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Cisco Umbrella vs Palo Alto Networks DNS Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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 Domain Name System (DNS) Security
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
123
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (1st), Internet Security (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (2nd)
Palo Alto Networks DNS Secu...
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Cisco Umbrella is 18.7%, down from 25.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is 8.1%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Umbrella18.7%
Palo Alto Networks DNS Security8.1%
Other73.2%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

BB
Senior Network Engineer at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Ensures comprehensive protection with seamless threat logging and efficient policy management
My favorite feature of Cisco Umbrella is probably just the DNS and the fact that when a security threat happens, all of that gets logged in their Umbrella portal, and it's very easy to find who's been accessing the site and how many people have accessed it, so that we can go to them and make sure they're not compromised. The features of Cisco Umbrella benefit my company by providing less time to search for things through logs, to look for what we need. It's just one place to go, and we just search for it, and we find it really fast. The fact that there's a virtual database that has all that information is great on our portal.
Andres Briceño - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Coordinator at Pronaca
Comprehensive security protects networks effectively while support excels
The main feature of the Palo Alto Networks DNS Security protects our network from external attacks, malware, and data theft. I use the DNS Security's real-time threat intelligence, as it's a feature that works in real-time in the firewalls. Because we configured this real-time help feature in our firewalls, this feature works during internal navigation to the internet. If we have a virus or malware in our network, the firewall detects this threat and protects our network. DNS Security protects us against threats, malware, and malicious domains or malicious navigation to the internet. The threat analytics has helped us because it works together with the SOC analytics and the platform manager, so this has affected our approach to zero-day vulnerabilities and threat updates. The reporting and analytics tools help provide insights into trends and threat vectors. We configured a dashboard where we can see all threat preventions and DNS Securities. If the SOC analytics detect threats or anomalies in the dashboard, we work quickly to prevent these threats.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The Global Block List is one of the most valuable features because it's really easy to block domain names as well as URLs. Sometimes you don't want to block the whole site, you just want to block one URL. The Global Block and Allow Lists are the best features for us."
"Using this solution has meant that we've needed to make fewer firewall changes."
"It is a good cloud-based solution for DNS security."
"Cisco Umbrella is a very good product as of now as there is no competition."
"By using Cisco Umbrella, you are sure of inspecting all the traffic. Whenever the user machine is connected to your network, it is inspected. That's the best thing. It means you are sure that nothing is being exported or imported without your choice. That is the best feature."
"The customer service and technical support of Cisco Umbrella are great."
"It is a good cloud-based solution for DNS security."
"It has the ability to quickly block new threats."
"The stability is excellent and the product is very mature."
"The product is easy to install."
"When comparing other cloud-based DNS security solutions to this one I have found the main beneficial feature in this solution to be we do not need to change our architecture."
"When comparing other cloud-based DNS security solutions to this one I have found the main beneficial feature in this solution we do not need to change our architecture."
"We now have insight into our DNS requests and we can actively see how many thousands of malicious requests have gotten knocked down in the last day or week that we didn't know before."
"We now have insight into our DNS requests and we can actively see how many thousands of malicious requests have gotten knocked down in the last day or week that we didn't have before. There's more insight for both security and more insight."
"The most valuable features of DNS Security include its ability to protect against command and control traffic, anonymizers, newly registered domains, and DNS tunneling."
"The most valuable features of DNS Security include its ability to protect against command and control traffic, anonymizers, newly registered domains, and DNS tunneling."
 

Cons

"They need to improve analytics so they report on more of the specifics of user activity."
"The solution could be faster as the process is very slow."
"The solution's technical support is not very good."
"We would like to see the enhancements made to the EDR, as we see features that are running endpoint management."
"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."
"Cisco Umbrella is expensive and could be cheaper."
"Perhaps an option to be able to block only specific users would be a way to improve the free version of OpenDNS."
"Cisco Umbrella can be improved in terms of limited coverage and wind vulnerability."
"I have found customer service to be quite problematic. The support is often outsourced, leading to delayed response times."
"Pricing is one of the areas of concern in Palo Alto Networks DNS Security since it is an expensive product. I feel that the product's pricing is an area that could be improved."
"The solution’s scalability could be improved."
"We would like to have cloud-based management."
"The number of hotfixes indicates that there are many bugs in the new releases. Comparing a few years earlier, a release contained much fewer hotfixes."
"Every vendor that sells DNS or firewalls needs to be able to protect against DNS look-up attacks and DNS naming hacks. This is true of Palo Alto as well as others."
"The pricing of the Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is very high."
"The installation is more complex because the solution has another approach to security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It needs a better price point."
"The pricing was marvelous."
"Cisco uses subscription models for the pricing and there are three subscription plans."
"Cisco Umbrella is not a cheap product. However, it's not a matter of the cost; it's more a matter of the value of security. It is easy to measure this value when you have a security incident. I think the price is a good trade-off for a product that can help you avoid security threats."
"Cisco Umbrella is expensive and could be cheaper."
"There is a subscription cost."
"There is a one-time cost of approximately $800 USD per user, and then a yearly support fee of about $50 per user."
"Cisco has a model called ELA. With ELA, if you buy the solution you will have the complete security portfolio and you can pay it yearly or after three years, it depends on the contract."
"There is an annual license for the solution and I am satisfied with the pricing."
"Palo Alto Networks DNS Security is an expensive product. I rate the product's pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten points are expensive."
"If one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the tool's price as two."
"It is not an expensive solution."
"The product is expensive. My company makes payments on a quarterly basis towards the solution's costs."
"The product is expensive compared to Fortinet."
"The solution's pricing is equal to Cisco AMP or Cisco Umbrella."
"There aren't many vendors offering DNS security solutions, but generally, Palo Alto subscriptions tend to be more expensive than other security vendors."
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890,124 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise51
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
 

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 needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks DNS Security?
DNS Security protects us against threats, malware, and malicious domains or malicious navigation to the internet, which is where it can be improved the best. Palo Alto helps us with support, so I d...
What is your primary use case for Palo Alto Networks DNS Security?
I can describe my use cases for Palo Alto Networks DNS Security, which is used for protecting our network. I use this product, Palo Alto Networks DNS Security, with Palo Alto firewalls.
 

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. Palo Alto Networks DNS Security and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
890,124 professionals have used our research since 2012.