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DNS filtering · October 2026 Edition

Cloudflare Gateway vs Cisco Umbrella

Three of fourteen models named Cloudflare Gateway first on the direct prompt; zero named Cisco Umbrella. Cloudflare Gateway was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Cisco Umbrella by twelve and Cloudflare Gateway carries 48 labels and Cisco Umbrella 40, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Cloudflare Gateway

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

Cisco Umbrella

criticized challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share22%6%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate2%25%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels4840A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cloudflare Gateway reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.DNSFilter was named alongside these two in fourteen of the fourteen direct answers. DNSFilter vs Cloudflare Gateway · DNSFilter vs Cisco Umbrella · Cloudflare Gateway vs Control D

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the DNS filtering page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Cloudflare GatewayFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCisco Umbrella
Direct301 against Cisco Umbrella
Paraphrase121 against Cisco Umbrella
Comparative011 against Cisco Umbrella
Budget-constrained704 against Cisco Umbrella
Scale-constrained011 against Cisco Umbrella
Negative001 against Cloudflare Gateway · 2 against Cisco Umbrella
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Cloudflare Gateway and Cisco Umbrella were named in the same answer 106 times, of the 144 answers naming Cloudflare Gateway and the 165 naming Cisco Umbrella. In those answers Cisco Umbrella took the first choice thirty times and Cloudflare Gateway eleven.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare Gateway and Cisco Umbrella stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Cloudflare Gateway Cisco Umbrella first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare Gateway on the left and Cisco Umbrella on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare Gateway and Cisco Umbrella stood in it.

Cloudflare Gateway first, Cisco Umbrella an alternative

3 of 14 modelsCisco Umbrella was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Perplexity SonarCloudflare Gateway, DNSFilter alternatives: Control D, SafeDNS
Qwen 3.7 FlashCloudflare Gateway alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, DNSFilter
MiniMax M2.5Cloudflare Gateway, DNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella

Neither was the first choice, one was named

9 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5DNSFilter alternatives: Akamai Enterprise Threat Protector, Cloudflare Gateway, Prisma Access DNS Security
GPT-5.4 miniDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense, Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Zscaler DNS Security
Gemini 3.5 FlashDNSFilter alternatives: Cloudflare Gateway, Control D
Grok 4.1 FastDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
DeepSeek V4 FlashDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Webroot DNS Protection
Kimi K2DNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
GLM 4.7 FlashXDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Infoblox BloxOne DDI
GPT-6 LunaDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Secure Access, Cloudflare Gateway
Muse Glimmer 30BDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway

Neither was named

2 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Mistral SmallDNSFilter
Llama 4 MaverickDNSFilter, WebTitan

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Cloudflare Gateway leads by eleven points.
Cloudflare Gateway16%#2 of 8
Cisco Umbrella5%#4 of 8
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare Gateway leads by sixteen points.
Cloudflare Gateway22%#2 of 9
Cisco Umbrella6%#3 of 9
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: Cisco Umbrella leads at enterprise.
Cisco Umbrella43%#1 of 7
Cloudflare Gateway4%#3 of 7
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Cloudflare Gateway

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.

“powerful but come with cautionary notes” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“I'd suggest starting with Cloudflare Gateway if you want free tier flexibility, or Control D if you want predictable low-cost pricing” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“The Best Overall Balance: Cloudflare Gateway ... If you want speed and cost-efficiency, go with Cloudflare Gateway.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“Cloudflare is currently the market leader in this space... If yes, Cloudflare is usually the superior choice” Qwen 3.7 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice

What the models said about Cisco Umbrella

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.

“its pricing and complexity can be prohibitive for small businesses, and setup can be steep... can be overkill or frustrating for smaller deployments” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“But watch out for: Quote-based pricing that can escalate quickly ... Often feels like overkill for mid-market needs” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“Services like Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, and DNSFilter are powerful but come with cautionary notes” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Best for: Large enterprises, organizations with complex security needs ... Industry-leading threat intelligence, extensive integration ecosystem, mature platform” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
“Popular options for 500 users include DNSFilter (AI-focused, easy deploy) and Cisco Umbrella (enterprise-grade integrations).” Grok 4.1 Fast · scale prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend Cisco Umbrella as the top DNS security solution.” Grok 4.1 Fast · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.