Best Protective DNS Services Compared (2026): Pricing

Protective DNS is the rare control where the cheap options are genuinely good so this comparison leads with value.

The verdict: DNSFilter is the best published-price PDNS for most organizations, Cloudflare Gateway owns the free-to-enterprise arc (and now runs the UK’s national PDNS with Accenture), N-able and ScoutDNS serve MSPs at fair rates, CIRA gives Canada a sovereign standout, and Umbrella, Akamai, and Infoblox hold the enterprise tier.

Twelve services, NSA/CISA selection criteria applied, prices as published.

PDNS Comparison Table (2026)

What PDNS Really Costs in 2026

The published tier is unusually honest: DNSFilter, SafeDNS, ScoutDNS, and Webroot DNS Protection all publish per-user/seat monthly pricing in the low single digits with volume breaks; Cloudflare runs free for small teams then published Zero Trust rates; N-able prices per device inside MSP agreements.

The quoted tier — Umbrella packages, Akamai contracts, Infoblox platforms, Vercara/DigiCert, CIRA’s organizational pricing — scales on users, queries, or estates, with education/public-sector discounts common (CIRA and ScoutDNS lean into them). Palo Alto rides NGFW subscriptions.

Cost traps to itemize: roaming clients gated to higher tiers, DoH endpoints as premium features, log retention/export fees, and query overages on DNS tunneling and DGA attacks. [VERIFY: current published prices — DNSFilter, SafeDNS, ScoutDNS, Webroot, Cloudflare.]

The 12 PDNS Services, In Brief

1. DNSFilter — Best Published Value

DNSFilter AI categorization engine catching new threats in real time, transparent per-user pricing, MSP multi-tenancy, roaming clients — the value benchmark the category prices against.

Enterprise attribution depth trails Umbrella; protection-per-dollar leads the table.

2. Akamai

Protective resolution at carrier scale (Secure Internet Access lineage) with threat data from one of the internet’s biggest vantage points — including operator offerings that let ISPs protect subscriber bases wholesale.

Backed by Akamai global threat intelligence, contract pricing applies to enterprise and carrier tiers; the ideal consolidation play where Akamai already fronts your traffic.

3. Cisco Umbrella

The enterprise PDNS reference: Talos intelligence, DGA/tunneling analytics, AD-grade attribution via virtual appliances, roaming parity, MSSP ubiquity.

Evaluated among Cisco Umbrella threat filtering benchmarks, package quotes climb with features — negotiate against Cloudflare/DNSFilter parity on your actual requirements; the premium buys integration muscle, not just blocking.

4. SafeDNS — The Budget Floor

Credible threat and category filtering at the lowest published per-user rates in the table, with agents, network deployment, and MSP options.

Powered by SafeDNS web categorization, analytics are straightforward and integrations lightweight — priced affordably and transparently.

5. Vercara UltraDDR (DigiCert)

Protective resolution engineered alongside UltraDNS infrastructure — one vendor guarding both directions of your DNS, integrated with authoritative DNS management.

Quote-based; strongest for enterprises pairing zone resilience with user protection.

6. N-able DNS Filtering

PDNS built into the RMM stack MSPs already run (N-able’s DNS filtering integrates DNSFilter technology), priced per device inside MSP agreements protection deployed through RMM security integrations that touch every endpoint.

For N-able shops, the lowest-friction PDNS money can buy; standalone buyers should go direct.

7. Cloudflare Gateway — The Free-to-Enterprise Arc

Free tier with real filtering, published Zero Trust pricing, WARP roaming, DoH/DoT native, and national-scale receipts: Cloudflare (with Accenture) has delivered the UK NCSC’s PDNS since 2024, succeeding Nominet.

Running on the Cloudflare Gateway Zero Trust platform, no service spans hobbyist-to-government like it; deep legacy-enterprise attribution remains Umbrella’s edge.

8. CIRA DNS Firewall — The Canadian Sovereign Pick

Canada’s .CA registry operates DNS Firewall with Canadian data residency, CCCS-aligned threat feeds, and accessible pricing tuned for municipalities, healthcare, education, and enterprises that must keep query data onshore.

Operated by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), it delivers registry-grade operations primarily tuned for Canadian organizations.

