Control D
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you want network-wide ad, tracker, and malware blocking . and test the free resolvers first.
New check
Comparison
Control D vs NextDNS
Control D and NextDNS both land on Worth it.
NextDNS
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you want cheap, easy network-wide ad, tracker, and malware blocking for yourself, your family, or a small team.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Worth it |
| Best for | Households wanting network-wide ad/malware blocking | Privacy-conscious individuals |
| Who it's not for | Anyone expecting VPN privacy . this is DNS filtering, not a VPN | Enterprises needing SLAs, compliance audits, and named support reps |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.11 | No CVEs against NextDNS itself in sources reviewed; one user-reported bypass technique (2023) on its help forum. |
| Support quality | Reddit reports poor service attitude | Forum-based support; complaint threads exist |
| Public sentiment | Enthusiasts switching from NextDNS are mostly satisfied, but latency, smart-TV buffering, billing, and support complaints recur.¹ | Users overwhelmingly praise easy setup and effective blocking; complaints center on support, occasional slowdowns, and some churn to ControlD. |
| Biggest gotcha | Per-device pricing multiplies fast across many gadgets; HN commenters flag cost vs rivals⁸ | Support is forum-based; response quality varies by thread |
Pick Control D when
- Households wanting network-wide ad/malware blocking
- Router and homelab tinkerers (OPNsense, pfSense)
- Small IT teams needing managed DNS filtering
- NextDNS users wanting custom endpoints
When Control D is not a fit
- Anyone expecting VPN privacy . this is DNS filtering, not a VPN
- Price-sensitive homes with many devices; per-device fees stack up
- Enterprises wanting a full security platform, not one DNS layer
- Zero-config users . good free resolvers need no account at all
Pick NextDNS when
- Privacy-conscious individuals
- Households wanting network-wide ad blocking
- Self-hosters avoiding Pi-hole hardware
- Small teams without IT staff
When NextDNS is not a fit
- Enterprises needing SLAs, compliance audits, and named support reps
- Teams already standardized on Cisco Umbrella or Fortinet tooling
- Anyone wanting zero-touch, every device still needs configuring
- Strictly anonymous users. It is an account-based service with logs
Sources
review
review
- ControlD pricing is per device . Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.comreview
- Control D Pricing for Business Userscontrold.comofficial
- Control D Free DNS Serverscontrold.comofficial
- Product security pagecontrold.comsecurity
- ctrld open-source client . GitHubgithub.comofficial
- Tailscale DNS filtering by Control Dtailscale.comnews
news
- GitHub case studycontrold.comofficial
official