I’ve disabled my Raspberry Pi & Pi-Hole combo as I try out NextDNS for a while. Early impressions are that it’s technically good, but documentation needs work! : blog.andrewcanion.com

@canion I made the same switch a while ago, and very much prefer NextDNS to the pi-hole, despite the $20/year cost. For me, the primary benefit over the pi-hole was the ease at getting everybody in my family set up on all their devices, using the NextDNS app. The secondary benefit was being able to use it outside of my house without having to set up a VPN. (It’s a secondary benefit because I almost never leave the house these days due to COVID, of course.)

@canion I love NextDNS. I’ve got it configured on my router, along with DynDNS to keep my router’s IP linked to NextDNS. This is for my house. I’ve got a separate NextDNS profile configured on my iOS devices, and on my Algo VPN servers.

@mjdescy Do you have a static IP? I don’t but have no idea how often my IP actually changes. I’ve set the DNS at the router but it appears if my IP address changes this will result in NextDNS failing. Not sure if I now also need to setup either a static IP or a Dynamic DNS service.

@jmreekes I don’t quite understand the value of separate profiles in NextDNS yet.

@canion Your router may have a built-in option for DynDNS. Mind did, and that’s what I’m using.

@canion Your router may have a built-in option for DynDNS. Mind did, and that’s what I’m using.

@canion I’ve got 2 profiles. One is what I use on my iPhone and iPad, and configured on my Algo VPN servers. The other profile is configured on my router and doesn’t have as many blocklists enabled, so less chance of my wife or kids getting frustrated when I’m not home to fix.

@jmreekes No such luck - I’m using Google wifi mesh pucks.

@canion I do not have a static IP address, but I don’t think my IP address has ever changed, even if I reboot the modem or router. I do not try to rely on my router To connect properly to NextDNS because it does not have the proper capabilities. (I was not aware that you could tell next DNS what your Internet IP address is. I may need to look into that.) All of the devices I use have a NextDNS app that does the DNS routing setup for them. I have the various devices in my house configured specifically for each family member, and it is all tied to the ID that is set in the app.

@canion I too have a similar setup. My IP changes if the router is restarted (which happens fairly often because in my house it sits in a very dusty area and I need clean frequently). NextDNS has a “link to IP” button that you see once you login on the website. Just click and it binds itself to that IP. It’s a chore, yes, but it takes less than 20 sec each time for me.