NextDNS Review: Cloud DNS Protection That Actually Works

I’ve been running NextDNS for several months now across all my devices. No ads on my phone apps, no tracking scripts loading in the background, and my ISP can’t see what I’m browsing. Here’s my take on whether it’s worth your time.

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What NextDNS Does

NextDNS sits between your devices and the internet. Every time you visit a website, your device asks “where is example.com?” and NextDNS answers. The difference from your ISP’s default DNS is that NextDNS encrypts these queries and checks them against blocklists before responding.

The result: ads don’t load, tracking scripts get blocked, and malware domains return empty responses. Your ISP sees encrypted traffic to NextDNS servers but can’t tell which websites you’re visiting.

Want the full technical breakdown?

I wrote a detailed guide covering both NextDNS and self-hosted alternatives with AdGuard Home. It explains DNS encryption protocols, setup options, and when to choose each approach.

Read the Complete DNS Protection Guide

NextDNS Features

Here’s what you get with NextDNS and what each feature actually does:

Security Features

Feature	What It Does
Threat Intelligence Feeds	Blocks domains flagged by security researchers as hosting malware, phishing, or command-and-control servers
Google Safe Browsing	Taps into Google’s database of dangerous sites, updated constantly
Cryptojacking Protection	Stops websites from using your CPU to mine cryptocurrency in the background
DNS Rebinding Protection	Prevents attackers from using DNS to access your local network devices
IDN Homograph Protection	Blocks fake domains that use lookalike characters (like using “rn” to fake “m”)
Typosquatting Protection	Catches common misspellings of popular domains that scammers register
DGA Protection	Blocks randomly generated domains that malware uses to phone home
NRD (Newly Registered Domains)	Optionally blocks domains registered in the last 30 days, which are often used for attacks

Privacy Features

Feature	What It Does
Blocklists	Choose from dozens of community-maintained lists that block ads, trackers, and malware domains
Native Tracking Protection	Blocks telemetry from Apple, Windows, Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Amazon, and Roku devices
Affiliate & Tracking Links	Blocks tracking redirects and affiliate link services
Disguised Trackers	Catches trackers that use CNAME cloaking to hide as first-party domains

Parental Controls

Feature	What It Does
Website Categories	Block entire categories: porn, gambling, dating, piracy, social media, etc.
Recreation Time	Set schedules when blocked categories become accessible
Safe Search	Forces safe search on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and YouTube
YouTube Restricted Mode	Enables YouTube’s built-in content filter
Block Bypass Methods	Prevents kids from using VPNs, proxies, or other DNS services to bypass your rules

Denylist and Allowlist

You can manually block or allow specific domains. The allowlist overrides blocklists when legitimate services get caught. The denylist lets you block domains that aren’t on any list.

Analytics Dashboard

The dashboard shows:

Total queries and percentage blocked
Top blocked domains
Top allowed domains
Queries by device (if you name them)
Queries over time
GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) traffic breakdown

Logs

Query logs show every DNS request with timestamps, device info, and whether it was blocked or allowed. You control retention: keep them for an hour, a day, a week, or disable logging entirely.

How to Set Up NextDNS

Step 1: Create Your Account

Go to NextDNS and click Try it now
Sign up with your email
You’ll get a unique Configuration ID (something like abc123)

This ID is your profile. You can create multiple profiles for different use cases.

Step 2: Configure Your Security Settings

In the Security tab, enable the protections you want:

Recommended settings:
- Threat Intelligence Feeds: ON
- Google Safe Browsing: ON  
- Cryptojacking Protection: ON
- DNS Rebinding Protection: ON
- IDN Homograph Attacks Protection: ON
- Typosquatting Protection: ON

NRD (Newly Registered Domains) blocking is aggressive. It can break legitimate new services, so I leave it off unless I’m setting up a network for non-technical users.

Step 3: Add Your Blocklists

In the Privacy tab, click Add a blocklist and choose from the list. My recommendations:

OISD - Comprehensive list that blocks most ads and trackers without breaking sites
AdGuard DNS filter - Well-maintained, good balance
Steven Black’s Unified Hosts - Another solid option with multiple variants

You don’t need all of them. Two or three lists with good overlap is better than ten lists that slow down resolution.

Under Native Tracking Protection, enable blocking for the device types you own. If you have Apple devices, enable Apple. Windows PCs, enable Windows. And so on.

Step 4: Set Up Parental Controls (Optional)

Skip this if you don’t have kids on the network. Otherwise, the Parental Control tab lets you:

Block categories (porn, gambling, social media, etc.)
Set recreation times when blocks lift
Force safe search on search engines
Block bypass methods so VPNs and proxies don’t work

Step 5: Connect Your Devices

NextDNS gives you several connection methods. Pick based on what you’re protecting:

For Your Entire Network (Router)

Change your router’s DNS settings to NextDNS. Find the DNS or WAN settings in your router admin panel and enter:

DNS-over-HTTPS: https://dns.nextdns.io/YOUR_CONFIG_ID

Or use the linked IP addresses from your NextDNS dashboard if your router doesn’t support DoH.

