All SafeDNS Reviews
1-25 of 35 Reviews
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Edward
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed July 2021
SafeDNS is a better alternative to Cisco Umbrella
We can easily have end users maintain the content filtering if needed due to the simpler interface.
PROSVery easy to install and integrate. The service allowed for more flexible options - such as a longer whitelist of websites - as well as less complicated than Cisco Umbrella.
CONSThe ability to disable the content filtering for maintenance or troubleshooting had been an issue, but an update corrected it.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
SafeDNS offered less complicated management with features that the more expensive Cusco product did not offer.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
Cost was better and Umbrella had certain feature limitations and was unreasonably complex.
Vendor Response
Hi Edward! Thanks for such a positive review. We are happy to be making content filtering simple for you! Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
Troy
Retail, 5,001-10,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed October 2020
There are lots of DNS based security products out there
Safedns does a great job of making DNS based administration quick and easy. Safedns also does a great job of allowing administrators to define a list of allowed sites and deny everything else. Some of the big players in this space surprisingly don't have this functionality.
CONSI didn't care for the SafeDNS agent software. We tried it on a few systems and decided to apply at the network level for filtered vlans.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
Umbrella didn't offer (at the time) the ability to block all sites except whitelisted sites. This may have changed as we've been with SafeDNS for several years now.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
DNS Filter was much more expensive and didn't offer the level of features that we get with SafeDNS.
Vendor Response
Good day Troy! Thank you for leaving such a detailed and positive review. Sure, it's up to you to choose between router or agent installation, but we always recommend the router option. Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied April 2022
james
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed February 2021
Constant issues
product worked perfectly for a year, now constant issues every week we have 2-3 outages and support has not stated anything other than to let them know if it happens again, am under huge pressure from division managers to fix once and for all, unfortunately, safedns still cannot find the issue so I am now shopping for other providers :(
CONSproduct no longer works , support seems to not care about fixing at all
Vendor Response
Hi James! Thanks for honestly sharing your thoughts. It's been some time, and we have taken this period to improve and learn from our mistakes. Our tech support is 24/7, always online, and the average response of our team in tech support chat in March was 67 seconds. Reviews like yours help us become better, so thank you again. Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied April 2022
Frank
Hospital & Health Care, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed November 2020
Quality DNS software at a Reasonable Price
Very satisfying - set and forget - until a user says why is this site blocked?
PROSGreat support during set up and use by our company. Very helpful when fixing those settings which I didn't read up on in the guide - had a "man" look.
CONSNot a "known" elite brand but I feel this to be a good thing. Not expert in all things IT but expert in this field.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
Quality reviews about a company that specialise in this field.
Vendor Response
Hi Frank! Thanks for your kind words. We do try to stay focused on our main product improving the quality and keeping it affordable at the same time. Reviews like yours help us feel even more motivated to work harder! Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied April 2022
SHERMAN
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
Secure, Safe DNS for everyone
Easy console to use, the service does work.
CONSAt times, searches are slow or look ups are slow across the network SafeDNS is securing, some frames don't return properly, if at all, on a web page. End user does not know what is wrong or if something is being blocked; and yes, there is a blocked page warning configured. Doesen't show up.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
When cisco bought them; the sales was quite aggressive bordering on nafarious. I had networks configured and if I didn't upgrade to what ever tier they were pushing at the time, they would 'turn off' the filtering. I said I would reduce the foot print of the networks configured, but cisco said that there was a minimum. I did not go for it and the filtering was turned off. 'Oddly' after I moved to SafeDNS and a about 5 weeks go by, all my settings started functioning again - in other words, services were turned off to try to force me to sign up for a larger than needed package.
Leonides
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed October 2020
Exactly what you need for the most inexpensive price.
We have several scanners that need to work with our network, and they must have access to the Internet. Even the scanners have limited access to the wan, our personnel found a way to navigate to not work-related webpages. SafeDNS it's a great tool to have restrictive control on this matter. At the same time, it is a great way to get control of the webpages the administrative personnel has access to, all this, without using an expensive proxy. And the most important thing for us. SafeDNS allow us to accomplish specific requirements from the CTPAT program (U.S. Customs and Border Protection rules).
