Koru Shield vs NextDNS vs Control D
Three serious DNS filtering services, three different philosophies. NextDNS is the tinkerer's firewall, Control D is the IT team's Swiss army knife, and Koru Shield is protection for people who want it to just work. Here is the honest side-by-side.
Protection that survives our own outage. Koru Shield's edge servers are stateless, run from signed configuration bundles, and fall back to last-known-good config automatically. We have run failure drills simulating control-plane and edge outages, and DNS kept resolving through them. A filter that disappears during an incident is not protection, so we lead with this.
| NextDNS | Control D | Koru Shield | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 300,000 queries per month. Past the quota, filtering silently stops and queries resolve unfiltered. | Free resolvers with preset filters (malware, ads, family). No account, no logs, no dashboard. | Always on. Free protection never silently switches off, quota or not. |
| Paid price | Pro: $1.99/mo or $19.90/yr, unlimited queries. | Some Control: $3/mo or $30/yr. Full Control: $6/mo or $60/yr (adds traffic redirection). | Guardian: $5/mo. Scam blocking and human support are included on every plan, including Free. |
| Threat blocking | Threat intel feeds, Google Safe Browsing, DGA and typosquatting protection. | Malware and phishing filters among 100+ filter options. | Malware, phishing, and scam blocking live now, with human support when something gets through. |
| Privacy | Configurable retention from 1 hour to 2 years or zero-logs; data residency choice of Switzerland, EU, or US. | 30-day log retention stated; no-logging free resolvers. | Never sells data; US-first residency (Northern Virginia, Oregon). |
| Support | Community forum on free; email support on paid plans. | Geared toward IT teams and MSPs with channel programs. | Human support on every plan, including free. |
| Standout feature | Deep per-rule configuration and an open-source client. | Traffic redirection through proxy locations in 60+ countries; SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001/27701. | Drill-verified resilience and a free plan that never degrades. |
| Family controls | Categories, SafeSearch, YouTube Restricted Mode, app blocking, schedules. | Filtering profiles; consumer family features are not the focus. | Family filter, per-device profiles, SafeSearch, and schedules for homework and bedtime. |
| Network | Established global anycast network. | Established global footprint with proxy network. | Two US regions live (Northern Virginia, Oregon). |
| Who it is for | Tinkerers and power users who enjoy fine-tuning. | IT teams, MSPs, and resellers first; consumers second. | Households that want protection without the homework. |
| Maturity | Established service with a large community. | Established service with trust certifications. | Live now. Newer, smaller, and shaped by early members. |
Pricing and features from public pages, September 2026. Details change; verify current pricing with each provider.
Where NextDNS wins
- Lowest paid price ($1.99/mo Pro)
- Deepest configuration for power users
- Global network with years of history
- Open-source client and large community
Where Control D wins
- Traffic redirection via 60+ countries
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO certifications
- Built for IT teams, MSPs, resellers
- 100+ filter options to mix and match
Where Koru Shield wins
- Free protection that never silently degrades
- Human support on every plan, including free
- Drill-verified outage resilience
- US-first data residency as a headline promise
- Simplest setup for non-technical households
The bottom line
Pick NextDNS if you love tuning rules, Control D if you are managing other people's networks. Pick Koru Shield if you want the protection to be invisible: always on, plainly explained, and backed by a human when something looks wrong. Try it free and run all three side by side for a week.
Try the difference free.
Run our five-second protection check, then put Koru Shield on one device and see what it catches.