Six free secure DNS services I trust

DNS translates human-readable domain names to machine-readable IP addresses, and standard DNS does that work in the clear. Secure DNS encrypts queries so eavesdroppers — including your ISP — can’t read them. Using encrypted DNS adds a useful layer of privacy and security even on home Wi‑Fi.

Google Public DNS and Cloudflare DNS are two popular free options. Google’s service supports DNSSEC, TLS 1.3, cache-poisoning protections and an automatic mode in Chrome, and uses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Cloudflare offers DNS over HTTPS and DNS over TLS, a large Anycast network with built-in DDoS mitigation, DNSSEC and addresses 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1; mobile users can install the 1.1.1.1 + Warp app, and Cloudflare says it deletes associated logs within 24 hours.

Quad9 focuses on blocking lookups of malicious host names, claiming 97% effectiveness against malicious and phishing domains, and provides three servers (9.9.9.9; 9.9.9.10 for testing without threat blocking; and 9.9.9.11 with ECS).

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