DNS-layer security has quietly become one of the cheapest, fastest ways to stop malware, phishing, and botnet traffic before it ever reaches a laptop or a point-of-sale terminal. Instead of inspecting every packet after it lands on the network, DNS filtering blocks the lookup itself, so an infected endpoint never resolves the address of its command-and-control server in the first place. That simplicity is why the category keeps growing even as enterprise security budgets tighten elsewhere in 2026.
Three platforms dominate the conversation among IT administrators, MSPs, and network security teams shopping for DNS filtering this year: DNSFilter, Cisco Umbrella, and Cloudflare Gateway (the DNS and secure web gateway component of Cloudflare One). Each takes a different approach to scale, pricing, and deployment, and the gap between them is bigger than most buyers expect. This comparison breaks down the real numbers behind each platform, including pricing tiers, query-volume benchmarks, migration steps, and the use cases where one option clearly beats the other two, as part of our ongoing cybersecurity coverage.
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What Is DNS Filtering and Why It Matters in 2026
DNS filtering works by intercepting the Domain Name System lookup that happens before any device connects to a website, app, or server. When a laptop tries to resolve a malicious domain, a DNS filtering service checks that domain against a threat-intelligence database and either blocks the request outright or redirects it to a warning page. No connection is ever established with the malicious host, which means ransomware droppers, phishing kits, and botnet check-ins get stopped at the earliest possible point in the attack chain, well before a firewall or endpoint agent would normally see the traffic.
That early-stage interception is exactly why DNS filtering has stayed relevant even as vendors push more elaborate secure access service edge (SASE) and zero trust network access bundles. Many organizations that already run a full SASE platform still layer a dedicated DNS filtering tool on top, because DNS-layer blocking is cheap to deploy, has almost no latency impact, and catches threats that slip past slower, deeper inspection. It is also one of the few security controls that a small IT team can stand up in an afternoon without touching every endpoint individually, which is a big part of why DNSFilter, Cisco Umbrella, and Cloudflare Gateway all built MSP-friendly packaging around the same underlying idea.
The term “DNS filtering” itself covers two related jobs: content filtering (blocking categories like gambling, adult content, or social media for compliance or productivity reasons) and security filtering (blocking known-malicious, newly registered, or algorithmically suspicious domains). All three platforms in this comparison do both, but they differ sharply in how they price it, how fast their threat feeds update, and whether they expect you to redirect your network’s DNS traffic through an MX-style change, a roaming client, or an API-based connector.
DNSFilter vs Cisco Umbrella vs Cloudflare Gateway at a Glance
Before getting into pricing tiers and deployment mechanics, it helps to see how these three platforms position themselves. DNSFilter is the smallest of the three by company size but has built its entire business around DNS-layer security and MSP channel sales. Cisco Umbrella is the DNS security module inside Cisco’s much larger Security Service Edge (SIG) portfolio, inherited from the 2015 OpenDNS acquisition. Cloudflare Gateway is the DNS and web-filtering layer embedded in Cloudflare One, riding on top of the same network that runs Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 public resolver and its global CDN.
That difference in heritage shows up in how each product is packaged. DNSFilter sells DNS filtering as a standalone product with three tiers: Core, Plus, and Enterprise, after retiring its old Pro plan in 2026. Cisco bundles DNS security into tiered Umbrella packages that scale from DNS-only protection up to a full Secure Internet Gateway (SIG) with firewall, CASB, and data-loss-prevention features. Cloudflare folds DNS filtering into Cloudflare One’s Zero Trust plans, which range from a free tier for small teams up to custom enterprise contracts covering a much broader zero-trust stack than DNS alone.
For IT teams evaluating a firewall or secure gateway alongside DNS filtering, that packaging difference matters as much as the raw feature list. A shop that is already deep into the Cisco ecosystem may find Umbrella the path of least resistance, while a team building a zero-trust architecture from scratch might prefer to get DNS filtering bundled into the same Cloudflare One console they use for everything else.
DNSFilter: Pricing, Scale, and the MSP Playbook
DNSFilter’s official pricing page lists Core at roughly $1.00 to $1.15 per license per month, with a $23 monthly minimum and a $240 annual minimum for small accounts. The Plus tier runs approximately $2.25 to $2.50 per license per month, with a $62.50 monthly minimum and a $750 annual minimum. Enterprise pricing is quote-based and not published. Third-party pricing aggregators report slightly different numbers: Capterra lists three editions at $1.00, $2.10, and $2.70 per user per month, while G2’s 2026 pricing page shows a range from $1.15 to $3.00. Buyers should treat the official DNSFilter page as the most current source and confirm final numbers directly with sales, since list prices on aggregator sites can lag behind actual changes.
