Defenras vs NextDNS. They solve different problems.
We make one of these, so here is the bias declared up front. NextDNS is a genuinely good product and for some households it is the better choice — including households that would otherwise pay us. The difference is not quality. It is that one is a DNS service and the other is an app, and that distinction decides the outcome more than any feature list.
The short version
| NextDNS | Defenras | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A configurable DNS resolver | An app on the device |
| Cost | Free to 300k queries/month, then a few dollars | Free tier, or $34.99 CAD/year |
| Setup | Create a profile, pick blocklists, install on each device | Install, enter a key |
| Blocks adult / gambling | Yes, via blocklists you choose | Yes, by category toggle |
| Works on mobile data | Yes, if a device profile is installed | Yes |
| Survives a child deleting it | No — profile removal takes seconds, silently | PIN on settings, alert if removed |
| App blocking | No | Android only |
| Screen time | No | Yes |
| Panic button | No | Yes |
| Query logging | Optional, off by default, yours to configure | None — no browsing history is created |
Where NextDNS genuinely wins
Price. The free tier covers most households, and paid is a few dollars a year. We are more expensive and there is no argument to make there.
Control. You pick your blocklists, write your own allow and deny rules, and see exactly what was queried. If you enjoy that, nothing in the consumer market gives you more.
Whole-network coverage. Point your router at it and every device is covered — consoles, smart TVs, a guest's laptop. We do not do that.
If you are technically comfortable, your household is mostly on home Wi-Fi, and nobody is actively trying to get around the filter, NextDNS is very likely the better answer. We would rather say so than take money from someone it does not suit.
Try the free tier before deciding
Malware and phishing blocking with no card, so you can see how it behaves on a real device before comparing costs.
Get Defenras free →Where the difference actually bites
A DNS profile can be deleted in fifteen seconds
This is the whole distinction, and it is worth being concrete.
To apply NextDNS to a phone on mobile data, you install a DNS profile — a configuration profile on iOS, a Private DNS setting on Android. Both live in Settings. Both can be removed by whoever holds the phone, in seconds, with no password, and nothing tells you it happened. Filtering silently stops and everything looks normal.
On Android, Defenras is an app. Settings sit behind a parent PIN, filtering runs through an on-device VPN service rather than a removable profile, and if the app is uninstalled or goes quiet you get a Guardian Alert by email. That is a genuine difference.
On iPhone we have to be straight with you: we use a DNS configuration profile too. Apple does not permit a third-party app to filter DNS any other way. Our profile sits in Settings exactly where NextDNS's would, and it can be removed just as quickly. Our alert fires when the app stops reporting in — so if someone deletes the profile and leaves the app installed, you will not be told.
You should read that here rather than discover it. If tamper resistance is why you are choosing between these two, it is a real advantage on Android and close to a wash on iPhone.
For a nine-year-old none of this matters. For a fourteen-year-old who has worked out what the profile does it decides the whole question — and on iPhone, neither product fully solves it.
Blocklist maintenance is a real cost
NextDNS asks you to choose blocklists and tune them. Community lists drift, over-block, and occasionally break a site your child needs for homework. That is a fine trade if you like tinkering and a genuine burden if you do not. Category toggles are less powerful and much harder to get wrong.
Neither one does what a router does, and vice versa
Worth saying clearly because it is the most common confusion: NextDNS on your router covers every device at home and nothing outside it. NextDNS as a device profile covers that device anywhere. They are different deployments of the same service with very different coverage, and the free-tier comparison people usually have in mind is the router one.
What we would actually recommend
- Young children, home network, technical parent — NextDNS on the router. Cheaper, broader, and nobody is trying to defeat it.
- Teenager with their own phone — a device-level app with tamper resistance. This is the case a deletable profile does not survive.
- You want it to work without becoming a project — an app with category toggles.
- You want both — entirely reasonable. NextDNS on the router for whole-home coverage, an app on the phone that leaves the house. They do not conflict.
The honest summary
NextDNS is a better DNS service than the DNS component of what we sell, and it costs less. What it is not is an app, which means it has no way to resist being switched off and no way to tell you when it was.
Decide on that, not on the feature table. If nobody in your house would ever go into Settings and delete a profile, buy the cheaper thing.
Frequently asked questions
Is NextDNS better than Defenras?
For a technically comfortable parent filtering a home network with young children, usually yes — it is cheaper and more configurable. On Android, Defenras runs as an app with a parent PIN and an alert if it is removed, which a deletable DNS profile cannot match. On iPhone we also filter through a DNS configuration profile, because Apple permits no alternative, so that advantage largely disappears there. Decide on which platform your child actually uses.
Can a child remove a NextDNS profile?
Yes. On iOS it is a configuration profile and on Android a Private DNS setting, both in Settings, both removable in seconds without a password. Nothing notifies the parent, so filtering stops silently.
Is NextDNS free?
There is a free tier covering roughly 300,000 queries a month, which is enough for many households, after which it costs a few dollars. It is genuinely inexpensive and we are not going to argue otherwise.
Can I use NextDNS and Defenras together?
Yes, and it is a sensible setup — NextDNS on the router for whole-home coverage including consoles and TVs, and Defenras on the phones that leave the house. They operate at different layers and do not conflict.
Does Defenras log DNS queries like NextDNS can?
No. NextDNS offers optional query logging that you control. Defenras creates no browsing record at all — the domain check happens on the device and is never transmitted, so there is nothing to log, disclose or leak.
Defenras blocks all of this — without collecting your child's data.
One app, every device, every browser. Adult content, gambling, vaping, scams, malware, social media — all blocked. PIN-locked. Free version available, no credit card.