Cisco Umbrella vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker comparison

Cisco and Proofpoint are both solutions in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.2, while Proofpoint is ranked #20. Cisco holds a 11.1% mindshare in CASB, compared to Proofpoint’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Proofpoint users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker and Cisco Umbrella compete in cloud security solutions. Cisco Umbrella leads in features and value, while Proofpoint is favored for cost-effectiveness and support.

Features: Proofpoint offers robust data protection and threat detection for cloud applications. Cisco Umbrella enhances security with DNS-layer protection and seamless integration options. Cisco's extensive feature set provides comprehensive coverage.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Proofpoint integrates easily with existing systems and provides efficient customer support. Cisco's deployment process is straightforward with robust guidance. Proofpoint's personalized service balances Cisco's easier deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Proofpoint is attractive for its cost-effective pricing and rapid ROI due to lower initial costs. Cisco's pricing is higher but justified by extensive capabilities, offering significant long-term ROI. Proofpoint appeals to budget-conscious organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Umbrella vs. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella vs. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

December 2025

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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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.5%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 11.1%, down from 14.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Umbrella	11.1%
iboss	2.5%
Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker	0.8%
Other	85.6%

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851

Managing Director

Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment

I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.

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Emilio Montoya

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.

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Kamal Kumar Verma

Lead Consultant at Genpact - Headstrong

Stable product with essential document tracking features

In my organization, we worked with around ten to fifteen different technologies, including Bitglass, and CASB was not among our top priorities. While CASB might benefit some organizations, it was optional for our specific setup, considering the other security measures and technologies we had in place. I found no particularly valuable features regarding CASB resolutions. There are other tools available that can achieve the same functionalities and perform similar tasks. For example, I can accomplish tasks like encryption or secure data movement from our office to the internet using alternative services like Zero Trust solutions. Because of this, our organization considered removing it from our system due to its limited benefits compared to other products.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

More iboss pros

"We like Cisco Umbrella because of DNS security. It's one step ahead of whatever we are using for regular web filtering. In that way, it's more secure than other web filtering products."

"The most valuable aspect is that it is hosted with Cisco and can detect any new anomalies, acting almost like an XDR."

"One of the most important features is the security posture check which Umbrella offers when a user accesses any website. That is one of the most unique features that it offers."

"It enables us to go granular in the customization of blocking some categories on the DNS."

"Provides dependable DNS monitoring of external devices."

"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."

"If it didn't have a single pane of glass, we would not be using it. The single pane of glass gives you a one-stop shop. It's like going to Home Depot. You find all your stuff there. You can see all your threats and your endpoints. It's a very important feature and makes things very simple."

"I haven't found any issues related to latency or any other issue."

More Cisco Umbrella pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is reporting. It helps us understand what's going on in our environment."

"The quarantine feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"The product is stable."

"From stability and availability standpoints, it is pretty good."

Cons

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."

"The reporting feature needs improvement."

"Its pricing could be better."

More iboss cons

"A feature I would appreciate seeing enhanced in Cisco Umbrella would be the ability to add or remove agents that we have, instead of just relying on how long the devices have been connected to the platform."

"Security, overall, can always be improved."

"For us, as an MSP, the initial licensing changes were a roadblock, and they still could be a lot clearer. Specifically, it's an honor-based licensing system. We'd like it to be more specific to our traffic or our users so that we can make sure that the customer is paying for all their licensing."

"There are a couple of different pieces that have different portals. I know they're working on getting them all into one portal, but that's probably the biggest thing that needs improvement right now. It's not a single pane of glass yet."

"The only thing I can think of is that I'd like to see a little more flexibility in policy creation. The way that policy is currently structured is like a "first hit succeeds" kind of policy. It would be nice if it were more hierarchical."

"I would like for them to continue building on IPS and IDS functionalities."

"Actually, we recently switched over to Zscaler because it has more features and it's more scalable than Cisco Umbrella."

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

More Cisco Umbrella cons

"I think some of the hiccups that we had were with the number of domains that we had and how that had to be implemented in Proofpoint."

"The TLS encryption needs to be improved. It's not state of the art."

"Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker should be cheaper."

"They are priced significantly higher and less cost-effective than alternative options."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"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."

"In the region I'm from, that of EMAR, Europe, the Middle East, Eastern Asia and Africa, our organizations do not have many liquid cash assets, so the price could be better."

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

"Its price for us is quite expensive because it's a subscription, and we just use it for the DNS log. So, for us, it's quite expensive."

"There are three models for licensing with different feature sets."

"There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."

"We did a good negotiation, and at the moment, its price is fine."

"You can request an evaluation license."

More Cisco Umbrella pricing and cost advice

"The tool's most valuable feature is reporting. It helps us understand what's going on in our environment."

"We had an enterprise contract with them for about 32,000 users at that point, which has now grown."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	49
Midsize Enterprise	30
Large Enterprise	51

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

See all answers

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. Zs...

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-nat...

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What do you like most about Cisco Umbrella?

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

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Comparisons

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 8% of the time

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 9% of the time

Palo Alto Networks DNS Security vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 5% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Umbrella Competitors

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

Compared 39% of the time

Forcepoint CASB vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

Compared 32% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

Compared 28% of the time

More Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

January 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella

January 2026

Download Cisco Umbrella product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)

January 2026

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker report

Download Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

OpenDNS

FireLayers, PCASB

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

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

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker is a comprehensive solution that enables organizations to secure their cloud applications and data. Its primary use case is to provide visibility and control over cloud applications, detect and prevent unauthorized access, and ensure compliance. The most valuable functionality is its ability to integrate with multiple cloud applications, deliver deep visibility, and enforce policies in real-time. This helps organizations to minimize risks, protect sensitive data and maintain compliance with regulations.

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Benefits:

Easy to deploy and manage
Provides granular control over app usage and data access
Offers real-time threat detection and response
Integrates with other security solutions
Provides detailed reports and analytics

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Features:

Real-time threat detection and response
Granular visibility
Control over cloud applications
Customizable policies and rules
Integration with leading cloud providers and security tools

Proofpoint

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

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

Emerging Technologies, HP, CSA, Perion

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella vs. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

December 2025

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