DNSFilter’s MSP track is priced separately, starting at $150 per month. On September 29, 2026, the company expanded its channel partner program for resellers and introduced the Select and Accelerator partner tiers. DNSFilter also became available through the Sherweb marketplace on October 20, 2026, which adds another channel for MSPs that already buy their software there.
On scale, DNSFilter says its infrastructure processes roughly 200 billion DNS queries per day and is used by more than 57,000 organizations worldwide. The company also claims its real-time domain categorization engine can identify newly weaponized domains roughly 10 days faster than some competing threat feeds, a claim worth independently validating during a trial rather than taking at face value. Feature-wise, Capterra’s listing for DNSFilter includes malicious-domain protection, phishing and malware blocking, botnet protection, DNS-over-TLS encryption, Windows and macOS roaming clients, per-user policy enforcement, exportable query logs, administrative audit logs, Active Directory integration, and Zapier connectivity for workflow automation.
Dan Cucchi, DNSFilter’s VP of MSP and Channel Sales, has been blunt about why the company keeps investing in its MSP motion rather than chasing large direct enterprise deals. Discussing the economics of the 2026 partner program relaunch, Cucchi said partners should not expect vendor-driven discounts to be the main lever for better margins, framing growth itself as the real cost lever for MSPs reselling DNS filtering, according to DNSFilter’s own account of the announcement.
Cisco Umbrella: Enterprise Pricing Tiers and Threat Intelligence
Cisco does not publish a fixed retail price list for Umbrella, so every number below should be read as a market estimate rather than an official rate card. Third-party pricing trackers place DNS Essentials, the entry DNS-only tier, at roughly $30 to $40 per user per year. DNS Advantage, which adds more granular policy and reporting, runs an estimated $40 to $55 per user per year. The Secure Internet Gateway (SIG) Essentials tier, which adds cloud firewall and CASB features on top of DNS security, is estimated at $60 to $90 per user per year, and SIG Advantage, Cisco’s most complete package with data-loss prevention and remote browser isolation, is estimated at $95 to $135 per user per year. Actual contract pricing depends heavily on seat count, term length, and reseller discounts, and prospective buyers should get a direct quote before budgeting.
Where Cisco does publish hard numbers is threat-intelligence scale. The company states that Umbrella analyzes approximately 620 billion internet and DNS requests per day, a figure it says feeds statistical and machine-learning models used to identify malicious infrastructure in real time. Cisco’s own materials give slightly different customer counts depending on the page: one Umbrella page cites 26,000 global customers across 190 countries, while another cites more than 30,000 customers across the same 190 countries. That inconsistency is worth flagging rather than quoting a single figure as definitive, but even the lower bound puts Umbrella’s customer base well above DNSFilter’s self-reported count.
Umbrella’s biggest practical advantage for large enterprises is that it is not really a standalone DNS tool, it is the DNS-layer entry point into Cisco’s much broader Security Service Edge stack. A team already running EDR from a different vendor but standardized on Cisco for networking can usually turn on Umbrella’s SIG tier and get firewall, CASB, and DLP without introducing a new management console. Buyers should also factor in that Cisco has publicly identified January 2027 as Umbrella’s end-of-sale point, and its migration documentation describes a transition path to Secure Access Manager and Security Cloud Control rather than a completed product shutdown. That bundling is also Umbrella’s biggest drawback for smaller buyers: shops that only want DNS filtering often end up paying for a SIG tier’s worth of adjacent features they don’t need, just to get the policy granularity that DNSFilter or Cloudflare Gateway offer at a much lower entry price.
Cloudflare Gateway: Zero Trust Pricing and Network Scale
Cloudflare Gateway ships as part of Cloudflare One’s Zero Trust plans. Cloudflare publishes a free tier covering a limited user count at no cost, which is enough for many small teams to run basic DNS filtering without a credit card. Standard and Enterprise tiers scale up with per-seat pricing and custom contract terms respectively, though Cloudflare does not expose a fixed public per-seat number for Standard on its plans page, so teams evaluating a mid-size deployment should request a quote rather than assume a specific dollar figure.
