Looking for some good private DNS servers to use. Any suggestions?
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Checkout Quad9 and NextDNS. I use NextDNS. The free tier NextDNS account is more than ample; I’ve never come close to exceeding it.
AdGuardDNS
almost the same as NextDNS feature wise
Limit is also 300k per month. Plus additional device and server limitation.
Added benefit is they send you weekly status mail.
A word of advice, don’t leave their dashboard open for too long. The page request thousands of DNS request within minutes (to check for the connectivity status).
i use Quad9 in everything which has uBlock Origin as an available extension, otherwise NextDNS with OISD and/or Hagezi Normal. (hagezi pro broke some images for me which were not ads or trackers)
for a quick and easy set and forget ad and tracker blocking DNS, definitely Adguard. i set this DNS on my parents devices like phone and firesticks. i set the router DNS to Quad9 to serve as a phising and malware blocker for anyone on the network.
there is a Roku in my household which can’t have DNS specifically changed, so i have to use NextDNS for my router (Adguard would work too), though ideally i just want Quad9 in most places due to the Swiss law enforced privacy policy which promises no personally identifiable logging
All of the suggestions here are good but I would not put too much stock in where you get your DNS from if your reasons are for privacy. If anything, using anything beyond your ISP’s DNS could decrease your privacy, because now you are giving info to 2 providers (DNS and ISP)
No matter what DNS server you use, your ISP can see every single IP you connect to and doing reverse lookups is extremely trivial for them of course.
My advice is to use a good VPN provider. Any reputable one will also provide its own DNS servers as well.
Mullvad DNS.
Depends on how you want to use it. For home use, I’d say setup a Pi-Hole with Unbound. You can add your own blocklists and it cuts out the middle man.
The question still remains because what upstream DNS server in Pi-hole will you use? You’ll always need to use a DNS server on the internet unless you use hyperlocal.
With Unbound, you can set it up as a recursive DNS server. Hence, cutting out the middle man. https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/unbound/
You don’t cut the middle man, you create the middle man with Unbound. And Unbound needs to ask other DNS servers on the internet to resolve DNS queries. Your local DNS server can’t just magically know which IP is behind a domain like for example google.com. It needs to ask other DNS servers that know the answer. So unless you’re not using hyperlocal you will always need a DNS server on the internet to browse the web.
Seconding this, especially if you enjoy homelab/DIY tech projects. It’s super simple with tons of guides around. Plus you get the added benefit of fewer ads and junk.
https://rethinkdns.com/ pick from a set list, Tracking, Malware etc. or pick individual lists i.e. just Facebook.
‘Rethink DNS supports over 190+ blocklists, some of which power popular adblockers like uBlockOrigin.’
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/etc/hosts
There’s a guide for exactly this on the privacy guides website
Perhaps these :
Adguard DNS at least they are good adblocking
Ad guard DNS is super easy to set up, too. Basically ad blocking with zero tradeoff
Quad9, controld and nextdns
I’ve used Aha and ControlD for the longest time, and just recently switched to Mullvad’s new DoH service.
