# DNS filtering for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "DNS filtering service" and as "DNS security solution", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/dns-filtering/smb

**Standing:** DNSFilter leads with 40% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [DNSFilter](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/dnsfilter/index.md) | 40% | 6% | 62 |
| 2 | [Cloudflare Gateway](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-gateway/index.md) | 21% | 6% | 51 |
| 3 | [Cloudflare One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-one/index.md) | 16% | 0% | 16 |
| 4 | [NextDNS](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/nextdns/index.md) | 5% | 23% | 43 |
| 5 | [Cisco Umbrella](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-umbrella/index.md) | 5% | 48% | 62 |
| 6 | [Control D](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/control-d/index.md) | 4% | 13% | 30 |
| 7 | [Quad9](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/quad9/index.md) | 2% | 38% | 24 |
| 12 | [WebTitan](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/webtitan/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 18 |
| 33 | [SafeDNS](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/safedns/index.md) | 0% | 42% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 66 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Cloudflare One, DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, WebTitan
- GPT-5.4 mini: DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Control D, DNSFilter, NextDNS
- Perplexity Sonar: DNSFilter; alternatives Cloudflare Gateway, WebTitan
- Grok 4.20: DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, WebTitan
- Mistral Small: DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare One
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
- Llama 4 Maverick: DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare One
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Cloud, NextDNS, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: DNSFilter; alternatives Cloudflare Gateway, Control D
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: DNSFilter; alternatives Control D
- MiniMax M2.5: Control D; alternatives Cloudflare Gateway, DNSFilter
- GPT-6 Luna: DNSFilter; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare One; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, DNSFilter

## Sources the answers cite

69 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- dnsfilter.com: 43 answers, 69 citations
- simplyit.biz: 35 answers, 35 citations
- powerdmarc.com: 30 answers, 32 citations
- controld.com: 28 answers, 54 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 25 answers, 32 citations
- g2.com: 24 answers, 31 citations
- reddit.com: 16 answers, 30 citations
- expertinsights.com: 16 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://simplyit.biz/resources/best-dns-filtering-small-business-2026 (35 answers)
- https://dnsfilter.com/ (32 answers)
- https://powerdmarc.com/best-dns-security-solutions (26 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-dns-security-solutions (16 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/dns-filtering/smb (14 answers)
- https://geekflare.com/cybersecurity/best-dns-filtering-software (14 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/web-security/the-top-dns-web-filtering-platforms-for-businesses (13 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/dns-filtering-tools (12 answers)
- https://mspcompared.com/best/dns-filtering (12 answers)
- https://smallbizdefense.com/dns-filtering-for-small-business-best-tools-compared (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco Umbrella: 30 of 62 labels negative. "Avoid Cisco Umbrella unless you specifically need enterprise integrations... complexity makes it overkill for small teams." (Kimi K2, comparative prompt)
- NextDNS: 10 of 43 labels negative. "NextDNS - It doesn't scale well for business environments and has been reported to not hold up under load." (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)
- Cloudflare: 7 of 7 labels negative. "avoid as a security solution ... not a replacement for a business DNS filter" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Quad9: 9 of 24 labels negative. "criticized for lacking the user-friendly features and support that small businesses need" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: DNSFilter at 40%.

- DNSFilter: 51% to 40%, −11. Inside the floor by 0 points · rank 1 of 66, unchanged.
- Cloudflare One: 5% to 16%, +11. Inside the floor by 0 points · rank 4 → 3 of 66.
- Cloudflare Gateway: 16% to 21%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 2 of 66, unchanged.
- NextDNS: 0% to 5%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 14 → 4 of 66.
- Quad9: 7% to 2%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 7 of 66.
- Control D: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 6 of 66.
- SafeDNS: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 33 of 66.
- Cisco Umbrella: 5% to 5%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 of 66, unchanged.
- WebTitan: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 12 of 66.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.