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Cisco Umbrella vs F5 BIG-IP DNS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
109
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
7.9
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 25.8%, down from 29.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP DNS is 7.3%, up from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

Rohan Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 26, 2022
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.
Richard Polyak - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2024
A robust solution designed to inspect network and form an internal topology network with clients
We use F5 BIG-IP DNS for internal and global DNS services for distributing content across our environment 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…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has excellent resilience in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity for my organization is very important because we are a banking organization. We need this security to protect the personal information of our clients. This is very important for our security."
"The most valuable features are the protection against ransomware and phishing."
"Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy."
"It will protect, give you more robustness, and faster responses, compared to any firewalls or any of the proxy web servers."
"The user interface is great. It's very easy to tailor to our client's environment and needs."
"The primary advantage of Cisco Umbrella is its ability to safeguard our users no matter where they are working from - whether it's in the office or remotely, as per the new work model that has emerged globally. This integrated security solution has simplified our lives by combining all the necessary security measures in one product. Additionally, deploying the product is all it takes to protect all our users."
"The most valuable feature is that it secures our network against blacklisted or malicious websites."
"It analyzes the domain security helps us implement the securest policy."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The security features, DDoS mitigation facilities, and SQL configuration are the most valuable aspects of this solution."
"The management is very easy."
"It's very stable."
"F5 provides us with a mechanism to accomplish complex product balancing."
"BIG-IP DNS's best feature is the Global Traffic Manager (GTM)."
"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."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS is a stable solution."
 

Cons

"It would be good to have more extensions to third-party products and a client for other device types."
"I would like to have more applications being recorded."
"The price could be better. The price is definitely a bit high, but we have to pay a premium for Cisco products."
"The rule-making process for blocking sites or for blocking characteristics can use some simplification."
"I am unsure if Cisco Umbrella offers a Windows option for running the server."
"The solution's technical support is not very good."
"Security, overall, can always be improved."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in pricing. It is very pricey."
"The IP intelligent services are good for mitigating threats, but there are also false positives. So, it's not a standalone solution that can cover everything."
"The monitoring capabilities of F5 BIG-IP DNS could be improved."
"The tool needs to improve its UI."
"The solution can improve by adding cloud integration through plugins or additional configurations so we can use F5 BIG-IP DNS to communicate with the cloud."
"The costs could always be a bit lower."
"CNC (control and command) communication would be beneficial. We would like to have control and command blocking to prevent visiting malicious websites."
"In the product, one of the shortcomings is related to its configuration part...Though you can find some manuals or F5 documents, in real life, it's very hard to understand this product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our costs were negotiated, and they are okay."
"The price is fair, and the licensing cost is based on the number of users. We have seen a good ROI."
"The pricing was marvelous."
"Our licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"The price of Cisco Umbrella is a little higher than similar solutions, like Gateway."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"Pricing depends on the automation requirements of the organization."
"There are no hidden costs with Umbrella. Everything is included in the package."
"They are competitively priced."
"In some cases, it is expensive."
"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."
"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."
"Cost is a factor. It is really costly."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being a low price."
"BIG-IP DNS is more expensive than its competitors like Citrix, but it gives good value for money."
"You cannot do much around DDoS protection without an additional license from F5."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

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
 

Learn More

 

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: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.