Quad9

Quad9 is a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform that provides end users robust security protections, high performance, and privacy.

Security: Quad9 blocks against known malicious domains, preventing your computers and IoT devices from connecting to malware or phishing sites. Whenever a Quad9 user clicks on a website link or types in an address into a web browser, Quad9 checks the site against a list of domains combined from 20+ different threat intelligence partners. Each threat intelligence partner supplies a list of malicious domains based on their heuristics which examine such factors as scanned malware discovery, network IDS past behaviors, visual object recognition, optical character recognition (OCR), structure and linkages to other sites, and individual reports of suspicious or malicious behavior. Based on the results, Quad9 resolves or denies the lookup attempt, preventing connections to malicious sites when there is a match.

Performance: Quad9 systems are distributed worldwide in over 200 locations in 90 nations, with more coming online daily. These servers are located primarily at Internet Exchange points, meaning that the distance and time required to get answers is lower than almost any other solution. These systems are distributed worldwide, not just in high-population areas, meaning users in less well-served areas can see significant improvements in speed on DNS lookups. The systems are “anycast,” meaning that queries will automatically be routed to the closest operational system.