Cisco Umbrella vs. WatchGuard Network Security

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Umbrella
Score 8.8 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
WatchGuard Network Security
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
WatchGuard Network Security is a network security and firewall software. WatchGuard includes secure Wi-Fi, multi-factor authentication, and network intelligence products and services designed for SMB’s.N/A
Pricing
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Support
Contact sales team
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Basic Security
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Total Security
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
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
Community Pulse
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
Considered Both Products
Cisco Umbrella
Chose Cisco Umbrella
Meraki MX is the only other system that uses a system similar to Cisco Umbrella. The other systems use DNS filtering on the device themselves, which is more vulnerable than exporting this filtering service to the DNS provider.

I believe Meraki MX actually uses Cisco Umbrella as …
WatchGuard Network Security
Chose WatchGuard Network Security
I have used WatchGuard security my entire career.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Umbrella
-
Ratings
WatchGuard Network Security
8.6
417 Ratings
1% above category average
Identification Technologies00 Ratings8.6382 Ratings
Visualization Tools00 Ratings7.5378 Ratings
Content Inspection00 Ratings8.6402 Ratings
Policy-based Controls00 Ratings8.7415 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings8.5349 Ratings
Firewall Management Console00 Ratings8.7409 Ratings
Reporting and Logging00 Ratings8.0406 Ratings
VPN00 Ratings8.9399 Ratings
High Availability00 Ratings8.7359 Ratings
Stateful Inspection00 Ratings9.1376 Ratings
Proxy Server00 Ratings9.0269 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies

