Best Free DNS Servers for Parental Controls and Blocking Porn

Last edited: 2025-06-07 07:22:31

DNS servers is a great free way of setting up parental controls and filtering your internet from porn but there are plenty of options. Let’s compare some of the most popular ones.

Parental Control DNS Servers – Comparison Criteria

There are multiple aspects and features you want to consider when picking your DNS server. One of your criteria, probably the main one, might be that the DNS server should block as many adult content websites as possible. Another might be securing Google or Bing search results. You might also want to maintain good internet speed and response time. Below, I will go through the criteria and features I will compare between the DNS servers.

DNS Server Parental Control Blocking Rate

The bare minimum you want a DNS server aimed at parental control to do is block porn and other inappropriate websites. All these DNS servers in this article will provide you with that protection, but to a varying degree. I have tested (with a Python script) how many of a thousand porn websites the DNS servers block to check their filtering percentage.

However, your kids may be encountering explicit content on websites that is not necessarily porn websites. For example, Google Images will show you explicit images when you search for something inappropriate. Another example is microblogs/forums (mixed sites) such as Reddit or X/Twitter which allows porn. Therefore, it is good to know what effect these DNS servers have on these websites and whether that is what you are looking for. Does the DNS server ban Reddit? Does it enforce safe search?

DNS Server Forcing Google Safe Search and YouTube Safe Mode

Google and other search engines, like Bing and DuckDuckGo, have a safe search mode that filters search results from explicit websites and images. DNS servers can enforce this search mode, so I will provide which search engines the DNS servers enforce safe search on.

YouTube also has a safe mode that can be enforced via a DNS server. This is possibly a feature you are looking for since your children most likely spend a good amount of time watching YouTube videos. The safe mode removes a vast number of videos deemed inappropriate for children, and it also turns off the comments section below the YouTube videos.

Parental Control DNS Server Speed

Another criterion you might value is the speed of the DNS server. Not all DNS servers are equally fast. It is also dependent on where you are connected from. I will test the average response time of a thousand popular websites to measure the average response time for each DNS server using a Python script. If you want to test the speed yourself DNS Speed Test Benchmark is a good website to see which DNS server is the fastest for your location.

Cleanbrowsing’s DNS Servers for Parental Control

The first DNS server provider on the list is Cleanbrowsing. Cleanbrowsing, as the name suggests, focuses fully on parental control. They offer two different DNS servers with varying strictness.

Cleanbrowsing’s Family Filter

The first DNS filter is called “Family Filter”. This is the strictest one. It has a blocking percentage of 84 %, and it also blocks mixed content sites like Reddit, Imgur, dating sites, etc. It also forces Google, YouTube, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex to be set to safe mode. For me, the average speed for Cleanbrowsing’s Family Filter DNS server was around 122 ms.

Porn website blocking rate: 84 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, YouTube, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex
Blocks mixed sites: Yes, examples: Reddit, Imgur, Deviantart, archive.org, Liveleak, dating sites
Average response time: 122 ms

Cleanbrowsing’s Adult Filter

Their second option is the “Adult Filter” DNS server, which is more lenient. It blocks porn websites, same blocking rate at 84 %, but does not block mixed sites. It forces safe mode for Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex, but does not force safe mode for YouTube. I do not know why, but the response time is almost half that of the Family Filter and the fastest of all DNS servers on the list.

Porn website blocking rate: 84 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex
Blocks mixed sites: No
Average response time: 69 ms

AdGuard’s DNS Server for Parental Control

AdGuard provides one DNS server for parental control called “Family protection server”. The blocking rate of AdGuard’s DNS server is a bit lower at 75 %. However, it does enforce safe mode for all the search engines that I tested for (Google, YouTube, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Ecosia, and Brave). It does block some mixed sites, mainly dating sites. My average response time to their servers was 143 ms.

Porn website blocking rate: 75 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, YouTube, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Ecosia, and Brave
Blocks mixed sites: Yes, examples: Deviantart, dating sites
Average response time: 143 ms

Cloudflare’s DNS Server for Parental Control

Next on the list is Cloudflare’s DNS server called “1.1.1.3” (The IPv4 address). The pornsite blocking rate comes in at a solid 85 %. It enforces safe search mode on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex. 1.1.1.3 does not block any mixed sites. Cloudflare often markets itself as the fastest DNS provider, and in my case, that seems to be somewhat true for my location; they had the second-quickest average response time of all providers on the list, coming in at 82 ms.

Porn website blocking rate: 85 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex
Blocks mixed sites: No
Average response time: 82 ms

OpenDNS’s DNS Server for Parental Control

OpenDNS has a DNS server called “Family Shield” that posts an impressive 90 % porn site blocking rate. Apart from the high blocking percentage, it does not enforce any safe search mode, and it does not block any mixed sites. In my case, the average response time to their DNS server was 137 ms.

