DNS Hosting Options

Posted on 07. Jun, 2011 by headgeek in DNS Alternatives
Last update: April 11, 2013

Here is a list we will try to keep updated with (hopefully) cheap or low cost DNS Hosting Providers. (Post your suggestions as a response, or send it via our contact form). Note that we are NOT referring to recursive or caching nameservers for lookups, OR to domain hosting, but we are referring to services that will provide you with authoritative nameservers/host your DNS records for your domains.

Why? Well, a long, long time ago (2007 Smile ) in a land far, far away ... there was a great blog article "Redundant and Free Domain Name Service with EditDNS + EveryDNS" that was just awesome -- using 2 Free (or super cheap) services to provide redundant DNS hosting of multiple domains!

Alas, as inevitable as death and taxes ... came change. The services were acquired by another provider and have changed in some ways. It is just time to see how to do reliable DNS on the cheap in 2011 ... and beyond; especially for small business ("SMB"), startups, or one-person-shops that have to keep costs down while they innovate. Batting Eyelashes

This list is just a small step towards that quest. (If the list gets too big, we'll probably put it into a database on this site, but this table should do for now)

Service Features/Detail/Price Link + Date Added
Amazon Route 53
"Cloud based Nameserver" 		"To use Amazon Route 53, you need an AWS account. If you don't already have one, you'll be prompted to create one when you sign up for Amazon Route 53. You're not charged for any services unless you use them."
Pricing varies, see here: Pricing and Calculator 		Link
June 7, 2011
ClouDNS
  • "Domain name servers in Europe and America
  • Free DNS hosting for three domains and unlimited for premium
  • Unlimited records per domain
  • TTL management by records
  • Full DNS support for A, MX, CNAME, TXT, NS, AAAA and SRV records
  • Supports every Top-Level-Domain (TLD)
  • Simple web interface with SSL for easy and secure administration
  • Works with all web hosting providers
  • SOA settings
  • Free hostnames with 6 available domains"
Observations:
  • Servers appear to be in Dallas, TX / London, England / Sofia, Bulgaria Los Angeles, CA, USA / Bulgaria / Germany / The Netherlands
  • Looks like you have to Register to find out the Pricing for "Premium Accounts"
  • + Simple, efficient UI
  • + They have Web/URL forwarding
  • - SOA records only modifiable in Premium (paid) accounts
  • - If you don't receive your validation email after signing up (due to spam filters etc) there is no way to have the email resent (i.e., "I forgot my password" will not work until you have validated the email address by clicking the link in the email that you didn't receive).
 Link
June 8, 2011
DNSEXIT
  • "DNS Services: Static and Dynamic 100% FREE regardless where the domains are registered.
  • Support both static and dynamic IPs with DSL/Cable Modem connections.
  • You must point your domain name server to our name servers ..."
Note that other features (including URL Forwarding) have a cost. Pricing. 		Link
June 8, 2011
dnshat - DNS High Availability Technology
 "Our scalable DNS architecture allows for lightning fast response times for resolution and extremely low TTLs for DNS Failover. By combining some of the best open source community driven software (PowerDNS, MySQL, and Zabbix) running on highly scalable cloud platforms, we are able to offer the most customizable DNS Failover solutions available. ... dnshat Free DNS incudes:"
  • unlimited zones
  • unlimited records
  • unlimited query volume
As a Thank You to all of people behind the open source software that we have used to help build our commercial DNS Failover solution - we are offering Free DNS services completely free - no strings attached.
Failover service is offered on a monthly subscription basis for a flat rate of $19.95/month per failover setup. After you subscribe we will contact you for details on how you would like your failover service configured (IPs, TTLs, content check, etc...). Payments can be made using a credit card through either Paypal or Amazon processing systems. 		Link
June 10, 2011
DNSMadeEasy
 "DNS Made Easy currently offers DNS services to approximately 500,000 domains on the Internet. Being the largest Enterprise DNS provider permits us to keep costs low and pass the savings along to our customers."
Pricing varies, see here: Pricing.
Looks like $2.50 USD / $5 USD / $125 USD per month depending on number of domains/queries, etc. 		Link
June 8, 2011
Dollar DNS
 "No matter how you look at it DollarDNS is the way to go for hosting your DNS. It's free, convenient, and feature rich with an acceptable learning curve."
