No, Cisco Umbrella is not free for businesses. It is a paid subscription, usually licensed per user and sold through Cisco partners, with pricing that depends on the package and contract size. Cisco does not publish list prices, so quotes vary.
The packages are tiered. DNS Essentials and DNS Advantage cover DNS-layer security, while SIG Essentials and SIG Advantage add a secure web gateway, cloud firewall, CASB and data loss prevention. Each step up adds cost, and some capabilities are sold as separate add-ons.
There are a few free options worth knowing about:
- Free trial. Cisco has offered a 14-day free trial, and new sign-ups are now directed to a trial of Cisco Secure Access DNS Defense, Umbrella’s successor.
- OpenDNS Home. The consumer service Umbrella grew from is free for home networks and supports basic content filtering.
- OpenDNS FamilyShield. A free, preconfigured resolver (208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123) that blocks adult content with no account needed.
These free services are built for households, not organisations. They lack the reporting, identity-based policies and roaming protection of the business product.
For budgeting, remember that Cisco has announced end of sale for Umbrella DNS and SIG on 31 January 2027. Organisations renewing now should ask about migration pricing to Secure Access, and compare the total cost against alternatives that bundle DNS filtering, ZTNA and SSE under a single licence.