What Cloudflare does disclose, in detail, is the scale of the network underneath Gateway. Cloudflare’s own blog post on its public resolver infrastructure states that the 1.1.1.1 resolver handles roughly 1.7 trillion DNS queries per day, a volume that averages out to nearly 19.7 million queries every second, across a network presence in more than 330 cities worldwide. For context, that is more than 8 times the 200 billion queries per day DNSFilter reports and nearly 3 times the 620 billion Cisco cites for Umbrella, though it is important to note that the 1.1.1.1 figure covers Cloudflare’s entire public resolver, not Gateway’s enterprise filtering traffic specifically, so it should be read as a proxy for network scale rather than a direct feature-for-feature benchmark.
Cloudflare’s overall financial scale backs up that infrastructure story. The company, which trades on the NYSE under the ticker NET, reported Q2 2026 revenue of $696.1 million, up 36% year over year, according to its own quarterly results. That revenue spans Cloudflare’s entire product line, not Gateway alone, but it illustrates the resources behind the network Gateway rides on. In a Cloudflare TV discussion about why organizations choose Cloudflare One, a Cloudflare representative described helping customers who were specifically evaluating DNS filtering as one of the more common entry points into the broader Cloudflare One platform, since DNS is often the first zero-trust control a team turns on before expanding into full device posture checks and private network access.
Full Specs Comparison Table
The table below lines up the core specs across all three platforms, pulling from each vendor’s own published materials and third-party pricing trackers where official numbers are not public.
| Spec | DNSFilter | Cisco Umbrella | Cloudflare Gateway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-tier pricing | ~$1.00–$1.15/license/mo (Core) | ~$30–$40/user/yr (DNS Essentials, estimate) | $0/user (Free tier) |
| Top standalone DNS tier | ~$2.25–$2.50/license/mo (Plus) | ~$40–$55/user/yr (DNS Advantage, estimate) | Bundled into Standard Zero Trust plan |
| Full-stack tier | Enterprise (custom quote) | ~$95–$135/user/yr (SIG Advantage, estimate) | Enterprise (custom quote) |
| MSP program | From $150/mo minimum; Select/Accelerator/Strategic tiers | Partner-led via Cisco channel, no published MSP-specific rate card | Partner program via Cloudflare’s channel network |
| Deployment model | Roaming client, router/DHCP, AD integration | Roaming client, virtual appliance, network tunnels | Roaming client (WARP), network tunnels, API |
| Reported daily query volume | ~200 billion | ~620 billion (internet/DNS requests) | ~1.7 trillion (1.1.1.1 resolver, network-wide) |
| Reported customer/org count | 57,000+ organizations | 26,000–30,000+ customers, 190 countries | Not disclosed specifically for Gateway |
| Encryption support | DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS | DNS-over-HTTPS supported | DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS |
| Directory integration | Active Directory | Active Directory, Azure AD | Azure AD, Okta, Google Workspace via Access |
| Bundled adjacent features | DNS filtering focused; limited add-ons | Firewall, CASB, DLP, remote browser isolation (SIG tiers) | Zero Trust Network Access, browser isolation, CASB (Cloudflare One) |
| Parent company focus | DNS security specialist | Part of Cisco’s broader Security Service Edge | Part of Cloudflare’s CDN/network security platform |
| Automation/integration | Zapier, REST API | Cisco SecureX, REST API | Terraform provider, REST API, Cloudflare One dashboard |
Two things stand out from that table. First, Cisco and Cloudflare both treat DNS filtering as an entry point into a much larger platform, while DNSFilter stays narrowly focused on doing DNS security well. Second, the pricing estimates for Cisco Umbrella carry more uncertainty than DNSFilter’s or Cloudflare’s published numbers, since Cisco keeps its Umbrella rate card off its public site entirely.
