Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiProxy comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Cisco is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.3, while Fortinet is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.8. Cisco holds a 17.3% mindshare in WSG, compared to Fortinet’s 5.5% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Cisco Umbrella

Read 121 Cisco Umbrella reviews

23,845 Views
10,492 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiProxy

Read 11 Fortinet FortiProxy reviews

2,596 Views
2,518 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Umbrella

Fortinet FortiProxy

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Cisco Umbrella and Fortinet FortiProxy are both powerful competitors in the web security solutions market. Cisco Umbrella holds an edge for organizations with hybrid or remote workforces due to its broad-spectrum protection and cloud efficiency.

Features: Cisco Umbrella offers advanced threat detection through DNS layer security and protection across all ports and protocols, enhancing threat protection. Its cloud-based management facilitates granular control for web content filtering and malware protection, advantageous for decentralized operations. Fortinet FortiProxy shines in providing granular access control with comprehensive policy settings focusing on content filtering, application control, and detailed reporting.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Umbrella users desire improved reporting, better integration with third-party tools, and enhanced user-level traffic monitoring. They also call for more flexible pricing and licensing structures. Fortinet FortiProxy users seek improved documentation, more accurate web categorization, and intuitive policy management tools. Enhancing the interface to support multiple languages and refining reporting features would benefit international users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Umbrella is mainly deployed in cloud environments, offering flexibility and rapid deployment. It is praised for excellent customer service and technical support, although some mention response time delays. Fortinet FortiProxy is often deployed on-premises, providing control for organizations with existing infrastructure. Its customer service is considered excellent, with noted fast response times, yet some suggest improvements in personal touch.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Umbrella's pricing is perceived as high, reflecting its comprehensive security suite. Customers cite cost-effectiveness when integrated with other Cisco solutions, acknowledging good ROI due to enhanced security and reduced operational issues. Fortinet FortiProxy offers a cost-effective alternative with competitive pricing. While considered moderate, it is praised for offering long-term value, balancing cost and feature set appealing to cost-conscious organizations seeking robust security without excessive expenditure.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Umbrella vs. Fortinet FortiProxy Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella vs. Fortinet FortiProxy

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 863,901 peers since 2012

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 Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

121

Ranking in other categories

Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)

Fortinet FortiProxy

Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 17.3%, down from 20.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiProxy is 5.5%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Emilio Montoya

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.

Read full review

Emmanuel Dasho

Cyber Security Engineer | Network/Security at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Ease of configuration and seamless integration enhance operational efficiency

The App Control feature in the Fortinet FortiProx * Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): FortiProxy analyzes traffic at the application layer to detect applications even if they use non-standard ports or are encrypted. * Application Signatures: Uses FortiGuard’s application signature database (constantly updated) to recognize thousands of applications. * Policy Enforcement: You can create policies to Allow, Block, Monitor, or Shape (QoS) based on application type, category, or specific apps.

Read full review

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."

"One of the great advantages of Umbrella DNS is that it's really simple to deploy. It's easy to install, the users do not notice that it's there, and it doesn't interfere with your work. The simplicity and transparency are great advantages of Cisco Umbrella."

"Cisco Umbrella offers DNS layer security, a secure web gateway, and cloud access security broker functionality."

"Cisco Umbrella is such a solution and can be implemented very fast and easy. All that we must do is redirect the DNS registers in their routers, or the active directory service of the enterprise that are going to use in Umbrella services. If you buy the service now, in two hours you are protected by the service because it's very fast to put in service."

"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."

"The features of Cisco Umbrella benefit my company by allowing us to do protective DNS instead of URL filtering, which lets us avoid having to backhaul traffic and run it through a firewall in a data center."

"It has improved our organization from a security posture perspective. We feel more confident now knowing that we can block phishing attempts or any type of malware that is DNS-related. This is a very nice feature that provides peace of mind."

"They have a wealth of articles in their knowledge base. This has given me the freedom to troubleshoot on my own time. "

More Cisco Umbrella pros

"It helps to secure the networks at the DNA level and ensure proper identification and filtering of DNS traffic."

"We can use Fortinet FortiProxy configuration for your network."

"It is a really stable solution."

"The tool's most valuable feature is traffic inspections."

"It seamlessly integrates with various security products, enhancing threat intelligence and improving indicators of compromise."

"The most valuable feature is intrusion prevention (IPS) and antivirus profiles. These features help control user activity, ensuring that they access only permitted websites and protects from downloading viruses."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiProxy are its simplicity and performance."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its granular access control. For example, users can browse the main site if you allow access to Amazon, but it stops them from visiting secondary Amazon websites without specific permission. This granular control is really helpful."

More Fortinet FortiProxy pros

Cons

"I think it's a very basic solution, and because of that, Cisco Umbrella would not be a suitable solution for large companies."

"Looking at the full umbrella suite in the light of SASE, Secure Access Service Edge, they are clearly lacking in the inline CASB."

"I would like to see integration with SecurNX in the future."

"If I want to see which users access a website, I need an Active Directory registered on Umbrella's cloud."

"There is room for improvement in the dashboard. It could stand to be a bit more detailed. I would also like to be able to customize the dashboard to focus more on what is important for my company."

"I would like them to make some videos, practical videos, the kind with steps that people can use to learn and deploy"

"Cisco Umbrella is difficult to manage and needs to include a dashboard. It needs to improve pricing as well."

"I would like for them to continue building on IPS and IDS functionalities."

More Cisco Umbrella cons

"Its power supply process for some of the proxies needs improvement."

