Advice Request How important is Ads and Tracker blocking from a safety point of view

[SohanRay]

Is worth paying for a DNS service that has ads and tracker blocking, when there are other free services that have all the same features or at least block all malicious domains?
Cloudflare Gateway DNS filtering has all the features of ControlD DNS except for the ads blocking and is free. Quad9 doesn't have features but is great at blocking malicious domains, and is free too. So, all I am getting extra with ControlD is ads and tracker blocking by paying around 20$ plus tax a year. Is it worth paying for this?

 

[Trooper]

In my opinion it is but you have to make that decision for yourself. I like to pay for NextDNS since I can use their IP's in my router and have it block ads and trackers not only on my desktop, but on mobile devices, laptops, etc that are connected to my wifi. So for 20 dollars per year, yes , it is worth it to me.

 

[TairikuOkami]

Is worth paying for a DNS service that has ads and tracker blocking, when there are other free services that have all the same features

Blocking at DNS level has the advantage of being system wide, then again it is also a disadvantage, you block the whole domains, DNS was blocking my phone updates and other features. NextDNS has an extension to add exceptions though. Quad9 with a blocking extension should suffice. Blocking ADs might be a overkill. I block just trackers and it also block some ADs.

 

[SohanRay]

Blocking at DNS level has the advantage of being system wide, then again it is also a disadvantage, you block the whole domains, DNS was blocking my phone updates and other features. NextDNS has an extension to add exceptions though. Quad9 with a blocking extension should suffice. Blocking ADs might be a overkill. I block just trackers and it also block some ADs.

Hi, you are only talking about windows/mac systems . What about Android? It doesn't support extensions. What to do there? About the blocking only trackers, does it also block ads in apps?

 

[enaph]

Hi, you are only talking about windows/mac systems . What about Android? It doesn't support extensions. What to do there? About the blocking only trackers, does it also block ads in apps?

You don't need any extension to add a domain to exclusions/white list - you do it using web interface:

 

[SohanRay]

You don't need any extension to add a domain to exclusions/white list - you do it using web interface:

View attachment 266812

Yeah I know that. Actually its gone off track a bit I think. And there's a confusion. All I am asking is should I use free dns like Quad9 or Cloudflare gateway which even offers customisation like Nextdns and ControlD ? Or should I stick with ControlD dns which is paid?

 

[enaph]

You can use NextDNS which is free and offers customization as well.

 

[SohanRay]

You can use NextDNS which is free and offers customization as well.

Free? Its limited with free plan. I pretty sure with the free plan I'll exhaust the limit pretty easily.

 

[Kongo]

DNS-providers that are able to block ads can definitely increase security. It can prevent malvertising, redirects and so on. Yet, using an adblocking extension is probably sufficient to mitigate those risks.

 

[SohanRay]

DNS-providers that are able to block ads can definitely increase security. It can prevent malvertising, redirects and so on. Yet, using an adblocking extension is probably sufficient to mitigate those risks.

Yeah but those extensions Don't work in Android.

 

[Kongo]

Yeah but those extensions Don't work in Android.

True, so you just answered your question by yourself. DNS with the ability to block ads, can increase security while browsing.

 

[SohanRay]

True, so you just answered your question by yourself. DNS with the ability to block ads, can increase security while browsing.

The other dns services will also block those domains if they are malicious. Not if they are ads. So I guess you are saying its worth paying for one that has ads blocker in addition.

 

[Moonhorse]

So, all I am getting extra with ControlD is ads and tracker blocking by paying around 20$ plus tax a year. Is it worth paying for this?

You get adblocking with free dns

Yeah but those extensions Don't work in Android.

Firefox has ublock origin on android
Brave has its own adblocker

Adguard only costs 19€ lifetime

 

[SohanRay]

You get adblocking with free dns



Firefox has ublock origin on android
Brave has its own adblocker

Adguard only costs 19€ lifetime

Adblocking free dns aren't that good in terms of security filtering and such features. I know of only 2 such adblock free dns , adguard dns and ControlD free dns both of which are much less secure than the ControlD paid dns.
Firefox in Android has a pretty lacking experience than Chrome. Chrome is lot smoother and overall more stable and fast. Firefox stutters. And the unlock in Firefox won't help blocking ads in other apps.Nor would Brave.
Adguard app is an option, but its a bit complicated how it works. Adguard should work on simplifying complications. In its app even if you normally set a dns in the settings, that doesn't mean it would use it securely all the time. It may use different fallback dns , bootstrap dns and even in specific domains or conditions not use the set dns through an encrypted connection. Now to resolve one would try to use private dns and keep this dns setting off. But even then I have seen whenever the app updates filters, suddenly Android shows unable to connect to private dns. And then I would have to manually refresh the network with flight mode on and off to fix it.

 

[Moonhorse]

Adblocking free dns aren't that good in terms of security filtering and such features. I know of only 2 such adblock free dns , adguard dns and ControlD free dns both of which are much less secure than the ControlD paid dns.

Why you need malware filtering for controld free, when youre using google chrome with google safe browsing?

refox in Android has a pretty lacking experience than Chrome. Chrome is lot smoother and overall more stable and fast. Firefox stutters. And the unlock in Firefox won't help blocking ads in other apps.Nor would Brave.

I have 6 years old phone, never had any issues with firefox, chrome , brave or adguard


I would probably go with nextDNS paid, as above suggestions dont work

 

[enaph]

Free? Its limited with free plan. I pretty sure with the free plan I'll exhaust the limit pretty easily.

I don't know your browsing habits but I was using NextDNS free for quite some time on 4 devices and never exceeded the 300.000 queries limit.

 

[SohanRay]

Why you need malware filtering for controld free, when youre using google chrome with google safe browsing?


I have 6 years old phone, never had any issues with firefox, chrome , brave or adguard

Its not easy or visible security issues with the adguard app. You'll have to do tests to know the security vulnerabilities.
Old phone probably has a 60hz screen where the immediately visible performance and stability and smoothness lacking in Firefox won't be visible as compared to Chrome.
And just an info, Google safe browsing is just not nearly enough. I have encountered several times when Google safe browsing doesn't block when Bitdefender antivirus or ControlD , Quad9 , Cloudflare does block.

 

[M4RT1NE2]

I don't know your browsing habits but I was using NextDNS free for quite some time on 4 devices and never exceeded the 300.000 queries limit.

Confirmation. I use NextDNS and I have never exceeded the limit either

 

[SohanRay]

I don't know your browsing habits but I was using NextDNS free for quite some time on 4 devices and never exceeded the 300.000 queries limit.

Haha...your usage is pretty limited. I'll exceed that limit using a single device in 1-2 weeks I think.

 

[SohanRay]

If there were only 3 filters:
Ads and trackers
Malware (phishing,bots,C&C etc)
New domains
Then what percentage out 100 % would each filter block in your opinion? Considering the 3 filters together block 100% of the malicious bad domains.