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Cisco Umbrella vs Menlo Protect 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 Umbrella
Ranking in Internet Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
124
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (3rd)
Menlo Protect
Ranking in Internet Security
14th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (50th), Enterprise Browsers (6th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Internet Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 27.0%, down from 35.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Menlo Protect is 3.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Internet Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella27.0%
Menlo Protect3.4%
Other69.6%
Internet Security
 

Featured Reviews

SS
Sr. Technical Executive at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has required extensive customization for non-technical users and still needs better simplification
Customization for basic users can be complex, as it is targeted toward only technical users. It would be beneficial if Cisco simplifies the customization process while still ensuring strong security to prevent unauthorized access. Simplifying the customization part could enhance Cisco Umbrella, but overall, it is a good solution for me.
reviewer1991553 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Specialist at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Decreased our security alerts without impacting employees' work
I can't say that there is one specific feature that is most valuable. It's the overall platform that is well-suited to our needs. It's something that is different from a lot of other products or platforms in the marketplace. It provides a single console for security policy and management. That is somewhat important because we used to have other products where you would have to log in to individual appliances, devices, or clusters. Having one spot to log in to or one area to go to for doing different tasks and viewing data sources, just makes it easier from a user perspective. Also, the fact that it's invisible to our end-users and doesn't affect their work is very important. Most companies don't want to have added friction or impact on their users. In addition, the combination of user-friendliness for admins, and security for the organization, works well. As a cloud-hosted solution, it provides ease of use.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Global Block List is one of the most valuable features because it's really easy to block domain names as well as URLs. Sometimes you don't want to block the whole site, you just want to block one URL. The Global Block and Allow Lists are the best features for us."
"The various powerful query options are the most valuable features of this product to me."
"​They have a wealth of articles in their knowledge base. This has given me the freedom to troubleshoot on my own time. ​​"
"Cisco Umbrella is specifically designed for DNS protection, with features including a user-friendly console and the easiest installation, and it offers very prominent threat feeding from different Talos sources, securing multiple platforms while helping protect from malware and unsafe sites and mitigating DNS attacks to ensure secure browsing for end users."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to detect if a URL has malware or is vulnerable."
"Helps block personal email accounts."
"Umbrella is the best product available as of now."
"The biggest return on investment when using Cisco Umbrella for me is the ease of use of the fact that we've deployed this with our Cisco VPN Secure Client, so every computer has the Umbrella module in it."
"I can't say that there is one specific feature that is most valuable. It's the overall platform that is well-suited to our needs. It's something that is different from a lot of other products or platforms in the marketplace."
"Menlo Security RBI's best feature is its threat isolation engine."
"In addition, the combination of user-friendliness for admins, and security for the organization, works well."
"Menlo Security RBI has a very good record on stability."
 

Cons

"This solution does not give us full, 360-degree protection."
"Cisco Umbrella is expensive and could be cheaper."
"I would like the product to offer more security features, such as IPS, IDS, DDoS prevention, etc."
"I would like to see integration with SecurNX in the future."
"There are a couple of interface issues."
"I feel that the application needs other characteristics that are available with other applications in the market."
"The pricing changes too fast. We get the license and we need to relicense it because they already made changes to it. We always need to be on top of the licenses because they're always changing."
"There is room for improvement in the dashboard. It could stand to be a bit more detailed. I would also like to be able to customize the dashboard to focus more on what is important for my company."
"There are several features, such as supporting web technologies, that the company is working on implementing in the platform. There are a lot of backend web technologies in use on various websites, for example, two-way audio/video and WebGL, for which support may not be fully implemented in the product."
"Menlo Security RBI could be more cloud-friendly, and its mobility could be improved."
"Menlo Security RBI can be very costly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing part for Umbrella is really flexible."
"The pricing is pretty fair. It's good."
"There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."
"Cisco Umbrella is expensive and could be cheaper."
"Its price for us is quite expensive because it's a subscription, and we just use it for the DNS log. So, for us, it's quite expensive."
"Our costs were negotiated, and they are okay."
"The price of Cisco Umbrella is a little higher than similar solutions, like Gateway."
"There is room for improvement when it comes to the cost."
"Menlo Security RBI can be very costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Non Profit
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise52
No data available
 

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 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.
Ask a question
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Also Known As

OpenDNS
Menlo Security Email Security, Menlo Security Remote Browser Isolation
 

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
Macy's, HSBC, Bank of Hawaii
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Menlo Protect and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.