Is anyone using NextDNS? Apparently I set up an account a while ago and never did anything with it. now that I stumbled across ti again, I thought I would take a second look. If so are there any issues or advantages over any other DNS service?
Personally, I prefer to use pi-hole as a domain name server.
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The web based services typically have a fee if you want to do any sort of customizations. Otherwise if free you are usually stuck with their default list and you cannot do much else. The advantage is they handle most things for you and you can even get by-device reporting on some of them.
I have heard NextDNS come up before, usually with good feedback.
Personally I have AdGuard Home setup, it is free and works great, but its not for everyone. You are basically running your own caching DNS server, with a lot of configuration options.
I use NextDNS but I also pay the tiny $1.99 subscription. I have had zero issues using it and absolutely love it on my cell phone to avoid most of the adverts in apps.
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I had AdGuatd last year. I do t think I ever really got it configured correctly. Seemed like was always having to go in and allow it to do things. In that case, I believe I only had it on my phone. Not home.
Yep. If I decided to do something with it I would probably also pay that small subscription fee.
At this point, I’m probably looking at both of them.
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I have different NextDNS setups for my cell phone and internet so it was worth the $1.99
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Been using it for a few years. Main advantage (in my situation) over PiHole is the support for Apple device profiles. This allows the user’s NextDNS filter configurations to function regardless of the network/carrier connection. If you run NextDNS on your local network and point your endpoints at it for DNS services (there are ways to install it on routers, docker containers, VMs,) you get the DNS performance boost from local caching,
No VPN needed to keep the DNS filtering working when away from the home network - the Apple device profile makes that happen seamlessly.
In my experience, DNS lookups are about as fast as 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, and 9.9.9.9. Very reliable as well.
The provider of Windscribe VPN released a similar DNS service - ControlD - a year or two ago. I played with it after the initial release, it has improved a lot since then. Since NextDNS has worked well for us, I don’t have a compelling reason to change; however, I would consider ControlD if starting fresh.
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Does anyone recommend any particular block lists for NextDNS? I see they also list several AdGuard lists.
Not sure if they offer this but my preferred list is:
OISD Blocklist Basic
https://abp.oisd.nl/basic/
I found that it blocks enough to be effective but not so strict that it requires a lot of whitelisting to get things to work. Some lists block so much that it causes issues with normal browsing activity.
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Yep, they do!
Just for anyone looking at this and thinking about options, I've used Duck DNS for years w/out any issues or outages. Has been very good for me. Bonus - they have the cutest DNS service logo:
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