  • "Supported Zones: Master, Slave, Reverse IPv4, Reverse IPv6
  • Supported Records All. Raw editing supported
  • Zone Transfer Configurable: Enable | Disable | IP or TSIG based security
  • Slave Notification Configurable: Enable | Disable | IP Based
  • Dynamic Update Configurable: Enable | Disable | IP or TSIG based security
  • Dynamic IP Service Provided via DNS Update client
  • Access Logs Query, Transfer, Notify, and Update logs"
  • More
 Link
June 11, 2011
domainsteam (DE)
In German, English version using Google Translate Link
June 7, 2011
easyDNS
  • "We've been in business since 1998. We're one of the first "pure-play" DNS Hosting companies in existence.
  • We have no outside investors, no VC funding and no exit plan. We are not doing this until our big cash-out occurs. This is what we do, period.
  • If you call us during business hours, you will likely have a real live human pick up the phone ... They will try to help you and answer any questions you have.
  • Since 1998 we've had two service outages: One in 2003 and one in 2005, both lasted about an hour. We've implemented numerous measures since then to prevent a recurrance (moving to anycast DNS, partnering with Prolexic.com for anti-dos mitgation). We have not had an outage since.
Pricing varies, see here: Pricing.
Looks like $35 USD / $55 USD per YEAR depending on number of millions of queries, etc.
Seems to be based in Toronto, Canada
 Link
June 8, 2011
EdgeDirector
 "What it does:
  • dns services for geo-targetted global load balancing
  • dns services for automatic distributed failover
How it works:
  • server health is constantly monitored in parallel from multiple data centers, when a server fails the dns records are dynamically altered to point to hot spare standby servers
  • dns records are dynamically selected to respond to queries with the server address configured for the geographic location as determined by the address of the incoming query
  • global load balancing, failover and hot spare features can be combined to achieve the best result possible for high availability and lowest network latency
Pricing:
  • $15 per million queries
  • no minimum
  • no contract
Observations:
  • + Powerful array of services including failover, global load balancing/server health monitoring, GeoIP, and more that you can leverage across numerous servers (i.e. for more than just two webservers, for example)
  • + Records you can modify: A (ipv4), AAAA (ipv6), CNAME, MX, SRV, TXT
  • + Their failover feature is very powerful. You can run your own local monitoring script on your server(s) to implement advanced failover monitoring for a LAMP stack or other special processes (e.g., to ensure your Drupal-based website is actually up, including the MySQL process)
  • + Nice "Daily Usage Report" and "Daily Uptime and Performance Report" sent to you by email
  • - They do not offer NS records, Web/URL Forwarding, or AXFR (most providers offering advanced features like load balancing do not provide Zone AXFR)
  • Can't find too many reviews about them but there is a hilarious thread on WebHostingTalk that praised them and descended into some unnecessary ugliness, lol
 Link
July 15, 2011
GeoScaling
 "GeoScaling offers FREE managed DNS services with unique features. Redirect your users by Country, AS number, uptime, server load and custom rules, at the DNS level. Standard features:
  • Redundancy and scalability assured by nameservers in three countries and two continents.
  • Easy to use web interface
  • Add and edit DNS records without reloading the page
  • Changes propagate instantly to our nameservers
  • Low time-to-live (TTL) ensures updated records are propagated on the Internet in less than 5 minutes
  • IPv6 support - both IPv6 transport and the possibility to add AAAA records
  • Support for most types of records, including SRV"
  • Observations:
    • + You can create the following records: A, CNAME, MX, AAAA, TXT, AFSDB, CERT, DNSKEY, DS, HINFO, KEY, LOC, NAPTR, NSEC, PTR, RP, RRSIG, SPF, SSHFP, SRV
    • + You can import records from BIND zone file or via AXFR
    • + Their failover feature is very powerful; including an API allowing you to control failover and provide for GeoIP, for example
    • - But the failover functionality is not well documented and may require emails to support to setup certain parts; it will take some time
    • - It is very easy to delete a domain; one key press and it is gone; no validation occurs
    • - They do not offer NS records, Web/URL Forwarding, or AXFR (most providers offering advanced features like load balancing do not provide Zone AXFR)
 Link
June 8, 2011
Google Public DNS
