CIPA Web Filtering Database

The domain database that powers school web filtering

Trusted across the sector

More than 300 clients worldwide have trusted the AI services of our company:

  • School Districts
  • Defense Industry Companies
  • Cybersecurity Corporations
  • Tier 1 Telecom Groups
  • Media Conglomerates
  • Leading TV Networks
  • Institutional Asset Managers
  • Virtualization Software Providers
  • Global Digital Marketplaces
  • AdTech Corporations
  • and many others

120M+ domains categorized for CIPA compliance. Integrate our database into your existing filtering infrastructure—via API, CSV, DNS blocklist, or full download—and let your IT team build the exact solution your district needs.

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Million domains
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AI tools tracked
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Content categories
CIPA
Compliance aligned
The promise

Every E-Rate district has made the same commitment

Minors on your network will not reach obscene material, child sexual abuse material, or content harmful to them. Keeping that promise across thousands of students and a web that adds hundreds of thousands of domains daily requires a continuously updated domain classification database—and that is exactly what we provide.

120M+ domains, classified by category

Our database classifies every domain by category so your filtering system makes policy decisions by category rather than chasing individual URLs. Set one rule in your infrastructure—block adult content for students—and every matching domain is covered automatically, including ones registered this morning.

57+ categories covering every CIPA requirement

From adult content and malware to proxies, AI tools and social media—our database labels domains across all the categories a K-12 policy needs, so your filtering system can enforce SafeSearch, grade-band rules and off-campus coverage using accurate, up-to-date data.

Accurate classification—no over-blocking

A database that miscategorizes educational sites makes your filter block what teachers need. Our multi-label classification gives each domain every category that applies, so your filtering rules can be precise—block adult content without accidentally walling off health education or research resources.

Your data, your infrastructure

We provide the categorized domain data. You integrate it into your existing firewall, proxy, DNS server, or custom-built filtering solution. Delivered via REST API, downloadable CSV, DNS/RPZ blocklist, PAC file, hosts file, or firewall EDL—whatever fits your stack.

What our database covers

The categorized domain data behind every CIPA filtering need

One database, every category a school district needs. Integrate it into your filtering solution and cover all of these use cases.

School Web Filtering

Our database provides the category classifications your school filtering system needs—harmful content flagged, education and reference domains clearly labeled, updated daily.

CIPA Compliance

Every CIPA-required content category classified and ready to integrate. Our database covers all the categories your E-Rate certification requires you to block.

AI Tools Blocklist

16,328+ AI-tool domains—essay writers, homework solvers, deepfake and companion apps—classified and delivered so your filter can allow instruction and block the rest.

District-Wide Filtering

One categorized database covering every building in your district. Feed the same domain data into every school’s filtering infrastructure for consistent policy enforcement.

Off-Campus & 1:1 Devices

Our database integrates with endpoint agents and DNS-based filters so the same category data travels with managed Chromebooks and laptops wherever students take them.

DNS Filtering

Export our database as DNS/RPZ blocklists for lightweight, appliance-free enforcement at the DNS layer—a fast integration path for smaller schools and libraries.

The database

Your filter is only as good as its database

Blocking decisions are data decisions. Our database is one of the largest continuously refreshed domain classification datasets anywhere—and it is what we sell. See the full breakdown on our coverage page.

0M+
Domains categorized
57+
Content categories
Daily
Classification updates
~300k
New domains screened / day
Who it’s for

Built for the people who answer for student safety

Different chairs, same accountability. Our database gives each role the data foundation they need to build and maintain effective web filtering.

Technology Directors
IT Staff & Network Admins
Librarians & Media Specialists

You sign the certification and own the outcome

You get a categorized domain database that covers every content category your E-Rate certification requires, with daily updates and a vendor whose entire product is the data your filtering depends on.

One database covering all CIPA-required content categories
Category-level data your reporting tools can use for E-Rate audits
Dedicated CIPA focus—not a general-purpose security vendor

You field the tickets—make them go away

Integrate our database via REST API, downloadable CSV, DNS blocklist or firewall EDL—whatever fits the infrastructure you already manage. Build your own filtering rules on top of reliable category data.

Multiple delivery formats: API, CSV, DNS/RPZ, PAC, hosts, firewall EDL
Domain-level classification works with HTTPS without breaking encryption
Daily updates so your filter catches new domains automatically

You defend both safety and access

Our multi-label classification means every domain carries all the categories that apply. When your filter blocks a page, the category data behind the decision is explainable to a parent or board member—no blanket censorship, just accurate classification.

Every domain classified by category—blocks are explainable, defensible
Education and reference categories clearly labeled so your filter leaves them open
Category granularity supports different policies for minors and adult patrons
Compliance

CIPA compliance, handled the way auditors read it

The Children’s Internet Protection Act ties E-Rate discounts to three commitments: a technology protection measure, an adopted internet safety policy, and monitoring plus education. The categorized domain database is the data foundation your technology protection measure depends on.

Our database maps every CIPA-required content type directly onto named categories. Integrate them into your filtering infrastructure, and your system can block what the law requires while your category-level logs provide the evidence auditors need at certification time.

