# Quad9 alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 225 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where Quad9 holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/quad9/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- DNSFilter: 84
- Cisco Umbrella: 40
- Cloudflare Gateway: 26
- Cloudflare One: 6
- Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense: 5
- Control D: 5

## DNS filtering

**Small business**: 73 of 84 answers did not name Quad9 (Quad9 is #3 of 8 at 7%).

- DNSFilter: first choice in 40 of those 73
- Cloudflare Gateway: first choice in 12 of those 73
- Control D: first choice in 4 of those 73
- NextDNS: first choice in 3 of those 73
- Cloudflare One: first choice in 2 of those 73
- Cisco Umbrella: first choice in 1 of those 73
- Cisco Umbrella DNS Security Essentials: first choice in 1 of those 73
- CleanBrowsing: first choice in 1 of those 73

**Mid-market**: 68 of 84 answers did not name Quad9 (Quad9 is #6 of 9 at 0%).

- DNSFilter: first choice in 30 of those 68
- Cloudflare Gateway: first choice in 10 of those 68
- Cisco Umbrella: first choice in 3 of those 68
- Cloudflare One: first choice in 2 of those 68
- NextDNS: first choice in 2 of those 68
- Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense: first choice in 1 of those 68
- Cloudflare: first choice in 1 of those 68
- Control D: first choice in 1 of those 68

**Enterprise**: 84 of 84 answers did not name Quad9.

- Cisco Umbrella: first choice in 36 of those 84
- DNSFilter: first choice in 14 of those 84
- Cisco Secure Access: first choice in 4 of those 84
- Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense: first choice in 4 of those 84
- Cloudflare Gateway: first choice in 4 of those 84
- Cloudflare One: first choice in 2 of those 84
- Zscaler Internet Access: first choice in 2 of those 84
- Cloudflare: first choice in 1 of those 84

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.