No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Umbrella vs Idira Secure Cloud Access comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 2, 2026

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
7.0
Cisco Umbrella delivers high ROI by saving time, enhancing security, and integrating smoothly, leading to increased productivity and satisfaction.
Sentiment score
4.0
Idira Secure Cloud Access delivered 70% ROI by 2024, reducing costs, workforce needs, and minimizing cyber threats effectively.
Cisco is a big brand in the networking domain, but in security, they are pushing a lot and improving day by day.
Chief Technology Officer at Binary Global Limited
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.
Network Engineer at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
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.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
We have reduced approximately 70 to 75 percent of our time when accessing resources through CyberArk Secure Cloud Access.
IT platform engin8 at Infosys
Additionally, we have money saved in the long run on infrastructure costs.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I have seen a return on investment; from a security point of view, it helps us in terms of time as well as manpower.
Solution Architect at Dhanyaayai enterprise private limited
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco Umbrella support is praised for quick resolutions, professional service, and effective technical guidance despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
7.2
Idira Secure Cloud Access is praised for responsive support, despite some delays, with generally positive evaluations from customers.
I would rate customer support ten out of ten due to the excellent assistance throughout the POC process.
Manager Cyber Security Department at Mana
Cisco's support is fantastic, providing assistance when needed, especially during the initial installation process.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
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.
Network Engineer at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
They adhere to SLAs, and most issues are resolved effectively.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
As long as you have a license from them, the support is available during deployment.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
They are helpful and provide enterprise-level support with knowledgeable engineers and ample documentation, especially during setup and critical issue handling.
CTO at Fraoula
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Umbrella efficiently supports scalability for businesses of all sizes with seamless adaptation and minimal resource demand.
Sentiment score
7.0
CyberArk Secure Cloud Access offers high scalability, enhancing access control and reducing manual tasks with cloud-native design and API support.
Cisco Umbrella scales incredibly with the growing needs of my organization.
Network Engineer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Cisco Umbrella scales really well with the growing needs of my company, bringing the ability to ensure that people are safe and connected.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Cisco Umbrella scales effectively with the growing needs of my company; it's excellent, and I have experienced no issues.
Senior Network Engineer at Boys Town
If you have a small to medium-sized enterprise, you can typically complete your deployment in roughly a week.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
When it comes to performance, I am definitely satisfied with CyberArk Secure Cloud Access on the IT estate.
Head Of Network Security Strategy And Architecture at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Ensuring that users can only access servers with the proper multi-factor authentication and manager approval.
V Mware And Vector Administration at Tech Mahindra Limited
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Umbrella offers reliable, stable performance with excellent uptime, effective security features, and minimal disruptions for enterprise needs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Idira Secure Cloud Access offers reliable, stable cloud services with real-time monitoring, high availability, and strong security despite upgrade complexities.
I have not experienced any major stability issues with Cisco Umbrella.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
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.
Chief Technology Officer at Binary Global Limited
The stability and reliability of the Cisco Umbrella platform have been great.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
The platform achieves strong uptime and stability amongst enterprise-level security.
V Mware And Vector Administration at Tech Mahindra Limited
If CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is down, you cannot access anything, which is a double-edged sword.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
The stability from a security perspective is quite good.
CTO at Fraoula
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Umbrella users seek better endpoint integration, simplified licensing, improved support, enhanced security features, and easier system compatibility.
Idira Secure Cloud Access needs upgrades in deployment, integration, costs, user experience, and real-time monitoring for better usability.
Making it more flexible and easy to deploy, particularly when integrating with other technologies like Active Directory and proxies, would be beneficial.
Manager Cyber Security Department at Mana
The product can only shield a small area, making it less effective for larger spaces or multiple users.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
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.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
It is important for critical support to respond within fifteen to twenty minutes to minimize business impact.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
You need to understand every component because the least mistake results in being completely locked out of the system.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
More guided deployment wizards, better automated onboarding templates, improved UI/UX experiences, simplified policy management, and enhanced reporting and troubleshooting would be beneficial.
V Mware And Vector Administration at Tech Mahindra Limited
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Umbrella pricing varies in cost-effectiveness based on features, with flexible licensing and potential discounts for certain partners.
Idira Secure Cloud Access offers scalable, enterprise pricing with complex licensing and higher initial costs, providing long-term value for large firms.
We've bundled that with our firewall stuff and our VPN, which brings the price down and adds the ability to grow.
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
The only cost associated is the license cost unless additional solutions need to be integrated with Umbrella, which would incur extra costs.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
The prices need to be lower as the current pricing is exceedingly high.
Network Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I am not directly involved in pricing aspects, but I am aware that CyberArk is considered costly compared to other products.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
The setup cost initially will be higher as it needs to be integrated with different applications that the organization has.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The pricing for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is quite high, especially the initial implementation cost, as it requires skilled engineers for deployment, configuration, and integration with various tools.
V Mware And Vector Administration at Tech Mahindra Limited
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Umbrella provides DNS security, integration, and user management, enhancing protection for hybrid work environments and remote users.
Idira Secure Cloud Access enhances security and productivity with dynamic access controls, real-time monitoring, and multi-cloud integration.
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.
Manager Cyber Security Department at Mana
The most valuable feature of Cisco Umbrella is its DNS security.
Network Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
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.
Chief Technology Officer at Binary Global Limited
The solution provides robust security features essential for financial and banking sectors to avoid network and connectivity issues or security breaches.
Works at Airtel Africa PLC
Dynamic role-based access helps you identify which user is accessing what, with what device, at what time, and the level of access the person has for doing what they are doing.
Head Of IT at NetPulse Limited
This new approach is particularly effective for dynamic environments where traditional PAM requires significant effort to detect accounts, onboard accounts, and provide access rights.
Security Consultant at Clico
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Umbrella
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
124
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (3rd)
Idira Secure Cloud Access
Ranking in Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 6.2%, down from 13.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Idira Secure Cloud Access is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella6.2%
Idira Secure Cloud Access0.8%
Other93.0%
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
 

