Cloudflare is a behemoth in the DNS space. Millions use their free public DNS resolver already, and they’ve built a dedicated DNS management service around it called Cloudflare Gateway.
However, Gateway is designed to be used in tandem with Cloudflare’s ever-increasing product ranges and ships with a hefty price tag.
Luckily, plenty of Cloudflare Gateway competitors and alternatives offer comparable core functionality at more affordable prices.
In fact, you may be surprised to find that the Gateway platform isn’t even the most feature-rich platform available.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
8 Best Cloudflare Gateway Alternatives & Competitors
Cloudflare Gateway is great for managing your DNS traffic. Due to its large global network of servers, it offers some of the fastest query speeds on the market and can help filter content from a variety of categories.
However, their product is aimed at enterprise-level organizations with a price tag to match, and it isn’t the most user-friendly service out there.
These are our top alternatives to consider:
1. Control D (Best Cloudflare DNS Alternative)
Control D offers a plethora of features, extensive customizability options, and quality customer support that make it a strong contender for keeping your business safe and secure on the internet.
Let’s explore in detail why we recommend Control D as the top Cloudflare Gateway alternative.
Pricing
Cloudflare Gateway integrates with Cloudflare Access as part of their Zero Trust solution, and it’s advertised as such. When accessing Gateway’s pricing structure on their website, you’re redirected to the Zero Trust package, suggesting you have to register for the entire Zero Trust product in order to gain access to Gateway’s features.
Note: Cloudflare’s website is riddled with contradictory information, and products are constantly renamed and integrated with other services, making it incredibly confusing to know what is currently served and whether it’s a standalone product or a feature of a wider solution package. For instance, a blog post from 2020 on Cloudflare for Teams (now called Cloudflare Zero Trust) suggests you can sign up exclusively for Cloudflare Gateway for $5/user/month, but it’s ambiguous whether this option is still available.
Cloudflare has multiple pricing models for its Zero Trust solution. While they do offer a free plan, it’s limited to 50 users, and the lack of guaranteed uptime and a query log retention of only 24 hours makes it redundant.
As such, you’ll have to start with the Pay-as-you-go plan for $7/user/month. However, this includes the entire Zero Trust solution, which may not be applicable to your needs.
Keep in mind that some features offered by Cloudflare – such as SIEM log streaming and per-user reporting – are only available on the Contract plan, which can hike up costs further if you require a specific feature not available through the lower plans.
Conversely, Control D keeps it simple. Instead of tiered plans, Control D presents a singular price depending on your organization type. Costs start at $2/user/month for businesses, $1/user/month for MSPs, and NGOs and nonprofits receive a further discounted rate.
This means that Control D does not gatekeep features for different users. All features are made available to everyone – regardless of your organization type – and future updates and feature releases are included in the price at no extra cost, making your monthly spend a fraction of what it would be with Cloudflare.
Features
There’s a significant overlap between the features offered by Cloudflare Gateway and Control D, including:
- Advanced Machine Learning-based Malware Protection.
- Flexible Content Blocking.
- Blockable Services (apps) - 200+ with Cloudflare, 1,000+ with Control D.
- Modern DNS Protocols Support.
- SIEM Log Streaming.
It’s important to note the effectiveness of each service’s malware filter. An independent test showed that Cloudflare For Families (built on the same filtering technology that powers their Gateway product) blocked 3.93% of malicious domains, whereas Control D ranked first with a 99.97% block rate.
There are some features that Cloudflare offers that are currently unavailable with Control D:
- Single Sign-On (SSO) – this is on the Control D roadmap to be released soon.
- Prioritized Support – available on Cloudflare’s Contract plan as an add-on.
- Remote Browser Isolation - available as an add-on.
On the flip side, there are a number of features offered by Control D that are unavailable on Cloudflare:
- Block Ads & Trackers.
- Advanced Geo-Custom Rules – ability to block, redirect, and bypass queries made from/resolve to IPs (not) in a specific country or ASN.
- Gateway only allows you to enforce Geo-IP block rules and does not include ASNs.
- Traffic Redirection – ability to route DNS traffic through over 100 global proxy locations, with customized rules for domains, services, and a default fallback option.
- Chatbot Barry – AI-powered chatbot that can answer 99% of queries within seconds.
- Custom Data Storage Regions.
- Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Scheduled Reports.
Onboarding & UX
Cloudflare Gateway has the typical UI you’d expect from an enterprise-focused service, offering a design template that you may already be familiar with. However, a big complaint is that they aren’t user-friendly and often sacrifice functionality, with onboarding being notoriously difficult and requiring you to read walls of text in their documentation to get up to speed.
Control D takes the opposite approach. The focus has been shifted to delivering a superior customer experience, making it easy to manage your DNS configurations first and working backward from there. Onboarding can be completed within minutes and requires no technical expertise, although documentation is available should you need it.
A recent UI overhaul has also revamped the Control D Dashboard with a modern, sleek design while still maintaining quick access and navigation to the pages you need most.
