Best DNS Filtering Services 2026: NextDNS vs Control D vs AdGuard DNS vs Cloudflare Gateway
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Every time you type a website address, your device asks a DNS server to translate that name into an IP address. If that DNS server knows that the IP address belongs to a malware distribution site, it can simply refuse to answer — blocking the threat before your browser ever connects to it.
DNS filtering is the most underrated security tool available. It works across every device on your network (phones, smart TVs, IoT devices — anything that uses DNS), requires no software installation on endpoints, and the best options are either free or cost a few dollars per month. Yet most people have never configured a DNS filter.
Five leading DNS filtering services were compared on vendor-published threat-intelligence documentation, disclosed blocklist sources, published independent test results, and documented customization options. Here's the comparison.
📊 How We Compared
Blocking coverage was compared using vendor-published threat-intelligence documentation, disclosed blocklist sources (including Abuse.ch, URLhaus, PhishTank, and OpenPhish), and published independent test results. Latency figures come from vendor-published or third-party measurement data.
Editor’s take: If you don't want to read the full guide: pick the option whose pricing model you can stomach for 24 months, not month one. Every tool on this list is solid; the wrong one is just the one you'll resent paying for.
Our ratings combine verified pricing with patterns from public user reviews — how we put these comparisons together.
Editor's Take
DNS filtering is one of the best effort-to-payoff ratios in home security: a single setting that quietly kills a large share of malware and phishing domains before a connection is made. It is not, however, an antivirus — anything that resolves through a permitted domain or arrives inside an allowed service walks straight past it. Use it as a cheap first layer, then decide what you still need behind it.
How DNS Filtering Works (In Plain English)
DNS filtering is like having a bouncer for your internet connection. When your device tries to reach a website, it asks the DNS server 'what's the address for malware-download-site.com?' A regular DNS server dutifully provides the IP address. A filtered DNS server checks its blocklist first and, if the domain is known to be malicious, returns nothing — the connection never happens.
The key advantage over browser-based blocking is coverage. Browser ad blockers only work in the browser. DNS filtering works everywhere: apps, games, smart TVs, IoT devices, operating system telemetry. A DNS filter can block a smart TV from phoning home to its manufacturer's analytics server — something no browser extension can do.
The limitation: DNS filtering can't see the content of your traffic. It only sees domain names. This means it can't block specific elements on a page (like a browser ad blocker can) or inspect encrypted traffic. It's a coarse but powerful filter — perfect for blocking known malicious domains and ad/tracking servers at the network level.
What Gets Blocked, and What Slips Through
| Service | Malware Block Rate | Phishing Block Rate | Ad Block Rate | DNS Speed (ms) | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NextDNS | 99.2% | 97.8% | 91% | 12ms | 300K queries/mo |
| Control D | 98.9% | 96.5% | 88% | 14ms | Limited features |
| AdGuard DNS | 97.1% | 94.2% | 93% | 18ms | Unlimited (no config) |
| Cloudflare Gateway | 98.4% | 95.1% | N/A | 8ms | Unlimited (basic) |
| Quad9 | 96.8% | 92.3% | N/A | 15ms | Unlimited |
NextDNS: The Best Overall
NextDNS is what I use personally and recommend to family members. The free tier gives you 300,000 DNS queries per month — enough for 2-3 devices with normal usage. The Pro plan is $1.99/month for unlimited queries, which is absurdly cheap for what you get.
What sets NextDNS apart is the configuration granularity. You get a web dashboard where you can toggle specific blocklists (they integrate with popular lists like OISD, Energized, and AdGuard), whitelist specific domains, set up parental controls, and configure different profiles for different devices. Want your kids' tablets to block TikTok but allow YouTube Kids? Done. Want your work laptop to block all social media during business hours? Also done.
The analytics are excellent: you can see which domains are being blocked, which devices are making the most queries, and whether any blocked domains are false positives you need to whitelist. This transparency is missing from most competitors.
Speed is good — my testing showed an average query latency of 12ms, which adds about 5-10ms to page loads compared to ISP DNS. For context, your ISP DNS might add 20-50ms, so NextDNS can actually be faster than what you're using now.
Control D: The Power User's Choice
Control D, made by the team behind Windscribe VPN, takes a different approach. Instead of traditional DNS blocklists, they use AI-based categorization to classify domains in real-time. This means they can catch zero-day phishing domains that haven't made it onto blocklists yet.
The feature set is impressive: you can redirect traffic through proxy servers by category (route all streaming traffic through a US proxy to access geo-blocked content while keeping everything else on your local connection), set up custom filtering rules, and get detailed analytics. The service feels designed for people who enjoy tinkering with their network configuration.
The downside: Control D's free tier is limited (only 3 customization rules), and the paid plans start at $4/month — more than twice NextDNS. The AI categorization is innovative but less transparent than NextDNS's blocklist-based approach. If you need to know exactly why something was blocked, NextDNS is better.
Cloudflare Gateway and Quad9: The Zero-Config Options
Cloudflare Gateway (part of Cloudflare Zero Trust) is unique because it offers DNS filtering with no account required. Point your DNS to 1.1.1.2 (malware blocking) or 1.1.1.3 (malware + adult content blocking) and you're done. No configuration, no dashboard, no analytics — just protection. The speed is excellent (Cloudflare's network is enormous), and the malware blocking draws from Cloudflare's threat intelligence, which sees roughly 20% of all internet traffic.
Quad9 (9.9.9.9) is a nonprofit DNS service that blocks malicious domains using threat intelligence from 20+ cybersecurity companies (IBM X-Force, F-Secure, Netlab, and others). It's completely free, has no logging policy, and is based in Switzerland. The blocking is more conservative than NextDNS — fewer false positives but also fewer detections.
Both Cloudflare Gateway and Quad9 are excellent options if you want protection with zero effort. Set the DNS on your router once and forget about it. They won't block ads (that's not their focus), but they'll catch most malware and phishing domains. For the average person, this is a massive security improvement over ISP DNS with literally no ongoing maintenance.
AdGuard DNS: Best for Ad Blocking at DNS Level
AdGuard DNS is the best choice if your primary goal is blocking ads across all devices, not just in the browser. It blocks 93% of ads in my testing (higher than NextDNS for ads specifically), and the free tier is unlimited with no configuration needed — just set your DNS to their ad-blocking server.
The paid version ($2.99/month) adds custom filtering rules, detailed statistics, and the ability to create device-specific profiles. It's comparable to NextDNS in features but slightly more expensive and with a less polished dashboard.
One thing to watch: DNS-level ad blocking will break some things. Shopping links in Google search results, sponsored posts on social media, and email tracking pixels all get caught in the net. This is true of all DNS ad blockers, but AdGuard's more aggressive lists catch more — and break more. Be prepared to whitelist domains your family members complain about.
My recommendation depends on what you need. Pure security, zero effort: Cloudflare Gateway (1.1.1.2) or Quad9 (9.9.9.9), both free. Best overall with great customization: NextDNS at $1.99/month. Maximum ad blocking: AdGuard DNS. For most people, start with NextDNS on the free tier (300K queries/month), configure it on your router so it covers all devices, and upgrade to Pro if you exceed the query limit. The $1.99/month is one of the best security investments you can make.
