# Cloudflare Gateway vs NextDNS: which do AI models recommend for DNS filtering, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, DNS filtering. Three of fourteen models named Cloudflare Gateway first on the direct prompt; zero named NextDNS. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/dns-filtering/cloudflare-gateway-vs-nextdns/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Gateway | 22% | #2 of 9 | 2% | 48 | 14 of 14 |
| NextDNS | 2% | #5 of 9 | 15% | 27 | 13 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Perplexity Sonar: cloudflare gateway first (first choices: Cloudflare Gateway, DNSFilter) (alternatives: Control D, SafeDNS)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: cloudflare gateway first (first choices: Cloudflare Gateway) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, DNSFilter)
- MiniMax M2.5: cloudflare gateway first (first choices: Cloudflare Gateway, DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Akamai Enterprise Threat Protector, Cloudflare Gateway, Prisma Access DNS Security)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense, Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Zscaler DNS Security)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cloudflare Gateway, Control D)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Webroot DNS Protection)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway, Infoblox BloxOne DDI)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Secure Access, Cloudflare Gateway)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: DNSFilter) (alternatives: Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare Gateway)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: DNSFilter)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (first choices: DNSFilter, WebTitan)

## What the models said about Cloudflare Gateway

- "powerful but come with cautionary notes" (Kimi K2, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "I'd suggest starting with Cloudflare Gateway if you want free tier flexibility, or Control D if you want predictable low-cost pricing" (MiniMax M2.5, budget prompt, first choice)
- "The Best Overall Balance: Cloudflare Gateway ... If you want speed and cost-efficiency, go with Cloudflare Gateway." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, direct prompt, first choice)
- "Cloudflare is currently the market leader in this space... If yes, Cloudflare is usually the superior choice" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about NextDNS

- "NextDNS/AdGuard: Highly customizable (ads/trackers/parental), but free tiers have query limits" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "NextDNS's free plan should not be relied upon for critical filtering applications" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Browser Secure DNS Can Bypass NextDNS and Pi-hole: How to Check and Fix It" (Mistral Small, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "NextDNS is usually the best value if you mainly want DNS filtering and easy policy control" (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt, first choice)
- "NextDNS is often considered the most flexible option for tech-savvy users." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "NextDNS – best for privacy-focused users needing advanced DNS controls" (Muse Glimmer 30B, comparative prompt, first choice)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.