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Alternatives

Best NS1 alternatives in 2026

Data compiled by Toolradar Updated How we rate

Cite this list: Toolradar, best NS1 alternatives 2026, toolradar.com/alternatives/ns1

6 direct alternatives to NS1, compared on pricing, features, and best-for use cases. Pick the right replacement without the marketing fluff.

Quick answer

  • BunnyCDN is the top alternative to NS1 on our list, followed by Akamai and Cloudflare.
  • 1 of the 6 alternatives has a free plan, starting with Cloudflare.
  • Highest rated: BunnyCDN, 4.9 out of 5 from 1,754 ratings, Aug 2026.
Publications that cover the tools tracked here
  • TechCrunch
  • Bloomberg
  • The Information
  • Fortune
  • The Verge
  • 6 alternatives
  • 1 with a free plan

Top 3 alternatives to NS1

  1. BunnyCDN logo

    BunnyCDN

    #1 Top pick

    Fast and affordable content delivery network

    Pricing

    Contact sales

    4.9 /5 across G2 and Trustpilot · 1,754 ratings, Aug 2026

    Our take

    Best overall

  2. Akamai logo

    Akamai

    #2

    Enterprise CDN and cloud security platform

    Starting price

    From $5 /mo

    Cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026

    4.5 /5 on G2 · 679 ratings, Sep 2026

  3. Cloudflare logo

    Internet security & performance

    Starting price

    From $25 /mo

    Cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026

    4.3 /5 on PeerSpot · 79 ratings, May 2026

    Our take

    Best free tier

NS1 vs 6 alternatives

NS1 and its alternatives compared on starting price (cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026), free plan and average user rating.
NS1 logo
NS1 Compared tool
Price: $108/mo Free plan: No n/a
BunnyCDN logo
BunnyCDN
Price: Contact sales Free plan: No 4.9 out of 5, from 1,754 ratings across G2 and Trustpilot (1,754)
Akamai logo
Akamai
Price: $5/mo Free plan: No 4.5 out of 5, from 679 ratings on G2 (679)
Cloudflare logo
Cloudflare
Price: $25/mo Free plan: Yes 4.3 out of 5, from 79 ratings on PeerSpot (79)
KeyCDN logo
KeyCDN
Price: Usage-based Free plan: No 4.4 out of 5, from 138 ratings across SourceForge and G2 (138)
DNSimple logo
DNSimple
Price: $0.5/mo Free plan: No 4.6 out of 5, from 65 ratings across G2 and Trustpilot (65)
Google Cloud DNS logo
Google Cloud DNS
Price: Not published Free plan: No 4.2 out of 5, from 7 ratings on PeerSpot (7)

Why people consider alternatives to NS1

NS1 provides enterprise DNS and traffic management. DNS infrastructure for demanding applications-global traffic handling at scale. The performance is enterprise-grade. The traffic management is sophisticated.

Teams most often switch away when one of these starts to bite:

  • Pricing at scale as usage or premium tiers add up.
  • Missing integrations with the rest of your stack.
  • Performance or scale limits as your needs grow.
  • A specific feature gap you have hit in cloud & infrastructure.

The 6 alternatives below cover the same core job (cloud & infrastructure) with different trade-offs.

NS1 by the numbers

Toolradar data: NS1's entry paid plan ($108/mo flat, billed monthly) ranks #20 of 30 for price among the Cloud & Infrastructure tools with a verified entry price as a flat team plan, where the median is $44/mo flat. As of Nov 2026.

NS1 compared with 525 Cloud & Infrastructure tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
Metric NS1 Peer median Position (1 is best)
Entry paid plan $108/mo flat, billed monthly $44/mo flat #20 of 30 tools priced as a flat team plan, verified price
Free plan No 54% have one n/a
Listed as an alternative to 2 tools 3 #266 of 525 (joint)
Compare-page visits, last 30 days 35 visits 34 #95 of 206 (joint) tools with 20+ compare-page visits

Listed as an alternative to: #221 on 2026-10-16 to #266 on 2026-11-11 (rank among 525 tools, 1 is best).

Each position is counted among the tools that have data for that row, as noted under it. A lower entry price ranks higher; prices are read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis. All Cloud & Infrastructure data · How we compute this. Advertising and placement fees are not inputs to any position. Visit counts include visits from every source.

Cite this: Toolradar, “NS1 by the numbers”, Nov 2026.

Cloud & Infrastructure leaderboards from Toolradar data

Toolradar ranks Cloud & Infrastructure tools on one measure at a time, only where at least 8 tools have data. As of Nov 2026.

CSV download of these Cloud & Infrastructure leaderboards, licensed CC BY 4.0

Lowest entry price, plans with no stated unit

Cheapest standard paid plan per month (annual prices divided by 12), read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis.

