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Cisco Umbrella vs Prisma SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Umbrella improves security, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness with cloud access, integrating seamlessly and reducing operational costs and malware.
Sentiment score
7.6
Transitioning to Prisma SD-WAN reduced costs by 50%, improved stability, and replaced expensive MPLS links with affordable broadband.
Cisco is a big brand in the networking domain, but in security, they are pushing a lot and improving day by day.
Chief Technology Officer at Binary Global Limited
From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using the solution is that it makes it a lot easier to delegate some of the tasks that were traditionally used, such as building policies on the firewalls and doing it through Cisco Umbrella.
Network Engineer at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
The biggest return on investment when using Cisco Umbrella for me is the ease of use of the fact that we've deployed this with our Cisco VPN Secure Client, so every computer has the Umbrella module in it.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Prisma SD-WAN helps reduce network costs.
Senior IT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco Umbrella excels in support efficiency, but purchasing and real-time support integration need improvement despite good documentation.
Sentiment score
6.7
Palo Alto's Prisma SD-WAN support is effective but occasionally slow, with a need for training and faster responses.
I would rate customer support ten out of ten due to the excellent assistance throughout the POC process.
Manager Cyber Security Department at Mana
Cisco's support is fantastic, providing assistance when needed, especially during the initial installation process.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
If I don't need to go to support all the time, that means the product is working fine, so I'm very happy with them.
Network Engineer at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
They respond promptly and are good at finding issues.
I would rate the support at minimum eight plus.
Senior IT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Since we are at a premium level, customer service is rated at eight or 8.9 out of ten.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Umbrella is scalable, supporting seamless user growth and integration, making it ideal for organizations of any size.
Sentiment score
7.6
Prisma SD-WAN efficiently supports scalable complex networks, praised for ease of deployment and site addition despite documentation concerns.
Cisco Umbrella scales incredibly with the growing needs of my organization.
Network Engineer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Cisco Umbrella scales really well with the growing needs of my company, bringing the ability to ensure that people are safe and connected.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Cisco Umbrella scales effectively with the growing needs of my company; it's excellent, and I have experienced no issues.
Senior Network Engineer at Boys Town
Everything is managed by the service provider, Palo Alto Networks, allowing me to manage my infrastructure without overheads or extra costs to adapt the management infrastructure to the actual needs of the field.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
I rate it a ten out of ten since we can easily scale by just paying for additional licenses as needed.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Scalability is a significant concern for us due to the poor documentation that limits our ability to understand and utilize their system effectively.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Cisco Umbrella is highly reliable, offering consistent performance and high uptime with minor glitches easily resolved.
Sentiment score
7.8
Prisma SD-WAN is noted for high stability and reliability, with improved performance and rare downtime, despite complex setup.
I have not experienced any major stability issues with Cisco Umbrella.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
Cisco Umbrella Secure Access is pretty stable in my mind, and we have not seen many glitches that would have interrupted services at customer locations.
Chief Technology Officer at Binary Global Limited
The stability and reliability of the Cisco Umbrella platform have been great.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Stability is high, I rate it 9.8 out of ten.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Prisma SD-WAN is an absolutely stable solution.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
Our engineers make the system appear stable through effective management.
At Messer Manager, Network & Communications (Americas) at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Umbrella struggles with integration, customization, user interface, and performance, needing improved documentation, security features, and deployment processes.
Prisma SD-WAN needs better usability, technical support, integration, and competitively priced features, with improvements in security and automation.
Making it more flexible and easy to deploy, particularly when integrating with other technologies like Active Directory and proxies, would be beneficial.
Manager Cyber Security Department at Mana
The product can only shield a small area, making it less effective for larger spaces or multiple users.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
I have to write an email to Umbrella support to get assistance, unlike the other products where I can call the Cisco technical assistance center and get an engineer.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
Scalability is a significant concern for us due to the poor documentation that limits our ability to understand and utilize their system effectively.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a government with 201-500 employees
If there were an option to extend management to other firewalls, users could perform staggered migrations.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers appreciate Cisco Umbrella's security but have mixed opinions on its pricing, citing flexibility and potential cost issues.
