What is NextDNS and what does it do?

NextDNS is a DNS filtering and policy service that helps block access to malicious or unwanted domains before a device connects to them. It is often used to reduce exposure to phishing, malware, trackers, ads, and other unwanted online destinations across phones, laptops, tablets, home networks, and office environments.

This guide explains what NextDNS is, what it does, how DNS filtering works, where its limits are, and how it differs from broader platforms such as Cloudflare. It is written as an explanatory guide, not as a product recommendation, so the aim is to show where this type of service fits within layered security and where it does not.

Use the links below to jump to the sections most relevant for you.

• What NextDNS is
• How DNS filtering works
• How encrypted DNS differs from a VPN
• How to check whether your devices are actually using NextDNS
• What NextDNS can help block
• What NextDNS does not do
• Is NextDNS the same as Cloudflare
• Where NextDNS fits in layered security
• Common questions about NextDNS
• Practical guidance for real environments
• Related guides
• Need help with something covered in this guide?
• Further Guidance and Support

NextDNS is a DNS filtering and policy service. In simple terms, it sits at the stage where devices ask for the network address of a website, app service, or online platform. Because of that position, it can block certain connections before the device reaches the destination.

This makes it different from tools designed mainly for website delivery, content caching, or application acceleration. NextDNS is primarily about DNS level control, filtering, and visibility rather than CDN performance or broader edge platform features.

When a phone, laptop, browser or app connects to an online service, one of the first steps is usually a DNS lookup. That lookup translates a name such as a website or service address into the network location the device needs in order to connect.

When NextDNS is being used as the DNS resolver, the DNS request can be checked against the filtering policies configured for that NextDNS profile. If the requested domain is allowed, NextDNS returns the DNS information needed for the device to continue. If the domain matches a blocking rule or policy, the request can be stopped at the DNS stage before the device makes the intended connection.

A simplified connection path looks like this:

Device or application needs to reach a domain
↓
DNS asks: Where should I connect?
↓
DNS request reaches NextDNS
↓
NextDNS applies the configured filtering policy
↓
Allowed: DNS information is returned
or
Blocked: the requested domain is not resolved normally
↓
If allowed, the device continues to the destination

This last point is important. NextDNS is involved in the DNS stage of the connection. It does not normally carry the complete website or application session through its infrastructure. Once the DNS lookup has completed, the browser or application continues with its own connection to the destination, where other controls such as HTTPS and TLS may then apply.

Where encrypted DNS such as DNS over HTTPS or DNS over TLS is used, the DNS request itself is also protected while travelling between the device and the DNS resolver. That protects the DNS transport path, but it is still different from encrypting or tunnelling the complete internet connection.

Encrypted DNS and a VPN protect different parts of an internet connection.

With encrypted DNS, technologies such as DNS over HTTPS or DNS over TLS protect the DNS request between the device and the DNS resolver. The DNS service can answer the question “Where should I connect?” without leaving that DNS exchange exposed in the same way as traditional unencrypted DNS.

A simplified path looks like this:

Device
↓
Encrypted DNS request
↓
NextDNS resolver
↓
DNS answer returned
↓
Device connects separately to the website or service

A VPN works differently. A VPN creates an encrypted network connection to a VPN endpoint and can carry a broader range of network traffic through that tunnel. Corporate VPNs may be used to provide protected access to private organisational resources, while consumer VPN services are commonly used for privacy, location or network path reasons. A VPN is therefore not simply another type of DNS filtering.

This means NextDNS and a VPN should not be treated as direct substitutes:

Encrypted DNS protects the DNS lookup path.

A VPN can protect a broader network path.

HTTPS and TLS protect the subsequent connection to compatible websites and services.

There is also a practical performance difference. A DNS service handles name resolution rather than carrying the complete internet session, so it would not normally affect overall throughput in the same way as routing broader internet traffic through a VPN. DNS resolver performance can still affect how quickly a connection begins, so it would be misleading to say that DNS filtering can never affect performance.

Many people assume that once NextDNS is configured on a router, phone, laptop, or browser, every DNS request will automatically use it. In practice, that is not always the case.

A device may use DNS settings supplied by the router, manually configured DNS settings on the device, browser based secure DNS behaviour, or operating system features such as encrypted DNS. Some devices may use one DNS path on the home or office network and another when moved elsewhere. This can lead to situations where filtering appears to work on one device but not another.