  • All CIPA-required content categories classified and ready to integrate
  • Category-level data your system can log for audit-ready reporting
  • Domains carrying SafeSearch-relevant labels for enforcement in your filter
  • Granular categories so you block what the law requires—nothing more

What certification actually asks of you

FilterA technology protection measure, enforced
PolicyAn internet safety policy on file
MonitoringMinors’ online activity monitored
EducationStudents taught appropriate online behavior

Our database supplies the classification data for the first line and the category trail your system needs for the rest. Full details →

16,328+ AI tools, sorted so you can act

Essay writers & paraphrasers Homework & code solvers Image generators Deepfake & face-swap (200+) Voice cloning (250+) AI companion chat (470+)

18 categories and 165+ subcategories, updated daily from a screen of roughly 300,000 newly registered domains. Delivered as CSV, DNS/RPZ blocklist, PAC or hosts files, firewall EDL, or API.

AI tools

The AI problem your current database cannot see

New AI tools launch every week, and most domain databases file them under a vague “technology” category or miss them entirely. Meanwhile teachers are grading AI-written essays, counselors are handling deepfake incidents, and students are pasting personal information into chatbots nobody has vetted.

Our AI tools blocklist database treats this as its own discipline: every tool categorized by what it actually does across 18 categories and 165+ subcategories. Delivered as CSV, DNS/RPZ blocklist, PAC or hosts files, firewall EDL, or via API—ready to plug into your existing filter.

  • Academic integrity: essay writers and homework solvers blocked as a class
  • Student safety: deepfake, voice-clone and companion tools contained
  • Data privacy: fewer ungoverned tools collecting student information
Read about the AI tools blocklist →
How it works

From sign-up to integrated database in four steps

Districts have integrated our database into their filtering infrastructure in an afternoon. Most take a deliberate week or two to tune category policies across grade bands.

1

Choose your delivery format

REST API for real-time lookups, full CSV download for on-premise systems, DNS/RPZ blocklists, PAC files, hosts files, or firewall EDL—pick what fits your stack.

2

Integrate into your filter

Feed our category data into your existing firewall, proxy server, DNS resolver, or custom-built filtering solution. Your infrastructure, our classification data.

3

Map categories to policies

Use our 57+ content categories to build grade-band policies—tighter for elementary, more open for high school. The same category data works across all buildings and devices.

4

Stay current with daily updates

Our database classifies roughly 300,000 newly registered domains every day. Your filter stays current automatically—no manual list maintenance needed.

Under the hood

How your filter uses our database

When a student opens a page, your filtering system queries our database for that domain’s categories—either via real-time API lookup or from a local copy you keep synced. The database returns every category that applies, and your filter compares them against the policy you’ve built for that grade band.

Because one site can be several things at once, our database assigns multiple category labels rather than a single verdict. A streaming platform can be Video, User-Generated and Adult all at the same time, giving your policy engine all the data it needs.

  • API response in milliseconds—or use a local download for zero-latency lookups
  • Multi-label classification so your filter can weigh all applicable categories
  • 120M+ domains classified—new sites added daily
  • Category names designed for human-readable logging and reporting

Same database, same domain, different grade-band policy—your filter makes a different defensible decision for each user group.

How a lookup works

QueryYour filter queries example-media-site.com
DatabaseReturns: Video, Streaming, User-Generated
Your filterApplies your Grade 9–12 policy rules
DecisionNo Adult / Self-harm label → allow with SafeSearch
Allowed—your filter logs the category for reporting
Database plans

Database access priced for a single school or an entire state

Every tier includes the full categorized domain database with daily updates. Choose the delivery format and volume that fits your filtering infrastructure.

Single School

API access to the full categorized database with core CIPA categories and daily updates.

District + AI Blocklist

Full database plus the 16,328+ AI-tools blocklist in every delivery format: CSV, DNS/RPZ, PAC, hosts, EDL.

Enterprise / State

Custom data feeds, dedicated SLA, and volume licensing for consortia and state-level programs.

Resources

Do your homework before you buy

Guides written for the questions we hear from technology directors every week—no registration walls, no sales gate.

What Is CIPA?

The law in plain English: what it requires, what it does not, and who it applies to.

Compliance Checklist

A step-by-step worksheet for getting your certification story in order.

E-Rate & CIPA Funding

How the discount program and the filtering requirement fit together.

Domain Coverage

The numbers behind the filter: 120M+ domains, 57+ categories, daily updates.

Straight answers

Common concerns about school filtering, addressed

Filtering carries baggage from a decade ago, when filters were blunt, slow and famous for blocking the wrong things. Here is where the reality now sits.

“Filters block half of what teachers need”

That reputation came from single-label blocklists. Our database assigns multiple labels per domain, so education and reference resources are clearly categorized. Your filter can keep them open by default while blocking only the harmful categories.

“CIPA means we have to ban social media”

It does not. CIPA requires blocking obscene material, CSAM, and content harmful to minors—not social platforms. You decide social media policy locally, by grade band and time of day.

