Background

Cisco acquired OpenDNS in 2015 and rebranded their enterprise offering as Cisco Umbrella. While OpenDNS had been a popular and affordable DNS filtering solution, the transition to Cisco brought a sharp increase in costs for organizations that depended on it.

This has left many schools, small businesses, and organizations looking for alternatives that provide comparable filtering capabilities without the enterprise price tag.

The Cost Difference

The pricing differences between Cisco Umbrella and CleanBrowsing are dramatic. One school district was quoted $8,000 USD annually for 1,000 devices through Cisco, but found they could get the same coverage with CleanBrowsing for just $330 per year. A Netherlands-based organization received a quote of $8,500 for 600 devices from Cisco.

These are not isolated cases. As Cisco has moved upmarket to target enterprise customers, smaller organizations have been priced out of the solution they once relied on.

Why Is CleanBrowsing More Affordable?

CleanBrowsing is a bootstrapped startup without investor growth mandates. This structure allows the company to price services fairly rather than maximizing revenue extraction. The lower cost reflects fairness, not reduced capability.

The founders originally designed the system for their own families and have maintained that community-first approach as the service has grown to serve schools, Wi-Fi providers, and families since 2018.

What CleanBrowsing Offers

CleanBrowsing focuses specifically on security and content filtering, with a strong emphasis on blocking adult content and preventing users from circumventing filters. The service includes:

• Custom filtering lists and categories
• API access for integration with existing tools
• Multiple DNS configuration options
• Email support
• Dashboard for monitoring and management
• Support for schools, businesses, and families

Who Uses CleanBrowsing?

CleanBrowsing serves a diverse range of customers including K-12 schools that need CIPA-compliant filtering, public Wi-Fi providers that need to maintain safe browsing environments, small businesses that want to protect their networks, and families looking for affordable content filtering.

If you are currently using Cisco Umbrella or OpenDNS and looking for a more cost-effective solution, CleanBrowsing provides a compelling alternative with comparable capabilities.