List of Free DNS Host

I have complied a list of free DNS host for you. If you are looking for a free DNS host to host your DNS records, this is a list for you. DNS Host publishes you for your DNS records like A record, MX Records and other important records. It is one of the most important process in setting up your website. However, most webhost will do the DNS hosting for you, but they usually do not have an easy to use interface for you to administrate your DNS records. Having control over your DNS records gives you flexibility to do changes without being reliant on your webhost. Some webhost or ISP are very slow when doing DNS changes, costing you precious time. The most important thing is hosting your own DNS, is that you can change webhost without any downtime at all due to the fact that there will be no propagation delay. Most of these DNS host allow you to do changes through a web-based interface and changes are published almost immediately (for some it is within an hour).

It is also important to note that most domain registrars requires you to have at least 2 name servers. So if you are hosting your own DNS server, you will still need another for redundancy. Many of these Free DNS Host also allows you to use their service as a secondary (backup) name server.

pmsDNS - Looks like a no-frills kind of DNS hosting and provides a very simple and easy to configure interface, which I like very much. Allows round Robin DNS, TXT records and PTR records or even used as an secondary Name Server. Unlike many other DNS host, changes are immediately published onto their servers once done. Offers free DNS hosting for everyone and there isn’t any limit to the bandwidth used.

Their servers are located in Germany and the United States. They are located in different parts of the world which is very important.

FreeDNS - When I last accessed, there seemed to be some problems with the login.

XName - I have used this DNS host for sometime now and it didn’t give me any problem. Actually, if a DNS host is giving you problems, you should immediately change to another host because the technology behind this should be very mature by now. Able to do round Robin DNS and TXT records but not PTR records. All records will be published within the hour as they do reload once per hour. They don’t have any limit to the bandwidth used but for commercial usage, a little contribution is needed. And their interface is one of the best I have ever used. Two thumbs up for this service.

Both their servers are located in France which isn’t ideal.

EveryDNS - A free DNS host that offers 4 Name Servers located in different locations for redundancy. This is one of the most popular DNS service on the web. However, they don’t seem to support round Robin, TXT records and PTR records. I find that very weird because nowadays these records are pretty important, especially when setting up an email server. They allow up to 20 domains and 200 records per user. Donations are encourage to keep the service free.

Their servers are located in different parts of the United States.

ZoneEdit - Another free DNS host which has a number of Name Servers for redundancy. Once you sign up, you will be given a pair of Name Servers for you to inform your Domain registrar. They allow round Robin DNS, TXT records and PTR records. However, you have a limit of 5 domain names per account and limited to 200MB of data tranfser. They also offer Dynamic DNS for anyone using dynamic IP address but you will need to download your own client software.

Sitelutions DNS Service - Free DNS service even if you don’t use their commercial services like domain registration and webhosting. They do have a lot of redundant Name Servers giving you maximum reliability and a piece of mind and they support TXT records. But from what I can figure out, they don’t support PTR records. Updates and changes are instantly published onto their servers with little to no downtime. They also support Dynamic DNS, used with a software client.

EditDNS - Provides free DNS hosting to the Internet community. Their host supports round Robin DNS, TXT records as well as PTR records. They also allow you to use their service as a backup Name Server. Furthermore, they allow users to make use of their free email hosting and free email backup service in case your mail server goes down. Their service includes Dynamic DNS, MX re-routing (change in port) among others. They claimed that their network have no downtime since they started in 2000.

I have a premium account with EditDNS (you get this with a little donation) and they have anti-virus and anti-spam relay available. What this does it they scan your mails for viruses and filter the spam, then transfers these email messages to your actual email server.

Domain-DNS - Don’t seem to be designed for advanced users in mind. The interface is pretty bare and is isn’t flexible enough. But it is useable and it does support TXT records (SPF). If tyou are looking for a simple DNS hosting, this should be a good enough choice. Note that it takes 20 miniutes for any changes to be published onto their server.

DNS Park - Part of a commercial service, they offer free DNS hosting for anyone. It supports round Robin DNS, TXT records and PTR records as well. From what I read, they do not have any limit to their DNS records but limits queries to 200,000 per month.

DNSExit - Domain registrar which offers free DNS hosting even if you don’t use their domain registration. I did not check the interface of this service.

MyDomain.com - Also another domain registrar offering free DNS hosting to their customers as well as non-customers. I did not access their service to see their interface but I believe that they should only offer a basic interface.

DeluxNetwork - A webhosting company which also provides free DNS Hosting. All you have to do is to sign up for a account and you can host your DNS records on their Servers. They have both US and Australian DNS Servers. They also support both PTR and TXT records. DeluxNetwork updates their records instantly so your changes will be reflected immediately without any delay.

Hope these services will be useful to you. If you know of anymore Free DNS host, please inform me so that I can add them to the list.

The problem with having your own DNS hosting is that some webhost may not be willing to provide you with the information or they may be hesitant due to the fact that it might be more troublesome for a webhost if you do your host DNS. But the advantages of controlling your own DNS is great and you should really take a look at what these host offers you.