Controld
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you want strong DNS-level blocking of ads, trackers, and malware for a household or small business.
New check
Comparison
Controld vs DNSFilter
Controld and DNSFilter both land on Worth it.
DNSFilter
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're an MSP or SMB wanting cheap, low-maintenance DNS-level filtering across many networks.
| Compare | Controld | DNSFilter |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Worth it |
| Best for | Households blocking ads and adult content | MSPs managing many client networks |
| Who it's not for | Enterprises needing full web gateways or CASB | Home users wanting a free family filter |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.10 | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | Public complaints about support attitude | Reddit reports of ticket back-and-forth |
| Public sentiment | Users praise fast, effective blocking and time savings but gripe about over-blocking, per-device pricing, and support attitude.¹ | Users on G2, Capterra, and r/msp consistently praise its simplicity and value, with recurring gripes about the roaming client agent.13 |
| Biggest gotcha | Per-device billing scales badly; big households and fleets pay far more than flat-rate rivals.⁵ | Pricing comes in license types (Basic, Pro, MSP); confirm what your tier includes before committing. |
Pick Controld when
- Households blocking ads and adult content
- SMBs wanting DNS-level security
- Privacy-minded individuals
- IT teams deploying to device fleets
When Controld is not a fit
- Enterprises needing full web gateways or CASB
- Flat-rate pricing fans . per-device billing adds up
- Buyers expecting hand-holding support
- Anyone wanting zero-tweak setup . expect whitelist fiddling
Pick DNSFilter when
- MSPs managing many client networks
- SMBs wanting set-and-forget DNS protection
- Schools filtering content at DNS level
- Budget-conscious Cisco Umbrella escapees
When DNSFilter is not a fit
- Home users wanting a free family filter
- Teams needing full proxy/SWG content inspection
- Anyone expecting it to replace endpoint antivirus
- Solo admins who won't manage roaming agents
Sources
review
review
- It looks like cost is not comparable. ControlD pricing is per ...news.ycombinator.comreview
official
news
- Pricing for Personal Usecontrold.comofficial
- Product security pagecontrold.comofficial
- Modern DNS Protocols: DoH, DoT & DoQcontrold.comofficial
- Shadow IT Discovery with DNS Analyticscontrold.comofficial
- DNSFilter Reviews . Capterracapterra.comreview
- Evaluating DNSfilter . r/mspreddit.comreview