Network-Wide Ad & Malware Blocking

Yes, completely. There are no paid tiers, no feature gates, and no account required. The appliance runs entirely on your hardware with no cloud dependency.

VeloGuardian DNS ships with curated blocklists for ads, trackers, malware, and phishing domains. You can add custom blocklists, create your own allow/deny rules, and toggle categories on or off from the web dashboard.

Blocklists update automatically on a daily schedule. System security updates are applied through the built-in update mechanism in the web dashboard.

No. DNS filtering adds negligible latency — typically under 1ms. Blocked queries actually resolve faster because the connection is never made. Most users report faster browsing due to eliminated ad and tracker requests.

Yes. You can configure VeloGuardian DNS as your primary DNS and set your existing DNS (e.g., Cloudflare, Google) as the upstream resolver. Queries that pass filtering are forwarded to your chosen upstream provider.

Yes. Because filtering happens at the DNS level, every device on your network is protected automatically — including devices that don't support traditional ad blockers like smart TVs, game consoles, and IoT devices.

No. VeloGuardian DNS and GoGuardian are completely unrelated products from different companies. GoGuardian is a paid, cloud-based content filtering platform designed for K-12 school Chromebook management. VeloGuardian DNS is a free, self-hosted DNS filtering appliance for home users, families, and small businesses that runs on your own hardware with no cloud dependency.

Both are self-hosted DNS filters, but VeloGuardian DNS is distributed as a hardened OVA virtual appliance — import it into VMware, VirtualBox, or Proxmox and it's ready to go. Pi-hole requires manual installation on a Linux system or Raspberry Pi, including OS setup, dependency management, and configuration. VeloGuardian DNS includes a locked-down OS, automatic security updates, and a pre-configured web dashboard out of the box.

Yes. The web dashboard gives you full control over filtering. You can enable or disable entire blocklist categories (ads, trackers, malware, adult content), add custom blocklists by URL, create per-domain allow and deny rules, and view real-time query logs to fine-tune your configuration.

No. VeloGuardian DNS is designed specifically for home users, families, and small businesses. It requires minimal resources (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB disk) and is free with no enterprise licensing, no per-seat pricing, and no sales process. Just download the OVA and deploy it on any hypervisor.

Yes. VeloGuardian DNS supports category-based blocking, which allows you to block adult content, gambling, social media, or other categories across every device on your network. Because it operates at the DNS level, children cannot bypass it by switching browsers or using private/incognito mode. You can also create custom rules to block or allow specific domains.