Cisco Umbrella vs. F5 BIG-IP

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Umbrella
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Cisco now offers OpenDNS Umbrella Web Filtering. Cisco acquired OpenDNS in August 2015, and rebranded the product as Cisco Umbrella.N/A
BIG-IP
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
F5 BIG-IP software from Seattle-based F5 Networks is a load balancing and application protection solution suite available on cloud or via virtual editions, on a subscription or perpetual licensing basis. The BIG-IP suite of products supports a wide range of security and application performance needs. The suite includes BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) traffic management and optimization, BIG-IP DNS, BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) identity and password protection, BIG-IP Application…N/A
Pricing
Cisco UmbrellaF5 BIG-IP
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco UmbrellaBIG-IP
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Cisco UmbrellaF5 BIG-IP
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

Avast Small Business Solutions
Avast Small Business Solutions
Score 7.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies

No answers on this topic

Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
Cisco UmbrellaF5 BIG-IP
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(80 ratings)
8.9
(52 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(9 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(5 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(61 ratings)
8.2
(5 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.2
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco UmbrellaF5 BIG-IP
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Well suited to networks that include Active directory, as you can hook it into the directory to allow you to target specific users and computers. Not particularly well suited to personal users due to the price point, and also not well suited to organisations with disorganised IT, since the system can be bypassed simply by changing the DNS server of the device. You need a dedicated IT department to ensure these sorts of settings are locked down
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F5
I think when it comes to web application protection, this is the way to go. I think if the organization is small, one would not be a good fit, but for most organizations, because it's a cloud-native solution, it's a good solution for web protection.
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Pros
Cisco
  • Cisco Umbrella protects our devices and users from malicious sites of all kinds.
  • Cisco Umbrella allows us to add additional web site types we may want to block for specific users.
  • Cisco Umbrella keeps the list of sites blocked current by utilizing data from their entire security platform.
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F5
  • Easy connection: you can connect to your corporate network with two clicks.
  • IP restriction: F5 has a list of possible insecure IP numbers, if someone tries to connect using one of these numbers, F5 BIG-IP won't connect.
  • Always on feature: Very handy feature, if you install always on, you won't need to click connect.
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Cons
Cisco
  • Umbrella Virtual Appliances have been buggy in resolving local domain hosts.
  • Integration between other Cisco and Meraki products is complicated.
  • Reporting is not always accurate; for example, if you configure a Meraki access point to use an Umbrella Virtual Appliance, you lose device reporting. All reporting shows up under the AP's IP.
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F5
  • Some of the stuff, like recently we are migrating from an on-prem exchange to Microsoft 365, and having it above both interfaces, both application icons on the desktop makes it kind of confusing for users. So if there was a way that they could just use the same icon and it knew how to route for what the user was licensed for. That would probably be a little bit better. And then I think some of the face of the product, the gooey interfaces could be improved.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
First off I never give anything a "10" unless it's perfect. LOL - I grade on the curve. I think OpenDNS/Umbrella is a very good product. I think that fact that Cisco absorbed them is one of the proofs of that. I have used the product back when it was free for companies our size. I have not always appreciated the cost - but in the post pandemic cyber chaos, I believe the cost benefit ratio is still very high. I have honestly not looked at other products because Umbrella continues to work to my satisfaction. I consider Umbrella to be one of the key layers in my cyber security strategy.
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F5
No answers on this topic
Usability
Cisco
Better features and easy to manage system with great customer support and overall usability is great as it works for hybrid environment with ease as it is having features for on prem users as wells as cloud users with great customer support and great team of trained engineers to support our opeartions.
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F5
Great customization and easy to use help reference menus
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Reliability and Availability
Cisco
Cisco Umbrella's availability was great, they got back to me in less than an hour to get my problem solved.
We needed to get our Meraki AP's hooked up to Cisco Umbrella to monitor that specific traffic and they got back to me promptly, they guided me and explained every question I had.
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F5
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
We have not had a chance to use Cisco support frequently, but when we needed to troubleshoot some issues that we were having with the agent installation, the support was very responsive and the solution that they offered worked. The only reason I give it one less point is that the turnaround time for non-critical issues is very long.
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F5
On the occasions when we've had to engage f5 support, they have been great. They have always resolved our issues quickly and been easy to work with and professional. The reason I give them a 10 out of 10, however, is because when we've had issues that have crossed over between the f5 BIG-IP, our Cisco switches, and our Microsoft IIS server the f5 support representatives have been extremely knowledgeable about every product and device involved and have been able to troubleshoot end-to-end without having to engage other vendors.
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Online Training
Cisco
Quite easy to understand training modules prepared by knowledgeable trainers.
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F5
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cisco
The implementation just required us a bit of study because there are a lot of options and configurations available. I believe that the interface could be a bit better, but it works fine. We did an initial setup and only need to do changes when a new demand appears. Other than that, we just keep it running.
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F5
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
We used a product before this called iPrism by EdgeWave and also briefly tried Barracuda Web Security in the cloud. We were having such a large influx of service desk calls about proxy-based layer 7 web filters that we wanted to step back and pick something more at the DNS level, to protect our employees but not hover over their social media use, etc. Cisco will also employ a layer 7 proxy if a site is suspicious, which does require us to push a certificate out should we want that feature. For most policies we have it enabled.
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F5
I can't recall the name of the previous software we used for remote intranet access, but it was much less reliable. F5 BIG-IP is consistent and easy to use--the authentication process happens quickly and reliably via my cell phone's facial recognition feature which is convenient and secure. No need to carry a key fob or enter a verification code. The previous software required email codes be sent and entered to verify access.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Positive ROI when the service keeps users from going to malicious websites.
  • We had it deployed while users were internal and external with the AnyConnect Umbrella module so our protection was both on and off the corporate network.
  • Great product. Has paid for itself two time over.
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F5
  • Overall, it meets a need rather than having a lot of point solutions and difficult configurations. It's done a good job consolidating all those. So I can't give you numbers for ROI, but it is absolutely consolidated solutions down to single points that are monetarily optimized.
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