PROSSafeDNS has an easy way to administrate all the rules on our network. I like the way that has the filters for a safe google search. The pre-rules are extensive but flexible at the same time if you want a restrictive network without sacrifice speed and functionality. All these advantages for a great value price.
CONSI would like to have more number of domain registers on the white/black option lists. I think 40 entries it's not enough.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
All the options they have are great. Costs. Easy to use and administrate.
John
Education Management, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
Affordable, Cloud-Based Web Filtering
I've been using SafeDNS on the school network I manage for a number of years. Here's the pros: 1. The cost, especially for educational institutions, is very affordable. 2. Implementation is simple if you're well versed in router configuration. 3. The interface is simple. Preset categories seem to be fairly effective. 4. Forced Safe Search for search engines and Forced Restricted Mode for YouTube is a great feature for implementing in a school. 5. Changes in configuration can be made from any web browser at any time, so management is remote.
CONS1. At the present time, the SafeDNS agent, which automatically sends your IP information to SafeDNS, is available for Windows only. macOS users are out of luck. For my application, this isn't a huge deal because I have the network set up on a static IP, but for those with a dynamic IP address, the only way to keep the filtering working 100% is to use the agent app.
Brett
Education Management, 501-1,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
SafeDNS- Low Maintenance Web Filter
We've been using SafeDns for several years. We are a school and we do not have personnel that can dedicate to Web Filtering management, hardware & software installation and maintenance. We also cannot afford to spend much. But, of course, we need the webfilter protection with hundreds of students. With SafeDns, you set it and forget it. Check once and a while to make sure it is securing your network. Very easy to use. Easy Web Based product with easy to use management. No heavy lifting from the user perspective, but delivers a solid protection.
PROSVery easy to setup. No additional servers, software. Short learning curve. Effective delivery of Web Filter Security. Very easy to Maintain.
CONSA few years ago, products like this were free. Now the annual fee goes up every year.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
Ease of Use, No onsite hardware required, Cost Effective.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
OPENDNS was no longer free. We needed to find another solution that was very cost effective. SafeDns was the best product for the lowest price we could find.
Paul
Verified reviewer
Computer Networking, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
Great features and good pricing!
Excellent - moved to SafeDNS when our previous internet filtering solution was dropped by the vendor.
PROSGreat central management of multiple accounts, with plenty of customisations for the block page etc. We use SafeDNS on customers’ firewalls, including campsites, hostels and garden centre Café’s!
CONSIt would nice to be alerted if the service has received no dns hits for xx hours - this can happen if a dns record is changed, but I forget to update SafeDNS
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
Dyn no longer supporting Internet Guide (SafeDNS has more features anyway)
Vendor Response
Good day Paul! We really appreciate the kind words. As to the alerts you mentioned, noted! Will be sure to tell our tech team and see if that's possible to implement. Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
Jason
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2021
Web filtering made simple
SafeDNS is a really great product, we have been using it for over 5 years now and it's really robust. We deploy for all our customers internal networks and this includes our Azure infrastructure and it just works.
PROSThe ease at which you can get started with SafeDNS is amazing. So simple to implement to the edge routers and just like that your internal network is covered.
CONSDeployment of the client version was tricky but a quick call to support sorted it no problem
Vendor Response
Hi Jason! I'm glad you felt good about our tech support. Very pleased to hear our efforts resonated with you. Thanks for leaving such a positive review! Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
Anthony
Individual & Family Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
Great way to improve the internet safety at home.
I have been very happy with SafeDNS. It has significantly improved the network safety and it requires relatively little maintenance. I don't need to require access to every device. In addition it is very easy to manage when needed.
PROSI needed a simple and affective way to manage our home network and filter out the trash from all the good that is on the internet. I work in the IT industry and so I explored a number of options including locally installed software like Qustodio, NetNanny and many others. The issue with all of the locally installed software was the constant maintenance and performance issues. They were also too intrusive. I knew about DNS options and tried OpenDNS. This worked but it had poor management options and no ability to schedule. The ability to schedule was a huge issue for me. With SafeDNS I can schedule between School/Work vs Free time automatically. I setup SafeDNS on the router so the entire house is covered automatically. All mobile and physically connected devices. They have an app you can install but I don't use that. I use SafeDNS on a router with DD-WRT installed. You need to ensure that you have the router block or redirect port 53 requests to ensure that network clients don't bypass the SafeDNS server entries. SafeDNS is not a perfect solution but it has made our network much safer without compromising or slowing down the workstations. I initially used their web categories which were pretty good. SafeDNS staff were very responsive whenever I asked for corrections to the categories. At the moment I am exploring the use of a WhiteList only. This has been very affective in really focusing our internet usage.
