What is Cisco Umbrella used for?

Cisco Umbrella is a cloud security service that provides DNS-layer protection, a secure web gateway and related controls for organizations. It is a good fit for protecting roaming and remote users, web content filtering for offices, and blocking unapproved cloud apps.

How much does Cisco Umbrella cost?

Cisco Umbrella doesn't publish fixed prices; pricing is quoted on request.

Is Cisco Umbrella open source?

No. Cisco Umbrella is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Cisco Umbrella include OPNsense, pfSense and Blocky.

What are some alternatives to Cisco Umbrella?

Cisco Umbrella competes with Zscaler, Cloudflare Zero Trust and Netskope. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Cisco Umbrella alternatives.

Cisco Umbrella: features, pricing and alternatives

About Cisco Umbrella

Cisco Umbrella is a cloud-delivered security service from Cisco. It sits between users and the internet, using DNS-layer filtering to block requests to malicious or unwanted destinations before a connection is made, and it extends that protection to web traffic through a secure web gateway.

Beyond DNS security, the service covers a cloud-delivered firewall, cloud malware protection, cloud data loss prevention and remote browser isolation. It also helps teams discover shadow IT by showing which cloud apps are in use and blocking those they do not approve, backed by Cisco Talos threat intelligence.

Umbrella is a commercial subscription product offered in tiered packages, aimed at IT and security teams protecting office, roaming and remote users. It integrates with other Cisco products such as Meraki, and vendors position it within the wider Cisco Secure Access family.

Key features

DNS-layer filtering of malicious domains
Secure web gateway for web traffic
Cloud-delivered firewall controls
Cloud data loss prevention policies
Remote browser isolation for risky sites
Shadow IT discovery and app blocking

Good fit for

→Protecting roaming and remote users
→Web content filtering for offices
→Blocking unapproved cloud apps

Tags: dns-security; secure-web-gateway; cloud-security; content-filtering; sse; cisco

Cisco Umbrella: questions and answers

What is Cisco Umbrella used for?: Cisco Umbrella is a cloud security service that provides DNS-layer protection, a secure web gateway and related controls for organizations. It is a good fit for protecting roaming and remote users, web content filtering for offices, and blocking unapproved cloud apps.
How much does Cisco Umbrella cost?: Cisco Umbrella doesn't publish fixed prices; pricing is quoted on request.
Is Cisco Umbrella open source?: No. Cisco Umbrella is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Cisco Umbrella include OPNsense, pfSense and Blocky.
What are some alternatives to Cisco Umbrella?: Cisco Umbrella competes with Zscaler, Cloudflare Zero Trust and Netskope. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Cisco Umbrella alternatives.