Show HN: nextdns.io – A Combination of Cloudflare DNS and Pi-Hole

We've been working super hard on nextdns.io, a cloud-based private DNS service that gives you full control over what is allowed or blocked on your devices.

Here is a few things you can do with it:

- Block malicious websites, trackers, ads, and more by combining the most popular blocklists out there, all updated in real-time (100+ lists to choose from).

- Set your own privacy requirements: you decide what type of logs are kept (and for how long) depending on the level of analytics you want. Down to absolutely NO logs.

- Automatically use DNS-over-HTTPS on all networks (including cellular) with our apps for Android, iOS, Windows and macOS. They are all tiny, tightly integrated with the OS and have negligible battery usage. (Some of them are still being worked on.)

- Bypass nearly all forms of government/ISP censorship without the need for a slow/costly VPN, and make it way harder for your ISP to know what you are doing on the Internet.

- Get in-depth analytics and real-time query logs so you can measure the efficiency of your blocking strategy, see when the apps on your devices are calling home, etc. And choose what is logged down to absolutely no logs, you decide.

- Easily protect your family (you can create as many configurations as you want on one account, each with different settings, and you can use multiple different configurations while being on the same network).

It also supports all the latest DNS technologies (DNS-over-HTTPS/TLS, Query Name Minimisation, DNSSEC validation, etc.), and it's fast (for most countries, we are or will very soon be as low-latency as Google DNS, Cloudflare and the likes).

There are tons of other cool stuff we built into that service (like the fact that each configuration gets its own DoH/DoT endpoint and IPv6) but that post is already way too long :)

We recorded a short GIF of us browsing through the interface: https://gfycat.com/LinedVerifiableBellfrog

You can create your first configuration and test it right away without signing up (you can sign up later and "save" it).

We would really appreciate if you could try the service, tell us what you like, what you don't like, what you would add, etc. We will happily answer all questions (even the technical ones).

Cheers, and thanks!

This is incredibly useful and the on boarding is effortless.

Great job - I'd love to know if you plan on charging for this.

Is your source code open?

This looks really cool. I'm nervous about entrusting someone with stuff as sensitive as DNS. If this is all it appears to be, I may be a paying customer (tho I try to only use/pay for free-as-in-speech software).

Personally I run either pihole or something similar however setting something similar for all the friends is a bit cumbersome as it at least requires getting a raspberry pi. This seems like a really intriguing alternative although will voice similar concerns as others are expressing that the site does not indicate the source of the funding, motivations for the project, etc. As such that could be a barrier to entrust something as personal as DNS to a service without understanding their motivations and future plans. Would be great if that could be better outlined on the site.

1. How would you compare your service with paid service "Circle" https://meetcircle.com/

2. How effective is it at blocking apps?

3. Will you OpenSource it?

4. Can you add some kind of Bash/scripts to configure profiles/settings on OpenSource routers such as OpenWRT, etc?

5. Will there be an API to control settings?