Encrypted Domain Name System (DNS) Resolvers

Note: Using an encrypted DNS resolver will not make you anonymous, nor hide your internet traffic from your Internet Service Provider. But it will prevent DNS hijacking, and make your DNS requests harder for third parties to eavesdrop on and tamper with. If you are currently using Google's DNS resolver, you should pick an alternative here.

DNS Provider	Server Locations	Type	Logging	Protocols	DNSSEC	QNAME Minimization	Filtering	Source Code	Hosting Provider
AdGuard	Anycast (based in Cyprus)	Commercial	No	DoH, DoT, DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	Ads, trackers, malicious domains		Serveroid, LLC
BlahDNS	Finland, Germany, Japan	Hobby Project	No	DoH, DoT , DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	Ads, trackers, malicious domains		Choopa, LLC, Data Center Light, Hetzner Online GmbH
Cloudflare	Anycast (based in US)	Commercial	Some	DoH, DoT, DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	No	?	Self
CZ.NIC	Czech Republic	Association	No	DoH, DoT	Yes	Yes	?	?	Self
dnswarden	Germany	Hobby Project	No	DoH, DoT , DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	Based on server choice	?	Hetzner Online GmbH
Foundation for Applied Privacy	Austria	Non-Profit	Some	DoH, DoT	Yes	Yes	No	?	IPAX OG
NextDNS	Anycast (based in US)	Commercial	Based on user choice	DoH, DoT, DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	Based on server choice	?	Self
NixNet	Anycast (based in US), US, Luxembourg	Informal collective	No	DoH, DoT	Yes	Yes	Based on server choice		FranTech Solutions
PowerDNS	The Netherlands	Hobby Project	No	DoH	Yes	No	No		TransIP B.V. Admin
Quad9	Anycast (based in US)	Non-Profit	Some	DoH, DoT, DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	Malicious domains	?	Self, Packet Clearing House
SecureDNS	The Netherlands	Hobby Project	No	DoH, DoT, DNSCrypt	Yes	Yes	Based on server choice	?	DigitalOcean, Inc.
Snopyta	Finland	Informal collective	No	DoH, DoT	Yes	Yes	No	?	Hetzner Online GmbH
UncensoredDNS	Anycast (based in Denmark), Denmark, US	Hobby Project	No	DoT	Yes	No	No	?	Self, Telia Company AB

Terms

DNS-over-TLS (DoT) - A security protocol for encrypted DNS on a dedicated port 853. Some providers support port 443 which generally works everywhere while port 853 is often blocked by restrictive firewalls. DoT has two modes:

Oppurtunistic mode: the client attempts to form a DNS-over-TLS connection to the server on port 853 without performing certificate validation. If it fails, it will use unencrypted DNS.
Strict mode: the client connects to a specific hostname and performs certificate validation for it. If it fails, no DNS queries are made until it succeeds.

DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) - Similar to DoT, but uses HTTPS instead, being indistinguishable from "normal" HTTPS traffic on port 443.

DNSCrypt - An older yet robust method of encrypting DNS.

How to verify DNS is encrypted

DoH / DoT

Check DNSLeakTest.com.
Check the website of your DNS provider. They may have a page for telling "you are using our DNS." Examples include AdGuard and Cloudflare.
If using Firefox's trusted recursive resolver (TRR), navigate to about:networking#dns. If the TRR column says "true" for some fields, you are using DoH.

dnscrypt-proxy - Check dnscrypt-proxy's wiki on how to verify that your DNS is encrypted.

DNSSEC - Check DNSSEC Resolver Test by Matthäus Wander.

QNAME Minimization - Run dig +short txt qnamemintest.internet.nl from the command-line (taken from this NLnet Labs presentation). If you are on Windows 10, run Resolve-DnsName -Type TXT -Name qnamemintest.internet.nl from the PowerShell. You should see this display: "HOORAY - QNAME minimisation is enabled on your resolver :)!"

Software suggestions and Additional Information

Encrypted DNS clients for desktop:

Firefox comes with built-in DoH support with Cloudflare set as the default resolver, but can be configured to use any DoH resolver. Currently Mozilla is conducting studies before enabling DoH by default for all US-based Firefox users.

DNS over HTTPS can be enabled in Menu -> Preferences (about:preferences) -> Network Settings -> Enable DNS over HTTPS. Set "Use Provider" to "Custom", and enter your DoH provider's address.
Advanced users may enable it in about:config by setting network.trr.custom_uri and network.trr.uri as the address you find from the documentation of your DoH provider and network.trr.mode as 2. It may also be desirable to set network.security.esni.enabled to True in order to enable encrypted SNI and make sites supporting ESNI a bit more difficult to track.

Encrypted DNS clients for mobile:

Android 9 comes with a DoT client by default.

We recommend selecting Private DNS provider hostname and entering the DoT address from documentation of your DoT provider to enable strict mode (see Terms above).

DNSCloak - An open-source DNSCrypt and DoH client for iOS by the Center for the Cultivation of Technology gemeinnuetzige GmbH.
Nebulo - An open-source application for Android supporting DoH and DoT. It also supports caching DNS responses and locally logging DNS queries.

Local DNS servers:

Stubby - An open-source application for Linux, macOS, and Windows that acts as a local DNS Privacy stub resolver using DoT.
Unbound - a validating, recursive, caching DNS resolver. It can also be ran network-wide and has supported DNS-over-TLS since version 1.7.3.

See also Actually secure DNS over TLS in Unbound on ctrl.blog.

Network wide DNS servers:

Pi-hole - A network-wide DNS server mainly for the Raspberry Pi. Blocks ads, tracking, and malicious domains for all devices on your network.
NoTrack - A network-wide DNS server like Pi-hole for blocking ads, tracking, and malicious domains.

Further reading:

On Firefox, DoH and ESNI

QNAME Minimization and Your Privacy by the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC)
DNSSEC and BIND 9 by the ISC