The difference between network level and device level deployment is particularly important for laptops and mobile devices that travel.

For example:

Router level deployment while in the office

Laptop → office Wi-Fi → router → NextDNS

If that laptop is then taken to a hotel, client site or another network:

Laptop → different network → that network’s DNS path

The office router is no longer part of the connection, so its NextDNS configuration cannot by itself continue protecting that laptop.

By contrast, where the device itself is deliberately configured to use an encrypted DNS service:

Laptop → encrypted DNS → NextDNS

that DNS configuration can potentially follow the device between home, office, mobile and other networks, subject to the operating system, network policy and the way the service has been configured.

This is why the question is not simply “Is NextDNS configured?” It is also “Where is it configured, and does that protection follow the device when the network changes?”

It is also important to distinguish between the DNS server shown on the device and the DNS infrastructure ultimately used upstream. For example, a computer may show the local router as its DNS server because the router is acting as the immediate resolver for devices on the network. The router may then forward those requests to NextDNS or to another upstream DNS provider. An external DNS checker may therefore show public infrastructure involved in processing the request rather than the simple product name the user expected to see.

In some environments, the router may still advertise the ISP’s DNS settings, while an individual phone, laptop, browser, or operating system uses a different DNS path. This can happen when DNS is configured manually on the device, when a browser uses Secure DNS, or when Android Private DNS or similar encrypted DNS features are enabled.

This is why DNS filtering should be checked from more than one place. The router settings may show one DNS path, the operating system may show another, and the NextDNS logs may reveal which devices are actually reaching the policy. These differences do not always mean the configuration is broken. They often show that DNS is being handled at more than one layer.

This is one reason DNS filtering can seem inconsistent when it is actually the deployment method that differs. A router level deployment, a device level deployment, browser secure DNS settings, and mobile network behaviour can all affect the path taken by DNS queries.

In practice, if you want to confirm whether NextDNS is really being used, it is often better to check more than one source. Local device settings, router configuration, browser settings, and NextDNS logs may each reveal a different part of the picture. Together they provide a more reliable view than any single external checker on its own.

An external DNS checker can sometimes help, but it is important to remember that such tools may show upstream public DNS infrastructure rather than only the product name or local DNS server a user expects to see.

NextDNS can help block a range of domain based destinations that are commonly associated with security, privacy, or content control concerns. The exact result depends on the chosen policy settings, filter lists, and how the service is deployed.

It may help block domains associated with:

malware delivery
phishing related infrastructure
tracking and analytics domains
advertising networks
cryptojacking related domains
newly registered or suspicious domains
other unwanted categories controlled through filtering policies

This is one of the main reasons people compare NextDNS with standard public DNS resolvers. Many users are not simply asking for name resolution. They are asking for filtering, visibility, and policy control as well. 

DNS filtering is useful, but its role is narrower than complete device, browser or network security. It works principally at the DNS stage and should not be expected to inspect or control everything that happens after a destination has been resolved.

NextDNS does not:

• replace endpoint protection or an Endpoint Protection Platform

• inspect the complete contents of a webpage or application session

• inspect every full URL path in the same way as a web security service designed for that purpose

• replace HTTPS, TLS or browser certificate validation

• encrypt the complete internet session in the way a full VPN tunnel can

• make a device anonymous or prevent a destination from receiving the network information needed to communicate with it

• replace software and operating system updates

• replace identity protection, MFA, passkeys or other account security controls

• replace email security

• replace independent backup and tested recovery

• guarantee that every malicious or newly compromised destination will always be identified and blocked

• guarantee that every DNS request from a device will use NextDNS if another DNS path, browser setting, VPN or application is allowed to bypass the intended configuration.

An allowed DNS response also does not prove that the destination itself is safe. A legitimate website can become compromised, a newly created malicious domain may not yet be recognised by filtering intelligence, and some attacks use trusted services or infrastructure that cannot simply be blocked at DNS level.

NextDNS should therefore be understood as one useful control within a wider security and resilience approach, rather than as a replacement for the controls that act later in the connection or support recovery when prevention fails.

No. These services can overlap in some DNS related areas, but they are not mainly solving the same problem.

NextDNS is primarily a DNS filtering and policy service. It is usually considered when the goal is to control or filter what devices can connect to at DNS level, often for privacy, security, parental control, or policy reasons.

