Cisco Umbrella vs Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Aug 1, 2023

We compared Cisco Umbrella and Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

  • Features: Cisco Umbrella is highly regarded for its seamless integration with existing infrastructure, extensive range of security features, and ability to centrally manage security. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is highly regarded for its DHCP capabilities and debugging capabilities, Ansible scripts, and reporting.

  • Room for Improvement: Cisco Umbrella could enhance security by adding a transferring proxy feature and improving its Linux agent for Linux-based companies. Users say Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection could benefit from simplifying the dashboard display, improving API functionality, and enhancing integration with network elements.

  • Ease of Deployment: Based on the feedback, Cisco Umbrella has a simple and user-friendly initial setup that can be completed quickly in around 30 minutes. The setup process for Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is considered complex but still manageable, requiring around an hour to finish. 

  • Service and Support: Customers have praised Cisco Umbrella's support, describing it as excellent and superior to the customer service of other vendors. Opinions on Infoblox customer service varied, with some users describing it as a challenging experience.

  • Pricing: The cost of Cisco Umbrella differs based on the specific needs and approach of the customer, with flexible pricing and transparent charges. It is seen as reasonable and competitive by some, but a few perceive it as costly. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is considered a pricey solution. Infoblox offers various license types, but there might be limitations on sizing that necessitate an additional tier of license. 

  • ROI: Cisco Umbrella has proven to be a valuable investment by addressing maintenance concerns, reducing expenses associated with hardware updates, and effectively thwarting threats. It offers enhanced visibility and aids in remediation efforts. The reported ROI of Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is uncertain and may vary depending on the specific needs of the enterprise or carrier-grade usage.

Comparison Results: Cisco Umbrella is highly regarded for its simple setup process, seamless integration with infrastructure, and intuitive interface. It provides a comprehensive solution encompassing DNS security, secure internet gateway, and cloud firewall integration. At the same time, some users pointed to Umbrella's Linux agent support and interface as two areas that need improvement. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is praised for its DHCP capabilities. While the pricing for Cisco Umbrella is negotiable and considered reasonable, Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is perceived as expensive. Infoblox users had mixed experiences with customer support, whereas Cisco customer service is generally regarded as exemplary. 

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Umbrella vs. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The reports and notifications are the most useful part of the platform. As soon as you deploy the security layers, the reporting is very comprehensive. It helps you to have, at a glance, a clear view of what's going on.""It enables us to go granular in the customization of blocking some categories on the DNS.""What we like most is security and how easy it is to integrate with other appliances.""Cisco's technical support is pretty good. When a solution is available, they will find it. On a scale from one to ten with ten being the best, I'd rate Cisco's technical support at nine.""I like the original functionality, which allows for providing secure DNS services.""Improves security through DNS visibility, which can block malware, phishing, C&C, etc.""When we have laptops that leave the building, they could connect to public WiFi before they establish a VPN connection back into the company. For that duration or that period of time when they're not docked in the network or on a VPN, they effectively don't have that full layer of security that I provide inside the building. This tool stands in during that period of time, and we extend the security settings through their basic firewall or their cloud-based firewall at that time. So, we do content filtering and control access, but they also are looking at new domains, IP addresses, and bad requests. They're blocking them on my behalf when a laptop is not sitting behind our security appliances.""Its simplicity is most valuable. I can install it and get it up and running, and it can be pervasive across my business within a business day. It is pretty simple and straightforward to install and configure. Its remit is reasonably clearly defined. When you look at solutions like Darktrace and Carbon Black, the mission objective isn't as clearly defined. Cisco Umbrella, Sophos Central, or some of the other solutions have a more standardized approach to antivirus, which includes enhanced response from the machine learning or deep learning perspective."

