Mullvad DNS vs Cloudflare DNS
Mullvad DNS is a European alternative to Cloudflare DNS: same security & identity use case, headquartered in Sweden and governed by EU GDPR, while Cloudflare DNS (Cloudflare) is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
1.1.1.1 is the public resolver people switch to when their provider's DNS is slow or filtered, and it is quick enough to have become a default recommendation. It is free at any volume. Cloudflare, Inc. runs it from the United States and undertakes not to log identifying query data, which is a promise rather than a jurisdiction.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Mullvad DNS vs Cloudflare DNS at a glance
| Mullvad DNS | Cloudflare DNS | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Sweden | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need security & identity built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Cloudflare ecosystem |
Choose Mullvad DNS if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Cloudflare DNS if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Cloudflare ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Mullvad DNS
Mullvad DNS offers a free public encrypted resolver built for privacy, supporting DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT) plus QNAME minimization to limit what upstream resolvers can see. Available to anyone regardless of VPN subscription, it runs on the same infrastructure that underpins Mullvad's paid VPN service and inherits its no-logs design.
The resolver is deployed across an Anycast network that routes queries to the geographically nearest server, keeping latency low worldwide. Users choose from six hostname variants, from the unfiltered dns.mullvad.net up through ad, tracker, malware, social-media, and adult-content blocklists, so the same infrastructure serves both neutral lookups and content-filtering needs without extra software.
Key benefits:
- DoH and DoT support for encrypted DNS on any modern OS
- QNAME minimization that hides full query paths from upstreams
- Anycast routing for low-latency responses globally
- Six blocking tiers from unfiltered to family-safe filtering
- No-logs operation consistent with Mullvad's VPN policy
- Free and unmetered with no account required
Mullvad DNS is operated by Mullvad VPN AB, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, with parent company Amagicom AB. Founded in March 2009, Mullvad enforces a strict no-logging policy audited by independent third parties, and it was famously verified when Swedish police left empty-handed after a 2023 raid. It is a sovereign Swedish alternative to Google, Cloudflare, and Quad9 DNS.
Why choose Mullvad DNS over Cloudflare DNS?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Cloudflare DNS is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Mullvad DNS removes that overhead. As a Sweden-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.