Pricing Comparison: What a Real Deployment Costs
Raw per-user rates only tell part of the story, because minimum commitments and tier structure change the effective price at different company sizes. The table below models three common deployment sizes using the figures gathered above, clearly marking which numbers are official versus third-party estimates.
| Deployment size | DNSFilter (official) | Cisco Umbrella (estimate) | Cloudflare Gateway (official where published) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 users, Core/entry tier | ~$240/yr minimum (Core annual floor) | ~$750–$1,000/yr (DNS Essentials estimate) | $0/yr (Free tier, user-limited) |
| 100 users, mid tier | ~$2,700–$3,000/yr (Plus, ~$2.25–$2.50/user/mo) | ~$4,000–$5,500/yr (DNS Advantage estimate) | Custom Standard quote required |
| 500 users, full-featured tier | Enterprise: custom quote | ~$47,500–$67,500/yr (SIG Advantage estimate) | Custom Enterprise quote required |
| MSP reselling to SMB clients | From $150/mo minimum commitment | Reseller/distributor pricing, not publicly listed | Partner-negotiated, not publicly listed |
The pattern that emerges is straightforward: DNSFilter is the only one of the three with a transparent, self-serve price for small and mid-size deployments. Cisco Umbrella’s SIG Advantage tier can run into the tens of thousands of dollars annually at a few hundred seats once estimated per-user costs are applied, but that tier also includes firewall, CASB, and DLP features that would otherwise require separate purchases. Cloudflare’s free tier makes it the cheapest entry point for very small teams, but anyone needing Standard or Enterprise-level DNS filtering with support SLAs has to go through a sales conversation rather than checking out online, the same gatekeeping model Cisco uses for all but the smallest Umbrella deals.
Benchmarks: Query Volume and Threat-Blocking Scale
Query volume is the closest thing to an apples-to-apples benchmark available across all three vendors, since each publishes its own daily figure from its own infrastructure. DNSFilter reports roughly 200 billion DNS queries processed per day across its customer base. Cisco states that Umbrella analyzes approximately 620 billion internet and DNS requests daily. Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 resolver, which underpins Gateway’s DNS filtering, handles about 1.7 trillion queries per day, or close to 19.7 million queries per second, spread across more than 330 cities.
Lined up together, Cloudflare’s resolver handles roughly 8.5 times DNSFilter’s reported daily volume and nearly 3 times Cisco’s. That gap is a reasonable proxy for raw network capacity and the breadth of threat telemetry each company can draw on to spot new malicious domains, but it is not a direct measure of filtering accuracy. A smaller network that is laser-focused on DNS security, like DNSFilter’s, can still catch threats just as effectively as a much larger general-purpose network, because domain reputation and category databases do not need internet-scale query volume to be accurate, they need fast, well-tuned threat feeds. DNSFilter’s own claim of identifying newly weaponized domains roughly 10 days faster than some competing feeds is a bet on exactly that kind of specialization.
On the independent testing side, the available public evidence does not include a controlled, side-by-side phishing-catch-rate or false-positive benchmark that covers DNSFilter, Cisco Umbrella, and Cloudflare Gateway under identical conditions. Readers should treat any single-vendor efficacy percentage circulating online with caution unless the testing methodology, dataset, and date are disclosed. The three verifiable numbers that do exist, query volume from DNSFilter’s own newsroom, Cisco’s own Umbrella intelligence pages, and Cloudflare’s own resolver blog post, are the most defensible benchmark currently available, and each comes from a different company reporting on its own infrastructure rather than a neutral third party.
Real-World Deployment Examples
These five scenarios reflect the kinds of deployments that commonly drive a choice between the three platforms, based on how each product is packaged and priced.
- A regional healthcare clinic network with 40 endpoints and a single IT administrator typically gravitates toward DNSFilter’s Core tier, since the $23 monthly minimum covers the whole deployment and the roaming client works across the Windows and macOS mix common in small clinics without requiring a dedicated network engineer.
- An MSP managing 30 small-business clients usually standardizes on DNSFilter’s MSP track or a Cisco Umbrella reseller agreement, since both offer multi-tenant management, but DNSFilter’s $150 monthly minimum and the 2026 Partner Edge Portal give smaller MSPs a lower cost floor to start reselling DNS security as a line item.
- A manufacturing company already standardized on Cisco networking gear (switches, routers, Meraki access points) tends to default to Cisco Umbrella’s SIG Essentials or SIG Advantage tier, since it slots into the existing Cisco management ecosystem and bundles firewall and CASB features the company would otherwise buy separately.
- A fast-growing SaaS company building a zero-trust architecture from the ground up frequently chooses Cloudflare Gateway as part of a full Cloudflare One rollout, since the same console that manages DNS filtering also handles device posture, private network access, and browser isolation, reducing the number of vendor relationships the security team has to maintain.
- A K-12 school district balancing content filtering (CIPA compliance), tight budgets, and BYOD student devices often starts with Cloudflare Gateway’s free tier for basic category blocking, then upgrades to a paid Zero Trust plan once the district needs granular reporting or device-level policy enforcement across a one-to-one laptop program.
