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Cisco Umbrella vs Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Internet Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
122
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Cloud Security Connector fo...
Ranking in Internet Security
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Internet Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 31.3%, down from 36.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is 0.5%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Internet Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Umbrella31.3%
Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler0.5%
Other68.2%
Internet Security
 

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.
Jaspreet k - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Development at Flash.co
Addressed complex learning curve yet has improved automated routing and cloud security visibility
Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler offers multiple features, but the major feature I love specifically is automated Zscaler node detection, which helps detect any kind of problem first. Additionally, it is available all the time, providing high availability routing for seamless failover, which is one of my favorite features. It also provides Layer 4 routed bypass for TCP, UDP, and ICMP traffic, enabling granular traffic control that streamlines our services working with Zscaler. It has provided complete visibility of internal IPs on the Zscaler console, allowing us to monitor and troubleshoot whenever there is a problem, making things transparent and easy for us to monitor. The integration with SIEM or syslog enhances centralized log management for our organization.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I haven't needed to reboot the servers for years due to their excellent stability."
"Using this solution has meant that we've needed to make fewer firewall changes."
"Cisco's support is fantastic, providing assistance when needed, especially during the initial installation process."
"The security and access control features."
"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."
"I haven't found any issues related to latency or any other issue."
"It has helped reduce my unit's security events."
"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."
"It is very useful ............visibility on the end-user,"
"The solution is secure."
"Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler has positively impacted our organization by helping us in our cloud environment to connect our resources to Zscaler, ensuring that security policies are consistent with zero-trust access and increasing reliability by 28%."
 

Cons

"In the next release, I would like to see the integration of VDI NSX with Cisco Umbrella."
"Cisco Umbrella should introduce an on-premises device."
"I would like to have more applications being recorded."
"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."
"Cisco Umbrella could be improved by making the policies more granular, as in some cases, it's difficult to find the correct link to open a specific site securely."
"In my experience with Umbrella support, sometimes the response times take a bit more time than we would like... sometimes, if you go through email, it can take quite a while to get a response."
"It would be better if there was a little bit of flexibility for organizations that don't have SD One in their environment. Because of the complexity of the environment, it's not easy to actually turn on the feature of the secure internet gateway for our users. We have not been able to explore that option yet."
"The solution's technical support is not very good."
"If there are any issues at the network level, such as users working from home, then it is very hard to catch up with them and resolve issues on the end-user machine."
"The connectivity could be faster."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing was marvelous."
"In my opinion, Cisco Umbrella now has a good price in the basic packages. When it comes to Cisco Umbrella SIG Essentials package and Cisco Umbrella Secure Internet Gateway (SIG) Advantage package, it depends on whether the project has a good price or not"
"Our licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"​The pricing is fair."
"Cisco Umbrella is expensive and could be cheaper."
"I am not sure, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think it's $1.00 or so per device/month."
"The licensing fee is paid on a yearly basis."
"The price could be lower."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Insurance Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business49
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise51
No data available
 

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. Zscaler Internet Access is a good option for carrying out multiple security functi...
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-native solution, unifying multiple features like DNS-layer security, threat intelli...
What do you like most about Cisco Umbrella?
Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler is definitely competitive. They provide us a good cost, and since we obtained it through AWS Marketpl...
What needs improvement with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler?
I feel that they are doing great with Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler. If I need to suggest an improvement, it would be to simplify the steep learning curve, as it can be complex for newcomers...
 

Also Known As

OpenDNS
No data available
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Cloud Security Connector for Zscaler and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.