15 ms·

Quad9 doesn't have an adblocking DNS service though, so it's not really a replacement.

by oofdere 13d ago

1970-01-01 13d ago
This is a very important detail. Adblock in 2026 is necessary and DNS will transparently do a lot of that work for you. It isn't just about lightning fast lookups and five-nines uptime anymore.
- cortesoft 13d ago
  For blocking, I would much rather run my own service.
  - LetsGetTechnicl 13d ago
    I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up. It uses Quad9 as the upstream provider and then I do all the blocking myself. I used to use NextDNS but this is so much better and free!
    - vardalab 12d ago
      Technitium is also really good as a performant local blocker and recursive dns server. I have been running mine for years now and it is fast as well.
    - upcoming-sesame 12d ago
      How do you block ads when you're outside of your home network? Do you expose your pihole outside?
      - cortesoft 12d ago
        VPN back to your home network?
        upcoming-sesame 12d ago
        I've assumed the latency suffers then
        cortesoft 12d ago
        You could set it up to only route DNS, but that might be complicated for most people
        LetsGetTechnicl 9d ago
        Yeah I have a VPN set up. I don't have the best internet so sometimes it's slow (mostly just app downloads seem to take the longest, so I'll just disable it and then re-enable it.) But it works just fine for streaming, including video
      - LetsGetTechnicl 9d ago
        I set up a WireGuard VPN and use that to connect back to my home network. It's fast enough for what I do on my phone.
ornornor 13d ago
Mullvad had adblocking, malware blocking. And they didn’t block websites from governments blacklists in France and Italy. None of these features are available on Quad9. Maybe it’s time to try nym.com?
ripdog 13d ago
That's something people should run themselves. I run Adguard Home on my router. Unlike the main Adguard product, Adguard Home is fully FOSS. It's been rock-solid for me, and improves on pi-hole in various ways - like full IPv6 support.
- sgc 13d ago
  It's probably the software I trust the most on my network to 'just work', and with the local caching I can use slower upstream dns providers and still have sub 1ms average latency (no performance worries by excluding google and cloudflare). I don't use it for dhcp, but it is a good fit that it's available as well. Couldn't be happier.
- Brybry 13d ago
  I use Mullvad's adblocking DNS server on my phone which is not always behind my home router.
  - godelski 12d ago
    If you're on Android, FF supports add-ons. If you're on an iPhone, uBlock is now supported: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ublock-origin-lite/id6745342698 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ublock-origin-lite/id674534269... There's also Orion browser, but I found it to be a bit more glitchy, especially around sites like YouTube (fuck the app, I'm not watching videos there): https://orionbrowser.com/ https://orionbrowser.com/
    - oofdere 12d ago
      It's not the same thing at all. Mullvad DNS blocks all ads across the system.
      - windexh8er 12d ago
        I've been using NextDNS [0] for a long time. It's worth the price because you can set up all kinds of different blocking profiles and have different ones on different devices, allows you to have overrides for local network items (or internals like on a Tailnet, Pangolin, Wireguard, etc) and a lot more. The ad blocking ends up working so well a lot not only are ads blocked on web pages but it works with some streaming audio ads as well as VoD that has ads injected. Highly recommend. [0] https://nextdns.io https://nextdns.io
zormino 12d ago
I've been using Control D and have been happy with it so far
BatteryMountain 12d ago
My setup goes like this: Fiber ONT -> Proxmox x86 -> OpenWRT -> Adguard Home -> unbound -> Quad9. Browser: Firefox + ublock origin & privacy badger & strict privacy setting & Https-only. My internet is rock solid and super fast, extra low latencies. OpenWRT shapes my traffic to 90% of line speeds, so zero bufferbloat on my end. All my devices connect to this setup. The proxmox box is just an old dual core mini-pc with 8gb ram and 2x 1gbps NIC's and a wifi 6 module for 2.3gbps wireless (only 5Ghz, no 2.4Ghz). I want to replace this box with a new one to get 2.5gb ethernet & better power efficiency as my box is a 51W cpu, but total powerdraw is about 20w without causing wifi to drop. Aggressive power saving can make wifi unstable.