Prisma SD-WAN offers premium pricing but valued functionality and integration, ideal for medium to large enterprises, with package discounts.
We've bundled that with our firewall stuff and our VPN, which brings the price down and adds the ability to grow.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
The only cost associated is the license cost unless additional solutions need to be integrated with Umbrella, which would incur extra costs.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
The prices need to be lower as the current pricing is exceedingly high.
Network Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The solution is not cost-effective for smaller environments and is more suitable for medium to large companies.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
The price for Prisma is a bit high.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product could be a bit cheaper for the services it provides.
CTO at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Umbrella features robust security, seamless deployment, granular control, enhancing hybrid work protection and compliance with ease of use.
Prisma SD-WAN enhances network resilience with seamless integration, intelligent routing, centralized management, and optimal connectivity across multiple sites.
The DNS layer security provided by Cisco Umbrella is very effective for our security posture, offering us vast improvements in visibility over DNS queries and potential threats.
Manager Cyber Security Department at Mana
The most valuable feature of Cisco Umbrella is its DNS security.
Network Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The best possible thing is that it is very easy to deploy, easy to configure, and very fast to get onboarded with a customer because this is a cloud-based service.
Chief Technology Officer at Binary Global Limited
By reducing the need for expensive internet connections, Prisma SD-WAN allows customers to achieve cost savings.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
Prisma is a mature platform in terms of security.
Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass, especially since we have Palo Alto firewalls.
CTO at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Umbrella
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
122
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)
Prisma SD-WAN
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (5th), WAN Edge (5th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Umbrella is designed for Domain Name System (DNS) Security and holds a mindshare of 21.6%, down 25.4% compared to last year.
Prisma SD-WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 5.1% mindshare, down 5.6% since last year.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Umbrella21.6%
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection12.4%
Palo Alto Networks DNS Security7.5%
Other58.5%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Prisma SD-WAN5.1%
Fortinet FortiGate13.9%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN11.2%
Other69.8%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Emilio Montoya - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at PROA
Ensures internet navigation safety and boosts productivity
The features of Cisco Umbrella I prefer most are DNS protection and traffic redirect. With Cisco Talos's threat intelligence, we reduce the impact of malware traffic in our network, and we currently see the behavior of equipment and choose the correct sites. Cisco Talos has helped us reduce the impact of malware traffic. We can see the behavior and choose the correct sites. We're currently testing secure access with Umbrella in order to secure access to core applications. It's a product that the user doesn't even know is there, even though it is protecting them. It's not hard on the equipment. And, for us, it centralizes everything, which improves productivity. With the Experience Insights feature of Cisco Secure Access, we've seen impacts on the management of user connectivity by allowing us to deliver safe connectivity. We are testing the Secure Access product with Cisco Umbrella to improve our connectivity with our users in order to secure access to the corporate applications. Cisco Umbrella is in the cloud, which is nice.
Engineerinfosec67 - PeerSpot reviewer
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
Centralized management streamlines global network traffic control
Prisma SD-WAN requires a more seamless integration with other Palo Alto solutions, like Prisma Access. Although there has been improvement, further steps can be taken. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the solution integrated the SD-WAN features of Prisma SD-WAN with the security features of Palo Alto's next-generation firewalls, as they currently do not align.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Domain Name System (DNS) Security solutions are best for your needs.
879,889 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Legal Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business49
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise51
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise13
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Prisma SD-WAN?
Regarding whether Prisma SD-WAN is an expensive solution, I would say the price is competitively high. Everything depends on what security features customers need and what budget they have, so we w...
What needs improvement with Prisma SD-WAN?
I am still working on what should be improved in Prisma SD-WAN to make this product better, and I cannot give any update on that part as of now. The costing part might need improvement, but regardi...
What is your primary use case for Prisma SD-WAN?
Our customers' main use cases for Prisma SD-WAN are to connect multiple branches since they have numerous locations that need to be interconnected. My customers are in multiple industries, includin...
 

Also Known As

OpenDNS
CloudGenix
 

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
Open Networking User Group, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coca Cola
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Prisma SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
879,889 professionals have used our research since 2012.