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Cisco Umbrella vs Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.3
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection provides cost savings and operational continuity, with users confirming its value and beneficial returns.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps enhances security and efficiency, offering significant ROI with up to 60% savings and streamlined operations.
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.
The implementation of Infoblox DNS allows customers to reduce operational costs by managing multiple functionalities in one window, thereby reducing the need for multiple resources.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
The ROI with Infoblox is very efficient for opportunities like replacing other vendors and providing advantageous points.
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
The biggest return on investment so far has been visibility, knowing what we have in our environment.
Cloud and data protection engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
As a small team, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps allowed us to manage systems with just one or two people.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
We have at least saved the costs we had from the Netskope solution this year.
Security and Continuity Manager at Rolinco NV
 

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
9.0
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is praised for efficient, responsive 24/7 support, though some report delays and challenges.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps support is praised for its responsiveness, though some users experience delays and resource access challenges.
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
Infoblox technical support is excellent, with good experiences and strong historical support.
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
Customer support is efficient, with Infoblox providing 24/7 fast support.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
Their customer service is pretty good, but it's frustrating to go through three or four channels before reaching the right person.
Cloud and data protection engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
The support is excellent, and the speed of response is commendable.
Solutions Architect at a university with 51-200 employees
There were instances where the engineers were knowledgeable and helpful, but at other times it felt like a ping pong game, with unnecessary transfers until the right person was found.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 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
8.3
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is scalable, meeting diverse needs with flexibility, hardware options, and high ratings despite compatibility issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers scalable, seamless integration, and reliable management for organizations of all sizes and environments.
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
Scalability is well-supported in Infoblox DNS due to the availability of both hardware and virtual options.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
Infoblox is very scalable.
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
For what I know about the log collector and how much data it can take in, it is super scalable and capable of handling high workloads.
Cloud and data protection engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is very scalable, provided you have the right subscription.
Solutions Architect at a university with 51-200 employees
In my experience, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is good enough for small to medium businesses.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company 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
8.5
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is generally stable and reliable, though some users note instability with added features or high traffic.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is highly stable, reliable, and maintains performance with minor, swiftly resolved incidents.
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.
Infoblox DNS is quite stable.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
Even when there are performance issues, such as hardware problems, Infoblox provides strong support to resolve the issue promptly, without delays.
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
I would rate it a ten because I have not experienced any stability issues so far with Defender for Cloud Apps.
Head of Security Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps as stable
Network Engineer at Apexon
My impression on the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is that it is very stable.
Security and Continuity Manager at Rolinco NV
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Umbrella struggles with integration, customization, user interface, and performance, needing improved documentation, security features, and deployment processes.
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection faces challenges in documentation, pricing, UI complexity, integration, and requires better DNS security alerts.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps seeks enhanced pricing, integration, user interface, automation, and multi-cloud support, while improving insights and management.
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
The configuration process can be complex, which may be an area for potential improvement in terms of user-friendliness.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
Infoblox needs to adapt its protection to better cover enterprises, particularly in the context of pricing when compared to competitors like Cloudflare.
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
The overall pricing of Infoblox is high, particularly for the Bangladesh market, and the licensing model is challenging.
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
For data loss prevention, it would be useful to be able to drill down into the kind of data being transferred over CloudApp.
Head of Security Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Defender typically connects to Entra ID, but we have local users on the cloud for database access, SSH, or RDS, and there is nothing produced by Defender regarding those local IAM users.
Network Engineer at Apexon
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps would benefit if Microsoft allows users to fine-tune false positives, enabling us to dismiss alerts or make adjustments so that such things don't trigger multiple times in the future.
Security delivery analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers appreciate Cisco Umbrella's security but have mixed opinions on its pricing, citing flexibility and potential cost issues.
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is costly, priced around $100,000 annually, with varied licensing and no extra setup costs.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is seen as cost-effective for enterprises within Microsoft ecosystems, despite standalone pricing concerns.
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
Licensing costs can vary depending on the number of users, sometimes costing around a hundred to one hundred fifty dollars per user.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
The overall pricing is quite high, which poses a challenge when selling this product to the customer.
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The main challenge with pricing is competing with vendors like Cloudflare, which often have an advantage in costs.
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
The pricing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is acceptable.
Solutions Architect at a university with 51-200 employees
My organization is currently revisiting pricing, but previously, the cost was a bit expensive, yet comparable to other solutions with similar functionalities and features.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
It's not the cheapest, but also not the most expensive, placing it in the mid-level range.
IT Architect at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Umbrella features robust security, seamless deployment, granular control, enhancing hybrid work protection and compliance with ease of use.
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection offers centralized management, advanced security, seamless maintenance, and automated features, supporting industries with high demands.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps integrates well, offering threat detection, management ease, shadow IT discovery, and robust security enhancements.
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
They provide centralized management for DNS, DHCP, and IP address management for the DDI, along with complete visibility of the DNS flow in case of incidents, and automated responses.
Senior Cybersecurity Presales at a university with 11-50 employees
Infoblox is a DDI solution that offers more than just DNS security, providing unique protection for IT management and DSCP.
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Infoblox DNS Protection provides complete DDI solutions, allowing customers to easily manage their IP addresses and integrate them with DNSSEC and DSCP.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
It provides excellent suggestions and options for configuration; for example, it can track suspicious files getting uploaded to cloud resources on Azure based on their signatures, generating alerts for those files.
Security delivery analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product recommends things that need to be blocked and allows for dynamic configuration, which cuts down on potential issues that might arise from going through lists and understanding what needs to be blocked.
Partner & Chief Executive Officer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
The ability to sanction unsanctioned apps using Secure Score benchmarking, included in Cloud, is also beneficial.
Head of Security Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Mindshare comparison

