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Cisco Umbrella vs Google Cloud DNS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 30, 2024

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
7.2
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (3rd)
Google Cloud DNS
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Managed DNS (8th)
 

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 17.5%, down 25.0% compared to last year.
Google Cloud DNS, on the other hand, focuses on Managed DNS, holds 4.8% mindshare, down 6.7% since last year.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella17.5%
Palo Alto Networks DNS Security9.1%
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection7.3%
Other66.1%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
Managed DNS Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Cloud DNS4.8%
Cloudflare25.9%
Quad923.9%
Other45.400000000000006%
Managed DNS
 

Featured Reviews

BB
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Ensures comprehensive protection with seamless threat logging and efficient policy management
My favorite feature of Cisco Umbrella is probably just the DNS and the fact that when a security threat happens, all of that gets logged in their Umbrella portal, and it's very easy to find who's been accessing the site and how many people have accessed it, so that we can go to them and make sure they're not compromised. The features of Cisco Umbrella benefit my company by providing less time to search for things through logs, to look for what we need. It's just one place to go, and we just search for it, and we find it really fast. The fact that there's a virtual database that has all that information is great on our portal.
Shikar Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable aspect is that it is hosted with Cisco and can detect any new anomalies, acting almost like an XDR."
"The solution is extremely stable. It has excellent performance."
"It has improved our organization from a security posture perspective, and we feel more confident now knowing that we can block phishing attempts or any type of malware that is DNS-related, which is a very nice feature that provides peace of mind."
"I was pretty amazed by the wide variety of security features and reports on a single dashboard."
"The initial setup is very easy and takes only a few minutes."
"The various powerful query options are the most valuable features of this product to me."
"We use the entire Cisco solution and we are happy with the product integration."
"Some clients only want DNS security, while others want more of the advanced features that it has available."
"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 scalability is good."
"The most significant features are the internal and external endpoints using Google Cloud DNS, which are very beneficial for dependent apps."
"The initial setup process is easy."
"Google Cloud DNS continues to evolve based on customer feedback and technological advancements."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"The solution's technical support is not very good."
"It would be useful if they had a malware protection engine running inside their own VM."
"It could be improved by having a local data center and caching, which can provide protection support."
"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."
"Improvements could be made with the user interface, it could be a little smoother and more intuitive."
"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."
"Sometimes there are some lags, and I have to refresh multiple times to access parts of the dashboards. Sometimes the dashboard pages crash and I'm not sure why, so that's one area for improvement."
"The reporting could be improved by way of the information that's displayed."
"It needs to provide better integration."
"The UX of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"The cost of using Google Cloud DNS can be relatively high compared to other options, especially considering the cloud environment."
"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 solution's price could be better."
"Migrating away from Google Cloud DNS can be difficult."
"More features around rules-based configurations would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing fee is paid on a yearly basis."
"Cisco uses subscription models for the pricing and there are three subscription plans."
"As an educational partner, we get better licensing structures. We are very happy with that. It has been very nice that Cisco has partnered with the educational sector to bring that."
"There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."
"The price could be lower."
"The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"I think it's worth the money."
"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."
"It is expensive but cost-effective."
"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."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Domain Name System (DNS) Security solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Non Profit
7%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud DNS?
Pricing and support are really good. There are no complaints about the pricing.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud DNS?
I am not heavily involved with Cloud DNS, but from an end-user perspective, the customization part could be improved. More features around rules-based configurations would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud DNS?
I have my app, which is running on either GKE or GCE. We have a load balancer. We use both internal and external load balancers. If we want to change the underlying infrastructure, like in differen...
 

Also Known As

OpenDNS
No data available
 

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
MeilleursAgents
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Infoblox, Palo Alto Networks and others in Domain Name System (DNS) Security. Updated: May 2026.
896,942 professionals have used our research since 2012.