What Is DNS?
DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's phone book. It translates human-readable domain names like example.com into the IP addresses computers use to communicate, like 93.184.216.34. Use our DNS lookup tool to query any domain's records live.
DNS Record Types
| Record | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
A | Maps domain to IPv4 address | example.com → 93.184.216.34 |
AAAA | Maps domain to IPv6 address | example.com → 2606:2800:220:1::68 |
MX | Specifies mail servers for email delivery | mail.example.com priority 10 |
NS | Lists authoritative nameservers for the domain | ns1.example.com |
CNAME | Alias pointing to another domain | www → example.com |
TXT | Arbitrary text, used for SPF, DKIM, domain verification | v=spf1 include:… |
PTR | Reverse DNS - Maps IP back to hostname | 34.216.184.93 → example.com |
Popular Public DNS Resolvers
| Provider | Primary DNS | Secondary DNS | Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.8.8.8 | 8.8.4.4 | Logs queries | |
| Cloudflare | 1.1.1.1 | 1.0.0.1 | Privacy-first, minimal logging |
| OpenDNS | 208.67.222.222 | 208.67.220.220 | Logs and filters queries |
| Quad9 | 9.9.9.9 | 149.112.112.112 | Blocks malicious domains, no logging |
For enhanced privacy, consider using DNS-over-HTTPS to encrypt your DNS queries so your ISP cannot see which domains you visit.