Amar Jeer

Cisco Umbrella Pricing 2026: What It Actually Costs Per User

June 1, 2026

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Cisco Umbrella Pricing 2026: What It Actually Costs Per User

Cisco Umbrella pricing in 2026 starts around $30 per user per year for DNS Security Essentials and reaches $135+ per user for SIG Advantage, before add-ons like Premium Support, Professional Services, and module-specific upgrades. Most enterprise deployments land between $80 and $150 per user per year all-in, depending on package, term length, and how many of the 6+ SKU lines you end up with. dope.SWG, by contrast, is one SKU at $60 per device per year.

The four main Cisco Umbrella packages

Cisco Umbrella is sold in a tiered package model. The base layer is DNS filtering. Each higher tier adds inspection capability, but the SWG and DLP functions you actually want for an enterprise SSE deployment only show up in the SIG tiers.

Plan	What it includes	Public list (per user/year, approx)
DNS Security Essentials	DNS-layer filtering, basic threat protection	$30 to $40
DNS Security Advantage	Adds intelligent proxy, file inspection, encrypted DNS	$40 to $55
SIG Essentials	Adds full SWG, cloud-delivered firewall, basic CASB	$60 to $90
SIG Advantage	Adds DLP, RBI, cloud malware detection, advanced reporting	$95 to $135
Premium Support	Always quoted as a separate line item	Negotiated, often 5-10% of contract
Professional Services	Deployment, lifecycle management	Negotiated, often $20K to $250K+
dope.SWG (comparison)	On-device SWG with everything included: SSL inspection, URL filtering, CAC, Shadow IT, instant policy push	$60 per device per year, one SKU

List pricing is approximate. Cisco rarely publishes prices on its website, so the numbers above reflect 2025-2026 reseller quotes for mid-market deployments. Enterprise discounts apply, but the SKU complexity does not go away.

Where the price actually compounds

The package list price is the start, not the finish. Three add-on classes drive the real cost.

Premium Support. Cisco bills Premium Support as its own line item, often 5-10% of the contract. We've seen invoices where Premium Support alone was a six-figure SKU. See the Zscaler real pricing comparison for an example of how the support line compounds on a large SSE invoice.

Professional Services. Cisco's "360 Lifecycle" or equivalent services SKU can add $20,000 to $250,000+ to a deployment. Most modern SSE platforms don't charge this because they deploy themselves through MDM. Greylock Partners replaced Cisco Umbrella in 27 days via Intune. A separate VC firm migrated 2,000 machines in two days. Neither paid a six-figure services SKU.

Module add-ons. NSS log export, guest WiFi DNS, intelligent routing, training credits, and lab access are commonly priced as separate SKUs. Each one is small. Together they add 5-15% to the contract.

How dope.SWG pricing compares

dope.SWG is $60 per device per year. One SKU. The base plan includes the Fly-Direct architecture, on-device SSL inspection, URL filtering across 80+ categories, Cloud Application Control, anti-malware, Shadow IT discovery, real-time policy push, the analytics dashboard, Mac and Windows native, offline enforcement, and under 100 MB of RAM.

Upgrade plans bundle additional products under volume pricing: SWG + DLP adds Dopamine DLP. SWG + CASB adds CASB Neural. SSE+ bundles everything with 24/7 support and enterprise SLAs. Free instant SSO trial on the pricing page, no payment method required.

Why Cisco Umbrella pricing keeps climbing

The data center market is full. Colocation rates went up 63% from 2021 to 2025. Cloud-proxy SSE vendors like Cisco are exposed to that cost squeeze because every customer they land needs more data center capacity. We wrote up the full math in how rising data center costs are driving SASE/SSE price increases. Renewal increases of 20-35% are now common.

FAQ: Cisco Umbrella pricing

How much does Cisco Umbrella cost per user in 2026?

Approximate list pricing: DNS Security Essentials $30-$40 per user/year, DNS Advantage $40-$55, SIG Essentials $60-$90, SIG Advantage $95-$135. Add-on SKUs and Premium Support push most enterprise deployments to $80-$150+ per user all-in.

Is Cisco Umbrella priced per user or per device?

Per user. dope.SWG is priced per device at $60/device/year.

What is Cisco Umbrella SIG Essentials?

Cisco Umbrella SIG (Secure Internet Gateway) Essentials is the package tier that adds a full SWG, cloud-delivered firewall, and basic CASB on top of DNS filtering. It's the minimum tier required for HTTPS inspection.

Does Cisco Umbrella include DLP?

DLP is included in SIG Advantage but is limited compared to native endpoint DLP. See the best DLP tools comparison for the category-wide view.

Does Cisco Umbrella charge for support?

Premium Support is sold as a separate SKU and is commonly 5-10% of the contract value.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Cisco Umbrella?

Yes. dope.SWG is one SKU at $60/device/year. For deployments at 1,000+ devices, the all-in TCO is typically 50-70% lower than Cisco Umbrella SIG, especially when factoring in Premium Support and Professional Services SKUs.

How does Cisco Umbrella MSP pricing work?

Cisco offers a separate MSP pricing track with multi-tenant management. List pricing varies and is not published; expect to negotiate based on seat volume.