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
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection12.4%
Cisco Umbrella21.6%
Palo Alto Networks DNS Security7.5%
Other58.5%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps6.9%
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks14.8%
Netskope14.7%
Other63.599999999999994%
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
 

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.
Amr Shawky - PeerSpot reviewer
Security & Infra Technology Specialist at BARQ Systems
Replaces internal DNS servers effectively with strong support for network security
For users not already working with Infoblox, it is advisable to present it as a centralized integrated solution to handle DNS IPAM. Not all customers understand DNS security threats, so emphasizing its importance is crucial. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection as ten for the overall solution.
FV
Security and Continuity Manager at Rolinco NV
Deployment has been seamless with insightful data categorization and enhanced control
The features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps that I have found most valuable include the overall portal view, with bubble graphs which give us insight into what goes where in the categorization, nowadays with Generative AI but all kinds of categorization, collaboration, etc. That central view of the portal is very useful for us. The impact of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps on our organization's ability to assess and manage app related risks has been significant because we have more visibility. Therefore, we can add more control, and we have already done so. This was not possible in the old solution, in the old CASB solution with Netskope. We now can see on the spot, and we do that almost weekly, what the end users are utilizing, which cloud providers or cloud apps they're using. The visibility into OAuth apps provided by Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is very good. The visibility into risk and risk management of our organization's Generative AI apps is very nice, as you can choose the category Generative AI and then see exactly what traffic has been going to and from Generative AI in the cloud. This makes us very insightful on what is used within the company. We have some policies on blocking specific Generative AI, and we use within our company one particular AI part, which is CoPilot of Microsoft. In this way, we can see what the end users are using other than CoPilot, and that makes us more in control. The effectiveness of the integration of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps with Defender XDR and defending against SaaS attacks is very intuitive. It works immediately if we create a new policy or in Purview or in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, or when we make an app unsanctioned by blocking it, then it is almost immediately, or at least within a couple of hours, effective on all the endpoints where the EDR is running. This gives us much better control over things than before.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

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 Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise19
 

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. Zs...
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...
What do you like most about Cisco Umbrella?
Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy.
What do you like most about Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection?
The solution's user interface is very smooth compared to other products.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection?
The main issue with Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is its higher price compared to other solutions.
What needs improvement with Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection?
The portal for technical knowledge for Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection needs improvement. It is not very rich and co...
What do you like most about Microsoft Cloud App Security?
It does a great job of monitoring and maintaining a security baseline. For us, that is a key element. The notificatio...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Cloud App Security?
At the time of implementation, when the size of our organization was small, it was a more affordable product. Since a...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Cloud App Security?
The fidelity of the signal in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps has been a challenge in some areas. There have been i...
 

Also Known As

OpenDNS
Infoblox Secure DNS
MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security
 

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
Colruyt Group, Council Rock School District, Danone, GlaxoSmithKline, The Hershey Company 
Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Infoblox, Palo Alto Networks and others in Domain Name System (DNS) Security. Updated: November 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.