Porn website blocking rate: 90 %
Forces safe mode on: None
Blocks mixed sites: No
Average response time: 137 ms

ControlD’s DNS Server for Parental Control

Up next, we’ve got ControlD with their “Family Friendly” DNS server. Their DNS server has a rather low porn blocking percentage of 46 % and safe search is enforced on Google, YouTube, Bing, and DuckDuckGo. No mixed sites are blocked, and my average response time was 109 ms.

Porn website blocking rate: 46 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, YouTube, Bing, and DuckDuckGo
Blocks mixed sites: No
Average response time: 109 ms

DNSforFamily’s DNS Server for Parental Control

DNSforFamily might not be the first search result that comes up when you search for parental control and porn filtering DNS servers which is unfortunate. Why? Because their “DNS for Family” DNS server got 100 % porn site blocking rate. Yes, you read that right. Only one of the thousand porn websites that was tested were not blocked. This is probably not unexpected since they state that their block list contains over 6.7 million websites.

Apart from the staggering blocking rate, DNSforFamily also enforces safe mode on all tested search engines. They also provide a comprehensive mixed-site blocking list. Things like Liveleak, dating sites, mobile game sites (like goodgamestudios), and gambling sites. The only things the mixed site blocking list might be missing are Reddit and X/Twitter (I give a solution to this problem at the bottom of the article). I also had a good average response time of 91 ms.

Porn website blocking rate: 100 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, YouTube, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Ecosia, and Brave
Blocks mixed sites: Yes, examples: Liveleak, dating sites, mobile game sites, gambling sites
Average response time: 91 ms

DNS0.EU’s DNS Server for Parental Control

Last on the list is DNS0.EU’s “Kids” DNS server. They got an abysmal blocking rate of 15 %. Although I got a lot of timeouts (over 80 %) when running my tests. I do not know if this is a blocking method or if their DNS server is unstable. Safe mode is enforced on Google, Bing, and Yandex. Some mixed sites are blocked, like Reddit, and they are the only DNS server on the list that blocks twitter.com. I had the slowest average response time to the DNS server at 228 ms. Overall, I think this is the clear loser on the list.

Porn website blocking rate: 15 %
Forces safe mode on: Google, Bing, and Yandex
Blocks mixed sites: Yes, examples: Reddit, Twitter, gambling sites, mediafire.com
Average response time: 228 ms

Best Free DNS Servers for Parental Controls Ranking List

So, all and all, which is the best free DNS server for parental controls and filtering porn? Well, I think the answer is clear: DNSforFamily. A 100 % porn website blocking rate is hard to beat plus DNSforFamily also provided a comprehensive enforcement of safe search and a thorough block list for mixed sites. The question is more of what DNS servers come in second and third.

OpenDNS had the second-highest blocking rate at 90 %. However, they did not enforce any safe search and blocked no mixed sites. That is highly important, so it disqualifies them from the top 3. Therefore, at number two, we’ve got to place Cleanbrowsing’s “Family Filter” DNS server. 84 % is a good porn website blocking percentage and an extensive safe search mode enforcement plus a broad mixed site blocking list is why I would place them second.

For third place, I think it is a toss-up between AdGuard and Cloudflare. Cloudflare has a greater blocking rate at 85 % compared to AdGuard’s 75 %. However, I think it is more likely your children will encounter porn on search engines. Since AdGuard enforces safe mode for all search engines I tested, I give them third place.

So, the top 3 best free DNS servers for parental control are:

DNSforFamily
Cleanbrowsing’s Family Filter
AdGuard’s Family Protection Server

Monitoring Your Kids’ Internet Activity

So, are these parental control DNS servers enough? Maybe. Depending on the age and how tech-savvy your children are, they could still find ways around these DNS servers. Therefore, it is good to monitor their internet activity to see if they are bypassing your internet filters. Unfortunately, when connecting your devices to a free DNS server, you will not be able to monitor their internet activity. So, how do you do that? Well, a free solution for your home network router (given you have an extra computer or Raspberry Pi lying around at home) is using the open-source internet filtering and monitoring software AdGuard Home, which I have a guide on that you can find here.

If you also want to monitor your kids’ activity when they are not using your home network, you want to use something like AdGuard DNS, which I also have a guide on. Both AdGuard Home and DNS are great since you can create custom filtering lists. As an example, let’s say you went with the DNSforFamily option. Their DNS server unfortunately did not block Reddit and X/Twitter where porn is allowed. Well, in AdGuard Home/DNS, you can add those two websites to your custom filtering list to block them, and voila, now you have a comprehensive porn blocking filter for parental controls.