We performed a comparison between Azure DNS and Cisco Umbrella based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: In this comparison, Cisco Umbrella takes the lead. It is easy to deploy, has a free version and a paid version of the product, as well as good support. In contrast, Azure DNS users share mixed opinions on deployment and support.
"The initial setup is straightforward and not that complex."
"I like the feature where I can add multiple DNS records for the same subdomain."
"The solution is easy to use and flexible."
"The best feature is the domain register. The other great feature is that whenever you create any resources, Azure DNS will automatically create a record for you."
"One of the key benefits of Azure DNS is its integration with other Azure services. As it is a solution developed by Microsoft, it is easy to integrate with other Azure offerings. Azure DNS also includes Defender for DNS, a feature that protects against anomalies and threats on the DNS. This added security is provided directly by Microsoft. The integration and security features of Azure DNS make it a valuable option for users of the Azure cloud platform."
"Data protection is paramount across cloud platforms"
"Azure DNS provides value beyond its user-friendly interface and easy learning curve."
"Integration with other Azure services is good."
"Cisco Umbrella's integration with other solutions has been a great feature in terms of ease of administration. Administration and troubleshooting are faster. The single pane of glass is great as well. Another great feature of Cisco Umbrella is remote browser isolation. With this feature, you open a virtual browser, and it's seamless to the user. If the user ends up going to a bad website that's passed a policy and something bad tries to download, it will not download into the machine because it is a virtual window somewhere in the cloud. You are protected by this feature."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the Web Filtering and the APT."
"The insight into what our users are doing via Cisco Umbrella is valuable. Knowing that we're protecting our users as they leave our network is also valuable now because we've got more hybrid working."
"We are very new users of the solution and are still in the exploration stages, but we are happy with the product thus far."
"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."
"It has certainly saved us time. If we go and look at what's rejected on the requests from the hospital itself, it has saved about 5% or 6% time."
"One of the great advantages of Umbrella DNS is that it's really simple to deploy. It's easy to install, the users do not notice that it's there, and it doesn't interfere with your work. The simplicity and transparency are great advantages of Cisco Umbrella."
"It is a good cloud-based solution for DNS security."
"The process of creating a virtual mission could be improved."
"Azure DNS does provide enhanced support for applications and includes several security features to protect against threats. One of the security features it offers is the ability to detect and prevent dangling DNS records, which can be used in cyber attacks. Dangling DNS records occur when a website owner creates a domain name but forgets to remove the CNAME record, leaving the domain vulnerable to takeover by malicious actors. Azure DNS includes security measures to identify and prevent such threats, helping to keep your DNS infrastructure secure. However, if Microsoft could add more security capabilities to the DNS, that would be great to detect and identify anomalies that are happening to prevent cyber threats."
"Domain registration is one of the problems. We need to go to application services or web apps to purchase the domain instead. If that were to be equivalent to AWS's Route 53 that would be good. But, it is not as flexible as that."
"The DNSSEC feature is not yet available on the DNS server so it needs to be added."
"While it's stable, there's always room for improvement to ensure it remains reliable."
"There are issues with the cloud systems."
"The web interface to manage the solution must be made easier."
"What needs improvement in Azure DNS is visibility in terms of troubleshooting. It's similar to the area for improvement in Azure Network Watcher, where I can see how the source is going out if I'm troubleshooting a source destination. I can also see the destination. As for seeing how the packet travels, that's what should be improved. It's still lacking in visibility. Suppose I'm looking into backend machines, and if I'm hitting another NPM machine or any machine on the other side, there should be visibility. The tool should tell you that a specific machine is passing through a VPN gateway or route table, routing to a third-party firewall, and then dropping. Azure DNS should show an accurate answer to help the customers, which is its area for improvement."
"I would like to see more integrations with more products. Some of the integrations need to be simpler as well. For example, the integration with Cisco Secure Firewall could be simpler. It would be good to make reporting simpler. For those who don't use SecureX, it would be good to make Umbrella really simple to use upfront. It's not a difficult product, but it can be daunting for someone who isn't exposed to it because there are so many options."
"I'd like to see improvement in its overall integration with all the other platforms. There's some integration between Umbrella and Meraki, but an overall Cisco problem is that there are so many different tools, and finding easy, seamless ways of connecting everything together is always a challenge."
"They should provide more integrations and bring things together so that there is a more standard feel to their platform. We also use Cisco ISE, and it has a very different feel from Cisco Umbrella."
"There should be a way to monitor traffic at the user level."
"It would be useful if they had a malware protection engine running inside their own VM."
"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."
"I would like for their support to be faster."
"Cisco Umbrella should add some more documentation on proxies."
Azure DNS is ranked 2nd in Managed DNS with 31 reviews while Cisco Umbrella is ranked 1st in Secure Web Gateways (SWG) with 108 reviews. Azure DNS is rated 8.4, while Cisco Umbrella is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of Azure DNS writes "Offers good performance and helps its users with disaster recovery". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Umbrella writes "Protects endpoints wherever they are, always pushing people to the right locations to avoid malicious intent". Azure DNS is most compared with Amazon Route 53, Cloudflare DNS, Infoblox DDI, Google Cloud DNS and Quad9, whereas Cisco Umbrella is most compared with Zscaler Internet Access, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks, Palo Alto Networks DNS Security and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange.
We monitor all Managed DNS reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.