Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Privacy Badger VS NextDNS

Compare Privacy Badger VS NextDNS and see what are their differences

Privacy Badger logo Privacy Badger

Privacy Badger blocks spying ads and invisible trackers. How is Privacy Badger different from Disconnect, Adblock Plus, Ghostery, and other blocking extensions?

NextDNS logo NextDNS

Block ads, trackers and malicious websites on all your devices.
  • Privacy Badger Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-19
  • NextDNS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-26

Privacy Badger features and specs

  • Automatic Tracking Protection
    Privacy Badger automatically learns to block invisible trackers based on their behavior, rather than relying on a predefined blacklist.
  • Open Source
    The extension is open-source, allowing for transparency and community input on its development and security.
  • No Manual Configuration
    Users don't need to manually configure or update lists of trackers; Privacy Badger handles this automatically.
  • Blocking Third-Party Cookies
    The extension effectively blocks third-party tracking cookies, enhancing user privacy while browsing.
  • Visual Indications
    Privacy Badger provides visual feedback (color-coded) on which trackers are being blocked on a website, helping users understand its actions.
  • Ethical Stance
    Developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a reputable nonprofit that focuses on defending civil liberties in the digital world.

Possible disadvantages of Privacy Badger

  • Learning Period
    There is a period of time during which Privacy Badger is learning tracker behavior, during which it may not block all trackers effectively.
  • Site Breakage
    Blocking certain trackers can sometimes lead to functionality issues or broken features on websites.
  • Limited Compatibility
    Privacy Badger may not be available or fully functional on all browsers, limiting its use for some users.
  • Less Comprehensive than Ad Blockers
    While it's effective at stopping trackers, Privacy Badger is not as comprehensive in blocking ads compared to dedicated ad blockers.
  • Potentially Higher Resource Usage
    The learning and block-list management processes might slightly increase browser resource usage, although typically minimal.

NextDNS features and specs

  • Privacy Protection
    NextDNS prevents trackers, malicious websites, and ads from reaching your devices, ensuring better privacy and security online.
  • Customization
    NextDNS offers extensive customization options, allowing users to configure the DNS filtering rules to suit their specific needs, including custom blocklists and allowlists.
  • Performance Insights
    Provides detailed analytics and logs, helping users monitor DNS queries, block rates, and other performance metrics.
  • Multiple Devices
    Can be used across various devices and operating systems, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and more.
  • Parental Controls
    Includes parental control features to block adult content, social media, and gaming sites, making the internet safer for children.

Possible disadvantages of NextDNS

  • Cost
    While there is a free tier, accessing full features and unlimited queries requires a paid subscription, which might be a downside for budget-conscious users.
  • Learning Curve
    The extensive customizability may pose a learning curve for users who are not tech-savvy, requiring some technical understanding to optimize settings effectively.
  • Reliance on Cloud
    NextDNS operates through cloud-based servers, which means users must rely on their internet connection and NextDNS's server uptime for uninterrupted protection and performance.
  • Data Retention Concerns
    Even though privacy is a key feature, some users might still have concerns about data retention and the logging of DNS queries.
  • Potential for Overblocking
    Aggressive filtering can sometimes block legitimate websites or services, requiring users to manually adjust settings or whitelist certain domains.

Analysis of Privacy Badger

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Privacy Badger is recommended for users who want a simple and effective tool to improve their privacy while browsing the web. Its ability to block trackers without the need for extensive user intervention makes it a convenient choice.

Why this product is good

  • Privacy Badger is generally considered a good choice for enhancing browser privacy because it automatically learns to block invisible trackers, ensuring that your browsing experience is more private and secure. It is developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a reputable organization known for its privacy advocacy. Additionally, Privacy Badger is user-friendly and does not require complex configurations, making it accessible for less technical users. The extension is also open-source, allowing for transparency and community-driven improvements.

Recommended for

    Privacy Badger is recommended for individuals who are concerned about online tracking and privacy but prefer a solution that works seamlessly without requiring much technical knowledge. It is suitable for users of popular browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera.

Analysis of NextDNS

Overall verdict

  • NextDNS is a recommended service for improving online privacy and security, offering extensive features and a user-friendly interface. It balances robust protection with ease of use, making it suitable for a wide range of users.

Why this product is good

  • NextDNS is considered a good option for those looking to enhance their internet privacy and security. It offers advanced features like customizable filtering, privacy protection, and ad-blocking. It also provides real-time analytics and threat intelligence to help users understand and control their internet usage. Its ease of use and flexibility make it accessible for both tech-savvy individuals and those looking for simple solutions to improve their digital safety.