Analytics & Reporting
Making data-driven decisions is important to keep your network safe and secure. Both Control D and Cloudflare Gateway offer analytics and reports, but they operate slightly differently.
While Control D’s analytics are built into the Dashboard, Cloudflare offers basic analytics features within the service and requires you to upgrade to the enterprise-level Contract plan and utilize their Logpush service for more detailed logs and reports.
Additionally, Control D allows you to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly reports, offers per-user reporting, and SIEM Log streaming at no extra cost. With Cloudflare Gateway, you would need to upgrade to the Contract plan for per-user reporting and SIEM-log streaming, while there’s no scheduled reporting feature.
Control D also gives you the option to choose between North America, Europe, and Australia as your data storage region, and can arrange a custom storage region for an additional cost. Cloudflare only offers North America and Europe.
Support
Customer support is a critical component of any service. Things can unexpectedly go wrong, and when issues arise, timely and effective customer service becomes crucial – particularly when they can lead to downtime for you and your clients.
A recurring sentiment with Control D is that they not only provide fast responses to support tickets but also go above and beyond with detailed explanations and recommendations to prevent future occurrences.
The introduction of their chatbot Barry has made this more apparent as it can solve anything from technical queries to general questions within a matter of seconds.
Final Thoughts
Cloudflare is undeniably fast. It’s consistently one of the fastest DNS providers on the market and offers a decent amount of features to manage your DNS traffic. However, its limited features compared to Control D, difficult onboarding, and pricing structure work against it.
Both services also target slightly different audiences. Cloudflare offers Gateway as part of the overall Zero Trust solution and is designed to be used in its own ecosystem to reap the full benefits.
On the other hand, Control D is a specialized DNS management service that can integrate seamlessly with your existing security architecture, giving you the flexibility to set up your security posture exactly how you like it.
If you’re looking for a DNS solution that offers a comprehensive list of features, an active product development cycle, allows for granular control and customizability, and provides effortless onboarding and strong support at an affordable price point, Control D will be better suited to your needs, which is why it’s the best Cloudflare Gateway alternative.
2. DNSFilter
As the name suggests, DNSFilter is a DNS filtering service and is most comparable to Control D in terms of features. Its core offerings include:
- Advanced ML-based Malware Protection
- Flexible Content Blocking
- Blockable Services (limited in number)
- Full Query Logging
They boast one of the fastest average query speeds – often battling Cloudflare for first place – and serve a variety of users ranging from small businesses all the way up to large enterprises. However, this comes at a cost, with their server uptime and quality often ranking amongst the lowest of their competitors.
Their Basic plan leaves a lot to be desired, which means you’ll have to upgrade to the Pro plan ($2/user/month) for useful features such as blockable services and Active Directory support. However, DNSFilter does not support Linux or modern DNS protocols and is not dual-stack ready.
DNSFilter also requires the purchase of add-ons – charged at $0.25/user/month – to export data, stream that data to a SIEM tool, and receive a permanent API token, whereas these features are included as part of Cloudflare’s Pay-as-you-go and Contract plans.
Although DNSFilter will run up the bill for many essential features – making it considerably more expensive than Control D – it’s likely that your per-user monthly cost will still be lower than Cloudflare’s. As such, DNSFilter is a good Cloudflare alternative for DNS filtering purposes.
Read our in-depth head-to-head comparison between Control D and DNS Filter
3. Cisco Umbrella
After taking over OpenDNS in 2015 and incorporating its Umbrella service under the Cisco banner, they’ve become one of the biggest players in the DNS security space, targeting large enterprises with thousands of users and devices.
Cisco Umbrella’s feature list is almost identical to Cloudflare, with both offering malware and phishing protection, Geo-IP blocking, deployment on PC and mobile devices, and the option of storing your data in either North America or Europe.
But both run into the same issue – their DNS service is a tiny cog in the larger cybersecurity solutions machine, and it’s hard to tell where one service begins and where another ends.
Umbrella has a multitude of plans – Umbrella DNS Essentials, Umbrella DNS Advantage, Umbrella SIG Essentials, Umbrella SIG Advantage, Secure Access Essentials, and Secure Access Advantage – all of which integrate under other products and services which can get incredibly confusing, and neither platform make it easy to get set up and onboarded. To figure out which plan is best suited to your needs, you’ll have to talk to a sales rep.
It’s unclear what Cisco Umbrella’s pricing structure is – although there are numerous estimates online – but seeing as they target the same client base as Cloudflare and offer almost identical features, it’s highly probable that their per-user cost will be similar.
It’s important to note that the Cisco Umbrella Roaming Client software is nearing end-of-life, with service maintenance ending on 2nd April 2025. Existing users will have to migrate to the new Cisco Secure Client, and new users will face another solution to wrap their heads around.
Factoring all this in, if you’re choosing between Cloudflare and Cisco Umbrella, it may be best to stick with Cloudflare.
4. Zorus
For those looking for a simple solution, Zorus could be the answer. We say it’s a simple solution because there are some limitations – it does not offer protection for iOS and Android devices, does not have SIEM log streaming capabilities, and its MacOS client is still in beta.
