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DNS filtering · November 2026 Edition

Cloudflare Gateway vs Control D

One of fourteen models named Cloudflare Gateway first on the direct prompt; zero named Control D. Both were named by all fourteen models and Cloudflare Gateway carries 43 labels and Control D 29, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Cloudflare Gateway

accepted challenger

Named in three categories this edition.

Control D

accepted challenger

Named in two categories this edition.

First-choice share16%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate2%10%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#5A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels4329A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cloudflare Gateway reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.DNSFilter was named alongside these two in thirteen of the fourteen direct answers. DNSFilter vs Cloudflare Gateway · DNSFilter vs Control D · Cloudflare Gateway vs Cisco Umbrella

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the DNS filtering page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Cloudflare GatewayFirst choices, of fourteen modelsControl D
Direct101 against Control D
Paraphrase001 against Cloudflare Gateway
Comparative11
Budget-constrained61
Scale-constrained20
Negative012 against Control D
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Cloudflare Gateway and Control D were named in the same answer fifty-five times, of the 147 answers naming Cloudflare Gateway and the 89 naming Control D. In those answers Control D took the first choice nine times and Cloudflare Gateway eleven.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare Gateway and Control D stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Cloudflare Gateway Control D first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare Gateway on the left and Control D on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare Gateway and Control D stood in it.

Cloudflare Gateway first, Control D not the choice

1 of 14 modelsControl D was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
GPT-5.4 miniCloudflare Gateway, DNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella

Neither was the first choice, one was named

11 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Gemini 3.5 FlashDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Secure Access, Cloudflare Gateway
Perplexity SonarDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, WebTitan
Grok 4.20DNSFilter alternatives: Cloudflare Gateway, Control D
Mistral SmallDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
DeepSeek V4 FlashDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Control D
Qwen 3.7 FlashCisco Umbrella, DNSFilter alternatives: Cloudflare Gateway, FortiGuard
Kimi K2DNSFilter alternatives: Cloudflare Gateway
GLM 4.7 FlashXDNSFilter alternatives: Cloudflare Gateway, Control D
MiniMax M2.5DNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Control D
GPT-6 LunaDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
Muse Glimmer 30BDNSFilter alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway

Neither was named

2 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
Llama 4 MaverickDNSFilter

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Cloudflare Gateway leads by eighteen points.
Cloudflare Gateway21%#2 of 9
Control D4%#6 of 9
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare Gateway leads by fourteen points.
Cloudflare Gateway16%#2 of 11
Control D2%#5 of 11
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Cloudflare Gateway leads by four points.
Cloudflare Gateway11%#3 of 10
Control D7%#5 of 10
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Cloudflare Gateway

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.

“though I didn’t see as strong a DNS-security-first positioning in the sources I checked as compared with Cisco and Infoblox” GPT-5.4 mini · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“my default recommendation is Cloudflare Gateway if you want the best overall balance of security, scalability, and broader zero-trust capabilities” GPT-5.4 mini · direct prompt · first choice
“If you have almost no budget, start with Cloudflare Gateway (free for 50 users) or Quad9 (completely free).” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · first choice
“Best value / SMB & MSP options are commonly cited as Cloudflare Gateway and DNSFilter for fast, transparent pricing” Muse Glimmer 30B · scale prompt · first choice

What the models said about Control D

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.

“also receive mixed reviews, with similar concerns about support and occasional reliability issues” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“their privacy language has changed over time... premium/custom setups can involve account data” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“though less common for general B2B IT operations” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · soft negative
“NextDNS or Control D: Customizable filtering ... with strong no-log policies, audits” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · first choice
“Industry-leading malware block rate (99.98% per Nexxwave testing, June 2025)” MiniMax M2.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
“1. Control D - Highly recommended for limited budgets” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.