Recommended for

  • Individuals concerned about privacy
  • Families wanting to implement parental controls
  • Users looking to block ads and trackers
  • Tech enthusiasts seeking customizable DNS solutions
  • Businesses aiming for enhanced network security

Privacy Badger videos

How to use Privacy Badger (2019)

More videos:

  • Review - Boosting Your Online Safety and Privacy with Privacy Badger, AdBlock Plus and HTTPS Everywhere

NextDNS videos

How To Set NextDNS on Your PC

More videos:

  • Review - NextDNS: A review and walkthrough
  • Review - NextDNS Review and Configuration
  • Review - NextDNS IS The Future of DNS!!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Privacy Badger and NextDNS)
Security & Privacy
29 29%
71% 71
Ad Blockers
37 37%
63% 63
Privacy
100 100%
0% 0
DNS
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Privacy Badger and NextDNS

Privacy Badger Reviews

10 Best FREE Anti Tracking Software In 2023 [TOP SELECTIVE]
Privacy Badger is your badge to track free internet surfing where your data remains protected and out of reach of people with malicious intent. This tool uses an advanced algorithm with a cookie-based blocking feature that blocks all the cookies from a website, making it easier to disable the trackers.
Best Ad Blockers
Privacy Badger is a unique extension. It is not a traditional ad blocker, and will not automatically block ads on the pages you visit. Instead, it functions more on a need-to-block basis. It pings all ads on a page with a “do not track” request. Ads that don’t comply with the request, or trackers that appear on three pages or more, are then blocked automatically by Privacy...
The best ad blockers in 2020
Privacy Badger functions similarly to extensions like AdBlock Plus (on which it was based), observing the various tracking tools that advertisers and other third parties might use to track your online activities and selectively blocking them from executing. Built-in learning algorithms adapt to the sites you visit and take any new tracking tools discovered into account.

NextDNS Reviews

22 NextDNS Alternatives
NextDNS app intuitively encrypts all DNS queries on all networks and manages settings from your cell phones and tablets. NextDNS brings next-level protection from almost all kinds of security threats while blocking ads and trackers on applications as well as websites. This significant tool brings safe and supervised internet for kids on almost all networks and devices.
Free Privacy App for Any Device.
The other option is to host your own PiHole. NextDNS’s service is modelled on PiHole, and openly admit this in their FAQ. I personally host my own PiHole on a RaspberryPi 3b+ and have my traffic in my apartment routed through this. I trust NextDNS to protect me while I am on my mobile data, or in a coffee shop, but at home, I enjoy knowing that I have 100% control over my...
Source: medium.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NextDNS should be more popular than Privacy Badger. It has been mentiond 510 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Privacy Badger mentions (84)

  • Can anyone verify this information about privacy?
    ~Using privacy plug-ins or browsers. You can block our site from setting cookies used for interest-based ads by using a browser with privacy features, like Brave, or installing browser plugins, like Privacy Badger, Ghostery or uBlock Origin, and configuring them to block third party cookies/trackers. Source: over 1 year ago
  • X-ray CT scans of coffee equipment: Aeropress, Fellow kettle, Moka pot
    There are a lot of solutions to those annoying popups, but changing your browser shouldn't be one. https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu & https://hellogoodbye.app & https://privacybadger.org. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Tax prep companies shared private taxpayer data with Google and Meta for years, congressional probe finds
    Everyone should install the browser extension Privacy Badger, created by the nonprofit privacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation. It blocks tracking pixels like the ones described in this article as well as many other forms of tracking that AdBlockers do not. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Game Thread: July 2 - Boston Red Sox (42-42) @ Toronto Blue Jays (45-39) - 1:37 PM
    If you watch on a laptop or pc, try Privacy Badger. It's a browser extension made by the EFF that's blocks third party trackers from monitoring your web activity. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Article About How to Safeguard Your Data and Browsing Experience with a Chrome Extension
    Installing more extensions is the best way to compromise your security. You should keep your extension list as short as possible. So uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger which is built by the EFF. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

NextDNS mentions (510)

  • What are some app ideas that you think would benefit people on a perosnal level?
    NextDNS is great for that: https://nextdns.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 23 days ago
  • uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store
    uBlock Origin still works in Firefox. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ And you can, I believe, still just modify your hosts table to block out ads in Chrome. https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts Or your router's DNS using something like NextDNS. https://nextdns.io/ Ads suck. Support content where you can, but even when you pay they still serve ads / tracking scripts. So fuck 'em. Block... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Hack your DNS for better focus
    I've used NextDNS for years to keep our home internet safe for the kids and it works really well. Fortunately NextDNS offers API access that you can use to automate turning different internet filters on and off. Unfortunately their API docs are horrible. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Microsoft begins turning off uBlock Origin and other extensions in Edge
    I think that we'll need to adopt network-level filtering if we want to outsmart the browsers. I haven't looked back since adopting NextDNS and configuring my router to filter all traffic through it. It does a great job of stripping ads out of all my devices connected to it, and that's something I don't mind paying a few bucks for a year (I think it's like $19/year). Check it out here: https://nextdns.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Pihole v6
    One of the most values I get out of a SaaS service is NextDNS [0]. There are competitors like ControlD [1] that are also very good. At the end of the day they both check all the boxes for me. But, the piece that really got me with NextDNS when I started using it was the unlimited number of profiles. This allows me to target any device, no matter where it is (this is fantastic for mobile devices) and keep my... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Privacy Badger and NextDNS, you can also consider the following products

uBlock Origin - Popular and efficient blocker for Chromium, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Thunderbird.

Pi-hole - Pi-hole is a multi-platform, network-wide ad blocker.

Adblock Plus - AdBlock Plus is a browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and several other popular browsers that prevents intrusive ads like pop-ups and malicious code from appearing on websites you visit.

AdGuard - Surf the Web Ad-Free and Safely. Shield up!

Ghostery - Privacy tool for transparency and control

Blokada - The best ad blocker for Android. Free and open source.