You want to block ads, trackers, and malicious domains across your entire network without installing extensions on every device. Both NextDNS and Pi-hole promise exactly that, but they are fundamentally different products built on different philosophies. One runs entirely in the cloud with a web dashboard you can configure in five minutes; the other is self-hosted software you install on hardware you own. Choosing the wrong one leads to frustration — either because you wanted more control than a cloud service can offer, or because you do not have the time to babysit a Raspberry Pi. This comparison will give you a direct, side-by-side look at both tools so you can make the right call for your home or small business network.
What Each Tool Actually Does
Pi-hole is an open-source DNS sinkhole that runs on your local network. When a device makes a DNS query, that query goes to your Pi-hole instance first. If the domain is on a blocklist, Pi-hole returns a null response or a local IP, and the ad or tracker never loads. Pi-hole acts as a recursive DNS resolver or forwards queries upstream to a resolver of your choice (Cloudflare, Google, Unbound, etc.). All query logs stay on your local machine.
NextDNS is a cloud-hosted DNS filtering service. You create a free account, get a unique DNS resolver address (IPv4, IPv6, DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS), configure your router or devices to use it, and all filtering happens on NextDNS servers before the response reaches you. No hardware required, no Linux commands needed.
Setup and Installation Complexity
Pi-hole Setup
Pi-hole typically runs on a Raspberry Pi (any model from Pi Zero W upward works, Pi 4 is overkill for most households) or any Linux machine — even a Docker container. The one-line installer handles the heavy lifting:
After installation you point your router's DHCP DNS setting to the Pi-hole's local IP address so that every device on your network uses it automatically. On most routers you reach this under LAN Settings or DHCP Server settings. Common admin panel URLs by brand:
- ASUS: asusrouter.com — navigate to LAN > DHCP Server > DNS Server 1
- TP-Link (Archer/AX series): tplinkwifi.net — Advanced > Network > DHCP Server
- Netgear: routerlogin.net — Advanced > Setup > Internet Setup (for WAN DNS) or LAN Setup
- D-Link / generic: 192.168.0.1 — Setup > Network Settings > Primary DNS
- Linksys / older Belkin: 192.168.1.1 — Smart Wi-Fi Tools > Local Network > DHCP
Set the Primary DNS to your Pi-hole's static local IP (e.g., 192.168.1.50). Leave Secondary DNS blank or point it to another Pi-hole instance — if you set a public DNS as the secondary, devices will bypass Pi-hole whenever it is unreachable, defeating the purpose.
Total realistic setup time for someone comfortable with Linux: 30 to 90 minutes. For someone new to Linux or networking: two to four hours including troubleshooting.
NextDNS Setup
Create an account at nextdns.io, copy your unique resolver IDs, and paste them into your router's DNS fields. For DNS-over-HTTPS on a router that supports it, the URL looks like this:
On devices that do not support encrypted DNS natively, NextDNS provides a lightweight app for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux that sets the DNS automatically. Total setup time: five to fifteen minutes regardless of technical background.
Blocklists and Filtering Capabilities
Pi-hole Blocklists
Pi-hole ships with a default blocklist (about 300,000 domains) and lets you add any number of third-party lists via the web dashboard under Adlists. Popular additions include:
- Steven Black's Hosts (unified ads + malware)
- OISD (light or full)
- HaGeZi Multi-Pro
- URLhaus malware domains
You update lists manually or via cron job:
Pi-hole also lets you create custom allow and deny lists, and you can regex-block entire domain patterns — something that requires careful thought but gives fine-grained control. The community maintains thousands of curated lists covering everything from gambling sites to TikTok domains.
NextDNS Blocklists
NextDNS offers a curated library of 50+ named blocklists inside its dashboard under the Privacy and Security tabs. You toggle them on with a click. It includes built-in categories like:
- Ads and Trackers (NextDNS native list)
- OISD, AdGuard DNS Filter, EasyList
- Threat Intelligence Feeds (abuse.ch, DShield, etc.)
- Native tracking protection per-platform (Apple, Google, Samsung, Xiaomi, etc.)
NextDNS also supports custom allow/deny lists and parental controls with category-based filtering (adult content, social media, gaming). The native tracking protection feature, which blocks first-party tracking domains used by device manufacturers, is genuinely unique and harder to replicate in Pi-hole without specific lists.
Privacy and Data Handling
This is where the two tools diverge most sharply. Pi-hole keeps all query logs on your own hardware. You control retention period, you decide who can access the admin panel, and no query data ever leaves your network unless you configure it to. For users with strong privacy requirements or those in regulated industries, this is a decisive advantage.
NextDNS processes your queries on its servers. The company publishes a privacy policy stating logs are not sold and can be configured with short retention windows (one hour, one day, one week, etc.) or disabled entirely. You can also enable an anonymous mode that strips client IPs from logs. For most households this is fine, but if the threat model includes not trusting any third-party cloud service with your DNS queries, NextDNS is a non-starter regardless of how good the privacy policy sounds.
Performance and Reliability
Latency
Pi-hole on a local network answers queries in under one millisecond for cached entries. For uncached queries it forwards to your chosen upstream resolver, so total latency depends on that resolver. A well-configured Pi-hole with Unbound for local recursive resolution is as fast as DNS gets.