"Google Public DNS is a recursive DNS resolver ... Google Public DNS is not, however, any of the following: ... A DNS hosting or failover service ..." Link
June 8, 2011
GratisDNS.dk (DK)
Danish. Some posts online praising them. (Google Translate doesn't seem to work for the site) Link
June 11, 2011
MyBind
 "Welcome to MyBind, a free DNS hosting service, designed to be sysadmin friendly. ... MyBind is free for anyone to use! There's no restrictions, and no catches. If you've found MyBind useful, please donate as little or as much as you like so we can keep going."
Looks like someone who just "rolled his own:"
"MyBind is a pet project of mine.
  • You can create unlimited zones and records for free;
  • You can edit the TTL for your zone and each record;
  • And, it has two geographically dispersed DNS servers."
    •
  • Observations:
    • Does not appear to have URL/web Forwarding capability
    • Does not have ability to control NS records or to setup AXFR to a Slave DNS
    • You can setup A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and PTR records
 Link
June 8, 2011
NameCheap Free DNS
 "Use our Free DNS service even if you have your domain registered somewhere else. Get the best value and support that hundreds of thousands of customers have come to rely on! "
  • "Fully functional DNS
  • Advanced records like SRV
  • Dynamic DNS
  • URL forwarding
  • Email Forwarding
  • and more..."
 Link
June 10, 2011
Point
 "Point makes managing your domains so incredibly easy you’ll never want to go back to editing configs or using your registrar’s built-in systems ever again. Plus, it's free for up to 10 domains — give it a go today!"
  • Manage as many domains as you want (within reason, of course) from one friendly and easy to use interface
  • Add unlimited A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, SRV or TXT records to your zones/domains.
  • Setup permanant HTTP redirects directly from the web interface.
  • Use our easy to use SPF record setup wizard/tool.
  • Easily add MX & SRV records for Google® mail & talk.
  • Distributed nameservers across the UK and United States.
  • Group your domains into manageable chunks and change domain TTL.
  • A full API is available so you can integrate DNS management directly into your own apps and systems.
 Link
June 8, 2011
Power-Netz (DE)
Starting at 100 Zones / 1,79 € per Month
In German, English version using Google Translate 		Link
June 7, 2011
PowerDNS Hosting
"PowerDNS Express is a flexible web based DNS serving solution that allows you to manage your domains and web redirections in the easiest and fastest way possible. ... PowerDNS Express is hosted on the global PowerDNS infrastructure.; a redundant cluster of nameservers located at multiple locations around the globe." Pricing
  • 0-5      $2.00 per domain per year
  • 6-20     $1.70 per domain per year
  • 21-50    $1.45 per domain per year
  • 51-100   $1.25 per domain per year
    • etc.
  • Observations:
    • + Nice interface (except for issue listed below). Nice ability to copy existing DNS record to make a new one
    • - If you use their URL forwarding and the URL you are forwarding to is greater than approximately 161 characters, you will not be able to edit it after setting it the first time because of how their UI is built (the edit button is on the right and it will be off the screen). You will have to delete the domain and re-create it to change the value.  They fixed it!!  They unfixed it; it's broken again Sad
    • - They changed from 6 months free to 30 days free ... with no prior warning
    • - You receive no warning email when your dns hosting for a domain is going to expire (you only see that in their Control Panel when you are logged it); it just stops working the night it expires
 Link
June 10, 2011
Rage4 DNS
"Our Rage4 DNS is a modern, feature rich, DNS service designed for both regular website owners and businesses (such as webhosting and datacenter companies)."
  • Own dual stack anycast network
  • 24+ servers across the World
  • Powerful GeoDNS
  • Failover support
  • Real time usage tracking
  • Vanity DNS
  • Full API
  • Pay-as-you-go billing
  • Enterprise class datacenters
  • Own ASN (AS198412)
Pricing:
  • Less than 250 000 requests per month - FREE
  • Between 250 000 and 1 000 000 requests per month - 2 EUR
  • More than 1 000 000 requests per month (for each additional 1 000 000 requests) - 1 EUR
  • Observations:
    • + Nice user interface
    • + Competitive pricing
    • + GeoDNS is supported for A, AAAA and CNAME records
    • + Supports SPF, SSHFP, LOC, NAPTR record types
    • + Numerous points of presence across the world
    • + "Modular" approach to uptime monitoring, i.e., via their API hooks, you can use: UptimeRobot, Webhooks to monitor your servers in order to report uptime to their GeoDNS
