Cisco Umbrella vs Google Cloud DNS comparison

Why PeerSpot?

The compared Cisco and Google solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #1 in DS , with an average rating of 9.0, and holds a 17.0% mindshare in the category. Google is ranked #10 in MDP , and holds a 6.7% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

Cisco Umbrella

Read 125 Cisco Umbrella reviews

32,724 Views
9,817 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Google Cloud DNS

Read 7 Google Cloud DNS reviews

5,555 Views
5,333 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Umbrella

Google Cloud DNS

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 30, 2024

Cisco Umbrella and Google Cloud DNS are both leading solutions in the DNS market. Cisco Umbrella has the upper hand in security features, while Google Cloud DNS excels in integration and scalability.

Features: Cisco Umbrella offers robust threat detection, advanced malware protection, and comprehensive URL filtering. Google Cloud DNS provides seamless integration with Google services, low latency, and high availability.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Umbrella needs better reporting tools, more customization options, and improved user interface. Google Cloud DNS requires more comprehensive documentation, enhanced customer support, and simpler pricing structure.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Umbrella is known for relatively straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Google Cloud DNS has a more complex initial setup but is supported by extensive online resources.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Umbrella is considered pricier but justifies the cost with strong security and support services. Google Cloud DNS is seen as cost-effective with excellent performance but might require additional paid services for comprehensive support.

To learn more, read our detailed Domain Name System (DNS) Security Report (Updated: October 2026).

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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

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (3rd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)

Google Cloud DNS

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Managed DNS (10th)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Umbrella and Google Cloud DNS aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Umbrella is designed for Domain Name System (DNS) Security and holds a mindshare of 17.0%, down 22.5% compared to last year.
Google Cloud DNS, on the other hand, focuses on Managed DNS, holds 6.7% mindshare, up 5.6% since last year.

Domain Name System (DNS) Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella	17.0%
Palo Alto Networks DNS Security	11.0%
Cloudflare	6.2%
Other	65.8%

Domain Name System (DNS) Security

Managed DNS Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Google Cloud DNS	6.7%
Cloudflare	23.1%
Quad9	21.5%
Other	48.7%

Managed DNS

Featured Reviews

KamranJameel

Head Of IT at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

Secure browsing has protected users from DNS threats and improves malware defense

The major issue is that sometimes when you install the client, it shows you protected and displays that it is live with the backend servers and everything. However, in reality, it was not getting any feed from the main client and is just sending your traffic to open DNS, which sometimes causes an issue because the protection you have implemented can be breached by users. The primary thing that Cisco Umbrella lacked most of the time is their client. Previously, they had a separate Cisco client. Now they have merged everything into the Cisco Secure Endpoint client—one client for everything, for Cisco Endpoint, for Cisco AnyConnect, and for Cisco Umbrella, which they did probably in 2025.

Read full review

Shikar Singh

Solutions Architect / IT Program Manager at Optum

Constantly improving and adapting to customer needs

The effectiveness of Google Cloud DNS largely depends on where an organization stands in its cloud journey and its overall technology landscape. For those heavily invested in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and already embracing cloud solutions, Google Cloud DNS can be rated quite high, ranging from seven to nine out of ten.Deployment times for Google Cloud DNS can vary depending on the complexity of the infrastructure and configuration requirements. For straightforward setups and cloud-ready cases, deployment can typically be completed within a few minutes to an hour. However, in more complex infrastructure scenarios involving extensive configuration, deployment may take longer, possibly spanning days or weeks.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Cisco's support is better nowadays."

"Cisco Umbrella is absolutely stable."

"Cisco Umbrella's integration with other solutions has been a great feature in terms of ease of administration. Administration and troubleshooting are faster. The single pane of glass is great as well. Another great feature of Cisco Umbrella is remote browser isolation. With this feature, you open a virtual browser, and it's seamless to the user. If the user ends up going to a bad website that's passed a policy and something bad tries to download, it will not download into the machine because it is a virtual window somewhere in the cloud. You are protected by this feature."