Featured Reviews

SS
Sr. Technical Executive at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has required extensive customization for non-technical users and still needs better simplification
Customization for basic users can be complex, as it is targeted toward only technical users. It would be beneficial if Cisco simplifies the customization process while still ensuring strong security to prevent unauthorized access. Simplifying the customization part could enhance Cisco Umbrella, but overall, it is a good solution for me.
Manojkumar Reddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Centralized cloud access has strengthened identity control and simplified keyless logins
The best feature of CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is that private keys can be configured once and users can log in using CyberArk credentials. Instead of providing the private key every time into the system, it is not needed. With CyberArk, we do not require it and can directly use CyberArk credentials to access the virtual machines or run the pipelines. Using CyberArk credentials instead of private keys has made things easier for our team because previously every user had to remember the private key and store it somewhere else and insert it whenever they attempted to log into the server. This was cumbersome. Instead, organizations use CyberArk to configure the private keys, which helps because it is no longer required for users to store it on their system or somewhere else to maintain security. This additionally prevents users without access to the server from logging in. This feature of CyberArk Secure Cloud Access also reduces time and dependency on other people. Once a user is given access, they can be tracked anytime and anywhere. Access is revocable whenever people leave the organization. CyberArk Secure Cloud Access has positively impacted our organization because we have observed many changes. One significant impact is that since implementing it, the dependency on people has drastically been reduced. Additionally, we do not need to log in or store the private keys every time as they can be automatically configured.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Non Profit
7%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise6
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Umbrella?
The pricing for Cisco Umbrella is fair compared to other platforms out there for DNS security. We acquired it as a bundle with other Cisco purchases.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access?
The pricing for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is quite high, especially the initial implementation cost, as it requires skilled engineers for deployment, configuration, and integration with various ...
What needs improvement with CyberArk Secure Cloud Access?
CyberArk Secure Cloud Access can be improved as there is initial complexity and it is somewhat expensive. I would elaborate that the learning curve needs to be very explainable or very easy because...
What is your primary use case for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access?
My main use case for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access is that we have multiple clusters. We use CyberArk Secure Cloud Access with one of our clusters to reduce the attack surfaces, so a user cannot get...
 

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. Idira Secure Cloud Access and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.