In short: OpenDNS is a public DNS service that Cisco bought in 2015; its business product became Cisco Umbrella. The free OpenDNS Home, FamilyShield and Public Service options still exist, but the former paid consumer plans are no longer offered. Businesses should use a paid Umbrella or Cisco Secure Access subscription, not free OpenDNS.
A short history of OpenDNS
OpenDNS began as a public DNS resolver service: point your router at its servers and get faster lookups, phishing protection and optional content filtering, for free. It became popular with households, schools and small businesses.
Cisco completed its acquisition of OpenDNS on 27 August 2015. The business security service was developed into Cisco Umbrella, while the consumer services kept the OpenDNS brand. Today opendns.com describes OpenDNS as part of Cisco and sends visitors looking for enterprise security to Cisco Secure Access, Umbrella's successor.
Which OpenDNS services still exist?
This is the current position, based on the services opendns.com lists for home users:
| Service | Status | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| OpenDNS Home | Free, still offered | The classic consumer service. You create an account and can customise filtering for a home network. |
| OpenDNS FamilyShield | Free, still offered | No sign-up. Preconfigured to block adult content. Uses the FamilyShield resolvers 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123. |
| OpenDNS Public Service | Free, still offered | No sign-up. Basic DNS-layer protection with built-in filtering settings, using the standard resolvers. |
| OpenDNS Home VIP and OpenDNS Umbrella Prosumer | No longer offered | Former paid consumer plans. They no longer appear among the services on opendns.com. |
The standard OpenDNS resolvers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, the same anycast addresses Umbrella uses. That surprises people, and it is the key to understanding the difference below.
Why a business should not rely on free OpenDNS
Free OpenDNS is built for households. It can be tempting for a small office or a school that wants something quick, but it is the wrong foundation for an organisation:
- No contractual cover. Cisco's Umbrella Offer Description states that a paid customer's use of the free OpenDNS service is not covered by the Umbrella terms, warranties or service levels. If something goes wrong, there is no support contract behind it.
- It is a consumer product. Cisco itself points business users away from OpenDNS and towards its paid services.
- No business features. Per-user and per-group policy, the Umbrella virtual appliance for internal DNS and Active Directory, the Umbrella Roaming Security Module for laptops off site, the intelligent proxy, Umbrella Investigate and the SIG security services all belong to Umbrella packages, not to free OpenDNS.
- Accountability. Schools, regulated firms and anyone answering a cyber insurance or supplier questionnaire need to show a supported, configured control with reporting. A free consumer service is hard to defend.
If your organisation is still using free OpenDNS on its routers, treat it as a gap to close rather than a control you have in place.
OpenDNS vs Umbrella DNS Security
Because both use the same resolver addresses, what decides your protection is whether your network is registered as an identity in a paid Umbrella organisation. When it is, your lookups are matched to your organisation's policy, logged in your dashboard and covered by your subscription. When it is not, you are using the public OpenDNS service.
| Free OpenDNS (Home / FamilyShield) | Umbrella DNS Security Essentials or Advantage | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Households | Organisations of any size |
| Terms, warranty and SLA | Not covered by Umbrella terms | Covered by your Umbrella subscription |
| Policy | Network-wide settings for a home (FamilyShield is preset) | Policies by network, roaming computer, AD or cloud user and group, with allow and block lists |
| Off-network protection | Not designed for it | Roaming module for Windows and macOS, Cisco Security for Chromebook, and mobile options |
| Internal DNS and AD | No | Virtual appliances and the AD Connector |
| Reporting | Not built for organisational reporting | Activity search, security reports, the Reporting API and log export to Amazon S3 |
| Intelligent proxy and Investigate | No | Included in DNS Security Advantage |
Our Umbrella packages page compares the four business packages in full, and Umbrella DNS servers explains how to point your network at Umbrella and register it correctly.
Moving from OpenDNS to a business service
If you are moving off free OpenDNS, the change is usually quick because the resolver addresses stay the same:
- Decide between Umbrella and Cisco Secure Access. Umbrella can be ordered until 31 January 2027 and is supported until 31 January 2029; Secure Access is the long-term route. See Cisco Umbrella end of life.
- Start a subscription or a Cisco Umbrella free trial and register each office's public IP address as a network identity. If registration says the network already exists, check whether the address is still registered in an old OpenDNS Home account, or whether your provider has given you a shared public IP.
- Build a policy: security categories, content filtering and any allow or block lists you need.
- Add the virtual appliance if you run internal DNS, and the roaming module for laptops that leave the office.
- Check the dashboard shows your networks as active and your reports are filling, then remove the old OpenDNS Home account.
We can do this for you, including the decision on Umbrella versus Secure Access. Contact us to talk it through.
How Forever Systems supplies and supports Cisco Umbrella
We supply, deploy and support Cisco Umbrella for UK organisations, and plan the move to its successor, Cisco Secure Access.
- Package selection: DNS Security or SIG, Essentials or Advantage, plus add-ons, matched to your users, sites and compliance needs
- Deployment: network DNS forwarding, virtual appliances, the roaming module in Cisco Secure Client, Chromebooks, IPsec tunnels from Cisco Meraki and other firewalls, and Active Directory, Entra ID or SAML identity integration
- Policy design: security categories, content filtering for schools and businesses, allow and block lists, and reporting
- Migration planning from Umbrella to Cisco Secure Access ahead of Cisco's end-of-sale and end-of-support dates
- Ongoing support: reporting, policy tuning, renewals and licence changes
Forever Systems Ltd is an independent IT and cyber security provider and also supplies the wider Cisco Secure portfolio.
Want a Cisco Umbrella quote, deployment or migration plan?
Tell Forever Systems what you need and we will come back to you by email with options, not a hard sell.
Contact usFrequently asked questions
Is OpenDNS still free?
Yes. opendns.com lists OpenDNS Home, OpenDNS FamilyShield and the OpenDNS Public Service as free services for home users. The former paid consumer plans, OpenDNS Home VIP and OpenDNS Umbrella Prosumer, are no longer offered.
Is OpenDNS the same as Cisco Umbrella?
Not any more. Cisco bought OpenDNS in 2015 and its business service became Cisco Umbrella. Both use the same resolver addresses, but only a paid Umbrella subscription gives you organisation-level policy, reporting, roaming protection and contractual cover.
What are the OpenDNS FamilyShield DNS servers?
OpenDNS lists the FamilyShield nameservers as 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123. FamilyShield blocks adult content with no sign-up. The standard OpenDNS and Umbrella resolvers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
Can a business use OpenDNS for free?
It can technically point its DNS at the free service, but Cisco aims OpenDNS at home users and directs businesses to its paid services. Cisco's Umbrella Offer Description says use of the free OpenDNS service is not covered by Umbrella's terms, warranties or service levels.
Is OpenDNS being shut down?
Cisco has not published an end date for the free OpenDNS Home or FamilyShield services. The end-of-life notice announced on 1 September 2026 covers the paid Umbrella SIG and DNS business packages, which reach end of sale on 31 January 2027.