Have a look at RethinkDNS, https://docs.rethinkdns.com/dns/ their wiki is pretty good. They have recommended block lists, and also have a feature that let's you search inside block lists to see what they actually cover.

If you are on Android they have a companion app, you do not need to use it though. The app adds a good firewall (capture and redirect port 53 for example) and detailed logs if you want. You can block domains and specific IP addresses.

It's all FOSS too

Well, why don't you just try NextDNS? Don't like signing up to try a service? You don't have to. Go to nextdns.io, click "Try it now" and there you go. No account required for 7 days.

You don't need to add domains yourself, you just choose from existing blocklists they provide. Each have some description, just like all the settings.

Alternatively, Mullvad freely provides DNS with some blocking too, but you can't edit anything.

Look into DNS over HTTPS. Otherwise no matter what provider you use, DNS is just unencrypted.

I suggest ControlD.com p2 server as its free and kills known malware, trackers, and ads with no work other than adding it. They have a p3 that blocks big social and p0 blocks nothing.

Been using Nexdns and is great . It adds the part of adblocking and maybe more agresive and granular filtering . Tried controlid but looks like a fancy version and less customized of it.

Here's a video covering basically all of NextDNS' settings! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUG57ynLb8I

Dnscrypt-proxy supports DNS over https (doh), oblivious DNS over https (odoh), DNS over TLS (dot), and dnscrypt (encrypted and anonymous DNS).

IP and domain blacklist. IP whitelist.

End to end encrypted.

You can use quad9, cloudflare, etc, or any provider you like.

I use https://dnscrypt.ca/about.shtml for my doh and as one of my dnscrypt servers.

Depending on your os it's pretty simple to setup.

There are host lists out there you can use, eg https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts

tl;dr you append it to your OS hosts file. On Linux it's /etc/hosts

+1 for RethinkDNS with DNSCrypt and anon relays

I've used this list generating package for years now with great results: https://github.com/opencoff/unbound-adblock/tree/master

It is designed to generate blocking lists that can be used with unbound, the DNS resolver. There are even instructions for how to configure unbound so if you are new to it all you can follow along.

I use the resulting lists in my two local DNS name servers, running unbound.

The way it works is that if a query for a blocked address comes in to one of thenlocal DNS servers it returns a domain not found result. If the address is not on the block list then it forwards the query on to an internet DNS resolver securely using DoT.

You can gain further control over your DNS results by choosing those upstream resolvers carefully. Quad9 and Cloudflare etc all offer DoT resolving, along with some further filtering (eg. for malware), or completely unfiltered DNS if that's what you want.

Services like cleanbrowsing.org offer more fine grained filtering, useful if you want a family-friendly set of DNS results, based off categorify.org. You can pay for really fine tuned results, or there is a free layer which provides still very useful basic categories.

Combining the two forms of filtering, local advert and tracking blocking, along with open internet content categorisation, seems to be very effective.

I get complaints about too many adverts when my kids are on WiFi away from home. I take it as a compliment.