Cloudflare Gateway vs NextDNS
One of fourteen models named Cloudflare Gateway first on the direct prompt; zero named NextDNS. Both were named by all fourteen models and Cloudflare Gateway carries 43 labels and NextDNS 36, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
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
Cloudflare GatewayFirst choices, of fourteen modelsNextDNS
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Cloudflare Gateway and NextDNS were named in the same answer forty-nine times, of the 147 answers naming Cloudflare Gateway and the 88 naming NextDNS. In those answers NextDNS took the first choice one time and Cloudflare Gateway fourteen.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 NextDNS first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare Gateway on the left and NextDNS on the right.The direct prompt
Cloudflare Gateway first, NextDNS not the choice
1 of 14 modelsNextDNS was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
10 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
3 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.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
Cloudflare Gateway21%#2 of 9NextDNS5%#4 of 9Cloudflare Gateway16%#2 of 11NextDNS2%#4 of 11Cloudflare Gateway11%#3 of 10NextDNS0%#– of 10What 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 NextDNS
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“if logging/analytics are left enabled the provider can retain query history, device identifiers and custom lists... a privacy risk for users who want no history” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“NextDNS and similar configurable services expose more policy controls; neither should be treated as a substitute for endpoint protection.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“NextDNS and AdGuard Private DNS, for example, offer user-visible logs and settings to control logging or retention.” GPT-6 Luna · negative prompt · soft negative
“For most privacy-conscious users, NextDNS or Mullvad DNS offer the best balance of customization, transparency, and security.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
“Customizable filtering (ads, trackers, malware, adult content) with strong no-log policies, audits, and per-device configs.” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · first choice
“If you can spend ~$20/month, NextDNS Business offers the best value with full features and unlimited devices.” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · first choice
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.