Running the second public ODoH relay

Every privacy-focused DNS service requires an account: NextDNS, Cloudflare for Families, Apple's iCloud Private Relay (paid, iOS-only). The protocol that doesn’t require one - ODoH - had basically one well-known public relay operator (Frank Denis on Fastly Compute, default in dnscrypt-proxy). I built a second one and the client to talk to it.

Hacker NewsToolAISource
0Sign in to voteCopy link

FL score

65

out of 100

Verdict

VALIDATE

medium confidence

Competition

No competitor data yet

Trend

No signal yet

A second public ODoH relay service to enhance privacy-focused DNS without requiring user accounts.

The pain

Current privacy-focused DNS services require user accounts or are limited in platform support, reducing accessibility and user trust.

The gap

There is only one well-known public ODoH relay operator, limiting redundancy, choice, and potentially trust in the ecosystem.

Build angle

Build and operate a reliable, privacy-first ODoH relay with an easy-to-use client to increase adoption and decentralize the privacy DNS infrastructure.

Strengths

  • Addresses a niche but growing demand for privacy-preserving DNS without account requirements.
  • Improves ecosystem redundancy and resilience by adding a second public relay.
  • Open protocol-based, potentially appealing to privacy advocates and tech-savvy users.

Risks

  • Limited mainstream awareness and adoption of ODoH protocol may restrict user base growth.
  • Monetization and sustainable business model unclear given free relay nature.
  • Technical complexity and operational costs of running a reliable public relay at scale.
  • Competition from established players with broader ecosystems and brand trust.

Questions about this idea?

FlyBot reads the scoring and gives you a second opinion on “Running the second public ODoH relay”.

Open FlyBot