NextDNS

NextDNS is a cloud DNS firewall built by former Dailymotion founders that puts Pi-hole-style network blocking in a globally distributed anycast network, with no local hardware to maintain. You get a unique configuration ID and point your devices at it over DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-QUIC, or Oblivious DoH, and it filters ads, trackers, malware, phishing, and newly registered domains before they load. It ships one-click integration of 60+ curated community blocklists including OISD, Hagezi, AdGuard Base, and StevenBlack, plus native OS tracker blocking, a web dashboard showing exactly what every device requests, and AI-driven detection of malicious and parked domains.

The free tier covers 300,000 queries a month, which suits one or two devices, while Pro at about EUR 1.99 a month or EUR 19.90 a year gives unlimited queries across unlimited devices, with business and education tiers priced per seat since 2026. Privacy controls are explicit: you can choose log storage jurisdiction, set retention down to one hour, or disable query logging entirely. The tradeoff is inherent to the category: all your DNS queries pass through NextDNS servers, so you trade ISP visibility for NextDNS visibility, and blocking at the DNS layer cannot remove in-stream video ads the way a browser extension can. Occasionally a needed domain gets blocked and you have to allowlist it. No published independent benchmarks for filtering accuracy.

Create a free account on nextdns.io, get your configuration ID, and set it as your DNS via router, OS settings, mobileconfig profile, or Android Private DNS.