Counted among 127 tools with no stated price unit, verified price.

Lowest entry price, plans with no stated unit, Cloud & Infrastructure tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Entry plan
1 Route 53 $0.50/mo, billed monthly
3 NiuProxy $1.50/mo, billed monthly
4 Scaleway $1.83/mo, billed yearly
5 PerfectScale $2/mo, billed monthly
6 Fly.io $2.19/mo, billed monthly

Lowest entry price, flat team plans

Cheapest standard paid plan per month (annual prices divided by 12), read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis.

Counted among 30 tools priced as a flat team plan, verified price.

Lowest entry price, flat team plans, Cloud & Infrastructure tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Entry plan
1 Scalr $0.99/mo flat
2 Railway $1/mo flat, billed monthly
4 RunCloud $9/mo flat, billed monthly
5 Dropbox $9.99/mo flat, billed monthly
6 Upstash $10/mo flat, billed monthly

Lowest entry price, per-user plans

Cheapest standard paid plan per month (annual prices divided by 12), read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis.

Counted among 9 tools priced per user, verified price.

Lowest entry price, per-user plans, Cloud & Infrastructure tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Entry plan
1 DNSimple $0.50/user/mo, billed monthly
2 Netmaker $2/user/mo, billed monthly
3 Box $5/user/mo, billed monthly
4 Tailscale $8/user/mo, billed monthly
5 Phase $10/user/mo, billed monthly

Most media coverage, last 30 days

Number of distinct articles published in the last 30 days by independent press, blogs and newsletters that mention the tool. A story carried by several outlets counts once; the vendor's own blog, review sites, forums and republishing sites do not count.

Counted among 13 tools mentioned in the last 30 days.

Most media coverage, last 30 days, Cloud & Infrastructure tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Articles
1 CoreWeave 123 articles
2 Google Cloud 10 articles
3 SolarWinds 5 articles
4 Cloudflare 3 articles
5 BitGo 2 articles

A position exists only when at least 8 tools have data for that metric. 165 of 523 Cloud & Infrastructure tools have a verified price; the others publish none we could read (often "contact sales"). Advertising and placement fees are not inputs to any position. Visit counts include visits from every source. How we compute this. Cite this: Toolradar, “Cloud & Infrastructure leaderboards”, Nov 2026. Data licensed CC BY 4.0. All Cloud & Infrastructure statistics.

6 alternatives to NS1

Ranked by G2 and Capterra ratings, media mentions, and editor review, plus how directly they replace NS1.

  1. 1
    BunnyCDN logo

    BunnyCDN

    Paid Battle-tested at scale

    Fast and affordable content delivery network

    4.9 /5 across G2 and Trustpilot · 1,754 ratings, Aug 2026

    Price not published

  2. 2
    Akamai logo

    Akamai

    Paid

    Enterprise CDN and cloud security platform

    4.5 /5 on G2 · 679 ratings, Sep 2026

    From $5/mo, billed monthly

  3. 3
    Cloudflare logo

    Cloudflare

    Free plan

    Internet security & performance

    4.3 /5 on PeerSpot · 79 ratings, May 2026

    From $25/mo, billed yearly; free plan available

  4. 4
    KeyCDN logo

    KeyCDN

    Paid

    High-performance content delivery network

    4.4 /5 across SourceForge and G2 · 138 ratings, Sep 2026

    Price not published

  5. 5
    DNSimple logo

    DNSimple

    Paid

    Simple and secure DNS management

    4.6 /5 across G2 and Trustpilot · 65 ratings, Sep 2026

    From $0.50/user/mo, billed monthly

  6. 6
    Google Cloud DNS logo

    Google Cloud DNS

    Paid

    Scalable DNS hosting on Google Cloud

    4.2 /5 on PeerSpot · 7 ratings, May 2026

    Price not published

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to NS1?

Based on real-signal scoring (G2 and Capterra ratings, media mentions, and editorial review), the top alternatives to NS1 are BunnyCDN, Akamai, Cloudflare. Each solves the same core job with different trade-offs on pricing, features, and integrations.

Is there a free alternative to NS1?

There is no fully free alternative in this list. Cloudflare is freemium: a permanent free tier plus paid plans (Internet security & performance).

Why do people look for NS1 alternatives?

Common reasons teams switch away from NS1: pricing that scales aggressively, missing integrations with the rest of their stack, performance or scale limits, or a specific feature gap in cloud & infrastructure. The alternatives on this page solve the same core problem with different trade-offs.

Spotted an outdated price or a wrong fact? Suggest a correction: we check it against the vendor's own page. Work for one of these vendors? Claim your listing to update it yourself.

Side-by-side comparisons

In-depth comparison pages for NS1 versus each alternative.

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