Cisco Umbrella vs Google Cloud DNS comparison

The compared Cisco and Google solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #1 in DS , with an average rating of 9.2, and holds a 20.8% mindshare in the category. Google is ranked #8 in MDP , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 4.4% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

Cisco Umbrella

Read 123 Cisco Umbrella reviews

19,468 Views
6,035 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Google Cloud DNS

Read 7 Google Cloud DNS reviews

3,740 Views
3,628 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Umbrella

Google Cloud DNS

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 30, 2024

Cisco Umbrella and Google Cloud DNS are both leading solutions in the DNS market. Cisco Umbrella has the upper hand in security features, while Google Cloud DNS excels in integration and scalability.

Features: Cisco Umbrella offers robust threat detection, advanced malware protection, and comprehensive URL filtering. Google Cloud DNS provides seamless integration with Google services, low latency, and high availability.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Umbrella needs better reporting tools, more customization options, and improved user interface. Google Cloud DNS requires more comprehensive documentation, enhanced customer support, and simpler pricing structure.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Umbrella is known for relatively straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Google Cloud DNS has a more complex initial setup but is supported by extensive online resources.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Umbrella is considered pricier but justifies the cost with strong security and support services. Google Cloud DNS is seen as cost-effective with excellent performance but might require additional paid services for comprehensive support.

To learn more, read our detailed Domain Name System (DNS) Security Report (Updated: February 2026).

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February 2026

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Helped 882,886 peers since 2012

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

7.3

Number of Reviews

123

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 (1st)

Google Cloud DNS

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

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 20.8%, down 25.1% compared to last year.
Google Cloud DNS, on the other hand, focuses on Managed DNS, holds 4.4% mindshare, down 6.2% since last year.

Domain Name System (DNS) Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Umbrella	20.8%
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection	11.5%
Palo Alto Networks DNS Security	7.6%
Other	60.1%

Domain Name System (DNS) Security

Managed DNS Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Google Cloud DNS	4.4%
Cloudflare	30.3%
Quad9	28.6%
Other	36.699999999999996%

Managed DNS

Featured Reviews

Bryan Bettencourt

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.

Read full review

Shikar Singh

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The single-pane-of-glass management is very important. We have a very small team. We can't spend a lot of time going from product to product to product to either investigate or set up policy. We need to have one place that we can go to and set everything up."

"The most valuable feature for us is the DNS-based protection."

"The weekly reportings are great. The investigation is super and the application management is equally great."

"I have found the malware protection feature valuable. It is helpful and deliverable and is able to protect my entire organization from getting compromised. It also prevents us from visiting any malicious sites which are not visible to the users."

"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's very stable, reliable and does its job."

"The security and access control features."

"Cisco Umbrella is a totally different solution. They are the first to come up with this idea of security. It's a totally new concept of security for everybody, for every time, real time, perfectionism."

More Cisco Umbrella pros

"It is a scalable solution."

"The most significant features are the internal and external endpoints using Google Cloud DNS, which are very beneficial for dependent apps."

"Google Cloud DNS continues to evolve based on customer feedback and technological advancements."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The initial setup process is easy."

"The scalability is good."

"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."

Cons

"Hopefully, it works with the Canvas and starts feeding results into the AI canvas. That would be excellent."

"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."

"I would like for their support to be faster."

"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."

"They need to improve analytics so they report on more of the specifics of user activity."

"Cisco Umbrella hasn't integrated customized reporting yet. With Cisco Secure Endpoint Hub, I can see a report on user downloads and set it up to constantly get an email alert. Based on my understanding, Cisco Umbrella can't do that. You can set it up with third parties, but it would be better if that were built into the platform."

"If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud."

"Customization for basic users can be complex, as it is targeted toward only technical users."

More Cisco Umbrella cons

"The cost of using Google Cloud DNS can be relatively high compared to other options, especially considering the cloud environment."

