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Cisco Umbrella vs F5 BIG-IP DNS 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

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)
F5 BIG-IP DNS
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 22.4%, down from 27.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP DNS is 6.6%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

Alessandro Braga - PeerSpot reviewer
Has comprehensive reporting and scales easily
The reports and notifications are the most useful part of the platform. As soon as you deploy the security layers, the reporting is very comprehensive. It helps you to have, at a glance, a clear view of what's going on. The integration between Cisco Secure solutions is pretty good. We have been able to deliver the solution in a few days. The integration of Umbrella and Meraki is literally one click away from the customer. One of the reasons why we chose Umbrella was its capability to perform end-to-end detection of malware and web traffic. In the last two years, we have been covered, detection has been faster, and we have been able to contain some potential threats along the way. We use the Umbrella stack from DNS protection to web and content protection. Our workforce is made up of 150 Macs; thus, we use Mac as a client. We have some PCs and integration with the network in our co-working spaces. Utilizing Cisco Secure has helped us save time. Being a nimble organization, we don't have IT staff who are fully dedicated to security. The maintenance is also not very time-consuming. In terms of the amount of time saved, it would be half an FTE a year, given the fact that we are informed and notified when threats arise. In terms of operating expenditures, we have been able to negotiate a better cyber insurance rate with our insurance company due to the fact that we are covered by Umbrella. Another benefit of using Cisco Umbrella is application scanning. We have been able to understand how many other applications we were consuming in the cloud, address them, and save money. Without Cisco Umbrella, we would not have realized that we had so many cloud applications in the company. We have been able to close at least four or five applications that were duplicates of others that we were already using in the company. We have realized approximately 10,000 to 12,000 euros a year of immediate savings in an organization of 150 people, which is quite significant.
Richard Polyak - PeerSpot reviewer
A robust solution designed to inspect network and form an internal topology network with clients
While we haven't explored AI-driven features yet, it's part of our roadmap for future versions. I would recommend F5 BIG-IP DNS to others in the industry. Overall, I would rate it an eight out of 10 as it meets our current needs but it will always have room for improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Any time someone went off the network, the AnyConnect client had the Umbrella agent built in, and it would realize when their computer connected that they were not on the corporate network. It would monitor and they would have pretty close to the same rules that they had to follow when they were in the office, regarding what kind of website browsing they could do."
"Cisco Umbrella offers DNS layer security, a secure web gateway, and cloud access security broker functionality."
"Cisco is a very efficient and on-point solution that controls the whole network and settings on one page. We can monitor the entire network."
"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."
"Threats never come close to your network with security at the DNS level​."
"​They have a wealth of articles in their knowledge base. This has given me the freedom to troubleshoot on my own time. ​​"
"I like the DNS layer security."
"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."
"It's very stable."
"BIG-IP DNS effectively handled a traffic surge. For example, we have application forms replicated across our DCs. If our primary application becomes unavailable, BIG-IP automatically fails over to a client-unaware secondary application."
"F5 provides us with a mechanism to accomplish complex product balancing."
"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."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS is a stable solution."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS is useful, depending on how you use it."
"BIG-IP DNS's best features are DNS monitoring and global service load balancing."
"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."
 

Cons

"Its price could be better."
"I would like to have more applications being recorded."
"Having ready-to-go templates with best practices is definitely something that would be an improvement. Deployment, from day one, is something that definitely needs to be improved for Cisco customers."
"I feel that the application needs other characteristics that are available with other applications in the market."
"I would like to see more integrability with other products."
"Its on-prem rollout is quite challenging. It needs better coordination with the Internet Service Provider. It is a cloud-based solution, and any endpoint that connects to it has to go through all the gateway ISPs, but some of the ISPs block HTTPS-based DNS. That's where the challenge occurs with Umbrella."
"They need to improve analytics so they report on more of the specifics of user activity."
"Its DNS service does not support IPv6 query."
"The initial setup could be easier."
"The costs could always be a bit lower."
"The monitoring capabilities of F5 BIG-IP DNS could be improved."
"The support response time could use improvement."
"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."
"The analysis services needs improvement."
"The tool needs to improve its UI."
"Scalability is a concern, it could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is great and very competitive with the rest of the market."
"The licensing part for Umbrella is really flexible."
"The price of Cisco Umbrella is a little higher than similar solutions, like Gateway."
"I think it's worth the money."
"Its value exceeds its pricing."
"It needs a better price point."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"The pricing was marvelous."
"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."
"BIG-IP DNS is more expensive than its competitors like Citrix, but it gives good value for money."
"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."
"You cannot do much around DDoS protection without an additional license from F5."
"In some cases, it is expensive."
"Cost is a factor. It is really costly."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being a low price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
The support response time could use improvement. In critical cases, such as in the big environment projects, faster support is needed to address critical issues promptly.
 

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: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.