Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Amazon Route 53 vs Azure DNS vs Cisco Umbrella 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
6.1
Amazon Route 53 delivers positive ROI with significant cost savings and robust security, despite higher costs and variable ROI reports.
Sentiment score
7.8
Azure DNS offers an 8% ROI with cost efficiency, reduced OpEx, pay-as-you-go pricing, and reliable functionality.
Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Umbrella enhances security and productivity, reduces costs, and simplifies network management, offering significant ROI and client satisfaction.
The main factors are time-saving and security, even if the cost is slightly higher.
The ROI is always high because Azure DNS setup is essential and does not incur high charges.
Cisco is a big brand in the networking domain, but in security, they are pushing a lot and improving day by day.
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.
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.1
Amazon Route 53 support is highly rated, with better responses at higher tiers, though basic plans may lack sufficient help.
Sentiment score
7.8
Azure DNS support is generally positive, with varying response times and quality based on the support plan and region.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Umbrella provides knowledgeable support, but users desire faster response times despite high satisfaction and effective resources.
Amazon services are very stable, and there are few problems.
Amazon's customer support is very good with a quick response time.
They provide a normal developer level of support, and within twenty-four hours for non-critical issues, which is acceptable for us.
Technical support is minimally required for DNS-related tasks if you have previous experience.
I would rate customer support ten out of ten due to the excellent assistance throughout the POC process.
Cisco's support is fantastic, providing assistance when needed, especially during the initial installation process.
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.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Amazon Route 53 is praised for scalability and AWS integration, suitable for varying applications despite some cost concerns.
Sentiment score
8.4
Azure DNS is praised for its scalability, ease of setup, and reliability, making it ideal for diverse business needs.
Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Umbrella offers scalable, cloud-based cybersecurity, easily handling thousands of users and sites while adapting to organizational needs.
We haven't faced any scalability issues, thanks to its integration with AWS services.
The scalability is maintained by AKS, and Route 53's scalability part is primarily involved with load balancing.
Amazon Route 53 is scalable as I use automation with YML files to handle scalability needs, and it works well.
Cisco Umbrella scales incredibly with the growing needs of my organization.
Cisco Umbrella scales really well with the growing needs of my company, bringing the ability to ensure that people are safe and connected.
Cisco Umbrella scales effectively with the growing needs of my company; it's excellent, and I have experienced no issues.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Amazon Route 53 is stable and reliable with minimal downtime, though monitoring is important for optimal performance.
Sentiment score
8.2
Azure DNS is praised for its stability and robust performance, with minor installation challenges noted by fewer users.
Sentiment score
8.3
Cisco Umbrella is praised for its stability, high uptime, minimal glitches, and seamless performance across platforms with high user satisfaction.
We use auto-scaling groups to manage load.
The solution is stable.
I have not experienced any outages or downtime.
I have not experienced any major stability issues with Cisco Umbrella.
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.
The stability and reliability of the Cisco Umbrella platform have been great.
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon Route 53 needs better request handling, user interface, security, pricing clarity, automation, setup, and domain support enhancements.
Azure DNS needs improvements in registration, support, security, scalability, pricing clarity, documentation, integration, performance, and multi-cloud functionality.
Users seek improved integrations, security features, customization, licensing flexibility, interface ease, support, pricing, and deployment for Cisco Umbrella.
There could be improvements in the configuration process, particularly in the options provided during setup, such as subdomain configurations and certificate management.
They need to ensure that the threats reported on are actual threats.
There is room for improvement in restricting access through one website from S3 buckets.
Making it more flexible and easy to deploy, particularly when integrating with other technologies like Active Directory and proxies, would be beneficial.
The product can only shield a small area, making it less effective for larger spaces or multiple users.
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.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon Route 53 offers scalable, volume-based pricing that some find cost-effective, with a calculator aiding cost estimation.
Azure DNS offers cost-effective, usage-based pricing with seamless Azure integration, including free query allowances and charges for extra usage.
Cisco Umbrella pricing is flexible yet debated, with negotiable discounts and enterprise bundles but mixed views on cost transparency.
Route 53 is more expensive.
The pricing of Route 53 is slightly higher compared to other services, however, it is justified by its high availability and reliability.
Azure DNS charges based on the number of zones enabled, offering some free queries monthly, which keeps costs low.
We've bundled that with our firewall stuff and our VPN, which brings the price down and adds the ability to grow.
The only cost associated is the license cost unless additional solutions need to be integrated with Umbrella, which would incur extra costs.
The prices need to be lower as the current pricing is exceedingly high.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Route 53 offers scalability, DNS routing, health checks, and integrates with Amazon services for reliable, user-friendly domain management.
Azure DNS provides easy installation, security, integration, robust performance, and flexible domain management with a user-friendly interface.
Cisco Umbrella offers robust DNS security, easy deployment, and integration, enhancing protection and visibility for hybrid work environments.
I find Amazon Route 53 valuable for its ability to manage DNS records and efficiently route traffic with features like failover routing and geolocation routing.
They do not alert on non-actionable items, making their alerts reliable and focused on concerns that matter.
Amazon Route 53 is beneficial for managing traffic and domain names, offering features like latency-based routing and multi-deployment options.
Azure DNS provides end-to-end P2P connectivity and enhances security, making it more secure and reliable.
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.
The most valuable feature of Cisco Umbrella is its DNS security.
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.
 

Mindshare comparison

Managed DNS
Managed DNS
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

ArunDhwaj - PeerSpot reviewer
Managed security and horizontal scaling enhance application performance
We are using Route 53 for application security. We are also using it for computing, EC2, and setting up our server plus a complete infrastructure Route 53 helps us manage security without manually handling it. We can maintain availability and horizontal scaling effectively. One of the best…
Tushar-Patil - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance and helps its users with disaster recovery
Azure DNS has improved our company's domain management and resolution reliability since it provides most of the solutions, especially whatever is required in our organization. My experience of integrating Azure DNS into our company's existing cloud services was easy. For the security and privacy aspect, my company mostly relies on Microsoft. I don't have the expertise to comment on whether Azure DNS has influenced our company's operations from a security and privacy perspective. Azure DNS is a really good product when it comes to scalability and performance for our company's workload. Azure DNS has helped my company with the disaster recovery phase. The product uses cloud features, and since my company has separate regions, we have a backup tool or a backup deduplication technology. The implementation of Azure DNS in our environment benefits the entire organization, but four to five people have access to the solution. I rate the overall product a nine to ten out of ten.
Emilio Montoya - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Managed DNS solutions are best for your needs.
859,545 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Educational Organization
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Educational Organization
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Azure DNS or Amazon Route 53?
Azure DNS is a hosting service of DNS domains. It has excellent operating time and performance, resulting in fast res...
What do you like most about Amazon Route 53?
The most valuable features of the solution are the DNS, routing, and traffic features.
What needs improvement with Amazon Route 53?
Amazon Route 53 should focus on timeliness and work towards better accuracy. They need to ensure that the threats rep...
What do you like most about Azure DNS?
The tool is easy to manage and use.
What needs improvement with Azure DNS?
I did not see any improvements required. It functions as a standard DNS, which is very important, and it does not nee...
What is your primary use case for Azure DNS?
In network-related tasks, I use this DNS to ensure proper end-to-end connectivity.
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.
 

Also Known As

Route 53
No data available
OpenDNS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hess, Expedia, Kelloggs, Philips, HyperTrack
M-Files
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services (AWS), BlueCat and others in Managed DNS. Updated: June 2025.
859,545 professionals have used our research since 2012.