Quad9 doesn't have an adblocking DNS service though, so it's not really a replacement.

by oofdere 13d ago

Quad9 doesn't have an adblocking DNS service though, so it's not really a replacement.

1970-01-01 13d ago

This is a very important detail. Adblock in 2026 is necessary and DNS will transparently do a lot of that work for you. It isn't just about lightning fast lookups and five-nines uptime anymore.

cortesoft 13d ago
For blocking, I would much rather run my own service.
- LetsGetTechnicl 13d ago
  I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up. It uses Quad9 as the upstream provider and then I do all the blocking myself. I used to use NextDNS but this is so much better and free!
  - vardalab 12d ago
    Technitium is also really good as a performant local blocker and recursive dns server. I have been running mine for years now and it is fast as well.
  - upcoming-sesame 12d ago
    How do you block ads when you're outside of your home network? Do you expose your pihole outside?
    - cortesoft 12d ago
      VPN back to your home network?
      - upcoming-sesame 12d ago
        I've assumed the latency suffers then
        cortesoft 12d ago
        You could set it up to only route DNS, but that might be complicated for most people
      - LetsGetTechnicl 9d ago
        Yeah I have a VPN set up. I don't have the best internet so sometimes it's slow (mostly just app downloads seem to take the longest, so I'll just disable it and then re-enable it.) But it works just fine for streaming, including video
    - LetsGetTechnicl 9d ago
      I set up a WireGuard VPN and use that to connect back to my home network. It's fast enough for what I do on my phone.

ornornor 13d ago

Mullvad had adblocking, malware blocking. And they didn’t block websites from governments blacklists in France and Italy. None of these features are available on Quad9. Maybe it’s time to try nym.com?

ripdog 13d ago

That's something people should run themselves. I run Adguard Home on my router. Unlike the main Adguard product, Adguard Home is fully FOSS. It's been rock-solid for me, and improves on pi-hole in various ways - like full IPv6 support.

sgc 13d ago
It's probably the software I trust the most on my network to 'just work', and with the local caching I can use slower upstream dns providers and still have sub 1ms average latency (no performance worries by excluding google and cloudflare). I don't use it for dhcp, but it is a good fit that it's available as well. Couldn't be happier.
Brybry 13d ago
I use Mullvad's adblocking DNS server on my phone which is not always behind my home router.
- godelski 12d ago
  If you're on Android, FF supports add-ons. If you're on an iPhone, uBlock is now supported: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ublock-origin-lite/id6745342698 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ublock-origin-lite/id674534269... There's also Orion browser, but I found it to be a bit more glitchy, especially around sites like YouTube (fuck the app, I'm not watching videos there): https://orionbrowser.com/ https://orionbrowser.com/
  - oofdere 12d ago
    It's not the same thing at all. Mullvad DNS blocks all ads across the system.
    - windexh8er 12d ago
      I've been using NextDNS [0] for a long time. It's worth the price because you can set up all kinds of different blocking profiles and have different ones on different devices, allows you to have overrides for local network items (or internals like on a Tailnet, Pangolin, Wireguard, etc) and a lot more. The ad blocking ends up working so well a lot not only are ads blocked on web pages but it works with some streaming audio ads as well as VoD that has ads injected. Highly recommend. [0] https://nextdns.io https://nextdns.io

zormino 12d ago

I've been using Control D and have been happy with it so far

BatteryMountain 12d ago

My setup goes like this: Fiber ONT -> Proxmox x86 -> OpenWRT -> Adguard Home -> unbound -> Quad9. Browser: Firefox + ublock origin & privacy badger & strict privacy setting & Https-only. My internet is rock solid and super fast, extra low latencies. OpenWRT shapes my traffic to 90% of line speeds, so zero bufferbloat on my end. All my devices connect to this setup. The proxmox box is just an old dual core mini-pc with 8gb ram and 2x 1gbps NIC's and a wifi 6 module for 2.3gbps wireless (only 5Ghz, no 2.4Ghz). I want to replace this box with a new one to get 2.5gb ethernet & better power efficiency as my box is a 51W cpu, but total powerdraw is about 20w without causing wifi to drop. Aggressive power saving can make wifi unstable.