DNSFilter vs OpenBLD
DNSFilter
dnsfilter.comOpenBLD
openbld.netSide by side
| Figure | DNSFilter | OpenBLD |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1/mo | $15/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 3 |
| Spec score · Internet Filtering Software | 9.1 (#4) | 9.0 (#6) |
| Audience | The company says the service is designed primarily for professional environments and offers separate programs for MSPs and qualified educational institutions. | OpenBLD Free is presented for personal use, home networks, and small offices; Plus is designed for companies, security teams, and MSP or MSSP providers. |
| Company size | LinkedIn lists DNSFilter as having 51–200 employees. | LinkedIn lists OpenBLD.net as a nonprofit with one employee and headquarters in Almaty, Kazakhstan. |
| Founded | DNSFilter says it was founded in October 2015 by Ken Carnesi and Brian Gillis. | 2019 |
| Integrations | Integrations include Microsoft Entra, Active Directory, Zapier, ConnectWise, HaloPSA, Datto Autotask, Syncro, Pulseway PSA and Kaseya. | Plus integration options may include Active Directory DNS, ClickHouse, VictoriaLogs, Grafana, Prometheus-compatible monitoring, syslog, and SIEM systems. |
| Licence | The terms grant customers a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use downloadable software with the service; the product is not offered as open-source software. | The public GitHub repository for the OpenBLD website is marked CC0-1.0; the service's internal zBLD components are described as internal technology rather than separately licensed source code. |
| Product | DNSFilter provides protective DNS and content filtering for organizations, including threat protection and controls for workplace internet use. | OpenBLD provides protective DNS to block malware, phishing, tracking, and unwanted domains. |
| Support | DNSFilter describes responsive email support and extensive knowledge-base documentation; premium support add-ons include prioritized handling, enhanced response targets, and Zoom consultations. | OpenBLD Plus includes professional support, while technical questions and general support are directed to Telegram. |
| What it does | DNSFilter provides AI-powered DNS content filtering and threat blocking for phishing, malware and unwanted content. | OpenBLD provides public protective DNS intended to block malware, phishing, tracking and unwanted domains. |
Plans
OpenBLD
- OpenBLD FreeFree
- OpenBLD Plus$15 a month
- OpenBLD Plus enterprise deploymentsPriced on request
In their own words
DNSFilter
DNSFilter provides protective DNS and content filtering for organizations managing threats and workplace internet use. It categorizes billions of domains with Webshrinker machine-learning categorization, while AppAware can block more than 100 risky applications. DNSFilter says its real-time threat categorization can identify threats 10 days faster than other threat feeds. Deployments include network configuration, a DNS relay, and roaming clients for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Chrome. Listed controls include DNS encryption such as DNS-over-TLS, custom blocklists, safe search, filtering schedules, and advanced activity reports. Active Directory Sync Tool supports up to 500,000 users and applies policies by user or group. Integrations include Microsoft Entra, Active Directory, Zapier, API access, and an MCP Connector. Data Export supports Amazon S3 and Splunk, with Microsoft Sentinel also named. API access is included in all plans, with rate limits but no overall usage cap. Pricing starts at $1/mo (annual), with a 14-day trial and no free plan.
OpenBLD
OpenBLD provides protective DNS to block malware, phishing, tracking and unwanted domains. It supports classic DNS, DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS. The free service can be configured on phones, browsers, computers and routers without installing an agent or additional software. Its ADA profile is adaptive for most users, while RIC applies stricter filtering that may affect some services. OpenBLD Free is presented for personal use, home networks and small offices, and is billed Free forever with about 100,000 DNS queries per day and a limit of 100 requests per second per IP. OpenBLD Plus is aimed at companies, security teams and managed service providers. It adds organization-specific policies, centralized DNS analytics, security events and corporate DNS integrations. Deployment options are Managed Cloud, Dedicated DNS and On-Premise; the On-Premise option keeps DNS traffic, events and analytics within customer infrastructure. The documentation says there is no Service Level Agreement for OpenBLD DNS, while Plus lists SLA options. The service was founded in 2019.