Any thoughts about NextDNS?

I just discovered NextDNS, its a private DNS service with the abillity to block adds, domains etc. But the problem with such services, can it be trusted? Any thoughts about it. I gave it a test run, and really like it!
link

1 Like

“Free up to 300,000 DNS queries/month — US$1.99/month (or US$19.90/year) for unlimited queries.”
:roll_eyes:

Furthermore, I won’t trust any DNS filtering except my own :wink:

1 Like

Maybe not a very enlightening comment, but NextDNS has their headquarters in de USA, so you are not exempt from government surveillance.

You can set the storage location, not sure what that means.

Maybe /e/ can provide DNS service? @Manoj are there any plans to setup something like that?

2 Likes

In my opinion, changing DNS to anything other than your ISP is already an improvement, but whenever possible choose a service that is not US based if your concern is privacy. Privacytools provides a list of encrypted DNS resolvers that you can choose from.

None of them do add /tracker blocking. …

@andrelam, I am willing to think along with you. What is your scenario in this? Are you hooked on some of the wrong apps? Or tired of running your own DNS or Pi Hole? You use a VPN but do not trust their DNS? Just guessing wildly… :wink:

I run a Pi-hole at home, but I want to use it everywhere. I also want to use VPN. I once opened port 53 on my router, within a week it was missused as ddos amplifier. So that’s not an option. I tried blokada for a while, but their VPN speed is not so great. Tracker control and netguard are not usefull for me because I want VPN. Now NextDNS does all I want, but im not sure if I can trust the guys. I asked what their policy is when government asks for data. This is the answer:
NextDNS is a US company, but we can't give away what we don't store (you can disable logs, or only retain the last few hours/days)

So it’s a matter of trust, this also applies to /e/ which I decided to trust.

It really is as with most things. If you are happy with NextDNS there is not reason not to continue using it unless that trust is lost somehow.

By the way I see that LibreDNS offers and endpoint that “blocks a crowdsourced list of known advertisement and tracking domains.” And also AdGuard has different levels of protection, according to their site.

Thank you, @andrelam , that kind of explains it. Being able to use the service while you are not at home, is indeed a nice feature.

If government surveillance is an issue for you, I still would not use a US based company. Recently I read a book by the Dutch tech journalist Huib Modderkolk which shows that the USA is very very aggressive in spying on everybody, and forcing its way into US companies… That still does not prove anything about NextDNS, I just express my feeling about it.

LibreDNS ( @PNJ88_Beast ) has the appearance of an ethical distributed network. And is 100% transparent about finances? See https://opencollective.com/libreops , still hard to distinguish at first sigth real from fake …

I don’t know if this is helping you, but the apps you find trustworthy at home (by using PI Hole) will probably behave trustworthy while you are on the road.

Maybe running a DNS server on the phone will do the job ?

https://deadc0de.re/articles/unbound-blocking-ads.html

Thx for all suggestions. LibreDns seems interesting, however i can’t use the add blocking URL, it’s not accepted as private DNS. AdGuard works but i like to see what is blocked, i did not find a way to do so. Local DNS would not be my choice. I’ll keep testing NextDNS for a while. I see some evil traffic that i did not see before! Could it be Google secretly calls through TLS DNS, so i did not see it before? Now i have filled in the “private DNS” option, i seem to catch more calls. I even found one with my real IP in it (i have VPN-always active). Are we ever going to be able to stop this evil from Goolag? I hate it.
dns

1 Like

Any results on further testing @andrelam?

Hoi Rik,
For me this is a killer solution, i like it a lot. I use it on all my devices now. You can create different profiles to fit everyone needs. For example i don’t want Google at all, even google.com :grinning:, but other family members of mine are not so extreme, but like to block adds. It can all be done! The blocking works perfect. I subscribed, for €2,- a month, i’m happy to pay for such nice solutions.

Result of 1 day logging:

1 Like

cool - i think for that many queries you don’t even have to pay, it’s free up to 300,000 per month!

I also am using it now on all my devices. I must say i really like it too. I especially like the “About” section of the company, that they aim to fight for net neutrality and an open internet, and want to provide more options for people in this area that are not FAANG, to help reduce their power.

Yes i know i probably could use it free, but i want to pay them :grinning:

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.