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BlueCat Edge vs Cisco Umbrella 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

BlueCat Edge
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
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
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)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of BlueCat Edge is 3.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 22.4%, down from 27.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

LeandroFreitas - PeerSpot reviewer
We see the benefits immediately, it can identify DNS threats, and is flexible
The most impressive feature of BlueCat Edge is its versatility combined with robust security. It acts as a central platform that intelligently routes traffic to the correct resolver while simultaneously enforcing security policies. This includes the ability to blacklist malicious domains or redirect traffic, providing a significant security advantage. In my experience, I've successfully migrated nearly 100,000 internal IP addresses across 14 global data centers using BlueCat Edge, handling a substantial amount of traffic with ease. The interface is user-friendly, and what I find most helpful is the ability to quickly view logs. These logs contain all the queries from internal clients and the corresponding responses from the DNS service, making troubleshooting DNS traffic significantly easier. In the past 24 hours, we've seen 86,000 unique IP addresses using the service, though this number likely fluctuates seasonally. Overall, it's the best solution I've found for troubleshooting DNS traffic. The unparalleled visibility offered by BlueCat Edge is arguably the most critical benefit we receive.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Edge has reduced the complexity and has been more reliable."
"IP Address Management (IPAM) is the most valuable."
"The namespace and access control features are notable."
"BlueCat has increased security efficiency tremendously within the first month of deployment."
"We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having."
"What I found most valuable is the ability to put it in place and integrate it very quickly. It allows us to create routing rule sets to route DNS traffic where it needs to go most efficiently in our environment."
"It allows us to easily monitor our subnets and routers."
"The unparalleled visibility offered by BlueCat Edge is arguably the most critical benefit we receive."
"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."
"By using Cisco Umbrella, you are sure of inspecting all the traffic. Whenever the user machine is connected to your network, it is inspected. That's the best thing. It means you are sure that nothing is being exported or imported without your choice. That is the best feature."
"We are very new users of the solution and are still in the exploration stages, but we are happy with the product thus far."
"When we have laptops that leave the building, they could connect to public WiFi before they establish a VPN connection back into the company. For that duration or that period of time when they're not docked in the network or on a VPN, they effectively don't have that full layer of security that I provide inside the building. This tool stands in during that period of time, and we extend the security settings through their basic firewall or their cloud-based firewall at that time. So, we do content filtering and control access, but they also are looking at new domains, IP addresses, and bad requests. They're blocking them on my behalf when a laptop is not sitting behind our security appliances."
"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."
"Umbrella has helped my IT staff in two ways. First, our security team was able to get more insights into the users, their devices, and the sites they browse. Second, our system administration team was able to manage DNS resolutions in a way that is more accessible and less intrusive to our domain system."
"It provides centralized, device-agnostic management of the Internet experience."
"The security and access control features."
 

Cons

"A more graphical user interface would be a benefit."
"BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement."
"The main improvement for BlueCat Edge's security configuration would be more granular control."
"BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement."
"One pain point concerning DNS Edge is the inability to see per Edge endpoint, what devices are querying against it. They do have the capability for you to look at that data, but the data is roughly 24 to 48 hours old. I am looking for real-time data, and I cannot get that per Edge endpoint."
"Its price is on the higher side."
"I would like to see improvements in threat detection and the ability to add categorization for blocking queries, such as those related to adult entertainment."
"I have concerns about several aspects of BlueCat's site management."
"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."
"Cisco Umbrella should introduce an on-premises device."
"I would like them to make some videos, practical videos, the kind with steps that people can use to learn and deploy"
"We would like them to add more features to Cisco Umbrella."
"There are cheaper solutions in the market"
"The solution's technical support is not very good."
"It has happened in the past that Cisco Umbrella has denied us access to secure websites."
"I would like for their support to be faster."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model for BlueCat Edge seems very good, although I can't confirm if it's specific to our contract."
"One of the nice benefits of getting DNS Edge is that you buy the subscription, and you are allowed to deploy as many Edge endpoints as you need. You do not need a separate license for each one. If you deploy 20 of them, you will not be billed for that many. It is one subscription. You can deploy as many as you need and consume as much as you need. The cost comes in based on the number of IPs that you are consuming and running through DNS Edge. We have that pretty much locked in for what we need for internal purposes. Being able to save money on deploying Edge endpoints has saved us drastically from deploying other BlueCat products in lieu of that."
"I'm doing a costing and licensing comparison between the BlueCat DNS Integrity and Micetro by Men&Mice. BlueCat has given me a range instead of a specific price. They gave me a range of ten thousand to two hundred thousand USD. That was a bit too wide for the cost comparison. Based on what I'm seeing, they are definitely on the higher side and very expensive."
"We find the current pricing model more reasonable compared to the previous per-IP pricing."
"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."
"Pricing and licensing of Cisco Umbrella is a bit confusing because you have to separate the DNS solution and the full-feature solution. Cisco in Portugal helped us understand which one was the right one for us."
"Its value exceeds its pricing."
"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."
"The price of Cisco Umbrella is a little higher than similar solutions, like Gateway."
"The price is fair, and the licensing cost is based on the number of users. We have seen a good ROI."
"The pricing model is easier compared to some of the other solutions, and it is also competitive."
"There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BlueCat Edge?
We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BlueCat Edge?
I'm not aware of the exact pricing and licensing as I was not part of the procurement process. However, there was a significant cost reduction thanks to BlueCat Cloud DNS managing external solutions.
What needs improvement with BlueCat Edge?
BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement. They need to focus and deploy such features in the next version itself, which woul...
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.
 

Also Known As

BlueCat DNS Edge
OpenDNS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Swisslos, Cologne Bonn Airport, TYROLIT
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 BlueCat Edge vs. Cisco Umbrella and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.