"OpenDNS is either a good complement to your existing web content filtering solution at the enterprise level, or it is a good free or easy-to-deploy alternative for home and SMB use."

"Cisco Umbrella scales incredibly with the growing needs of my organization."

"The interface is well organized, so you can easily find everything. Even if you don't have much experience with Cisco, you can easily navigate the solution and find your way around. Everything has been done well, from the deployment to monitoring."

"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 documentation is good, and we have been able to resolve any issues ourselves."

More Cisco Umbrella pros

"The scalability is good."

"The initial setup process is easy."

"Google Cloud DNS continues to evolve based on customer feedback and technological advancements."

"The tool is well integrated. We don’t need the interface of another provider. The product helps me manage my domain and write in Google Cloud."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The most significant features are the internal and external endpoints using Google Cloud DNS, which are very beneficial for dependent apps."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

Cons

"The price could be better. The price is definitely a bit high, but we have to pay a premium for Cisco products."

"My experience is that it is a bit slow. The response is a bit slow, but they provide support."

"While the way the solution works with the functions is fantastic, updates or the ability to secure the vault while offline for cloud-based services should be addressed."

"We would like them to add more features to Cisco Umbrella."

"The solution is costly. It doesn't come cheap. The licensing also comes with additional costs for extra services (such as sandboxing feature, L3/L4 firewall, etc...)."

"Their support should be improved. It is necessary that the support is efficient. It is not really easy to get a resolution for an issue from Cisco support. They should be faster and more efficient."

"The firewall capabilities could be better. Cisco is starting to introduce some layer 7 capabilities now, but there's still some room to grow. They should continue with the development of Umbrella so that it is a full-blown cloud-managed firewall solution."

"The pricing is a bit high."

More Cisco Umbrella cons

"The UI is tricky to understand for people who have not worked with DNS records. People with little to no experience with DNS records can find it hard to understand. For example, you need to know the hallmarks to input records since they need to be matched in a specific format."

"The UX of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"It needs to provide better integration."

"The solution's price could be better."

"Migrating away from Google Cloud DNS can be difficult."

"More features around rules-based configurations would be beneficial."

"The cost of using Google Cloud DNS can be relatively high compared to other options, especially considering the cloud environment."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco is expensive. For example, we are looking at Nexus Dashboard, and it's costing about 250,000 euros. I ask, "What do I get from it?" I'm still not convinced that we have to spend on it, so pricing is a problem."

"Our licensing fees are on a yearly basis."

"The licensing fee is paid on a yearly basis."

"We were using the free version, and we implemented the paid version about two months ago. I'm paying a fair price, but everything is negotiable with Cisco. One of the benefits that I got by having Cisco Umbrella is the licensing of the Cisco AnyConnect VPN client."

"In my opinion, Cisco Umbrella now has a good price in the basic packages. When it comes to Cisco Umbrella SIG Essentials package and Cisco Umbrella Secure Internet Gateway (SIG) Advantage package, it depends on whether the project has a good price or not"

"The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower."

"When talking about Cisco solutions in general there pricing model is horrible. For example, you can sell a Meraki-based solution, but if the customer starts shopping around, someone is going to have access to the pricing at a level that you cannot compete because they do not have uniform pricing. Not everybody gets fair pricing. Unless you are one of the real major corporations selling the solution your ability to compete is impossible. Cisco will acknowledge the situation and assure you next time it will be in your favor but it never becomes favorable for you. Cisco is not very good in this regard. However, Umbrella is good."

"Our costs were negotiated, and they are okay."

More Cisco Umbrella pricing and cost advice

"The product is expensive."

"I am not sure about the pricing. However, I can give you a rough estimate which is like ten cents per month per zone."

"The cost of using Google Cloud DNS can be relatively high compared to other options, especially considering the cloud environment. I would rate it 6 out of 10. Cheaper alternatives might be desirable, but the decision depends on various factors such as vendor lock-in, organizational adaptability, and alignment with other technologies in use."

"It is expensive but cost-effective."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	51
Midsize Enterprise	31
Large Enterprise	51

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Umbrella?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing reveals that the pricing is acceptable, but it is marginally a bit high. However, the services provided are much better, leading to a good retu...

