We compared Cisco Umbrella and Palo Alto Networks DNS across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Features: Cisco Umbrella is highly regarded for its seamless integration with existing infrastructure, extensive range of security features, and ability to centrally manage security. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is commended for its autofocus functionality, robust defense against emerging DNS threats, and proactive detection of cybercriminal activities.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Umbrella could enhance security by adding a transferring proxy feature and improving its Linux agent for Linux-based companies. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security has the potential to improve app detection and offer higher levels of security and scalability.
Ease of Deployment: Cisco Umbrella's setup is simple and can be completed in around 30 minutes. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security also has a straightforward setup, but it may be more complex than some solutions due to its unique security approach. The deployment time for Palo Alto Networks DNS Security varies depending on the individual requirements of each customer.
Service and Support: Customers have praised Cisco Umbrella's support, describing it as excellent and superior to the customer service of other vendors. Customers find Palo Alto Networks DNS Security's customer service team knowledgeable and helpful but note that there may be some challenges when seeking support outside regular working hours due to time zone differences.
Pricing: The cost of Cisco Umbrella differs based on the specific needs and approach of the customer, with flexible pricing and transparent charges. It is seen as both reasonable and competitive by some, but a few perceive it as costly. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is affordable for educational establishments, although one user noted that it isn't the least expensive solution.
ROI: Cisco Umbrella has proven to be a valuable investment by addressing maintenance concerns, reducing expenses associated with hardware updates, and effectively thwarting threats. It offers enhanced visibility and aids in remediation efforts. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security has enhanced visibility and protection in previously deficient areas.
Comparison Results: Users appreciate Cisco Umbrella for its easy setup, extensive security features, and ability to centrally manage security. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security stands out for its autofocus capability, proactive identification of cybercriminal threats, and versatility as an antivirus and inspection tool. Cisco Umbrella could improve its Linux agent, while Palo Alto Networks DNS Security could enhance its app detection and provide a higher level of protection. Both products are considered to be reasonably priced, but some users find Cisco Umbrella to be costly. Both products earned high marks for customer service and support.
"Threats never come close to your network with security at the DNS level."
"You can manage and create policies based on a group of users. It can permit some URLs and block others."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its reliability."
"Overall, it is a very good solution. It is a simple solution and very easy to set up."
"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."
"I haven't needed to reboot the servers for years due to their excellent stability."
"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."
"When it comes to hybrid work it's pretty effective. We've got the agents. We can protect people inside our building and, when they're using their laptops out in the field, they're still protected. It's working well."
"When comparing other cloud-based DNS security solutions to this one I have found the main beneficial feature in this solution to be we do not need to change our architecture."
"So, in general, it's very stable because the process to deliver new features and new releases in not so long...I rate the scalability a nine out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is DNS filtering."
"Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is a stable solution."
"The product is easy to install."
"We now have insight into our DNS requests and we can actively see how many thousands of malicious requests have gotten knocked down in the last day or week that we didn't have before. There's more insight for both security and more insight."
"DNS sinkhole is a valuable feature."
"The support team has good knowledge about the solution."
"The integration with Cisco could be better."
"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."
"It would be good to have more extensions to third-party products and a client for other device types."
"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."
"The design of the screens could be improved. Sometimes you're trying to look for information, for what you think is critical that should be on that first screen of the dashboard so that you can quickly take screenshots to have people help out, but you have to hop between screens to find little pieces of evidence."
"There are cheaper solutions in the market"
"The firewall capabilities could be better. Cisco is starting to introduce some layer 7 capabilities now, but there's still some room to grow. They should continue with the development of Umbrella so that it is a full-blown cloud-managed firewall solution."
"I would like for their support to be faster."
"The solution can capture more market if made more cost-competitive than Infoblox or Cisco Umbrella."
"We would like to have cloud-based management."
"The solution’s scalability could be improved."
"Every vendor that sells DNS or firewalls needs to be able to protect against DNS look-up attacks and DNS naming hacks. This is true of Palo Alto as well as others."
"With Palo Alto Networks DNS Security, sometimes the DNS clients don't work well, and they get disconnected, making it an area where improvements are required."
"The installation is more complex because the solution has another approach to security."
"I'm not really sure what needs improvement. The only hiccup I've really seen is a couple of the DNS requests get flagged as the Sophos traffic instead of DNS traffic, but that's more of their app detection in the DNS Security. I haven't really seen any issues with the DNS security."
"Pricing is one of the areas of concern in Palo Alto Networks DNS Security since it is an expensive product. I feel that the product's pricing is an area that could be improved."
More Palo Alto Networks DNS Security Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco Umbrella is ranked 1st in Domain Name System (DNS) Security with 108 reviews while Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is ranked 4th in Domain Name System (DNS) Security with 11 reviews. Cisco Umbrella is rated 8.8, while Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Cisco Umbrella writes "Protects endpoints wherever they are, always pushing people to the right locations to avoid malicious intent". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks DNS Security writes "The solution is affordable, easy to configure, and blocks malicious domains". Cisco Umbrella is most compared with Zscaler Internet Access, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet FortiGate SWG and Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection, whereas Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is most compared with Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection, Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense, EfficientIP DNS Firewall, DNSFilter and Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise. See our Cisco Umbrella vs. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security report.
See our list of best Domain Name System (DNS) Security vendors.
We monitor all Domain Name System (DNS) Security 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.