“Students will just use a proxy or VPN”

Proxy and anonymizer domains are their own category in our database, classified as they appear. New proxies registered this week are caught the same way any new domain is—through our daily classification pipeline.

“HTTPS makes filtering pointless now”

Nearly all traffic is encrypted, but our database classifies at the domain level—not the URL path. Your filter does not need to break encryption to use our category data. The domain name is visible in every DNS query and TLS handshake, so encrypted sites are fully covered.

“Filtering is surveillance of kids”

Our database provides category classifications, not user tracking. Your filtering system logs what was blocked and why at the category level—the kind of records a counselor needs if a student searches around self-harm—without turning routine browsing into a dossier.

“It’s a huge project to run”

Most work is front-loaded into initial integration and policy setup. After that our database classifies new sites automatically with daily updates, so your ongoing job is reviewing exception requests—not maintaining domain lists by hand.
Why switch

Why districts switch to our web filtering database

Outgrowing vendor lock-in

Most districts we talk to are tired of being locked into a vendor’s appliance and its stale category list. They want to build their own filtering solution—using their own infrastructure—but they need a reliable, continuously updated domain classification database to power it. That is exactly what we provide.

Test our data against your current database

Request a trial and run our category data alongside your current filter’s database—same domains, two verdicts. Districts typically discover legitimate classroom sites their old database had miscategorized for years, and a long tail of new domains it had simply never classified.

A database built for schools, not repurposed from enterprise

Generic domain databases are built for enterprise security and lack the category granularity schools need. Our database is built from the ground up for CIPA compliance—starting from the content categories the law requires, with grade-band-friendly classification that a technology director can defend at a board meeting.

Questions

CIPA web filtering, asked and answered

What exactly makes a web filter “CIPA-compliant”?
CIPA certifies institutions, not products. Your compliance depends on having a technology protection measure that reliably blocks obscene material, child sexual abuse material, and content harmful to minors. Our database provides the categorized domain data that powers that technology protection measure—every CIPA-required content category classified across 120M+ domains. You integrate it into your filtering infrastructure, and your system enforces the policies and generates the audit records your E-Rate certification requires.
Do we need to install hardware in every building?
No. Our database is delivered via API, downloadable CSV, DNS blocklists and other formats—no hardware needed. You integrate it into whatever filtering infrastructure you already have, whether that is a firewall, proxy, DNS server or a custom-built solution.
Does filtering follow students home on 1:1 Chromebooks?
Yes, when you integrate our database into an endpoint-based or DNS-based filtering solution. The category data works regardless of where the device connects—your filter uses the same domain classifications on home Wi-Fi, a hotspot, or at the public library.
Will a CIPA filter block sites teachers legitimately need?
Far less than with the single-label blocklists you may remember. Because our database assigns multiple categories per domain, education and reference resources are clearly labeled alongside any other applicable categories. Your filter can keep educational content open by default while still blocking harmful categories on the same domain.
How do you keep up with brand-new websites and AI tools?
Our classification pipeline screens roughly 300,000 newly registered domains every day, and the full 120M+ domain database updates daily. A site that launched this morning already belongs to a category in our database—your filter picks it up on the next sync without any manual intervention.
How does this relate to E-Rate funding?
E-Rate discounts require the CIPA certification, and a categorized domain database is the data foundation your filtering system needs to honor it. Our database subscription avoids per-appliance costs that complicate E-Rate budgeting—it is a straightforward data service your IT team integrates into your existing infrastructure.
Does the same platform work for public libraries?
Yes. Libraries carry their own CIPA obligations when they take E-Rate discounts, with the added wrinkle that adult patrons may request unfiltered access for lawful use. Our database provides the same category classifications a library needs—your filtering system can apply different category rules for minors versus adult patron sessions.
How long does a rollout really take?
Integration can be as fast as a single API call or a DNS blocklist import—some IT directors have had our database powering their filter within hours. District-wide rollouts usually take a week or two by choice, as IT teams tune category-to-policy mappings across grade bands and buildings.
Can teachers request an exception, or does everything go through IT?
That depends on how you build your filtering solution. Our database provides the category data; your filtering system handles exception workflows. Many districts build their own exception interface on top of our data, letting teachers request overrides that IT approves and scopes to specific groups.
What does the student see when a page is blocked?
That is up to your filtering solution to design. Our database provides the category name that triggered the block, so your block page can display it—making blocks explainable rather than mysterious. Many districts build block pages that cite the category and offer a request-access link, which cuts “the internet is broken” tickets dramatically.
Do we still need an acceptable use policy and student lessons if we have the filter?
Yes. CIPA pairs the technology protection measure with an internet safety policy and education on appropriate online behavior and cyberbullying awareness. Our database powers the data layer of your technology protection measure; your internet safety policy, acceptable use policy, and classroom lessons complete the certification. Our guides on the internet safety policy and acceptable use policy give you a starting template.

See how our database classifies your district’s top sites

Bring your top student-visited domains to a 30-minute demo and see exactly how our database categorizes them—then get a quote for database access sized to your district.