Cisco Umbrella vs Control D
One of fourteen models named Cisco Umbrella first on the direct prompt; zero named Control D. Both were named by all fourteen models and Cisco Umbrella carries 58 labels and Control D 29, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in five categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
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
Cisco UmbrellaFirst choices, of fourteen modelsControl D
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Cisco Umbrella and Control D were named in the same answer seventy-four times, of the 213 answers naming Cisco Umbrella and the 89 naming Control D. In those answers Control D took the first choice ten times and Cisco Umbrella twenty-one.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | ||||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | | |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | |||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| 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 | | | | | |
Cisco Umbrella Control D first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cisco Umbrella on the left and Control D on the right.The direct prompt
Cisco Umbrella first, Control D not the choice
1 of 14 modelsControl D was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.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.Neither was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.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
Cisco Umbrella5%#5 of 9Control D4%#6 of 9Cisco Umbrella14%#3 of 11Control D2%#5 of 11Cisco Umbrella52%#1 of 10Control D7%#5 of 10What 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.
“Unless you're already a Cisco shop, I'd avoid starting with a legacy product being phased out.” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Cisco Umbrella if budget is the top concern, because it's more enterprise-oriented” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · hard negative
“often seen as more expensive, slower to deploy (hours vs. minutes), and complex for mid-market needs... Better for larger enterprises.” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · soft negative
“Best for: Companies already using Cisco networking gear or those wanting a simple, standalone DNS solution with no hardware changes.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“Best enterprise default: Cisco Umbrella, especially when the organization already uses Cisco security products.” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · first choice
“Cisco Umbrella is the most widely deployed DNS filtering product, built on the OpenDNS resolver network.” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Control D
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“also receive mixed reviews, with similar concerns about support and occasional reliability issues” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“their privacy language has changed over time... premium/custom setups can involve account data” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“though less common for general B2B IT operations” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · soft negative
“NextDNS or Control D: Customizable filtering ... with strong no-log policies, audits” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · first choice
“Industry-leading malware block rate (99.98% per Nexxwave testing, June 2025)” MiniMax M2.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
“1. Control D - Highly recommended for limited budgets” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
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.