What MSPs and Network Teams Are Saying
Industry commentary on DNS filtering tends to focus on two things: how early in the attack chain it intercepts threats, and how MSPs can actually make money reselling it at commodity-like price points. Dan Cucchi, DNSFilter’s VP of MSP and Channel Sales, has spoken publicly about both points while discussing the company’s 2026 partner program relaunch.
Cucchi has pointed to the scale of DNS-layer exposure as the core sales pitch for the category, noting that around 80% of threats start at the DNS layer, which is the argument DNSFilter leans on when positioning DNS filtering as a foundational, easy-to-explain security service for MSPs pitching non-technical clients, as reported by The MSP Summit.
On the economics of reselling DNS filtering, Cucchi has argued that the fastest way for a partner to lower its per-license cost is to grow its own practice rather than wait for a vendor-granted discount, a framing that puts the burden of margin improvement on the MSP’s own growth rather than on DNSFilter renegotiating rates. He has also been candid that DNSFilter is actively trying to reestablish its brand in the MSP space, a goal that lines up with the Select and Accelerator partner tiers the company introduced on September 29, 2026.
Those comments are specific to DNSFilter’s own channel strategy, but they reflect a broader trend across the category: DNS filtering has become commoditized enough at the entry tier that vendors are competing as much on partner economics and ease of resale as they are on raw threat-detection capability.
Which DNS Filtering Platform Fits Your Use Case
Because all three platforms solve the same core problem, the right choice usually comes down to existing infrastructure, budget transparency, and how much adjacent functionality a team actually needs. The following five scenarios map fairly cleanly to one platform or another.
- If you want transparent, self-serve pricing with no sales call required: DNSFilter is the only one of the three that lets a buyer see exact per-license pricing and a hard monthly minimum on its own website without talking to a sales rep first.
- If you are already standardized on Cisco networking hardware: Cisco Umbrella integrates with the broader Cisco Security Service Edge stack and Cisco SecureX, which reduces the number of separate consoles a network team has to learn.
- If you are building a zero-trust architecture that needs more than DNS filtering: Cloudflare Gateway comes bundled inside Cloudflare One, so device posture checks, private network access, and browser isolation share the same policy engine as DNS filtering.
- If you are a small MSP looking to add a low-cost, high-margin line item: DNSFilter’s MSP track and partner tiers are purpose-built for reselling DNS security to small-business clients without a large minimum commitment.
- If budget is near zero but basic content filtering is still required: Cloudflare Gateway’s free Zero Trust tier covers a limited user count at no cost, making it a reasonable starting point for schools, nonprofits, or very small teams before they outgrow the free limits.
Migration Guide: Switching DNS Filtering Providers
Moving from one DNS filtering provider to another is usually less disruptive than migrating a firewall or SIEM, since the change happens at the DNS resolution layer rather than inline in the data path. The general process looks similar across DNSFilter, Cisco Umbrella, and Cloudflare Gateway, though the exact client software and policy import tools differ.
- Audit current DNS configuration, including which devices point to the old resolver via router-level DHCP settings, roaming client installs, or static resolver IPs, so nothing gets missed during cutover.
- Export existing block lists, allow lists, and category policies from the outgoing provider, since none of the three platforms automatically imports configuration from a competitor.
- Create the new account and recreate policies, starting with the broadest security categories (malware, phishing, newly registered domains) before layering on content-filtering categories specific to your organization.
- Deploy the new roaming client to a small pilot group of devices first, rather than pushing it fleet-wide, to catch any conflicts with existing endpoint software.
- Test resolution against the new provider before cutting over fully, using a simple command-line check against the new resolver’s IP addresses.
- Update router-level DNS settings or DHCP scope options to point to the new provider’s resolver IPs for any devices not using a roaming client.
- Monitor logs for 48 to 72 hours after cutover, watching specifically for false positives on business-critical domains that might not have been whitelisted during setup.
- Decommission the old provider’s roaming client and remove any lingering DNS redirect rules once the new setup is confirmed stable.