"The solution's price could be better."

"The UX of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"More features around rules-based configurations would be beneficial."

"It needs to provide better integration."

"Migrating away from Google Cloud DNS can be difficult."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of licensing, we're not able to be extremely clear with the customer because it's based on their reporting. It's not based on the actual traffic. If they say they have 50 users but they have 80, we'll just buy for 50 users. That's something where we'd like to have more flexibility."

"There are no hidden costs with Umbrella. Everything is included in the package."

"You can request an evaluation license."

"Cisco solutions are generally perceived to be rather expensive. We have constant internal discussions as to whether we should offer lower-priced security solutions from some of the competitors."

"You get what you pay for if you break the solution up into tiers."

"The licensing fee is paid on a yearly basis."

"The price is quite good."

"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."

More Cisco Umbrella pricing and cost advice

"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."

"It is expensive but cost-effective."

"I am not sure about the pricing. However, I can give you a rough estimate which is like ten cents per month per zone."

"The product is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	50
Midsize Enterprise	30
Large Enterprise	51

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Umbrella?

Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy.

See all answers

What do you like most about Google Cloud DNS?

Google Cloud DNS continues to evolve based on customer feedback and technological advancements.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 9% of the time

Palo Alto Networks DNS Security vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 6% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 4% of the time

Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Umbrella Competitors

Quad9 vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 68% of the time

Cloudflare vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon Route 53 vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 6% of the time

Azure DNS vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 4% of the time

Infoblox DDI vs Google Cloud DNS

Compared 2% of the time

More Google Cloud DNS Competitors

Product Reports

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Cisco Umbrella

February 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud DNS

February 2026

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Also Known As

OpenDNS

No data available

Overview

Cisco Umbrella provides fast-deploying DNS-layer security with powerful threat protection capabilities. Trusted by over 30,000 entities, it ranks highly in DNS security and effectively supports secure remote work environments.

Cisco Umbrella offers comprehensive DNS security, web filtering, and ease of use, enhancing network security through robust threat protection and malware prevention. It processes over 600 billion requests daily, making it a leader in its field. The seamless integration with existing infrastructures and cloud-based nature makes it suitable for remote and distributed work environments, ensuring consistent security throughout. Management is streamlined with a single-pane interface that simplifies administration, while in-depth reporting capabilities provide valuable insights for continuous monitoring.

What are the key features of Cisco Umbrella?

DNS Security: Provides leading protection by managing DNS queries and blocking malicious sites.
Web Filtering: Offers granular control over web content to safeguard internet usage.
Ease of Integration: Fits well into existing infrastructures, simplifying deployment and use.
Intuitive Management: Single-pane management streamlines administration and enhances usability.
Cloud-Based Flexibility: Supports secure remote work environments.

What benefits can users expect from using Cisco Umbrella?

Superior Threat Protection: Reduces risk by effectively detecting and preventing cyber threats.
Consistent Security: Provides uniform protection across network environments.
Efficiency and Visibility: Leverages comprehensive reporting for better security insights.
Easy Deployment: Quick and straightforward setup with minimal disruption.

Cisco Umbrella is widely adopted in industries requiring advanced DNS-level security to counteract malware, phishing, and cyber threats. Its ability to monitor and protect remote and roaming employees makes it an attractive option for sectors highly dependent on cloud services. By managing DNS queries and blocking harmful sites, Cisco Umbrella enhances cybersecurity across networks, providing an added layer of protection for businesses worldwide.

Cisco

Google Cloud DNS is a scalable, reliable and managed authoritative Domain Name System (DNS) service running on the same infrastructure as Google. It has low latency, high availability and is a cost-effective way to make your applications and services available to your users. Cloud DNS translates requests for domain names like www.google.com into IP addresses like 74.125.29.101. Cloud DNS is programmable. You can easily publish and manage millions of DNS zones and records using our simple user interface, command-line interface or API.

Google

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

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February 2026

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