No answers on this topic

Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(90 ratings)
8.8
(432 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(11 ratings)
9.6
(32 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(7 ratings)
9.0
(114 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(8 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(62 ratings)
2.3
(26 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.2
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(9 ratings)
9.4
(263 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.4
(8 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco UmbrellaWatchGuard Network Security
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
So the well-suited product, it's actually in two areas. One I already touched base on earlier which is the ability to have a federal model where we have the flexibility to set high-level policies from a group perspective while giving the independence of the business unit to operate and model the system to meet their needs. The second one, which is very powerful, especially in the last few years, is the remote workers. I'm able to protect and extend that edge of my security to their endpoint regardless if they are a Cisco Live or if they are at a bar or on a train basically anywhere. So as a chemical company, we have a lot of OT or ICS industrial control systems, which are highly regulated and highly scrutinized and usually require a physical presence while Cisco umbrella is mostly a cloud native type of product. So it doesn't fit well in that environment, which is detached from the internet doing well.
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WatchGuard Technologies
Generally speaking, our customers have standard requirements and the WatchGuard Network Security Firebox is there to ensure they stay protected. We've never had a successful breach on a customer's on-premise setup with a WatchGuard Network Security Firebox installed. 3rd parties (like CCTV, Printers, Login Systems, etc.) do not know which port their devices work over, so we have to identify that with them and there are often delays when this occurs.
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Pros
Cisco
  • Effective prevention of ransomware and malware by blocking CNC traffic. rendering the malware useless.
  • Good reports, which are readable by non technical users
  • Using Talos for its threat database means that it rarely misses anything
  • Very good knowledgebase available which means that it is easy to learn how to use and implement the product
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WatchGuard Technologies
  • Incoming Torrent attempts were blocked, but outgoing (by a user) were permitted. Similarly, other direct attempts were summarily blocked.
  • provides full administrative support for analysis of usage and scope.
  • strong Wi-Fi support and security - area wi-fi maps
  • They think of all the things secure and I don't have to worry about it.
  • I have not identified anything else that needs improvement - I am well satisfied.
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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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WatchGuard Technologies
  • Bridging ports, after the firewall is setup, isn't as easy as it could be.
  • Cloud integration for management requires recreating the entire device. It should just convert the current config.
  • Adding a Proxy policy should be on a different page from the other policy creation page.
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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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WatchGuard Technologies
I'm giving this note to WatchGuard Network Security due to its ease of daily support (after acquiring necessary knowledge in the solution), which allows agility in configuration changes, its integration of several reliable security features (such as SSL VPN, VPN Virtual Interfaces between companies, and others) and functional and stability in operation, with no downtime in the equipment due to problems or malfunctions
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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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WatchGuard Technologies
Although it might take some time to figure out, we have been able to use WatchGuard's online reference library and tech support to create/implement/modify all of our filtering rules and exceptions needed. There really has not been a shortcoming other than perhaps a learning curve.
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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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WatchGuard Technologies
Applications errors should always be expected in any kind of technology. What matters most is the way you find to resolve it.
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Performance
Cisco
our experience with cisco products has always been awesome and same is the case with cisco umbrella .Under umbrella cisco provides flexible and scalable software solution to use across different dept and sites . These softwares are very user friendly ,pages load quickly as these applications are designed for minimum latency and reports are also provided quickely
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WatchGuard Technologies
WatchGuard works seemlessly and so in the background you don't realize it's there until you need it!
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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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WatchGuard Technologies
We have only had to contact them once during the initial set up to help bring the internet back on line. After that for the most part our systems have been automated, and could easily be checked form their online FAQ and Knowledge base that they provide. Everything else is easily handled from their browser based interface
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In-Person Training
Cisco
No answers on this topic
WatchGuard Technologies
We participate to a in person training and the three days of learning was really useful and complete to gain skill to solve the major part of the problem we encounter during our life. And more the in person training give us the opportunity to create a network with other WatchGuard partner.
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Online Training
Cisco
Quite easy to understand training modules prepared by knowledgeable trainers. Training modules have included all the desired features of these softwares and the content delivery is very good from the respective module trainers and it explains in details the features and apart from that further training material support is also provided if needed.
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WatchGuard Technologies
Online training is good for learning how to use the product. It does not teach security strategy because that is not its intent.
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
At the time we were forced to move from Cloud Web Security to Cisco Umbrella, Cisco Umbrella was far from being a direct replacement. It was frustrating and difficult to migrate due to the lack of functionality. This has since been addressed, however we now have legacy rulesets that were built as bandaids that cannot be removed. Hopefully the migration to Secure Access will address this.
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WatchGuard Technologies
I had my key information for setting up the firewall, and they assisted me in finding the settings and appropriate places to enter data. They also helped troubleshoot when I didn't understand some of their feature concepts, and we got it running.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
Auto SIG Tunnels is a feature that helps in provisioning tunnels automatically using Cisco Umbrella APIs and so this is one win for choosing Cisco Umbrella over others. With Cisco SD-WAN viptela, the Cisco Umbrella stacks up well because its the same vendor so less complexities and interoperability issues.
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WatchGuard Technologies
At 3 of my locations I use both a Sonic Wall and a watch guard. In my experience, the sonic wall has a much better interface. I feel it was much easier for someone that has never accessed a fire wall to be able to make changes and learn very quickly. I feel the Watchguard has better built in applications and the VPN was easier to use and access.
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Scalability
Cisco
Cisco umbrella provides fleaxible and scalable software solutions which are easy deploy across multiple departments and sites wherever needed and this softwares are very easy to use and provides the best interface along with cisco support for other devices apart from cisco infrastructure but still there is scope for improvement on the inclusion of latest features
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WatchGuard Technologies
We scaled it exactly as we needed it to be! Easy, money-saving, and we didn't end up with features or options that we'd never use or worry about.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Cisco Umbrella has been an excellent investment for us. The extra protection it provides in a very simple way has been well worth the costs.
  • Cisco Umbrella is very easy to setup and manage and can do most of the things we need with little daily interaction so we are free to work on other systems that need more attention.
  • Utilizing the Cisco Umbrella reporting features, we can determine what systems might need additional attention. If we see systems attempting certain types of access, we quickly know there is likely something on the device that probably needs removed.
  • Specific Cisco Umbrella reports can help us determine if we need to do user education and develop cyber habits.
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WatchGuard Technologies
  • The VPNs are very easy to configure, less time to loose at new implementation.
  • The traffic monitor can be improved, I can't see the ISO layers to do a faster diagnosis.
  • Having an ADDS authentication is a plus, can use it with rules and vpn for remote access. Very useful.
  • The dimension feature can be developed as a website + database for NGINX, Apache2, IIS, etc., I feel traped on that linux vm only.
  • Most of the customers doesn't like to pay for a solution like this. They will accept only after beign attacked. WatchGuard can improve the sales with a demo (hacking, active security, etc.).
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ScreenShots

WatchGuard Network Security Screenshots

Screenshot of Subscription DashboardScreenshot of Subscriber Device SummaryScreenshot of Subscription DashboardScreenshot of Executive Dashboard