A quick way to confirm a new resolver is actually handling lookups before a full cutover is to query it directly from the command line and compare the response against the old provider:
# Test resolution against a new DNS filtering resolver before full cutover
nslookup example.com <new-resolver-ip>
# Confirm a known test-malware domain is being blocked
nslookup internetbadguys.com <new-resolver-ip>
# Expect a block-page IP or NXDOMAIN response if filtering is activeTeams running a hybrid remote workforce should also double-check how each platform’s roaming client behaves on networks that already enforce DNS filtering elsewhere, such as a Cloudflare Tunnel-protected home office or a coffee shop Wi-Fi network with its own DNS redirection, since conflicting resolvers can cause silent failures where filtering quietly stops working without any error message.
Pros and Cons Breakdown
Each platform’s strengths map closely to its weaknesses, which is typical for products built around fundamentally different go-to-market strategies.
DNSFilter
- Pros: Transparent published pricing, low entry cost, purpose-built MSP program with three partner tiers, strong focus purely on DNS security without feature bloat.
- Cons: Smaller reported customer base and query volume than Cisco or Cloudflare, Enterprise pricing still requires a sales conversation, limited adjacent features if an organization later needs firewall or CASB capability.
Cisco Umbrella
- Pros: Massive reported query volume (620 billion requests per day), deep integration with the broader Cisco Security Service Edge and SecureX ecosystem, SIG tiers bundle firewall, CASB, and DLP for teams that need more than DNS alone.
- Cons: No public pricing, inconsistent customer-count figures across Cisco’s own marketing pages, SIG tiers can cost significantly more than a standalone DNS tool for teams that genuinely only need DNS filtering.
Cloudflare Gateway
- Pros: Free tier for small teams, backed by the largest reported query volume of the three (1.7 trillion queries per day network-wide), bundled naturally into a broader Cloudflare One zero-trust rollout, strong financial backing from a public company growing revenue 36% year over year.
- Cons: Standard and Enterprise pricing not published, the headline query-volume figure covers Cloudflare’s whole public resolver rather than Gateway specifically, teams that only want DNS filtering may find themselves paying for Zero Trust features they don’t use yet.
Deployment Models: MX Records, Roaming Clients, and API Connectors
How a DNS filtering platform gets traffic in the first place shapes how disruptive it is to roll out. All three vendors support a roaming client, a small background agent installed on laptops and desktops that redirects DNS queries to the provider’s resolver regardless of which network the device is on, which is the most common deployment model for distributed and remote workforces.
For fixed office networks, DNSFilter and Cisco Umbrella both support router-level or DHCP-level redirection, pointing an entire office’s DNS traffic to the provider’s resolver IPs without installing any client software on individual machines, which works well for shared devices, IoT hardware, and guest networks that cannot run an agent. Cisco Umbrella also supports virtual appliances and site-to-site tunnels for larger branch-office deployments that need more granular per-location policy.
Cloudflare Gateway leans on its WARP client for roaming devices and on Cloudflare Tunnel for connecting entire office or data-center networks without exposing public IP addresses, a model that overlaps heavily with how organizations already use Cloudflare for other zero-trust controls. None of the three platforms require an MX record change, since that mechanism is specific to email security gateways rather than DNS filtering, but all three do require either a network-level DNS redirect, a roaming client install, or an API-based connector to actually see and filter traffic, so there is no way to deploy any of them with zero configuration.
Verdict: Which DNS Filtering Platform Wins in 2026
There is no single winner across every scenario, but the data points to a clear default for most buyers. For organizations that want DNS filtering as a standalone, transparently priced product, especially small businesses, clinics, and MSPs reselling to SMB clients, DNSFilter’s published pricing and purpose-built partner program make it the easiest platform to evaluate and deploy without a drawn-out sales cycle. Its roughly 200 billion queries per day and 57,000-plus customer base are smaller than its rivals’, but DNS filtering accuracy depends more on threat-feed quality than raw network size, and DNSFilter’s narrow focus is itself a selling point for teams that do not want to buy a bigger platform than they need.
For enterprises already standardized on Cisco networking hardware, Cisco Umbrella remains the path of least resistance for now, though the January 2027 end-of-sale point and the migration path toward Secure Access Manager and Security Cloud Control are worth confirming with a reseller before signing a long term, particularly once a team needs the SIG tier’s bundled firewall and CASB capability rather than DNS filtering alone. The lack of public pricing is a genuine friction point, but Cisco’s 620-billion-queries-per-day threat intelligence and its SecureX integration give Umbrella real technical weight for organizations with the budget and procurement patience to negotiate enterprise terms.