9. Infoblox

PDNS as infrastructure: Threat Defense enforcing DNS-specialized intelligence at your resolvers with IPAM-attributed detections and ecosystem response.

Built around Infoblox DDI architecture, platform economics suit organizations where DNS is strategic estate — overqualified for simple filtering needs, unmatched where attribution matters.

10. ScoutDNS — MSP and Education Value

Purpose-built for MSPs and schools: content and threat filtering with ScoutDNS CIPA compliance controls, multi-tenant management, and published tiers that make per-site budgeting trivial.

A right-sized intelligence footprint for its core sector.

11. Palo Alto DNS Security

Protective DNS enforced inline on PA firewalls — DGA/tunneling/new-domain analytics in existing policy, covering every device that transits the estate, roaming via Prisma Access.

Deployed via Palo Alto NGFW security subscriptions, it is the highest-leverage add-on for PA shops.

12. OpenText (Webroot) DNS Protection

Agent-and-network PDNS from the Webroot line under OpenText, with published per-seat pricing and natural bundling alongside Webroot endpoint protection.

Intelligence and analytics sit mid-pack; for existing Webroot/OpenText SMB estates, the consolidation economics work..

How to Compare on Price and Fit

Apply the NSA/CISA selection logic to quotes: feed freshness (how fast are new malicious domains blocked demand evidence), detection beyond blocklists (DGA, tunneling, newly registered domains), coverage per device class (network egress for IoT/guests, agents for roaming, DoH endpoints for browsers), and logging you can actually export.

Then price per protected user across two finalists at your real seat count, roaming and logs included the published-tier services make this trivial; make the quoted tier match their transparency.

Sovereignty buyers (CIRA in Canada, EU alternatives elsewhere) should weigh jurisdiction alongside price.

PDNS is the entry move of your DNS security program and an early zero-trust win deploy something this quarter; upgrade later if you must.

FAQ (Cost-Focused)

How much does protective DNS cost in 2026?

Published tiers run roughly $1–$3 per user monthly at SMB scale (DNSFilter, SafeDNS, ScoutDNS, Webroot), Cloudflare spans free to published rates, and enterprise packages (Umbrella, Akamai, Infoblox, Vercara) quote by users/queries/estates with volume and sector discounts. [VERIFY current figures.]

What’s the best free PDNS option?

Cloudflare Gateway’s Zero Trust free tier for small teams (real policy and filtering), with public resolvers like Quad9 or 1.1.1.2 as zero-config baselines for individuals no logging, policy, or support, but genuine malware blocking.

Is Umbrella worth its premium for PDNS alone?

If you need AD-grade attribution, virtual appliances, and MSSP ecosystem familiarity the premium buys real capability.

For blocking quality alone against AI-driven phishing attacks, DNSFilter and Cloudflare close most of the gap at a fraction of the price. Trial both against your traffic before paying the delta.

Which PDNS is best for MSPs?

N-able’s integrated filtering for N-able shops (per-device, RMM-native), DNSFilter for multi-tenant management at published rates, ScoutDNS for school-heavy books, and Webroot DNS Protection inside OpenText MSP stacks.

All four price for margin compare per-client economics, not just per-seat rates.

Does government-grade PDNS exist for private buyers?

Effectively yes: Cloudflare (UK NCSC’s provider) and Akamai sell the same infrastructure commercially, CIRA extends registry-grade protection across Canadian sectors, and NSA/CISA’s guidance (updated March 2025) defines the selection bar any vendor here can be measured against.

What hidden costs should I watch in PDNS contracts?

Roaming clients priced as add-ons, DoH/DoT endpoints gated to premium tiers, log retention and SIEM export fees, per-query overages on infrastructure models, and support tiers.

The published-price vendors keep these visible hold quoted vendors to the same standard.

Bottom Line

DNSFilter takes the value crown, Cloudflare Gateway the range crown, and Umbrella the enterprise-integration crown with SafeDNS and ScoutDNS holding the budget lanes, N-able and Webroot serving MSP stacks, CIRA flying Canada’s flag, Vercara/DigiCert pairing both sides of DNS, Infoblox pricing attribution as infrastructure, and Palo Alto riding its estates.

Protective DNS is 2026’s best security bargain at almost every tier pick per protected user, verify DoH and roaming coverage, and turn it on this quarter.