# Mullvad DNS

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/mullvad-dns/

16 people recommended Mullvad DNS in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 8 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free encrypted DNS with no account needed that blocks ads system-wide. Critics find it slower than Quad9 or Cloudflare.

Summary written by Claude from 25 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Blocks ads across the whole device (5 comments in the sample): "Mullvad's adblocking DNS was really nice and convenient" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571736)) "Mullvad DNS blocks all ads across the system." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571733)) "It blocks ads device wide across all apps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46188100))
- Free, no account or subscription (4 comments in the sample): "mullvad’s DNS routes to it with adblocking, you do not need to be a subscriber to use it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47479753)) "it doesn't require an account, and is free for unlimited use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46195914)) "as a free to use for all byproduct of their other offerings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47349159))
- Fast speeds compared with Quad9 (2 comments in the sample): "it was much faster than Quad9 for this purpose" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569213)) "I got some incredible speeds from Mullvad" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49573304))
- Works as a DNS over HTTPS server (2 comments in the sample): "Change your DNS in your browser to DNS over HTTPS. I use mullivad's server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49397849)) "For example a DoH DNS profile pointing at DNS servers that do that for you" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46057397))

## What people warn about

- Slow response times (3 comments in the sample): "Mullvad DNS can be a little slower compared to quad9 or cloudflare" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46322981)) "I compared pings recently and was getting like 200-300ms to the closest mullvad DoH server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49573124)) "They're pretty slow for me, 350ms on average" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45879125))
- Default malware and blacklist blocking (2 comments in the sample): "Mullvad had adblocking, malware blocking. And they didn’t block websites from governments blacklists in France and Italy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569904)) "the default of blocking 'malware' doesn't jive with uncensored internet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49574796))

## Other DNS resolvers people recommend

- [Quad9 DNS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quad9/): 42 recommend, 12 mixed, 33 criticize
- [Cloudflare DNS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-dns/): 39 recommend, 8 mixed, 51 criticize
- [Unbound DNS resolver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unbound/): 36 recommend, 6 mixed, 3 criticize
- [Google Public DNS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-public-dns/): 17 recommend, 0 mixed, 9 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://mullvad.net/en)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Mullvad DNS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mullvad-dns/ (16 recommend, 5 mixed, 5 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.