Choosing between Cloudflare and Infoblox for your DNS security needs often comes down to answering these fundamental questions:
In short, here's what we recommend:
👉 Cloudflare excels as an all-in-one web infrastructure and security platform, offering everything from CDN and DDoS protection to serverless computing. With its massive global network spanning 330+ cities and generous free tier, it's ideal for organizations that want comprehensive web protection and performance enhancement. However, its broad feature set can be overwhelming for those who need focused DNS security, and support for non-enterprise customers can be limited.
👉 Infoblox dominates the enterprise DDI (DNS, DHCP, IPAM) market with robust solutions available as hardware appliances, virtual machines, or cloud-based services designed for complex network management. It's the go-to choice for Fortune 500 companies needing centralized control over their entire network infrastructure with high availability and automation. The trade-off is significant cost, complexity, and a learning curve that often requires dedicated network engineers to manage effectively.
Both platforms are powerful but represent opposite ends of the spectrum: Cloudflare tries to be everything for everyone, while Infoblox focuses on being the ultimate enterprise network management tool. But what if you need best-of-breed DNS security without the complexity?
👉 DNSFilter delivers AI-powered DNS security that's purpose-built for modern threats, with vendor-reported detection of malicious domains an average of 10 days before they appear in traditional threat feeds. Operating the world's fastest DNS network with deployment in under 20 minutes, it provides enterprise-grade protection without enterprise complexity. The platform is particularly strong for MSPs and organizations between 1,000-5,000 employees that value ease of use, responsive support, and protection focused specifically on DNS-layer threats.
If best-of-breed DNS security with exceptional support sounds like what you actually need, see how DNSFilter can protect your organization with a 14-day free trial.
Table of contents:
|
|
Cloudflare |
Infoblox |
DNSFilter |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Core focus |
Web infrastructure & performance |
Enterprise DDI management |
DNS security & content filtering |
|
Threat detection approach |
ML models & threat intelligence |
Analytics & threat intelligence |
Specialized AI finding threats 10 days sooner |
|
Deployment time |
Minutes to hours |
Weeks to months |
Under 20 minutes |
|
Customer support |
Limited for non-enterprise |
Varies by tier |
Highly rated by users |
|
Pricing model |
Free tier + paid tiers |
Enterprise pricing |
Transparent per-user pricing |
|
Best for |
Web applications & CDN needs |
Large enterprise networks |
Best-of-breed DNS security |
The comparison between these three platforms reveals a fundamental truth about the DNS security market: organizations have vastly different infrastructure needs.
Cloudflare approaches DNS as one component of a comprehensive web infrastructure platform. When you use Cloudflare DNS, you're getting a service that's deeply integrated with their CDN, DDoS protection, WAF, and dozens of other features. This integration is powerful if you need all these services, but it also means you're paying for and managing complexity you might not require.
Infoblox takes DNS in the opposite direction, treating it as the foundation of enterprise network management. Their DDI solutions aren't just about DNS security; they're about managing IP addresses, DHCP assignments, and maintaining a single source of truth for all network assets. For a Fortune 500 company with thousands of network devices, this comprehensive approach is essential. For midmarket organizations, it's often overkill.
DNSFilter focuses on what most organizations actually need: best-of-breed DNS-layer security that blocks threats faster than anyone else. By specializing in DNS filtering and threat detection with the world's fastest DNS network, DNSFilter delivers purpose-built protection optimized specifically for DNS security challenges. This makes it particularly attractive for MSPs who need to protect multiple clients efficiently.
Cloudflare's strength lies in its massive scale and integrated approach. With presence in over 330 cities globally, they can deliver exceptional performance for web applications. Their DNS service processes trillions of queries and provides solid security features including DDoS protection and DNSSEC.
Cloudflare's security capabilities have evolved significantly, incorporating machine learning models for detecting threats like domain generation algorithms and DNS tunneling. Their threat detection combines proprietary data analysis with their Cloudforce One threat intelligence team.
But here's the reality: Cloudflare's DNS security is designed to complement their other services, not stand alone as a dedicated DNS security solution. Their Magic Firewall and Gateway products add more security capabilities, but these require separate subscriptions and add layers of complexity.
The platform's breadth becomes a consideration when you primarily need DNS security. Configuration requires navigating through multiple products and features. Their documentation, while extensive, assumes you're using multiple Cloudflare services. And while Business plan customers do get live chat and ticket support, Free and Pro tier users have more limited support options.
For organizations already invested in Cloudflare's ecosystem, their DNS offering makes sense. But if your primary need is DNS-layer protection against modern threats, particularly if you're managing between 1,000-5,000 employees, you're essentially buying a Swiss army knife when you need a scalpel.
Infoblox has long been a leader in the enterprise DDI space, with dominant market share among large enterprises. Their NIOS platform provides comprehensive capabilities for managing DNS, DHCP, and IP address management at scale. The Grid architecture ensures high availability, and their automation capabilities can save significant time for network administrators.
