Cisco Umbrella vs Quad9 comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Umbrella and Quad9 based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Internet Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Umbrella vs. Quad9 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 insight into what our users are doing via Cisco Umbrella is valuable. Knowing that we're protecting our users as they leave our network is also valuable now because we've got more hybrid working.""The feature that we find most valuable is to be able to filter out those web requests that you don't want.""It is a good cloud-based solution for DNS security.""Overall, it is a very good solution. It is a simple solution and very easy to set up.""The user interface is great. It's very easy to tailor to our client's environment and needs.""The most valuable features of this solution are the Web Filtering and the APT.""Stability-wise, it's good. I have never encountered any bugs.""The most valuable features are the protection against ransomware and phishing."

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"The most valuable feature of Quad9 is that it is a free solution.""Setting up Quad9 is straightforward if you know what you're doing, and it's easy to use overall."

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Cons
"Network connectivity was a bit of a challenge at the beginning, but we were able to get the right help from Cisco.""The firewall capabilities could be better. Cisco is starting to introduce some layer 7 capabilities now, but there's still some room to grow. They should continue with the development of Umbrella so that it is a full-blown cloud-managed firewall solution.""User interface could be a little smoother and more intuitive.""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.""Looking at the full umbrella suite in the light of SASE, Secure Access Service Edge, they are clearly lacking in the inline CASB.""There should be a way to monitor traffic at the user level.""It's easier for us to have support features with companies who are Cisco representatives, but sometimes, it's hard for us to get the help we need without having to use our contacts within Cisco.""I would like to see more integrability with other products."

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"It used to work fine for all the devices, but it started to slow and become non-responsive. I would have to reload the page two or three times before all the pages loaded. With OpenDNS, I only need to load the page once.""Quad9 could improve by having more free features, such as custom DNS filtering."

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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 Quad9 is free."
  • More Quad9 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:Cloudflare DNS is a very fast, very reliable public DNS resolver. It is an enterprise-grade authoritative DNS service that offers great redundancy and advanced security with built-in unmetered and… more »
    Top Answer:Setting up Quad9 is straightforward if you know what you're doing, and it's easy to use overall.
    Ranking
    1st
    out of 17 in Internet Security
    Views
    12,033
    Comparisons
    8,159
    Reviews
    49
    Average Words per Review
    907
    Rating
    8.9
    11th
    out of 17 in Internet Security
    Views
    654
    Comparisons
    658
    Reviews
    2
    Average Words per Review
    331
    Rating
    6.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    OpenDNS
    Learn More
    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.

    Quad9 is a free, recursive DNS service that replaces your ISP's or company's default domain name server (DNS) settings. Quad9 blocks lookups of malicious host names from an up-to-date list of threats when your computer makes any internet transaction that uses the DNS.

    This blocking action protects your computer, mobile device, or IoT systems against a variety of risks, including malware, phishing, spyware, C2 command-and-control domains, exploit kit-compromised sites, and botnets. It can also boost performance while ensuring privacy.

    Quad9’s service uses threat intelligence from a variety of sources, including:

    • Cisco
    • F-Secure
    • Netlab
    • IBM X-Force
    • Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)

    Quad9 employs DNSSEC, which assures that the results supplied are accurate. It also filters out websites that have been categorized as hazardous using blacklists provided by various security suppliers.

    Quad9 supports DNS over TLS (DoT) and DNS over HTTPS (DoH). It’s been increasingly obvious in recent years that standard DNS has significant security flaws due to a lack of encryption. As a result, it is more susceptible to DNS hijacking. Quad9 users are effectively protected from cyber criminals as well as government censorship.

    The Quad9 service is run by the Quad9 Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland whose purpose is to make the internet a safer and more reliable place for everyone.

    Quad9 Features

    Quad9 has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Privacy: Quad9 is the custodian of a worldwide DNS infrastructure that allows people to communicate and participate in governance and civil society more easily. Quad9 protects their users' privacy by not collecting personal data; Quad9 protects their consumers' privacy by preventing connections between their devices and harmful Internet sites. Quad9 provides users with performance by placing servers in hundreds of communities all over the world to deliver service on a local level. Because of their non-commercial position, they are able to give equal emphasis to regions that are otherwise underserved.
    • Addresses: Quad9 offers a number of distinct recursive DNS service options. Each has its own IP address (or, in certain situations, hostname), which you may use to configure your devices.
    • Threat blocking: Both commercial and publically available threat intelligence feeds have been merged by Quad9. Each was picked based on its shown ability to identify threats and provide a comprehensive set of capabilities for detecting exploits, malware, ransomware, spyware, and other potentially hazardous websites. Quad9’s threat intelligence (TI) partners provide us with data on feeds that are rapidly updated and dispersed as new domain-based risks emerge, and these domains or hosts are updated in their lists.
    • Locations: Quad9 systems are available in more than 150 places in 90 countries, with significant expansion planned. Quad9's servers are primarily positioned at internet exchange points, which are the locations with the highest concentration of interconnections within a typical network region.
    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
    CISCO, Netlab, proofpoint
    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%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Comms Service Provider20%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Media Company10%
    Government6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise44%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Umbrella vs. Quad9
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Umbrella vs. Quad9 and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Umbrella is ranked 1st in Internet Security with 55 reviews while Quad9 is ranked 11th in Internet Security with 2 reviews. Cisco Umbrella is rated 8.8, while Quad9 is rated 6.0. 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 Quad9 writes "No maintenance required, free service, but more free features would help". 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 FortiSASE , whereas Quad9 is most compared with Cloudflare DNS, Google Cloud DNS, Verisign Public DNS, Neustar UltraDNS and Hurricane Electric Free DNS. See our Cisco Umbrella vs. Quad9 report.

    See our list of best Internet Security vendors.

    We monitor all Internet 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.