Cisco Umbrella for business is not free. It is a paid, per-user subscription sold through Cisco and its partners. There are, however, a few free ways to try it or to get similar protection at home.
Free and paid options compared
| Option | Cost | Who it is for | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Umbrella DNS free trial | Free for 14 days | Businesses evaluating the service | DNS-layer security, dashboard and reporting for a trial period |
| OpenDNS FamilyShield | Free | Homes and small setups with no admin time | Preconfigured blocking of adult content and some risky sites. No account or dashboard needed. |
| OpenDNS Home | Free | Homes that want some control | A free account with basic category filtering and simple statistics |
| Umbrella DNS and SIG packages | Paid, quoted per user | Businesses, schools and MSPs | Security categories, identity-based policies, roaming protection, reporting and, on SIG, full web and firewall security |
Using the free OpenDNS services
For FamilyShield, set your router’s DNS servers to 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123. For OpenDNS Home, create a free account, use the standard resolvers 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, and register your home IP address so your settings apply. The paid home tiers, OpenDNS Home VIP and Umbrella Prosumer, were withdrawn from sale in 2023, so there is no longer an upgrade path from the free home plans.
What the free options do not include
- Policies per user or per device, and Active Directory integration.
- The Umbrella module for laptops, so no protection away from home.
- Detailed security reporting, log export, APIs or threat intelligence tools such as Investigate.
- Secure web gateway, cloud firewall or DLP.
- Business support or service level agreements.
The trial and Umbrella’s retirement
Because Cisco has announced end of sale for Umbrella’s business packages on 31 January 2027, trial sign-ups are increasingly directed to Cisco Secure Access DNS Defense, Umbrella’s successor. If you are trialling DNS security today, it makes sense to evaluate the product you would actually be buying for the long term.