    • + They provide an API (includng GeoDNS functionality)
    • + AXFR is automatically enabled for all secondary DNS servers.
    • + They don't charge for AXFR/IXFR requests
    • + Supports two way authentication compatible with Google Authenticator
    • - Poor documentation (they use a separate knowledgebase that is incomplete and lacking)
    • - No ability to keep a failover DNS record but deactivate it; i.e., to bring a server "offline" but not delete the DNS record. It appears you would have to either delete the DNS record OR deactivate it via the external monitoring application you are using
    • - "GeoRegion" usage is a bit confusing (better documentation would really help)
    • - No DNSSec or Dynamic DNS support (however, both are planned for future)
 Link
April 11, 2013
Rionic (DE)
Starting at 25 Zones / 0,50 € per Month
In German, English version using Google Translate 		Link
June 7, 2011
Sitelutions
 "We at InfoRelay, the creators of Sitelutions, have a lot of experience in high-availability hosting, DNS, and domains. We were founded in 1995, and have been in business for longer than most hosts, so we know the ropes. Beyond that, we offer a bold 99.999% network uptime guarantee, a 100% money-back guarantee, and we donate a percentage of profits to charities chosen by our users."
Looks like tiered Pricing that starts at: Free / $2.30 USD / $5.95 USD per month
Free services are listed as:
  • Dynamic DNS
  • URL Redirection
  • Domain Parking
  • Free subdomains
  • Zone Modification
  • Custom Nameservers
See Pricing 		Link
June 8, 2011
Twisted4Life
 "Our aim is to provide high quality and reliable managed/primary DNS, secondary DNS and backup mail exchangers."
  • Free Secondary DNS for your domains.
  • We have multiple servers that are hosted in 3 different geographic regions that provide redundant DNS services for your needs.
  • Note: This premium service is only available to paying customers
  • In addition, we provide managed/primary DNS and backup MX service with antivirus and spam protection (no special hardware or software required).
See more 		Link
June 9, 2011
United-Systems (DE)
Starting at 500 Zones / 0,99 € per Month
In German, English version using Google Translate 		Link
June 7, 2011
XName
 "This Free DNS hosting service is provided to help people that don't want to lose time and money with providers not always reactive to DNS changes. We can provide you primary and secondary name server for free (but if you like this service, please contribute !)"
  • "All zones hosted as primary or secondary on our main server - ns0.xname.org, are automatically replicated on our secondary servers, ns1.xname.org and ns2.xname.org. We recommend to always use the 3 together for better redundancy."
Commercial Usage
  • "A commercial usage of XName service is possible for small companies. A financial contribution is then mandatory to avoid beeing considered as abusers."
Features:
  • multi-users groups (with read-only and/or read-write users) with action logs
  • IPv6 AAAA records
  • .in-addr.arpa zones (with PTR records)
  • automatic modification of associated reverse (or normal) zone
  • Templates for zone creation
  • Zone filling using existing zone data on a remote server
  • Sub-zones creation and delegation
  • in-addr.arpa IP range delegation
  • dynamic update (see here)
  • automatically managed, refresh occurs once per hour
Link
June 8, 2011
Zerigo
 "It seems that DNS providers haven't really changed anything for years. It's been the same boring, hard to use service. Until Zerigo. We're making DNS hosting simpler, faster, and maybe even enjoyable."
  • "Simple, straight-forward DNS control panel
  • Native IPv6 support
  • GeoDNS—geolocation load balancing
  • 30-day money back guarantee"
  • Starting at $19/yr 20 Domains, Global network Templates, API access 1 million queries/month
See Pricing 		Link
June 11, 2011
ZoneEdit
"When you sign up for an account with ZoneEdit, your account comes with two free zones for life. The first two zones you add in your account will remain free forever unless you delete them. After the first two zones, we offer credit-based pricing..."
1 Credit Pack = $1
12 Credit Packs = $12
36 and beyond are discounted
 Link
June 8, 2011
Installing MyDNS-NG & MyDNSConfig On Debian Squeeze
"Roll Your Own" Link
June 7, 2011
Clean djbDNS DNS Server On CentOS - dnscache And tinydns - A To Z
"Roll Your Own" Link
June 7, 2011
How To Run Your Own Name Server With ISPConfig 3 And Fast Hosts
"Roll Your Own" Link
June 7, 2011
Installing PowerDNS (With MySQL Backend) And Poweradmin On Debian Lenny
"Roll Your Own" Link
June 7, 2011

