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Cisco Umbrella vs IBM NS1 Connect comparison

The compared Cisco and IBM solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #1 in DS , with an average rating of 9.3, and holds a 21.3% mindshare in the category. IBM is ranked #12 in MDP , and holds a 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.
Cisco Umbrella
Read 121 Cisco Umbrella reviews
  • 23,845 Views
  • 4,769 Comparison Views
97% willing to recommend
IBM NS1 Connect
Read 11 IBM NS1 Connect reviews
  • 1,811 Views
  • 1,739 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 30, 2024

Cisco Umbrella and IBM NS1 Connect compete in the cloud-based security solutions category. Cisco Umbrella has the upper hand in pricing and customer support, while IBM NS1 Connect excels in features and overall value based on user reviews.

Features: Users appreciate the robust threat intelligence, DNS-layer security, and ease of integration of Cisco Umbrella. IBM NS1 Connect is favored for its advanced traffic management, superior customization options, and scalable architecture.

Room for Improvement: User reviews suggest enhancing reporting functionalities, improving UI/UX, and reducing false positives for Cisco Umbrella. For IBM NS1 Connect, users recommend improving integration capabilities, simplifying the setup process, and refining the support documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Umbrella is praised for its straightforward deployment and reliable customer service. IBM NS1 Connect, while powerful, has a steeper learning curve and less responsive support.

Pricing and ROI: Users find Cisco Umbrella more cost-effective, appreciating its quick ROI. IBM NS1 Connect, despite higher upfront costs, is considered worth the investment due to its rich feature set.