For teams building toward a full zero-trust architecture, Cloudflare Gateway is the strongest long-term bet, since its 1.7-trillion-query-per-day network backbone, free entry tier, and tight integration with the rest of Cloudflare One mean a security team only has to learn one platform as its needs grow from basic DNS filtering into device posture, private access, and browser isolation. The tradeoff is pricing opacity above the free tier, which puts Cloudflare in the same quote-only category as Cisco for any deployment beyond a small team.
In short: pick DNSFilter for transparent pricing and MSP-friendly packaging, pick Cisco Umbrella if you are already locked into the Cisco ecosystem and need bundled SIG features, and pick Cloudflare Gateway if DNS filtering is the first step in a bigger zero-trust rollout rather than the whole project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between DNS filtering and a firewall?
DNS filtering blocks malicious or unwanted domains at the lookup stage, before any connection to the destination is ever attempted. A firewall inspects traffic that has already been allowed to connect, filtering based on ports, protocols, or packet contents. The two are complementary rather than interchangeable: DNS filtering stops a lot of threats cheaply and with almost no latency, while a firewall catches threats that do not rely on domain resolution at all, such as direct IP-based attacks.
Is DNSFilter cheaper than Cisco Umbrella?
Based on published and estimated pricing, DNSFilter’s entry Core tier at roughly $1.00 to $1.15 per license per month is generally cheaper than Cisco’s estimated DNS Essentials pricing of $30 to $40 per user per year, which works out to roughly $2.50 to $3.33 per user per month. However, Cisco’s pricing is not officially published, so any direct comparison carries some uncertainty, and the two products are not identical in feature scope once Cisco’s SIG tiers are factored in.
Does Cloudflare Gateway require a paid Cloudflare One subscription?
No. Cloudflare offers a free Zero Trust tier that includes Gateway’s DNS filtering for a limited number of users, which is enough for many small teams, schools, and nonprofits. Organizations that need a higher user count, advanced policy controls, or dedicated support typically move to a paid Standard or Enterprise plan, both of which require a custom quote from Cloudflare. Teams layering a Cloudflare WAF on top of Gateway can manage both from the same Cloudflare One dashboard.
Can I use more than one DNS filtering provider at the same time?
Technically yes, but it is not recommended for most organizations. Running two DNS filtering services simultaneously on the same device or network can cause unpredictable behavior, since whichever resolver responds first wins, and conflicting block or allow lists can create confusing, hard-to-diagnose connectivity issues. It is cleaner to fully migrate from one provider to another, following a structured cutover process, than to run both in parallel long-term.
How does DNS filtering handle encrypted DNS traffic like DNS-over-HTTPS?
All three platforms in this comparison support encrypted DNS protocols, DNSFilter and Cloudflare Gateway both support DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS, and Cisco Umbrella supports DNS-over-HTTPS as well. The bigger operational challenge is making sure devices and browsers are configured to actually use the provider’s encrypted resolver rather than defaulting to a public DoH resolver built into the browser itself, which can silently bypass DNS filtering entirely if not explicitly locked down through group policy or MDM configuration.
Do MSPs get volume discounts on DNS filtering platforms?
DNSFilter’s MSP program is structured around partner tiers, Select, Accelerator, and Strategic, that reward growth rather than guaranteeing an automatic discount at sign-up, a point DNSFilter’s own VP of MSP and Channel Sales, Dan Cucchi, has made directly: partners generally improve their margins by scaling their own client base rather than negotiating a better rate upfront. Cisco and Cloudflare both run partner and reseller programs as well, but neither publishes a detailed MSP-specific rate card comparable to DNSFilter’s.
Which platform is easiest to deploy for a small business with no dedicated IT staff?
DNSFilter’s Core tier and Cloudflare Gateway’s free tier are both reasonable starting points for a small business without dedicated IT staff, since either can be set up by pointing office router DNS settings to the provider’s resolver IPs without installing software on every device. DNSFilter’s lower monthly minimum and self-serve checkout make it slightly simpler to get running without ever talking to a salesperson, while Cloudflare’s free tier is the better choice if cost has to be exactly zero.
Does switching DNS filtering providers cause downtime?
A well-planned migration should cause little to no downtime, since DNS changes propagate quickly and most devices simply start resolving through the new provider within minutes of the switch. The bigger risk is not downtime but false positives, where a business-critical domain gets blocked under the new provider’s default policy before it has been explicitly allowed, which is why the migration steps above recommend a pilot group and a 48 to 72 hour monitoring window before a full fleet-wide cutover.