For Individual Devices

Download the NextDNS app:

iOS/Android: Install from App Store or Play Store, enter your Configuration ID
Windows/Mac: Download from nextdns.io, runs as a system service
Linux: Install via their shell script or package manager

For Browsers Only

Firefox and Chrome support DNS-over-HTTPS natively:

Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > DNS over HTTPS > Custom > https://dns.nextdns.io/YOUR_CONFIG_ID
Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Security > Use secure DNS > Custom > same URL

Step 6: Verify It’s Working

Visit test.nextdns.io
You should see “All good! You are using NextDNS”
Check your dashboard - queries should start appearing in the logs

If the test fails, double-check your DNS settings. On some networks, your ISP forces their DNS, and you’ll need DoH or the native app to bypass that.

Step 7: Fine-Tune Your Settings

After a few days of use, check your logs:

If legitimate sites break, add them to your allowlist
If annoying domains slip through, add them to your denylist
Adjust blocklists if you’re seeing too many false positives

The Settings tab has additional options:

Logs: Set retention period or disable entirely
Block Page: Show a page when domains are blocked (I disable this)
Anonymized EDNS Client Subnet: Hides your IP from upstream resolvers
Cache Boost: Improves response times

What I Like About NextDNS

Setup Takes Five Minutes

Create an account, get a configuration ID, and point your devices at NextDNS servers. That’s it. No server to manage, no Docker containers to maintain, no firewall rules to configure.

For router-level protection, you just change your DNS settings once and every device on your network gets coverage automatically. Smart TVs, gaming consoles, IoT devices, phones, laptops. Everything.

The Blocking Works Well

I added OISD, AdGuard DNS filter, and Steven Black’s list to my configuration. YouTube still shows some ads (those are harder to block at DNS level since they come from the same domains as videos), but everything else is clean:

In-app ads on mobile games: gone
Banner ads on websites: gone
Tracking scripts from Facebook, Google Analytics, etc.: blocked
Those annoying cookie consent popups on some sites: reduced

The dashboard shows what’s being blocked in real time. Watching my smart TV phone home to analytics servers only to get blocked is oddly satisfying.

Privacy Settings That Make Sense

You can configure NextDNS to keep zero logs. No retention of query data, no IP address storage, nothing. Or you can keep logs for debugging (helpful when something breaks) and delete them after a set period.

The anonymized EDNS option hides your IP from upstream DNS resolvers. Combined with encrypted DNS protocols, this means neither your ISP nor the destination servers know exactly what you’re doing.

Multiple Configurations

You can create separate profiles for different use cases. I have one for my main network with aggressive blocking, another for my parents’ house with safer defaults, and a third for testing when I need to bypass filters temporarily.

What Could Be Better

The Free Tier Limit

300,000 queries per month sounds like a lot until you realize how chatty modern devices are. A household with a few phones, a smart TV, and some IoT devices can burn through that in two weeks.

When you hit the limit, NextDNS stops filtering and just passes queries through. You still have DNS service, but without the blocking. The $1.99/month pro plan removes this limit entirely.

YouTube Ads Still Get Through

DNS-level blocking can’t touch YouTube ads because they’re served from the same domains as the actual video content. Blocking those domains would break YouTube entirely. You’ll still need a browser extension like uBlock Origin for YouTube specifically.

Some Sites Break

Occasionally a legitimate service gets caught by blocklists. Affiliate links, certain CDNs, or obscure tracking domains that websites actually need to function. The allowlist feature handles this, but you need to notice the problem first and figure out which domain to unblock.

Pricing

Plan	Queries/Month	Price
Free	300,000	$0
Pro	Unlimited	$1.99/month
Business	Unlimited	Custom

The free tier works for testing or light personal use. Most households need Pro. At under $2/month, it’s cheaper than most VPNs and arguably more useful for daily browsing.

My Configuration

Here’s what I’m running:

Security tab:

Threat Intelligence Feeds: enabled
Google Safe Browsing: enabled
Cryptojacking Protection: enabled
DNS Rebinding Protection: enabled

Privacy tab (blocklists):

OISD (comprehensive coverage)
AdGuard DNS filter
Steven Black’s Unified Hosts

Settings:

Logs: 1 hour retention (for debugging)
Anonymized EDNS: enabled
Cache Boost: enabled

This catches most ads and trackers without breaking too many websites. I check the logs occasionally and allowlist domains when something legitimate gets blocked.

Who Should Use NextDNS

People who want ad blocking without managing servers
Families who need protection across all devices
Mobile users who want filtering outside their home network
Anyone frustrated with ISP tracking
Users who prefer paying a small fee over running infrastructure

Who Should Look Elsewhere

If you want complete control over your DNS infrastructure, self-hosting AdGuard Home makes more sense. It runs on a VPS, Raspberry Pi, or home server and gives you unlimited queries without subscriptions.

See How NextDNS Compares to AdGuard Home

The tradeoff is maintenance. You handle updates, monitor uptime, and troubleshoot when things break. NextDNS handles all that for you.

Final Thoughts

NextDNS does what it promises. Encrypted DNS queries, network-wide ad blocking, malware protection, and a clean dashboard to monitor everything. Setup is straightforward, the apps work well, and the $1.99/month pro tier removes the only real limitation of the free plan.

I keep it running on all my devices and recommend it to anyone who asks about network-level ad blocking. The minor annoyances (YouTube ads still showing, occasional false positives) are outweighed by the convenience of not maintaining my own DNS server.

If you want protection without the infrastructure headache, NextDNS is worth trying.

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NextDNS Review: Cloud DNS Protection That Actually Works

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