Service offerings do change; visit the links to the provider information for the latest information

Updates:
April 11, 2013: Added Rage4 DNS
April 24, 2012: Updated PowerDNS Express observations
March 11, 2012: Updated XName with more links
December 28, 2011: Updated XName observations
August 2, 2011: Updated PowerDNS Hosting observations
July 24, 2011: Clarified PowerDNS Hosting observation
July 23, 2011: Updated ClouDNS, another server now in Germany; added minor observation as well; added observation for EdgeDirector
July 20, 2011: Updated observations for GeoScaling
July 15, 2011: Added EdgeDirector and observations about PowerDNS Hosting
July 13, 2011: Added observations about MyBind
July 11, 2011: Corrected info about URL forwarding on GeoScaling
July 2, 2011: Added some observations about GeoScaling
June 11, 2011: Added Dollar DNS, GratisDNS, Zerigo
June 10, 2011: Added dnshat, NameCheap, PowerDNS
June 9, 2011: Added Twisted4Life
June 8, 2011: Added ClouDNS, DNSExit, DNS Made Easy, EasyDNS, Geoscaling, Google Public DNS, MyBind, Point, Sitelutions, XName, ZoneEdit
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Your rating: None Average: 5 (8 votes)
Hello and Welcome to the DNS Alternatives Discussion Forum! ›

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Konstantin BoyandinMon, 06/27/2011 - 01:25

Fastmail.fm DNS hosting

0

Note that paid accounts at Fastmail.fm email provider do have an option of DNS hosting (all record types supported).

'Enhanced' type of accounts have the following limits:

- host up to 50 zones (and up to 500 domain aliases)

- host up to 1000 records per zone

DNS requests are not counted (no limit imposed).

headgeekMon, 06/27/2011 - 05:05

Thanks for the info

0
There are quite a few providers that primarily offer other services (like Domain Registration, such as Namecheap for example) and throw in DNS hosting for free. Maybe I will add a new category for that.

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