"Integration with existing infrastructure was generally easy, especially if you had tools like LDAP. However, I had to go through a lot of documentation as it was my first time working with a proxy server. We did experience some issues with certain web applications not working properly after implementing Fortinet FortiProxy."

"Fortinet FortiProxy should improve by adding more documentation and guides."

"Fortinet FortiProxy should integrate AI/ML technologies. Its pricing needs to be more flexible."

"For IT administrators and managers, the reporting features are the main issues that should be addressed in order to improve the performance, security, and effective utilization of the product."

"I see that the solution's interface is not in French...It would be good for our company if we could have the tool interface in French."

"Its web filtering capabilities could be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing and pricing structure of Cisco Umbrella is in line with standard systems on the market, and we have no specific requirements in this area. Overall, we have found it to be an acceptable pricing model for our organization."

"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."

"Pricing depends on the automation requirements of the organization."

"The price of Cisco Umbrella is a little higher than similar solutions, like Gateway."

"It has a reasonable price. It is certainly not as expensive as it used to be. It is in line with other offerings on the market. There are a number of different flavors of Umbrella. They could bring Umbrella SIG down a bit because its price is a little bit high for what it does, but I also understand why its price is high."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"The price depends on the use case, and it's a bit linear. But it depends on the customer's strategy and how Cisco plans to optimize the costs."

"I think it's worth the money."

More Cisco Umbrella pricing and cost advice

"It is a cost-effective solution."

"The tool's pricing is in the middle."

"The solution is neither too expensive nor very cheap."

"Price-wise, Fortinet FortiProxy is moderate - not the highest among competitors, but not cheap either."

"It offers a more cost-effective solution than alternatives like FortiMail, FortiGate, and various Barracuda devices."

"It can be considered expensive, with a limited lifespan and support that eventually requires updating to newer solutions."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

863,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Umbrella?

Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy.

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiProxy?

The tool's most valuable feature is traffic inspections.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiProxy?

For me it may be the wildcards for urls whitelist or blacklist, somehow the page loads. Aside from that there no other..

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Fortinet FortiProxy?

My advice to others who are considering Fortinet FortiProxy is that it is seamless, easy to use, and quite straightforward. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution an 9.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 16% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Secure Access vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 7% of the time

Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Cisco Umbrella

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Umbrella Competitors

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 47% of the time

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 9% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 7% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Web Security Appliance vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiProxy Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella

July 2025

Download Cisco Umbrella product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiProxy

July 2025

Download Fortinet FortiProxy product report

Also Known As

OpenDNS

FortiProxy

Overview

Cisco Umbrella delivers rapid DNS security with over 30,000 customers, providing outstanding threat protection and handling more than 600 billion requests daily. It's recognized for high threat efficacy in the SSE domain and integrates elements like SWG, ZTNA, CASB, and more.

Cisco Umbrella is renowned for its effective DNS-layer security against ransomware and phishing. It offers flexible content filtering and integrates seamlessly with existing networks while providing single-pane-of-glass management for centralized monitoring. Its robust threat intelligence and customizable policies are central to its appeal. Users highlight room for improvement in areas like WHOIS data inclusion, malware enhancement, and reporting analytics. Integration with other threat feeds and better client support are requested for more comprehensive coverage.

What are the key features of Cisco Umbrella?

DNS-Layer Security: Blocks malicious domains, preventing ransomware attacks.
Web Content Filtering: Allows users to manage lists for strict content control.
Seamless Integration: Blends with systems like Active Directory and Meraki.
Remote Protection: Keeps remote users safe across different locations.
Single-Pane Management: Facilitates effective monitoring and reporting.

What should users expect in reviews about Cisco Umbrella?

Threat Intelligence: Provides comprehensive malware and attack data.
Customizable Policies: Enables tailored security measures for users.
Integration Options: Works with diverse systems for holistic security.
Ease of Use: Offers a straightforward experience for administrators.
Remote Worker Security: Ensures protection outside traditional networks.

Industries implement Cisco Umbrella primarily for DNS-level security, web filtering, and protecting remote employees. It strengthens cybersecurity frameworks by blocking malware and avoiding access to harmful sites. The tool is widely integrated with Active Directory and Cisco Meraki, providing consistent internet security for employees.

Cisco

Fortinet FortiProxy is a secure web gateway that provides advanced web filtering, malware protection, and SSL inspection capabilities. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats and prevent data loss by enforcing granular policies for web access. FortiProxy is available as a physical or virtual appliance and can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. FortiProxy uses a combination of signature-based and behavior-based detection techniques to identify and block known and unknown threats. It also includes advanced features such as sandboxing and machine learning to detect and prevent zero-day attacks. FortiProxy can inspect SSL traffic to detect and block threats hidden in encrypted traffic. FortiProxy provides granular control over web access by allowing administrators to create policies based on user identity, device type, time of day, and other factors. It also includes pre-defined categories for web filtering, such as social media, gambling, and adult content. FortiProxy can also enforce compliance with regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA. FortiProxy integrates with Fortinet's Security Fabric, allowing it to share threat intelligence with other Fortinet products and provide a coordinated response to threats. It also includes a web-based management console that provides real-time visibility into web traffic and allows administrators to quickly respond to security incidents.

Fortinet FortiProxy is a comprehensive web security solution that provides advanced protection against web-based threats and allows organizations to enforce granular policies for web access.

Fortinet

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Umbrella vs. Fortinet FortiProxy

July 2025

Free Report: Cisco Umbrella vs. Fortinet FortiProxy

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Fortinet FortiProxy and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

863,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco Umbrella vs. Fortinet FortiProxy report.

See our list of best Secure Web Gateways (SWG) vendors.

We monitor all Secure Web Gateways (SWG) 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.