See all answers

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Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 23% of the time

Palo Alto Networks DNS Security vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 4% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 3% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 2% of the time

More Cisco Umbrella Competitors

Quad9 vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 60% of the time

Cloudflare vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 7% of the time

Amazon Route 53 vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 5% of the time

Azure DNS vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 4% of the time

Infoblox DDI vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 3% of the time

More Google Cloud DNS Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella

October 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud DNS

October 2026

Download Google Cloud DNS product report

Also Known As

OpenDNS

No data available

Overview

Cisco Umbrella provides fast-deploying DNS-layer security with powerful threat protection capabilities. Trusted by over 30,000 entities, it ranks highly in DNS security and effectively supports secure remote work environments.

Cisco Umbrella offers comprehensive DNS security, web filtering, and ease of use, enhancing network security through robust threat protection and malware prevention. It processes over 600 billion requests daily, making it a leader in its field. The seamless integration with existing infrastructures and cloud-based nature makes it suitable for remote and distributed work environments, ensuring consistent security throughout. Management is streamlined with a single-pane interface that simplifies administration, while in-depth reporting capabilities provide valuable insights for continuous monitoring.

What are the key features of Cisco Umbrella?

DNS Security: Provides leading protection by managing DNS queries and blocking malicious sites.
Web Filtering: Offers granular control over web content to safeguard internet usage.
Ease of Integration: Fits well into existing infrastructures, simplifying deployment and use.
Intuitive Management: Single-pane management streamlines administration and enhances usability.
Cloud-Based Flexibility: Supports secure remote work environments.

What benefits can users expect from using Cisco Umbrella?

Superior Threat Protection: Reduces risk by effectively detecting and preventing cyber threats.
Consistent Security: Provides uniform protection across network environments.
Efficiency and Visibility: Leverages comprehensive reporting for better security insights.
Easy Deployment: Quick and straightforward setup with minimal disruption.

Cisco Umbrella is widely adopted in industries requiring advanced DNS-level security to counteract malware, phishing, and cyber threats. Its ability to monitor and protect remote and roaming employees makes it an attractive option for sectors highly dependent on cloud services. By managing DNS queries and blocking harmful sites, Cisco Umbrella enhances cybersecurity across networks, providing an added layer of protection for businesses worldwide.

Cisco

Google Cloud DNS offers seamless integration, performance, and stability, making it easy to manage domains with both internal and external endpoints, essential for various applications.

Google Cloud DNS provides robust performance in managing domains. With user-friendly features for DNS zones and application-specific DNS assignments, it supports both internal and external endpoints, enhancing application performance. Known for quick reflection and technical support, it operates reliably across different cloud platforms, crucial for load balancing and web applications. Users note that improvements in UX and documentation could facilitate more effective use, especially for those less familiar with DNS records. Integration challenges, particularly with Cloudflare, and migration issues are areas for enhancement. While cost concerns exist compared to cheaper providers, users desire improved customization and rules-based configurations.

What are the key features of Google Cloud DNS?

Integration and Stability: Offers seamless operation across cloud platforms.
DNS Zone Management: Features for creating and managing DNS zones efficiently.
User-friendly Setup: Simple setup process for managing domains.
Quick Reflection: Rapid DNS updates for efficient domain management.
Technical Support: Available support to assist with any DNS-related issues.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating Google Cloud DNS?

Enhanced Performance: Supports both internal and external endpoints, boosting application performance.
Reliability Across Platforms: Ensures consistent service across different cloud services.
Traffic Management: Facilitates both inbound and outbound traffic control.
Seamless Integration: Integrates with Google services like Kubernetes Engine and Compute Engine.

Industries primarily use Google Cloud DNS for server management and domain publication. It serves as both public and private domain solutions in network architectures like hub-and-spoke setups. Organizations leverage it for applications reliant on Google Kubernetes Engine or Google Compute Engine with load balancers. It manages traffic effectively across network setups, allowing infrastructure changes without affecting application availability. For many, it is the default choice for DNS services.

Google

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

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