More Cisco Umbrella Pros →

"Centralized management of DNS, DHCP, and IPAM helped us a lot in simplifying and automating the management of network and services.""The solution helps to identify and mitigate DNS attacks.""Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection allows us to manage our overall addresses and IT in one location. Many companies are using this solution, it is very popular.""The main advantages with Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection are the dashboards, the reporting system, and they have the GUI interface.""Infoblox Secure DNS helped us protect our internal environment by mitigating and stopping attacks through the Internet using DNS protocols and queries.""I like that Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is one hundred percent good, performance-wise.""Grid high availability technology ensured network reliability, resilient network services, failover, recovery, and seamless maintenance.""DHCP is a basic service, and they've been doing it for years, so it's mature and stable."

More Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection Pros →

Cons
"Support for multiple domains is important to us.""It should have a real-time malware classification engine. It should check the malware on the website. It would be good if it had a real-time malware check for the websites because currently, it just compares the DNS queries of the blacklist. It should also have malware control over file execution and the types of files that the users are allowed to download.""Having ready-to-go templates with best practices is definitely something that would be an improvement. Deployment, from day one, is something that definitely needs to be improved for Cisco customers.""The solution is very expensive in Brazil.""There are a couple of different pieces that have different portals. I know they're working on getting them all into one portal, but that's probably the biggest thing that needs improvement right now. It's not a single pane of glass yet.""They should provide more integrations and bring things together so that there is a more standard feel to their platform. We also use Cisco ISE, and it has a very different feel from Cisco Umbrella.""Cisco Umbrella is difficult to manage and needs to include a dashboard. It needs to improve pricing as well.""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."

More Cisco Umbrella Cons →

"The solution is expensive.""There should be better alerts for when attacks are happening.""The service monitoring information could be simplified of this appliance and the information displayed on the dashboards could be improved. I have not found one dashboard to be perfect. For example, in Splunk, I can create a dashboard in Grafana. However, in Grafana, it takes a very long time to create them. There should be another API to do it better.""There needs to be more capabilities in order to configure the console itself instead of the user interface dashboard. Configuring the DNS or DHCP through the console instead of the GUI dashboard would be better.""Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection could be more user-friendly because you need knowledge if you want to use it. To handle the solution, you need to be a subject matter expert, so this is one area for improvement.""Infoblox lacks an extensive product portfolio.""There is a steep learning curve to be able to use Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection well.""I think only the technical documentation and administration of box could be a little bit improved."

More Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "​The pricing is fair."
  • "You can request an evaluation license​."
  • "It needs a better price point."
  • "The product is pricey compared to Cisco Firepower."
  • "The price could be lower."
  • "There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."
  • "Our costs were negotiated, and they are okay."
  • "Our licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
  • More Cisco Umbrella Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price of Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection could be reduced, it is expensive."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • "I am not sure about the price of the solution, but I heard it is expensive."
  • "There are no additional costs to the standard licensing price of the solution."
  • "Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is a little more expensive than other vendors."
  • More Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: 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… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:Cisco Umbrella is easy to monitor, manage, and deploy.
    Top Answer:The solution's user interface is very smooth compared to other products.
    Top Answer:Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is a little more expensive than other vendors.
    Top Answer:The solution's logging could be improved. I have worked with other pure Linux-based products that help capture the traffic. Compared to those products, Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection lags… more »
    Ranking
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    5,409
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    49
    Average Words per Review
    907
    Rating
    8.9
    Views
    4,783
    Comparisons
    3,613
    Reviews
    5
    Average Words per Review
    352
    Rating
    9.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    OpenDNS
    Infoblox Secure DNS
    Learn More
    Infoblox
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    Overview

    Cisco Umbrella offers flexible, cloud-delivered security according to users’ requirements Cisco Umbrella includes secure web gateway, firewall, and cloud access security broker (CASB) functionality all delivered from a single cloud security service. Cisco Umbrella’s protection is extended to devices, remote users, and distributed locations anywhere. As company employees work from many locations and devices, Cisco Umbrella is the easiest way to effectively protect users everywhere in minutes.

