communication would be beneficial. We would like to have control and command blocking to prevent visiting malicious websites."
"I would like to see deeper integration with VMware in the sense that F5 compliments VMware, in the context of application availability."
"The costs could always be a bit lower."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco should make the solution cheaper."
"Cisco has a set price for a single license up to 100, but whenever we get over 100, we have to ask for a quote."
"The price depends on the use case, and it's a bit linear. But it depends on the customer's strategy and how Cisco plans to optimize the costs."
"Licensing with Cisco can be a little complex, but I think it's comparable with that of other similar products. It's always hard to put a price on security, but the price is fair for the value it provides."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"You get what you pay for."
"Cisco Umbrella is not a cheap product. However, it's not a matter of the cost; it's more a matter of the value of security. It is easy to measure this value when you have a security incident. I think the price is a good trade-off for a product that can help you avoid security threats."
"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."
"BIG-IP DNS is more expensive than its competitors like Citrix, but it gives good value for money."
"This product is quite pricey but if you compare the feature set and its compatibility with similar products on the market, you would understand why it's that price."
"You cannot do much around DDoS protection without an additional license from F5."
"They are competitively priced."
"The on-prem version is only available on a yearly license, but the cloud version can be paid for on a day-by-day basis."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being a low price."
"In some cases, it is expensive."
"Cost is a factor. It is really costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business49
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise51
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP DNS?
For one of our clients, F5 improved global server load balancing with an active-active site configuration for Disaster Recovery.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP DNS?
In terms of pricing, F5 BIG-IP is not cheaper compared to other solutions like Fortinet or Citrix. The cost can be high due to its comprehensive modules.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP DNS?
When it comes to denial of service or DNS security, F5 is not the best vendor as dedicated vendors such as Arbor for denial of service and Infoblox for DNS security offer more comprehensive solutio...
 

Also Known As

OpenDNS
F5 BIG-IP DNS, F5 DNS Delivery
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Ricacorp Properties, Bangladesh Post Office, Shawbrook Bank, Shinsegae Internet Duty Free
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. F5 BIG-IP DNS and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.