Protecting your online privacy is crucial, and your DNS queries play a big role in that. Some DNS services track your browsing data, but privacy-aware public DNS services prioritize your privacy. This list highlights the best options from my experience to help you keep your online surfing private with a fast and reliable experience.
Ready-to-use online DNS services are perfect for those who travel frequently and are far from their own hosted DNS server (without a CDN). These services ensure reliable DNS access no matter where you are.
Cloud-based DNS for blocking ads, trackers, and malicious domains, offering real-time stats, parental controls, and customizable filtering for every device.
Great Functionality. Almost the same functionality to NextDNS but then self owned if you choose for the Self-hosting solution. Very userfriendly and still full with features
NextDNS protects you from all kinds of security threats, blocks ads and trackers on websites and in apps and provides a safe and supervised Internet for kids — on all devices and on all networks.
My top recommendation is NextDNS. Similar to Adguard DNSI highly suggest it for anyone looking to filter queries and block specific domains to enhance cybersecurity, protect families, block ads, prevent trackers, and improve overall privacy. The affordable paid plans offer a complete set of professional features for a comprehensive experience.
Quad9 is a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform that provides end users robust security protections, high-performance, and privacy.
Second, I would recommend Quad9 due to its strong focus on online privacy. It’s GDPR-compliant and based in Switzerland, benefiting from additional privacy protections. With a global network of servers, it provides reliable and secure DNS services.
Our public encrypted DNS service uses DNS over HTTPS (DoH) and DNS over TLS (DoT). This protects your DNS queries from being snooped on by third parties when not connected to our VPN service as your DNS queries are encrypted between your device and our DNS server.
Third, I recommend MullvadDNS. In addition to their excellent privacy-focused VPN service, they also offer a public DNS option. As a private company with no commercial interests, they prioritize user privacy above all else.
DNS.SB believes that without privacy, there is no human dignity. DNS.SB is designed with one goal in mind: to protect your personal DNS data—no logs, forever.
A privacy focused public dns service who is located in Germany owned by a profit company xTom. Fully GDPR compliant and does not log any query's. There is still a claim for anonymized data collection.
For devices who doesn't travel far, you can just selfhost your own dns. Here are my favorites for that.
AdGuard Home is a network-wide software for blocking ads & tracking. After you set it up, it'll cover ALL your home devices, and you don't need any client-side software for that.
Great Functionality. Almost the same functionality to NextDNS but then self owned if you choose for the Self-hosting solution. Very userfriendly and still full with features
The Pi-hole® is a DNS sinkhole that protects your devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software.
A fully community supported and opensource solution.
Technitium DNS Server is an open source tool that can be used as a personal local DNS server for privacy & security. It includes Ad blocking feature combined with DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS support.
There are alot more DNS providers and solutions that I was not able to test yet. But from the ones I have tested are those my best choices for begin 2025.
Comments
Cloudflare is a mass surveillance machine, I wouldn't use their DNS for privacy.
You are correct. While I previously trusted them, it has become evident that their dominant market position does not guarantee our privacy.