The sophistication comes at a price, both literal and figurative. Infoblox solutions typically require:
Their BloxOne Threat Defense adds modern security capabilities, including DNS-layer threat protection. Notably, this can be deployed as a standalone cloud service, not just as an add-on to their DDI platform. However, the solution is still designed with enterprise complexity in mind.
For large enterprises with complex networks, Infoblox's comprehensive approach makes sense. But for organizations that primarily need to protect their users from online threats—particularly MSPs managing multiple smaller clients—it's more complexity than necessary.
While all three platforms incorporate machine learning and AI capabilities, DNSFilter has built its reputation on AI specifically optimized for DNS threat detection, finding dangerous sites and threats on average 10 days sooner than competitors. This isn't just about speed - it's about protecting against threats before they appear in traditional threat feeds.
DNSFilter reports the following performance metrics (note: these are vendor-reported figures):
The platform operates with proprietary algorithms that analyze billions of DNS queries daily to identify malicious domains in real-time. In vendor-reported testing, DNSFilter identified thousands of risky domains that weren't on other threat intelligence feeds they compared against. In one reported case, they caught a malicious domain 59 days before it appeared on traditional blocklists.
The AI capabilities extend beyond just detection speed. DNSFilter can identify Domain Generation Algorithm (DGA) domains used by malware and botnets, recognize phishing sites using typosquatting, and block cryptojacking attempts. With approximately 80 content filtering categories out of the box, organizations can implement granular policies while maintaining the world's fastest DNS network performance.
The deployment process for each platform tells you everything about who they're really designed for.
Cloudflare advertises quick setup for basic services, though full security implementation involves multiple steps:
While Cloudflare promotes "one-click onboarding" for basic CDN services, implementing comprehensive security features takes additional configuration across multiple interfaces.
Infoblox deployment is an enterprise undertaking:
Their professional services page notes that migration projects typically "conclude within four months". This extended timeline reflects the platform's enterprise focus.
DNSFilter delivers on the promise of rapid deployment:
This simplicity is particularly valuable for MSPs who need to onboard multiple clients quickly. The ease of deployment and management compared to solutions like Cisco Umbrella makes DNSFilter the choice for organizations that prioritize operational efficiency. Policy configuration and roaming client management are significantly simpler than enterprise alternatives.
Nothing reveals a company's priorities like how they treat customers who need help.
Cloudflare's support structure varies significantly by tier. Free and Pro customers primarily rely on community forums and email support with variable response times. Business plan customers gain access to live chat and ticket support, while Enterprise customers receive 24/7 phone support with defined SLAs. User feedback on support quality varies, with some reporting frustration even at paid tiers.
Infoblox provides tiered support based on your subscription level, from BloxCare Premium to Elite packages. Enterprise customers with Elite support or Technical Account Managers receive dedicated resources. Support experiences vary by tier, with some customers reporting longer wait times for non-critical issues.
DNSFilter has earned exceptional reviews for support across user review platforms. G2 reviews frequently praise the support team's responsiveness and knowledge, with the platform maintaining a 4.6/5 rating based on 247 reviews. Chat support connects users with human agents, and the company offers Premium Support. They actively incorporate customer feedback, hosting public roadmap webinars to share planned improvements. This level of support is particularly valuable for MSPs managing multiple client environments.
Source: DNSFilter
The way each company prices their services reveals their target market and priorities.
Cloudflare uses a tiered model:
Source: Cloudflare
Infoblox pricing reflects enterprise expectations:
DNSFilter provides transparent, predictable pricing:
This transparent pricing model is especially attractive to MSPs who need predictable costs across multiple clients, and to midmarket companies (1,000-5,000 employees) who want enterprise-grade protection with straightforward budgeting.
Each platform's integration strategy reflects its core focus and target market.
Cloudflare offers extensive APIs and integrations designed to connect their various products, plus a growing marketplace of certified third-party integrations. Their Workers platform allows custom development but requires programming expertise.
Infoblox provides deep integration with network management tools and has expanded to include 20+ certified integrations with modern security platforms including Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, and Rapid7. Their ecosystem includes both pre-built certified integrations and options for custom development.
DNSFilter delivers practical integrations that MSPs and IT teams actually use:
Source: DNSFilter
The focus is on integrations that work out of the box for common use cases, particularly for MSPs who need to manage multiple client environments efficiently.
The choice ultimately depends on your organization's specific requirements and resources.
Choose Cloudflare if:
Choose Infoblox if:
Choose DNSFilter if:
The reality is that most organizations don't need everything Cloudflare offers or the complexity Infoblox provides. They need DNS security that works exceptionally well, deploys easily, and comes with support when they need it. With 80-90% of organizations already having some DNS filtering in place, the question isn't whether you need protection - it's whether your current solution is truly best-of-breed.
While Cloudflare and Infoblox serve broader infrastructure needs, DNSFilter is laser-focused on being the best at DNS-layer security. For sophisticated buyers who understand DNS filtering, the choice often comes down to this: do you want a solution that tries to do everything, or one that excels at the specific challenge you're trying to solve?
Ready to see how the world's fastest DNS network with 10-day-sooner threat detection can protect your organization? See how DNSFilter compares to Infoblox and Cloudflare. Start your free trial today.