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Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Cisco Umbrella comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
70
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (4th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (5th), ZTNA as a Service (11th)
Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Cisco Security Portfolio
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (3rd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

VinaySingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Connect securely from any location with reliable and easy multifactor authentication
Whenever I am away from the office, I use Cisco Secure Client to connect to the office network, accessing the secure network to place calls to our secure servers that are built on-premise. It is used across our domain, including telecom and app networks, primarily for IT connectivity across the…
Rohan Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Protects endpoints wherever they are, always pushing people to the right locations to avoid malicious intent
The most valuable thing is how easy it is to deploy. We did it with 9,000 users at my last job, and it took a week to get to all the endpoints. Doing that without having to physically touch all those endpoints was very simple. The single pane of glass management makes it very easy to manage your rollout. We get a lot of "single panes of glass" and, eventually, you need a pane of panes of glass. But it's always good to have a clear and graphical view, and Umbrella's is nice and easy to read. Definitely, of the panes of glass that we do have, it's one of the easiest to use. The single pane of glass is good to group users together and separate people out. Some people need different types of security. Some people are more vulnerable. Some have more highly valuable assets, like C-suite people. It's really good to be able to have end-users defined inside of that. You don't have to jump around. You don't have to figure out who's who. It's all done through one pane of glass. What most people don't realize is that it's running in the background, which is a really nice aspect when it comes to security. Often, when you deploy a security tool, it takes up CPU performance. Everything slows to a grind. But Umbrella is so simple and easy and it doesn't affect the end-user experience. It's the best of all worlds. It's nice when people realize that they're being protected when they go to the wrong site. I think people are happy that they're protected, but it's nice that they rarely notice it. It's generally easy to maintain network connectivity, but with Umbrella, the nice part is that whichever connectivity you're on, you're always secure. With Umbrella, as long as you're online, you're going to be protected.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is very stable."
"I'd rate Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client at nine out of ten for scalability."
"The most valuable features are that it is really secure and very easy to use."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The VPN is the most valuable feature. In general, I like the solution and it helps me connect to my corporate site."
"What I like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is that it's easy to use, and that is its main advantage. You can use it without the need for any setup because it's centrally pre-installed, so you just need to log in with your username and password. I didn't experience any problems with the solution in terms of losing connectivity. It works very well every time."
"The solution provides secure and easy access to corporate network resources."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"What we like most is security and how easy it is to integrate with other appliances."
"Umbrella, being one pane for managing, being all-encompassing, allows us to quickly go in, make a change, and it applies to either every location, if we want it to, or we can have policies in place that only apply to certain users or certain computers."
"The feature that we find most valuable is to be able to filter out those web requests that you don't want."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the Web Filtering and the APT."
"I also think that the dashboard view is really helpful. Whenever sites get blocked, we get the details and the users who are connecting to them."
"Using this solution has meant that we've needed to make fewer firewall changes."
"My overall rating for Cisco Umbrella is ten out of ten."
"One of the great advantages of Umbrella DNS is that it's really simple to deploy. It's easy to install, the users do not notice that it's there, and it doesn't interfere with your work. The simplicity and transparency are great advantages of Cisco Umbrella."
 

Cons

"Whenever there's a drop in internet or a connection fluctuation, it gets disconnected automatically."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is its ease of use and simple interface. It's always available as long as I have a good network connection."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client could improve by optimizing the use of the system resources, it is heavy on the resources. Additionally, there could be more transparency."
"Sometimes when you are on the VPN, it can be a little bit slow."
"I haven't found there are any shortcomings in the product. For how I use it, it works well."
"The setup is a bit difficult to handle on the server-side."
"I would like a faster connection from the solution."
"The solution's performance and stability are average."
"Its price could be better."
"User interface could be a little smoother and more intuitive."
"The API is very Cisco orientated, which is absolutely fine if you're using Cisco Firepower and SecureX kind of products, but if you want to integrate with third parties, it is a bit tricky. There are some key API connectors for the more prevalent SIEM tools. I would really like to see in Cisco Umbrella the ability to create customized reports and then assign the rights to view these reports to people within a group. I should be able to create a customized report, which is viewable by anybody who has the rights. I should be able to create groups within Cisco Umbrella, and then assign reports to groups and have those reports split out automatically only to those groups. I can kind of do it by restricting my email list, but it is a half-complete way of doing it."
"iOS devices and mobiles are huge in my environment right now, and I cannot run them on Cisco Umbrella 24/7."
"I would like to have more applications being recorded."
"The rule-making process for blocking sites or for blocking characteristics can use some simplification."
"It would be useful if they had a malware protection engine running inside their own VM."
"There are a couple of interface issues. I know that they say that there are feature enhancements that are noted. For example, we've got the Cisco Meraki security appliances, and there, we geofence our company to where we're allowed to send and receive traffic. So, in our case, by default, we only allow traffic to six different countries, which allows us to effectively prevent traffic for the majority of bad players in the world, but they don't give you an easy way to do that in Cisco Umbrella. With Cisco Meraki, I can specify or pick the countries. I can say that I want to only allow traffic from these six countries, and I'm done. With Cisco Umbrella, I have to rely on the fact that they're going to prevent traffic to other countries. They're going to decide if it's good or bad."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Sometimes there is a problem with the number of licenses for the end-user. The number of concurrent users is limited due to a valid license."
"There is a license needed to use this solution. There are different licensing models available, such as a three-year license."
"My company has a three-year or a four-year license. In scenarios attached to a solution where the product may be reaching an end-of-support or end-of-life phase, Cisco provides OS support in such environments."
"I would rate the pricing for the license of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client around four to five out of ten. It's not the cheapest option, but it's also not overly expensive."
"The price is okay."
"I am using a paid version of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client."
"One thing I've noticed is the price in comparison to other VPNs."
"The licensing costs are reasonable."
"Our licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"Cisco uses subscription models for the pricing and there are three subscription plans."
"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."
"We have a security Enterprise Agreement with Cisco, so the pricing is good."
"The price is quite good."
"Cisco has a model called ELA. With ELA, if you buy the solution you will have the complete security portfolio and you can pay it yearly or after three years, it depends on the contract."
"There are no hidden costs with Umbrella. Everything is included in the package."
"The pricing was marvelous."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
49%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Government
4%
Educational Organization
23%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
The tool is user-friendly, robust and easy to use in any environment.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
My company has a three-year or a four-year license. In scenarios attached to a solution where the product may be reaching an end-of-support or end-of-life phase, Cisco provides OS support in such e...
What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
The security of the product has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required.
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

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
OpenDNS
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService
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 Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs. Cisco Umbrella and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.