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 tool is easy to manage and use."
"The setup is relatively straightforward."
"From a security perspective, Microsoft is much better than other cloud providers."
"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."
"The solution is easy to use and flexible."
"Azure DNS provides value beyond its user-friendly interface and easy learning curve."
"Azure DNS is a user-friendly and very easy-to-manage solution."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of installation."
"It analyzes the domain security helps us implement the securest policy."
"The core business of Cisco Umbrella is non-malware. That's all it does: block the malware on the gateway."
"The most valuable feature is that it secures our network against blacklisted or malicious websites."
"It's very stable, reliable and does its job."
"Umbrella has helped my IT staff in two ways. First, our security team was able to get more insights into the users, their devices, and the sites they browse. Second, our system administration team was able to manage DNS resolutions in a way that is more accessible and less intrusive to our domain system."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to detect if a URL has malware or is vulnerable."
"It makes it really easy to accomplish content filtering. We don't have to do a lot of customization. You just click the box for the content category and it's up to date."
"Stability-wise, it's good. I have never encountered any bugs."
"The security features and stability needs to be bettered."
"The process of creating a virtual mission could be improved."
"The web interface to manage the solution must be made easier."
"They should include more integration with other platforms."
"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."
"The CDN integration could be improved."
"The pricing can be more competitive."
"I would like to see more integration with other platforms, improved stability, enhanced security, and better pricing because there is always room for improvement."
"It's a very new product, so it's quite immature at the moment. It can be more user friendly."
"Their support should be improved. It is necessary that the support is efficient. It is not really easy to get a resolution for an issue from Cisco support. They should be faster and more efficient."
"Although Cisco Umbrella has an excellent global network footprint, there is still room for improvement and growth in this area. Additionally, there are bandwidth limitations associated with the connectors that need to be addressed. To be a viable solution for larger offices, Cisco Umbrella must continue to expand and improve its capabilities in these areas."
"The main issue that we have is with the final steps or the full integration and getting rid of Zscaler. The company still has to fall back to Zscaler when something in Umbrella is not working as expected, such as when we enable SSL inspection. When something is not working 100%, the company is falling back to Zscaler."
"It's easier for us to have support features with companies who are Cisco representatives, but sometimes, it's hard for us to get the help we need without having to use our contacts within Cisco."
"If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud."
"It could be improved by having a local data center and caching, which can provide protection support. I would like to be able to channel my intel and my network traffic to their clouds, and this feature is not available. Advanced protection or any malware file support, which might be required, is not available."
"Actually, we recently switched over to Zscaler because it has more features and it's more scalable than Cisco Umbrella."
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 Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway.
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.