Additionally, there’s no information on their website regarding their pricing structure, and while they offer a 14-day free trial, it’s activated after you’ve had a demo from their sales team, preventing you from jumping in and trying it out hassle-free.
But, they do provide a large portion of the features you’d expect from a DNS service, such as:
- Malware & Phishing Protection
- Detailed categorizations for content blocking
- RMM tool integration
- Geo-IP blocking
- Full Query Logging
- Full API access
If you’re looking for a simple service with no extra frills, Zorus is a sound option. However, if you’re looking for a service that can serve a variety of device types while integrating with your existing SIEM tool, then you may want to look elsewhere.
5. WebTitan
In business since 1999, TitanHQ has positioned itself as a one-stop shop for all things cybersecurity, with SaaS solutions from security awareness, email anti-spam, and phishing protection.
WebTitan is their DNS filtering branch, and it offers a comprehensive list of features similar to Control D and DNSFilter, including:
- Advanced ML-based Malware Protection
- Flexible Content Blocking
- Per-user Policies
- Per-user Reporting
- Full API access
Unfortunately, they do not offer Geo-IP blocking/Geo-custom Rules, a list of blockable services, or a community support forum – most of which are provided by its competitors – and their UI can seem a little clunky.
Having said that, WebTitan is still a solid option, and at a competitive price of $2.47/user/month (based on 100 users) – with MSPs likely to get a discounted rate – they provide considerable value to users.
6. SafeDNS
A slightly lesser-known name in this list is SafeDNS. They have three plans: Basic, Pro, and Pro+.
The Basic plan will give you essential features such as flexible content blocking, full API access, and basic malware & phishing protection.
In order to block categories of apps and have access to per-user policies and reports, mobile device compatibility, and Active Directory support, you’ll have to bump up to a Pro plan, which is priced at $1.8/user/month – SIEM integration is reserved for the Pro+ plan at $2.5/user/month.
A point of contention for some Cloudflare users is its lack of support. SafeDNS doesn’t suffer from this problem, with many reviews applauding its quick response and resolution times.
There are a few features that SafeDNS does not yet offer, such as Geo-Custom Rules/Geo-IP blocking and traffic redirection, but their service still packs a punch and is a reliable alternative to Cloudflare at a more affordable rate.
7. DefensX
DefensX is an MSP-focused product that provides zero-trust security for web browsers, including DNS protection. They offer many of the features you’d expect with such a service, such as flexible content filtering, full query logging, and per-user policies.
DefensX has three plans to choose from – Core, Core+, and Premium – with the Core plan offering DNS filtering capabilities. But, there’s no information on pricing per plan, and it’s unclear whether the Core plan alone will provide sufficient DNS protection for your business needs or whether it's a stripped-down barebones version. Prospects will have to book a demo and talk to a sales rep before this information is divulged.
While many reviewers are satisfied with the customer service and support, some have expressed dislike over the slow product development cycle.
8. ScoutDNS
ScoutDNS offers adequate content filtering and threat protection capabilities, with features such as malware and phishing protection, flexible content blocking, and the ability to assign allow/block lists to specific policies or clients. They also log queries for 30 days and offer Single-sign On for easy login.
However, ScoutDNS is limited in other aspects. They do not support iOS or Android devices, do not support DNS-over-TLS (DoT) protocols, and have limited documentation attached to their service.
While ScoutDNS is considered a budget-friendly alternative, it lacks the robust DNS management capabilities offered by Cloudflare Gateway or other competitors mentioned in this list.
How Should You Choose the Right Cloudflare Gateway Alternative?
We know making a decision can be difficult, but we’ve tried to give you a fair and honest overview of your options. Each Cloudflare Gateway competitor in this list offers something slightly different and, in some cases, outcompetes Cloudflare.
We compiled this list by carefully analyzing services on the following factors:
Features
Not many services can compete with Cloudflare’s entire suite of solutions, but when it comes to Cloudflare Gateway, there are many comparable services that offer the same – if not more – features. We’ve tried to include as many alternatives as possible that allow you to obtain similar functionality across a wide range of budgets.
Pricing & Budget
Pricing is an important consideration of any DNS service. Balancing the features you need with a price that aligns with your budget ensures you’re not overpaying for unnecessary services or, on the flip side, missing out on crucial functionality.
Customizability
Not every organization, client, or team will have the same requirements for content filtering, security, and traffic management. A service that offers high levels of customizability gives you the flexibility to tailor rules, filters, and settings on a case-by-case basis.
Onboarding & UX
A smooth onboarding process and intuitive UX can greatly reduce the time and effort required to get set up. It also makes managing your DNS settings easy and reduces the risk of errors, which is particularly important for businesses without large IT departments.
Support
DNS services play a vital role in your network’s functionality, so having reliable customer support if issues arise is paramount. Timely customer response is important, but another thing to consider is the quality of the response. Do they resolve problems swiftly, or do you have to dedicate a significant amount of time going back and forth with their support team?