Cloudflare is a much broader platform. Depending on the product used, it may be involved in authoritative DNS, website and application delivery, CDN caching, DDoS resilience, traffic handling, and related edge services. That means a comparison can be useful, but it should not assume the two are direct substitutes in every situation.

NextDNS is best understood as one preventive layer within a broader security and resilience approach. It can reduce exposure to some malicious or unwanted destinations early in the connection process, but it cannot know about or prevent every possible attack.

This matters because filtering information is not perfect or instantaneous. A newly created malicious domain, a previously legitimate website that has just been compromised, a trusted online service being abused by an attacker, or a vulnerability in software already running on the device may not necessarily be stopped by DNS filtering.

Keeping devices, browsers, operating systems and security products fully updated remains essential because updates remove many known vulnerabilities. However, being fully updated does not mean that the software contains no undiscovered vulnerabilities or that a newly identified weakness already has an effective patch available.

A useful layered model is:

DNS filtering
helps reduce connections to known or policy blocked destinations
↓
Browser and HTTPS/TLS protections
help protect and validate subsequent web connections
↓
Endpoint protection
helps detect and respond to suspicious activity on the device
↓
Identity and email security
help protect accounts and communication
↓
Firewall and network controls
help limit unnecessary access and movement
↓
Monitoring and containment
help identify and limit an incident
↓
Independent backup and tested recovery
help restore important data and operations if prevention fails

This is why business continuity belongs within the security model. The aim is not only to reduce the likelihood of an incident, but also to know how important systems and information can be recovered if something still goes wrong.

NextDNS can improve privacy and reduce exposure to some malicious destinations, but any cloud based DNS service still depends on trust, configuration choices, and the user’s own threat model. Privacy, logging, and trust are common questions when using any cloud based DNS service.

It can help block domains associated with malware delivery, tracking, advertising, and other unwanted categories at DNS level. The result depends on the chosen filters, deployment method, and whether the connection relies on a domain that can be blocked at that stage.

No. DNS filtering works mainly at domain level, not at the full page path or full content level. That is an important limitation to explain clearly.

Yes. NextDNS can be used at network level or configured on individual devices, but those approaches do not provide exactly the same coverage.

A router level configuration can provide DNS filtering for devices while they are using that network and while their DNS requests follow the router’s intended DNS path. It does not automatically follow a laptop or phone when that device moves to another Wi-Fi or mobile network.

Device level configuration can allow the DNS service to follow the device between networks. On supported devices this may use encrypted DNS mechanisms such as Android Private DNS, browser Secure DNS or operating system DNS settings. The exact behaviour depends on the device, operating system and how DNS has been configured.

This is why router settings, device settings and NextDNS logs may all need to be checked rather than assuming that one configuration automatically covers every connection.

Yes. In some environments they address different layers. Cloudflare may be used for website or application delivery, while NextDNS may be used to filter outbound DNS requests made by users or devices.

The most suitable deployment depends on what is being protected and how much control is needed. A single laptop or phone may be configured differently from a home router, a travelling user, or a small office network.

Where an ISP router does not allow DNS settings to be changed, device level DNS configuration may still provide protection for individual devices. For managed business environments, however, relying only on manual device settings can become difficult to maintain. Router, firewall, mobile device management, browser policy, and NextDNS logs may all need to be reviewed together.

In practice, the most important questions are usually these:

Is the goal privacy, malware reduction, ad and tracker blocking, or policy control
Will the filtering be applied per device or at network level
Is visibility needed per device or only for the whole network
Will users move between office, home, and mobile networks
Is the environment already using other services such as Cloudflare, Microsoft Defender, or firewall based controls

Those are more useful questions than simply asking whether NextDNS is good or bad. The real answer depends on scope, deployment method, and what other layers already exist.

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A guide can explain the issue and outline useful checks, but some situations need the actual device, account, service, website, network or supplier arrangement to be reviewed. Evening Computing can help review what is happening and advise on suitable next steps before changes are made.

This guide forms part of a broader layered security approach. For structured guidance on security and resilience planning, see our Security and Resilience page.

For information about practical implementation and ongoing support, you can review our IT services and local IT support coverage across London, Hertfordshire, and Essex.

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Author
Elías Sánchez
IT Support Consultant
Evening Computing

This guide was prepared by Elías Sánchez with research and drafting assistance from AI tools. All technical content has been reviewed and adapted for clarity and accuracy.

Last reviewed
16 August 2026