Cloudflare vs Google DNS: 1.1.1.1 vs 8.8.8.8

Quick identity check

Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 is operated by Cloudflare, a content-delivery and security company, as part of its 1.1.1.1 resolver launched in 2018. Google 8.8.8.8 is Google's own resolver, one of the longest-running public DNS services, in operation since 2009. Both are free, require no account, and work on any device that lets you set custom DNS servers.

Speed: who answers faster?

Neither resolver is faster everywhere. Both run large anycast networks with points of presence in dozens of countries, so your request typically lands on a nearby server for either one — the difference usually comes down to which company has better peering with your specific ISP, not raw infrastructure size. Rankings you'll find elsewhere online shift by region and change over time as networks are upgraded, which is exactly why a general claim isn't something you should rely on.

The only number worth trusting is one measured from your own connection, at the moment you care about it. Run the live DNS speed test and compare Cloudflare and Google side by side — it takes a few seconds and stores nothing.

Privacy: logging and EDNS Client Subnet

This is where the two resolvers diverge most clearly. Cloudflare DNS's privacy note: No query logging to disk and no client IP retained; anonymized data is purged within 24 hours. Independently audited.

Google Public DNS's privacy note: Keeps a temporary log for a small sample of queries (roughly 24–48h) and permanent anonymized logs. Sends EDNS Client Subnet, which can improve CDN locality but shares part of your network with authoritative servers.

The practical difference is EDNS Client Subnet (ECS) — a DNS extension that shares part of your IP address with the site's authoritative nameservers so a content-delivery network can route you to a closer server. Google sends it by default; Cloudflare does not. ECS can shave a little latency off the page you're visiting (separate from resolver speed itself), at the cost of revealing part of your network location to more parties. Neither approach is "wrong" — it's a trade-off between a small locality benefit and a smaller footprint. If minimizing what you share matters most to you, see our dedicated best DNS for privacy guide.

Features: filtering, security, and variants

Neither Cloudflare nor Google's default address blocks malware, ads, or adult content — both are plain, unfiltered resolvers. Cloudflare offers separate opt-in addresses for malware blocking and family filtering (different IPs, not a setting), while Google Public DNS offers no filtering variants at all. Both support DNSSEC validation, which protects against certain DNS spoofing attacks, and both offer encrypted transport via DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS.

Side-by-side comparison

Reliability

Both Cloudflare DNS and Google Public DNS run on globally distributed anycast infrastructure built to survive the failure of any single data center, and both have long operating histories with strong uptime records. Neither has published outage data that gives one a clear, durable edge over the other — both are considered dependable choices for everyday use, including as a secondary resolver for redundancy.

Setup: how to switch

Changing your DNS server takes a couple of minutes and does not require installing anything. Set the primary and secondary addresses from the table above on your router (to cover every device on your network at once) or on an individual device. Full walkthroughs are available for Windows, macOS, Android, iPhone, Linux, and your router.

The verdict

Both are excellent, free, mainstream choices — you will not go wrong with either. The honest differentiator is privacy posture, not speed: Cloudflare doesn't log queries to disk and doesn't send ECS, while Google logs briefly and uses ECS to aid CDN routing. If speed is your only concern, test both and use whichever is measurably faster on your connection.

• Pick Cloudflare if you want the stronger default privacy stance, an independently audited no-logging policy, and don't need built-in content filtering on the base address.
• Pick Google if you want a resolver backed by one of the largest network footprints in the world, don't mind brief temporary logging, and want EDNS Client Subnet's small CDN-locality benefit.

Still unsure? Run the DNS speed test right now — it measures both resolvers from your exact connection and shows you the real median latency and jitter, which is more useful than any general claim.