DnsServer vs NextDNS
DnsServer and NextDNS are both network ad blocking software. DnsServer is open source under GPL-3.0, with 10k GitHub stars. NextDNS is a commercial product from NextDNS.
Which to pick
- Pick DnsServer when
- You want a full DNS server for your home or office, including authoritative zones, not just a blocker.
- Pick NextDNS when
- You want network-wide blocking on phones and laptops wherever they go without running a Pi-hole.
Side by side
A cross-platform authoritative and recursive DNS server with ad blocking, DHCP, encrypted DNS, clustering and a web console.
A hosted DNS resolver that blocks ads, trackers and malicious domains on every device and network, with parental controls and query logs.
Essentially one developer behind it.
A small company, the service has gone quiet on development at times, and logs go to a third party unless disabled.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server
Cloud service
C# and .NET
Not published
Open source, GPL-3.0 (strong copyleft)
Closed source, sold by NextDNS
Use inside your business is unrestricted, but anything you distribute that includes it must be released under the same license.
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
10k GitHub stars
No Wikipedia article of its own
Established: started 9 years ago, latest release v15.6.2.
Not known
Other comparisons
More network ad blockers and DNS filters
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.