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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
7.4
Cisco Umbrella enhances security and productivity, reduces costs, and simplifies network management, offering significant ROI and client satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.0
IBM NS1 Connect improved performance, reduced costs, and enhanced efficiency through automation, benefiting application uptime and customer experiences.
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.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Umbrella report
No quotes available
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RB
OM
BB
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Umbrella provides knowledgeable support, but users desire faster response times despite high satisfaction and effective resources.
Sentiment score
9.1
IBM NS1 Connect offers exceptional customer support with expert guidance, responsiveness, and reliability, consistently exceeding customer expectations in DNS services.
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.
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No quotes available
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Majid Ali - PeerSpot reviewerSabbir Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
OM
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Umbrella offers scalable, cloud-based cybersecurity, easily handling thousands of users and sites while adapting to organizational needs.
Sentiment score
8.3
IBM NS1 Connect efficiently scales to meet traffic demands with automation, low error rates, and global operational reliability.
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.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Umbrella report
No quotes available
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NicholasCarroll - PeerSpot reviewer
BB
AC
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Cisco Umbrella is praised for its stability, high uptime, minimal glitches, and seamless performance across platforms with high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.2
IBM NS1 Connect offers high stability and reliability, with minimal downtime and excellent performance even during high-demand situations.
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.
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No quotes available
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Sabbir Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
RB
BB
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek improved integrations, security features, customization, licensing flexibility, interface ease, support, pricing, and deployment for Cisco Umbrella.
IBM NS1 Connect can improve by enhancing API, bulk changes, traffic management, DNS configurations, testing, and dashboard usability.
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.
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No quotes available
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Majid Ali - PeerSpot reviewerSabbir Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
SA
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Umbrella pricing is flexible yet debated, with negotiable discounts and enterprise bundles but mixed views on cost transparency.
IBM NS1 Connect provides competitive, value-driven pricing, satisfying enterprises with fair costs for high request volumes and advanced features.
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.
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No quotes available
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BB
Sabbir Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer1727910 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Umbrella offers robust DNS security, easy deployment, and integration, enhancing protection and visibility for hybrid work environments.
IBM NS1 Connect offers geo-load balancing, automation, and real-time telemetry with integration capabilities, enhancing performance and user experience.
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.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Umbrella report
No quotes available
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Majid Ali - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer1727910 - PeerSpot reviewer
RB
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Umbrella
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
121
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)
IBM NS1 Connect
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Managed DNS (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Umbrella and IBM NS1 Connect aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Umbrella is designed for Domain Name System (DNS) Security and holds a mindshare of 21.3%, down 27.2% compared to last year.
IBM NS1 Connect, on the other hand, focuses on Managed DNS, holds 1.2% mindshare, down 1.4% since last year.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
Managed DNS
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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Adam Surak - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles customer-facing records and upstream selection logic with good efficiency
We leverage two things from Managed DNS that we couldn't do with any other solution. One is their filter chain technology, which allows us to shift some of the intelligence we need for the traffic steering to the DNS. The second one is data sources, which enables us to manipulate multiple records simultaneously using NS1's internal message DOS. In our case, we are trying to direct the traffic in over 150,000 different NS1 records to an arbitrary set of repeating responses. If we have about 1,000 endpoints, that translates to around 150,000 records. Assuming there's an even distribution, so every time a server fails or an endpoint goes on a level, we would have 150 updates. With NS1, we have one, so this had an even more significant effect. There are situations where we have thousands of specific records sharing the same responses. In that case, there is one update instead of thousands and thousands. When we chose Managed DNS in 2014, it was the only solution that could do what we wanted, but I'm not sure about the current state of the market. The NS1 API is an API on top of a managed DNS. It's not an afterthought. It's not like the solution existed. Someone was sending updates by email. Then a product manager came along and said, "Hey, there is this cool thing. It's called an API. Maybe we should do it?" And they are like, "Okay. Let's do it." In the case of NS1, they thought about how to use an API to manipulate and retrieve the stuff. It's supposed to be API-driven. Also, NS1 doesn't have hidden features that would not be available over the API. Even their dashboard is built on top of the API. You can leverage all the functionality programmatically. That's what we do. We don't use their native integrations because we have been customers before these integrations and real-time telemetry existed. Our solution isn't leveraging either of those. Instead, we leveraged their API integration, which was the first thing that existed. Indeed, the API is at the core of how we use Managed DNS. No one goes to the dashboard or manually clicks anything. Everything goes via the API, and we perform hundreds of changes every minute. The API automatically drives everything, so that's the integration we leverage. We don't use the Pulsar Active Steering feature because we don't have a website. Our solution is being used as an API for other solutions. You can put the Pulsar agent on the website and feed NS1 the information. In our case, we are integrating into third-party sites. We cannot put our JavaScript on their websites for NS1 to provide the data, so we don't.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Umbrella Logo
Zscaler Internet Access vs Cisco Umbrella
Compared 16% of the time
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Umbrella Logo
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cisco Umbrella
Compared 9% of the time
Cisco Secure Access vs Cisco Umbrella Logo
Cisco Secure Access vs Cisco Umbrella
Compared 7% of the time
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection vs Cisco Umbrella Logo
Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection vs Cisco Umbrella
Compared 7% of the time
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Cisco Umbrella Logo
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Cisco Umbrella
Compared 5% of the time
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Cloudflare vs IBM NS1 Connect Logo
Cloudflare vs IBM NS1 Connect
Compared 35% of the time
Akamai Edge DNS vs IBM NS1 Connect Logo
Akamai Edge DNS vs IBM NS1 Connect
Compared 23% of the time
Amazon Route 53 vs IBM NS1 Connect Logo
Amazon Route 53 vs IBM NS1 Connect
Compared 22% of the time
Infoblox DDI vs IBM NS1 Connect Logo
Infoblox DDI vs IBM NS1 Connect
Compared 6% of the time
Hurricane Electric Free DNS vs IBM NS1 Connect Logo
Hurricane Electric Free DNS vs IBM NS1 Connect
Compared 5% of the time
More IBM NS1 Connect Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Umbrella
July 2025
Cisco Umbrella reportDownload Cisco Umbrella product report
Buyer's Guide
IBM NS1 Connect
July 2025
IBM NS1 Connect reportDownload IBM NS1 Connect product report
 

Also Known As

OpenDNS
NS1 Managed DNS, NS1
 

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


Why

In a 24/7 world, customers demand applications, websites, and content that load instantly and are always on. When those connections are unreliable or slow, businesses don’t meet customer expectations, causing customers to leave. When that occurs, revenue may suffer.

What

IBM NS1 Connect delivers the high-performance, reliable, secure network connectivity that businesses need to meet increasingly sophisticated customer expectations. Leveraging a global network with a 100% uptime SLA, IBM has the capacity and scale to meet the needs of any business. IBM NS1 Connect takes performance to the next level, powering the sophisticated needs of enterprises with complex network infrastructures.

