Control D vs Safe Surfer
Control D
controld.comSafe Surfer
safesurfer.ioSide by side
| Figure | Control D | Safe Surfer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2/mo | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Internet Filtering Software | 9.1 (#3) | 7.8 (#33) |
| Spec score · DNS Filtering Services | 9.1 (#3) | 7.7 (#25) |
| Filtering | Control D offers 20 content categories, custom rules, and more than 1,000 premade services that can be blocked or unblocked. | It can block 50+ categories, including pornography, ads, malware, social media, games, and gambling, and lets account owners add sites to block or allow. |
| Founded | 2021 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Canada | New Zealand |
| Support | The pricing comparison lists email and community support, an AI assistant, and live engineer sessions for some plans. | The site links to a helpdesk and offers chat for questions about plans. |
Plans
Control D
- SMB$2 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- MSP / ChannelPriced on request
- School / Non-profitPriced on request
Safe Surfer
- Pro SurferPrice not published
- Pro Surfer for OrganizationsPrice not published
- Pro Surfer for Organizations (Yearly)Price not published
- Pro Surfer (Yearly)Price not published
In their own words
Control D
Control D is a configurable DNS filtering and traffic redirection service for controlling access to domains, services and browsing activity. Its filtering includes 20 content categories, custom rules and more than 1,000 premade services that users can block or allow. Malware protection uses threat intelligence feeds and machine learning, with selectable aggressiveness levels. DNS connections support DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-QUIC and DNS-over-HTTPS/3, as well as IPv4 and IPv6. Listed integrations cover Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, browsers, routers, RMM tools and Tailscale. API access includes generating and invalidating tokens. Raw query logs are retained for 30 days and lower-resolution analytics for up to one year; customers can choose analytics storage in New York, Amsterdam or Sydney. A free plan is available. The SMB plan costs $2 a month, billed per endpoint, and includes self-serve deployment and real-time analytics. Control D was founded in Toronto in 2021.
Safe Surfer
Safe Surfer has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.