CONSDNS blocking is not fool proof. At the same time it is relatively easy and economical to implement and the problem cases can be dealt with on an individual basis. Some users have figured out that they can use TOR to get around DNS blocking, I am currently exploring router updates to prevent that. Use of a VPN will also bypass overly permissive DNS blocking. That is one reason why I switched to using a whitelist. A thought for SafeDNS. Consider allowing categories to be used as a whitelist instead of a blacklist. e.g. Rather then allowing everything except that which is blocked... Instead, block everything (including the unknown/uncategorized) except those categories that are known to be good.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
Pricing, No local install, Has Scheduling.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
I switched from OpenDNS because the price was right and SafeDNS had scheduling.
Vendor Response
Hi Anthony! Such a nice review, thanks so much - we really appreciate it! We do have "allow-list only" option! You are correct, for some cases it works much better. Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
David
Computer & Network Security, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
SafeDNS offers good protection, at a reasonable price.
Generally, we use this to prevent accidents. An accident might be someone opening a site that is inappropriate for the workplace, and expose the client to workplace harassment claims. It might also be one that prevents someone from going to a malware site, and infecting the network. Overall, our experience has been good.
PROSOnce the software is set up, it's simple. The end-users don't have to really *do* anything. It just starts taking affect, and preventing them from accessing the sites we don't want them to access. This is true even where the users are distributed, and not on the same network.
CONSThis product is not, at its heart, designed for the MSP model. It's designed for, "I'm using this to manage my network." And so, licensing is not as clear as I'd like to see it. Managing licenses, or license groups is also not as clear as I'd like. There also doesn't seem to be a very clear guide as to what command-line options are needed for a push-out deployment.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
Mostly price, and licensing issues.
Jorge
Computer & Network Security, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed January 2021
Web Security affordable
Im happy with it, the more I know how it works the better use I can get from it.
PROSThe use of classes or type of web content and the use of white/black lists. Also the possibility to create profiles and schedules.
CONSThere are various factors that affect that the software works well, so is not that simple for a non technical person to determine where the problem could be if the software is not working properly, however, the support from SafeDNS is really good and they will help you solve any issue. Also to get most out of the profiles it is necesary to install the client on a PC and also the vpn client on the phones, along with the dynamic dns client in case the router doesnt support it, so all this can complicate the installation and reduce the customer experience and satisfaction.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
for the promise of ease of use, non having to install anything, the posibility to define profiles, the use of schedules.
Albert
E-Learning, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
General
Good
PROSEasy to implementation, good performance
CONSIn China, we always get wrong DNS result for local web page. More function need for client.
Vendor Response
Hey Albert! Thank you for the kind words. Have taken your notes on operation in China, will check in with our tech team. Appreciate the feedback! Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
Antonoi
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
Easy while powerful and always updated filter
SafeDNS is an excellent solution for Education.
PROSOur clients are schools. We differentiate profiles of teachers and students with easy using simple NAT rules in the gateway. Also, we can fine-tune the filter by adding white & black lists for all the customers, and even for a single customer, by individual profiles.
CONSNo special negative thoughts, actually.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
The most easy to use and cheap enough to be competitive in the School market.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
Easier, cleaner and, specially, much cheaper. Other extra features from Cisco Umbrella haven't been used in our implementations.
Vendor Response
Hello Antonio! Thanks for such an awesome review - we love working with schools, and happy to hear the feeling is mutual! Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
William Bruce
Construction, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
Review of Safedns as a filter
Pretty good.
PROSWhen coming across a domain that is not categorized by Safedns, they promptly categorize or recategorize when requested. It is easy to download.
CONSThe shopping websites Gumtree and Ebay dont show pictures when Safedns is active. I have asked what to do to make it happen but in trying to follow what was instructed I couldnt make it work. I would like more help on it whch I will need to chat in writing about to try and fix.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
For the reason given above and that I could trust Safedns to answer and categorize domains accordingly when requested.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
Opendns didn't work like it should and I didn't get the responses like I did from Safedns.