    Cisco Umbrella uses machine learning to search for, identify, and even predict malicious domains. By learning from internet activity patterns, this DNS-layer security solution can automatically identify attacker infrastructure being staged for the next threat. These domains are then proactively blocked, protecting networks from potential compromise. Cisco Umbrella analyzes terabytes of data in real time across all markets, geographies, and protocols.

    Cisco Umbrella works with leading IT companies to integrate its security enforcement and intelligence. Built with a bidirectional API, Cisco Umbrella makes it easy to extend protection from on-premises security appliances to cloud controlled devices and sites.

    Cisco Umbrella is suitable for small businesses without dedicated security professionals, as well as for multinational enterprises with complex environments.

    Why use Cisco Umbrella?

    • Simplify security management: Cisco Umbrella is the fastest and easiest way to protect all users within minutes and reduces the number of infections and alerts sent from other security products by stopping threats at the earliest point. With no hardware to install and no software to manually update, ongoing management is simple

    • Reliable reporting: Cisco Umbrella reports show activity for each device or network in the system. Users gain a more complete picture of the security risks facing their organization and can take action to remedy them.

    • Manage and control cloud apps: Umbrella provides visibility into sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud services in use across the enterprise. Users can uncover new services being used, see who is using them, identify potential risk, and block specific applications easily.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Cisco Umbrella stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Some of the major ones are its DNS-based protection, ability to protect users no matter where they are located, stability, and high performance.

    Daniel B., a network specialist at Syswind Kft, writes, “We primarily use the solution as cloud security for our branches. It protects us from direct internet outbreaks. It makes for good flexibility. The solution is very easy to manage. We found the initial setup, for example, to be quite simple. Efficient protection on the DNS level and even higher. The sandboxing feature analyses and handles the complicated security risks.”

    Victor M., SOC & Security Services Director at BEST, notes, “It provides security for the remote workers and it helps to improve enterprise security in a very easy way. We mainly enjoy web software protection capabilities. It prevents the end-users from getting into bad sites or sites that potentially could have malware or could be phishing. It helps end-users avoid the wrong sites. The solution works very smoothly. The user interface is good.”

    OpenDNS is a part of Cisco providing a suite of consumer products aimed at making the internet faster, safer, and more reliable.

    Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection (ADP) effectively shields you from the widest range of DNS DDoS attacks, ensuring that you can maintain service uptime for your organization. Minimizing disruptions caused by DDoS and other DNS-based attacks is a key business imperative because DNS provides mission-critical network connectivity. If your DNS is down, your business is down. With ADP you can maintain DNS integrity and stop external and internal DNS DDoS attacks that can take your business offline. ADP eliminates such threats as volumetric attacks, DNS hijacking, cache poisoning and other DNS-specific exploits. A proven solution, it ensures that your customers can always reach your website and other external systems, and it keeps your business up and running 24×7 to maintain customer trust and confidence.

    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
    Colruyt Group, Council Rock School District, Danone, GlaxoSmithKline, The Hershey Company 
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Educational Organization6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Educational Organization16%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm43%
    Non Profit29%
    Retailer14%
    Comms Service Provider14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise55%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise58%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise64%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Umbrella vs. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Umbrella is ranked 1st in Domain Name System (DNS) Security with 55 reviews while Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is ranked 2nd in Domain Name System (DNS) Security with 5 reviews. Cisco Umbrella is rated 8.8, while Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco Umbrella writes "We can see all of our locations in one place and only have to make changes once for all our locations". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection writes "With a good interface and ease of management, the solution also provides a reasonable amount of stability and scalability". Cisco Umbrella is most compared with Zscaler Internet Access, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks, Palo Alto Networks DNS Security and Cloudflare DNS, whereas Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection is most compared with F5 BIG-IP DNS, Zscaler Internet Access, Palo Alto Networks DNS Security, EfficientIP DNS Guardian and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. See our Cisco Umbrella vs. Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection report.

    See our list of best Domain Name System (DNS) Security vendors.

    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.