NextDNS routes queries to the nearest point of presence. For most users in North America, Europe, and Australia, latency is 5 to 20 ms — perceptible in theory, imperceptible in practice for web browsing. On slower or congested internet connections, the extra hop matters more.
Uptime
Pi-hole is only as reliable as your local hardware and power supply. A crashed Pi-hole means no DNS resolution for your entire network until you fix it (unless you have a fallback). Running a second Pi-hole instance with gravity-sync or configuring a fallback upstream DNS on your router is strongly recommended for production use.
NextDNS operates a commercial anycast network with a claimed 99.9%+ uptime. You do not manage that infrastructure. If NextDNS goes down, you configure a fallback public resolver — but that means your filtering goes offline temporarily.
Query Analytics and Logging
Both tools give you a query log and per-client statistics. Pi-hole's dashboard shows total queries, blocked percentage, top blocked domains, and per-device breakdowns when clients are identified by hostname or static IP. The interface is functional but not particularly modern.
NextDNS provides a slicker real-time analytics view with filtering by device, protocol (DoH, DoT, plain DNS), and time range. It also shows which blocklist triggered a block, which is extremely useful for debugging false positives. You can use our DNS Lookup tool to manually verify whether a specific domain resolves correctly after adjusting your blocklists.
Cost
Pi-hole is free and open source. Your only cost is hardware (a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W runs about $15, a Pi 4 runs $35 to $55) and electricity (roughly $1 to $3 per month for a Pi Zero, more for a Pi 4). If you already have an always-on Linux machine or a NAS, you can run Pi-hole there for free.
NextDNS is free up to 300,000 queries per month. A typical household of four people uses between 200,000 and 600,000 queries per month depending on device count and activity. Heavy users or households with many smart home devices will exceed the free tier quickly. The paid plan is $1.99 per month or $19.90 per year, which covers unlimited queries for all devices under one account — inexpensive compared to similar commercial filtering services.
Encrypted DNS Support
Pi-hole does not natively terminate DNS-over-HTTPS or DNS-over-TLS from clients. To accept encrypted DNS queries from your own devices, you need an additional proxy layer like dnscrypt-proxy or nginx acting as a DoH frontend. This adds configuration complexity. Pi-hole can forward queries upstream over DoH or DoT, which is valuable, but the local queries between your devices and Pi-hole are still unencrypted unless you add that proxy layer.
NextDNS supports DoH, DoT, DoQ (DNS-over-QUIC), and plain DNS out of the box. Every modern OS and browser can use NextDNS with encrypted DNS natively. This is a meaningful advantage if you have devices that leave your home network and you want filtering to follow them — plain DNS on a Pi-hole only works on your local network.
Mobile and Remote Device Coverage
Pi-hole only filters traffic that passes through your home network. Phones, laptops, and tablets on mobile data or public Wi-Fi are completely unfiltered unless you route everything through a VPN back to your home network — adding more complexity (WireGuard, Tailscale, etc.).
NextDNS follows your devices wherever they go via the lightweight system-level DNS configuration or the NextDNS app. This is a significant practical advantage for families where kids' phones leave the house every day.
Which One Should You Choose
Choose Pi-hole if you:
- Have a Raspberry Pi or spare Linux machine you can dedicate to this
- Want absolute control over your DNS data with nothing leaving your network
- Enjoy tinkering and do not mind occasional maintenance
- Only need filtering on your home network (not on mobile devices away from home)
- Want to run local DNS records for homelab services
Choose NextDNS if you:
- Want to be up and running in under 15 minutes with no hardware
- Need filtering on phones and laptops when they are away from home
- Are comfortable trusting a third-party cloud DNS provider
- Want parental controls with category-based filtering without managing lists manually
- Prefer a polished, modern dashboard over a functional but dated interface
Using Both Together
A popular configuration in the homelabber community is to run Pi-hole locally for LAN-based filtering and local DNS records, and use NextDNS as the upstream resolver for Pi-hole. This gives you local ad blocking, encrypted upstream queries, and NextDNS threat intelligence on top. Configure it under Pi-hole's Settings > DNS tab by entering your NextDNS DoH or DoT address as the upstream. The tradeoff is that query analytics are split between two dashboards, but the layered protection is solid.
How to Verify Your Setup Is Working
After configuring either tool, test that filtering is active by querying a known ad-serving domain:
If the domain returns a real IP address, your filtering is not active. Double-check that your router's DHCP DNS setting points to the correct address and that clients have renewed their DHCP lease (reconnecting to Wi-Fi forces a lease renewal on most devices).
For NextDNS, visit nextdns.io/test from any configured device — it will confirm whether your queries are reaching NextDNS and which configuration profile is active.
Final Verdict
Neither tool is objectively better — they serve different users. NextDNS wins on convenience, mobile coverage, and ease of setup. Pi-hole wins on privacy, local control, and zero recurring cost beyond hardware. If you have a Raspberry Pi sitting in a drawer and thirty minutes to spare on a Saturday, Pi-hole will reward you with a deeply customizable system that is entirely yours. If you want something working before dinner with no hardware and no Linux, NextDNS is the right call. For the technically inclined user who wants both, running NextDNS as Pi-hole's upstream resolver is genuinely the best of both worlds.