How

IBM NS1 Connect provides network connectivity solutions that give networking teams the visibility, control and automation needed to help ensure your business stays online by steering traffic to the ideal network connections for any given moment. IBM NS1 Connect also enables IT teams to identify network performance anomalies through deep insights into DNS data flows, allowing them to identify configuration problems or network issues that affect performance so they can quickly resolve them.

Details

IBM NS1 Connect is a managed service that provides authoritative, premium DNS and advanced, customizable traffic steering that improves application performance and network resilience. Revenue-generating applications require authoritative DNS resolution to keep critical applications and websites online. Unless your DNS infrastructure is always-on and resilient, network reliability and user experience will suffer, your network reliability may suffer, resulting in poor user experiences if revenue-generating critical applications and websites are not online. IBM NS1 Connect’s always-on, API-first architecture provides fast, secure connections to users anywhere in the world with premium DNS and advanced, customizable traffic steering. It also enables your IT teams to efficiently monitor networks, deploy changes and conduct routine maintenance.

IBM NS1 Connect uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that websites and applications are:

  • Online, all the time: Global network with 100% uptime SLA and DDoS protection
  • Fast: Top tier response and propagation times, custom traffic steering to optimize connections
  • Cheaper to run: Far less expensive than self-hosting
  • Automation friendly: API-first platform with Ansible/Terraform integrations and support for Pliant rapid network automation
  • Easier to troubleshoot: Unique DNS data insights offering

Designed for enterprises looking to optimize their DNS performance, IBM NS1 Connect is a managed service delivering authoritative DNS and advanced traffic steering that improves application performance and network resilience and provides fast, secure connections to users anywhere in the world. NS1 Connect streamlines DNS management by automating both simple and complex DNS configuration tasks via API and preconfigured integrations, so you can spend more time on higher-value work.

IBM NS1 Connect is delivered through our unified delivery platform. The cloud-based platform gives networking teams the visibility, control and automation needed to help ensure your business stays online by steering traffic to the ideal network connections for any given moment. IBM NS1 Connect solutions also enable IT teams to identify network performance anomalies through deep insights into DNS data flows, allowing them to identify configuration problems or network issues that affect performance so they can quickly resolve them.

For enterprises looking to further optimize DNS performance, IBM NS1 Connect offers rich DNS data analytics to streamline the identification of the root cause of anomalies within traffic.

IBM NS1 Connect Features

  • Global anycast DNS network: Enjoy fast connections to consumers around the globe through an anycast network with 26 points of presence (PoPs).
  • 100% uptime SLA on DNS resolution: Maximize uptime and revenue generation with resilient, always-on, authoritative DNS.
  • API-first architecture: Integrate and automate workflows with NS1 Connect's well-documented API; every line of code starts as an API call, all functionality is available through the API.
  • Real-time user monitoring (RUM)-based traffic steering: Uses real-time intelligence on network performance and availability to direct DNS connections to the best available application resource; the widest range of filter options and data sources in the industry, not data that is extrapolated from sampling; the most flexible, granular controls for your network.
  • Built-in resilience: Add a single-tenant, redundant DNS layer and manage it from a single control plane as your primary DNS.
  • Managed DNS for China: Improve performance for the Chinese mainland by segmenting traffic with NS1 Connect’s Managed DNS for China.
  • DNS insights: Get a better understanding of DNS traffic patterns by mining your DNS data to identify security issues, misconfigurations and performance issues.
  • DDoS protection: Cap your query-based spending with protection against unexpected surges in traffic from distributed denial-of-service attacks.
  • Uptime monitor: Quickly identify issues and automatically adjust DNS traffic steering configurations with native health check alerts.
  • DevOps tool integrations: Preconfigured integrations with leading DevOps tools including Ansible and Terraform to help automate routine maintenance, manage data sources and feeds.
  • Propagation speed: fastest propagation in the industry, measured in seconds not minutes; worldwide propagation in under five seconds.
  • Independence: neutral arbiter between infrastructure services (CDNs, clouds).

IBM NS1 Connect helps enterprises modernize and optimize networking infrastructure to provide customers with faster connections to websites, applications, services and content.

IBM
 

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
Avast Software, Bloomberg L.P., BBC, Carfax, CNBC LLC, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Disney Streaming, Dropbox, EBAY Inc, Gannett Media Corp, Salesforce, Wayfair, Workday
Buyer's Guide
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
July 2025
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We monitor all Domain Name System (DNS) Security 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.