DumbDNS: The simple DNS proxy with ad blocking

I’ve been using PiHole for a while, but it seems too complicated and bloated for what I really need: a simple DNS proxy which returns 127.0.0.1 when a DNS request comes in which matches an ad or tracking url.

So I built one.

DumbDNS does exactly what it sounds like: It’s a dumb dns proxy server which (currently) only serves A records to the private IP space. Its features include:

• Proxying DNS requests to 1.1.1.1.
• Caching requests with a 15 min TTL.
• Purging and updating its block list every 6 hours.
• A hard-coded white list.
• Only responds to internal private IPs.
• It’s a single Go binary. No complicated installation.

I’ve been using it with WireGuard on a small VPS for a few months now, and I’m happy with how it’s been working. It blocks on average 13% of web requests and its cache hit rate has been around 14%. I use it on all my devices and I’ve seen a huge reduction in ads on my phone. Tailored targeted ads in apps such as Instagram and Twitter are also way down. Success.

I’ve made the project available on my GitHub and you can get it up and running with a few commands found within the README.