

Cisco Umbrella and FortiSASE are prominent players in the security category, specifically focusing on DNS security and SASE solutions, respectively. Cisco Umbrella stands out for its DNS filtering prowess, while FortiSASE has an upper hand in delivering more comprehensive security features within the SASE framework.
Features: Cisco Umbrella is recognized for DNS security, protecting against malware and phishing, enhancing compliance, and offering ease of use. It integrates seamlessly with existing environments, providing management via a single pane of glass. FortiSASE, in contrast, excels in a holistic security approach with SASE capabilities, incorporating cloud-based services such as SD-WAN and effective integration with Fortinet’s extensive ecosystem, including features like DLP and FortiDeceptor.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Umbrella users suggest expanding reporting capabilities, adding security features like IPS and DLP, and improving infrastructure integration. FortiSASE faces challenges with security robustness and third-party integrations. Enhancements in management features and mobile device support are needed as Fortinet continues to expand its functionality.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Umbrella is noted for its straightforward deployment across public and hybrid cloud environments, backed by generally responsive support. It integrates easily with existing systems, although some lag in response times is noted. FortiSASE focuses on hybrid cloud deployments with accessible and personalized technical support, praised for the involvement of Fortinet’s sales engineers.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Umbrella is perceived as fairly priced, offering ROI through threat reduction and network efficiency benefits, though smaller businesses may find costs high. FortiSASE's competitive pricing, especially beneficial for existing Fortinet users, offers cost-effective solutions and favorable pricing for the education sector. Cisco Umbrella's pricing is regarded as slightly higher compared to FortiSASE’s overall cost-effectiveness.
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.
With FortiCASB, we manage to save around 50% on our budget compared to other products.
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.
If there is a solution in the market, the people supporting it should be technical enough to resolve issues at their first level or second level, or at least at the third level.
At a high level, they deliver the intended information, but I still need their representatives, particularly sales engineers, to provide detailed explanations, as the documentation may not cover every area that all audiences might be looking for.
The technical support from Fortinet is highly commendable
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.
FortiSASE is a very scalable solution because it licenses every user individually.
If the customer is within the Fortinet ecosystem, they are generally good for scalability.
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.
They maintain high availability using numerous data centers globally.
FortiSASE is not stable yet and is in the learning stage.
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.
FortiSASE implementation is too complex where other products take two to three months or maximum four months to implement, FortiSASE took more than double that time.
If third-party vendors could be integrated and supported, enabling two-way communication, it would greatly enhance the solution compared to competitors such as Netskope and Zscaler.
While connectivity from outside to inside is okay, inside to outside is not.
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.
FortiSASE is an expensive product and the cost is indeed high.
The pricing for FortiCASB is competitive and not expensive.
When combining everything for a full SASE solution, I notice the pricing becomes quite high.
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.
The important aspects are twofold. One is authorization, and the second is access control.
FortiCASB is user-friendly and integrates well with other Forti-products, providing enhanced management capabilities.
In FortiSASE, these features are bundled, and since they are tightly integrated with the firewall, SD-WAN works without additional payment.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Cisco Umbrella | 21.6% |
| Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection | 12.4% |
| Palo Alto Networks DNS Security | 7.5% |
| Other | 58.5% |
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| FortiSASE | 7.4% |
| Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks | 13.5% |
| Netskope | 10.9% |
| Other | 68.2% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 49 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 30 |
| Large Enterprise | 51 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 11 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 |
| Large Enterprise | 5 |
Cisco Umbrella provides fast-deploying DNS-layer security with powerful threat protection capabilities. Trusted by over 30,000 entities, it ranks highly in DNS security and effectively supports secure remote work environments.
Cisco Umbrella offers comprehensive DNS security, web filtering, and ease of use, enhancing network security through robust threat protection and malware prevention. It processes over 600 billion requests daily, making it a leader in its field. The seamless integration with existing infrastructures and cloud-based nature makes it suitable for remote and distributed work environments, ensuring consistent security throughout. Management is streamlined with a single-pane interface that simplifies administration, while in-depth reporting capabilities provide valuable insights for continuous monitoring.
What are the key features of Cisco Umbrella?Cisco Umbrella is widely adopted in industries requiring advanced DNS-level security to counteract malware, phishing, and cyber threats. Its ability to monitor and protect remote and roaming employees makes it an attractive option for sectors highly dependent on cloud services. By managing DNS queries and blocking harmful sites, Cisco Umbrella enhances cybersecurity across networks, providing an added layer of protection for businesses worldwide.
FortiSASE is a comprehensive security solution that combines SD-WAN, security, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities in a single platform. It provides secure access to applications and data from any device, anywhere, and at any time. FortiSASE offers advanced threat protection, real-time visibility, and control over network traffic, ensuring that organizations can securely connect their users and devices to the cloud and on-premises resources. With FortiSASE, organizations can simplify their security infrastructure, reduce costs, and improve their overall security posture.
FortiSASE combines the following key elements:
FortiSASE aims to simplify and streamline security operations by integrating multiple security functions and network services into a single platform. This approach allows organizations to reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and enhance overall security posture.
Reviews from Real Users
Peter VanDorp, Cyber Security Analyst and Network Operations Supervisor at a non-tech company, says that "Deep packet inspection is easier to deploy in the FortiSASE environment. It's much simpler to configure one-touch deployment. It was considerably more convoluted to get that to work using FortiClient. All that processing horsepower is happening in Fortinet's cloud infrastructure, reducing the load on our local routers and on-prem FortiGate firewalls."
Jose-Rivera, Account Manager at Telefónica, that FortiSASE is "Reliable with good security and helps with network optimization".
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