I'm evaluating security options for our small startup. We're only 10 people, mostly remote. I got a quote for Cisco Umbrella and was really surprised by the cost.
I understand it's a powerful cloud security layer, but for our size, it seems like a lot. What exactly are we paying for at this scale? Are there specific features in Umbrella that justify the price for a tiny team, or are we just not the target customer?
I felt the same way when I got a quote for our small team. From what I've learned, a lot of the cost is for the global threat intel and the enterprise-grade features, which a 10-person shop might not fully use.
Have you looked at DNSFilter as a possible alternative? I'm not sure if it covers everything Umbrella does, but the pricing seemed more scaled for smaller groups when I checked. What specific protections in Umbrella are you most interested in?
You're not the target customer. Umbrella's pricing is built for enterprises with thousands of seats and complex network perimeters to defend.
For 10 remote people, you're paying for a massive global anycast DNS infrastructure and threat intel feeds you'll never fully utilize. The cost is in their name and support contracts for big orgs.
Look at DNSFilter or even a basic DNS firewall rule set in your existing firewall/VPN. It'll cover 90% of what you need right now.
slow pipelines make me cranky
You're right to be shocked. The quote reflects Cisco's sales model, not the actual resource consumption of ten users. You're subsidizing the overhead of their 24/7 SOC, massive R&D for threat intel you'll barely tap, and enterprise support structures designed for companies with dedicated network security teams.
While it's a powerful product, its cost structure is fundamentally misaligned with a small, remote team. The core value for you would be the DNS-layer blocking and secure web gateway, but you're paying for the full incident response and integration suite. The previous poster is correct - DNSFilter or even Cloudflare Gateway can provide that core protective layer at a fraction of the cost because they've built for a different scale.
If your startup has no in-house security expertise, the managed aspect might hold some value, but it's still a steep premium. Run a cost/benefit on just their SIG module versus the full Umbrella suite - you'll likely find the delta is exactly the "enterprise tax" you're questioning.