William
Libraries, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
SafeDNS - a great product for client filtering
The company is a pleasure to do business with. I would never want to go back to my old filtering software.
PROSYou set up up and you are done. Have not had to do anything special or make any changes since I installed it several years ago.
CONSI can't think of a thing that i don't like about it.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
Easier to use and a much better price.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
The above products required a proxy server and much more hands on. With SafeDNS i set it up and forgot about it. It just keeps working. It also means we do not have to have any special equipment or extra servers.
Scott
Internet, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2022
Highly recommend
Safe DNS is a company that accomplishes what they commit to offering. They have great customer service and competitive pricing.
PROSWe are an internet provider that puts a good faith effort towards blocking content committed to pornography and explicit content. Safe DNS enables us to do that effectively.
CONSAt times it blocks content that isn't pornographic but Safe DNS is responsive if you need them to whitelist a website.
Reason for choosing SafeDNS
I don't exactly remember.
Vendor Response
Hi Scott! Happy to hear SafeDNS has been working great for you! We appreciate you helping to spread the word about us. Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
Matt
Religious Institutions, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2021
BEST FIT FOR US
I would highly recommend cost vs value use of this product to anyone! They balance features and costs for their customers.
PROSWe reviewed multiple platforms for our needs and found that the ease of implementation across our network was the major reason for choosing this product. They worked with us to ensure we captured all of our traffic.
CONSThe features and reporting are basic but it meets our needs.
Vendor Response
Hello Matt! Thank you so much for the nice review. We do try to keep our services affordable and the quality high. Glad to hear we are managing that! Cheers, SafeDNS
Replied March 2022
Thomas
Education Management, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2021
Content filtering simplified
Cedars of Lebanon Academy is a K - 12 non-profit Christian school. SafeDNS has provided consistent good content filtering.
PROSSafeDNS is a solid DNS based content filtering solution. The reliability and consistency is great.
CONSWhile there are Windows and Android applications there is no Chromebook extension. This limits our content filtering effectiveness to on the school network.
Reasons for switching to SafeDNS
The cost for updating Censornet was too much for our very limited budget.
Vendor Response
Hi Thomas! Thank you for your review!
Replied September 2021
Ruth
Education Management, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
SafeDNS
We have been using this software for years and are very happy with the results. School and Parents are grateful for the safety this software brings to us. When I check our stats and can see the protection that is being provided. Makes us very happy.
CONSThe one frustrating time was that none of the students could access Teams. One we realized that SafeDNS was blocking Teams it was a quick fix. Overall very happy with the program.
Roberto
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
Safe DNS save broadband significantly
This software came to make a real difference with teh people using Internet during working hours. We were with almost 100% of use of the Internet service and requiered a second service contrated. After SafeDNS we recover on Internet service just for visitors and the original is enough for the regular operation.
PROSThis software requires just an agent and the end user is not affected in their perfomance during the deployment.
CONSThe technical support is not as easy to contact abroad.
Ryan
Religious Institutions, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2020
Great and Affordable Product
My experience has been great. Easy and simple integration and configuration.
PROSThis product gives multiple options to safeguard our network. It is easy to use that where I am able to train another individual to change a configurations. My environment doesn't need crazy configurations or AD integrations. It is a great product for exactly what we need. It is also affordable for small organizations with small budgets as well.
CONSI have not found any negatives for my environment.
Michael Rodriguez
Non-Profit Organization Management, 201-500 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
Great Product
SafeDNS has made it easy to block harmful, productivity limiting, and bandwidth hogging websites from our end users. No system is perfect and a few legitimate websites get blocked, but once again, SafeDNS makes it easy for me as an administrator to white list domains that our end users need to access. It is easy to set up and maintain.
CONSSometimes the product does not show the block page, which requires additional troubleshooting by us to see if the site is down or being blocked. It would be a perfect product if the block screen appeared every time a site was being blocked.
Paul
Farming, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2021
Safe dns review
Great experience. it has kept us safe.
PROSeasy to undersatnd and deply. Categorys are correct, and havnt ahd anyone bypass it in 2 years.
CONSThe reports could be a bit better. otherthen that nothing.