CleanBrowsing
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy it for cheap, set-and-forget DNS filtering across a family, school, or small-business network.
New check
Comparison
CleanBrowsing vs Pi-hole
CleanBrowsing lands on Worth it, and Pi-hole lands on Depends.
Pi-hole
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're comfortable running a Raspberry Pi and patching it yourself . it's free and effective.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Families wanting whole-home filtering | Homelab hobbyists |
| Who it's not for | Enterprises needing full secure-web-gateway (Zscaler-class) control | Non-technical users who want plug-and-play |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.10 | Popular open-source blocker, but 2026 brought several CVEs including RCE . you must patch it yourself, fast. |
| Support quality | No support evidence in sources | Community forums only; no paid support |
| Public sentiment | Community threads describe it as an affordable DNS filter that MSPs and parents use, though some sysadmins haven't heard of it.² | Home users praise the network-wide blocking and dashboard, but some have moved to self-hosted alternatives. |
| Biggest gotcha | Free vs paid split: tighter controls and features sit behind paid plans⁷ | If the Pi goes down, home DNS can fail until you fix it. |
Pick CleanBrowsing when
- Families wanting whole-home filtering
- K-12 schools needing CIPA compliance
- MSPs managing client networks
- Libraries and public networks
When CleanBrowsing is not a fit
- Enterprises needing full secure-web-gateway (Zscaler-class) control
- Teams needing app-level or deep-packet inspection
- Buyers who want a large, established vendor
- Anyone expecting rich third-party review coverage
Pick Pi-hole when
- Homelab hobbyists
- Privacy-focused households
- Whole-home ad blocking
- Spare-Raspberry-Pi owners
When Pi-hole is not a fit
- Non-technical users who want plug-and-play
- Businesses needing vendor support or compliance
- People who won't patch a self-hosted server
- Anyone unwilling to troubleshoot DNS outages
Sources
- CleanBrowsing Revenue 2025: $330K Est. ARRgetlatka.comnews
- CleanBrowsing : r/sysadminreddit.comreview
review
- Feedback on CleanBrowsing DNS?reddit.comreview
- DNSFilter Pricing : r/mspreddit.comreview
- Pricing & Plans | CleanBrowsingcleanbrowsing.orgofficial
- CleanBrowsing Free vs Paid Plans Comparedcleanbrowsing.orgofficial
- CIPA Compliance DNS Filteringcleanbrowsing.orgofficial
- Managing Multiple Accounts: MSP & Partner Guidecleanbrowsing.orgofficial
- Daniel Cid . Founder at CleanBrowsinglinkedin.comsecurity
security
- CleanBrowsing vs. DNSFilter Comparisonsourceforge.netreview
official
- Still worth it? : r/piholereddit.comreview
review
- A $15 Raspberry Pi Zero 2W does Pi-hole better than any spare PCxda-developers.comreview