Best Free DNS Servers in 2025 and Beyond
November 29, 2024

Best Free DNS Servers in 2025 and Beyond

There are quite a few different DNS servers that you can use for your website in 2025. In this post, we’re going to list a few of the best free ones, including Cloudflare, Google, Quad9, and OpenDNS.

Choosing the right DNS server for your website is very important. It can affect how quickly your website loads, how secure it is, how effectively the domain is able to receive and send emails, and so forth.

Best DNS Servers That You Can Use for Free

    • Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a popular online platform that provides a CDN service, cloud security, domain registration, and DDoS attack mitigation. In its own words, Cloudflare describes itself as a platform that “protects and accelerates everything that connects to the Internet.”

Amongst all of the other stuff, Cloudflare also offers a DNS service. And not just any DNS service, but one that is known for its speed and security. 

In a landscape where platforms like Google and Yandex have their own public DNS servers, it is quite a feat to gain recognition as the fastest and safest DNS service…yet Cloudflare has managed to do just that.

What are the IP addresses of Cloudflare DNS?

The primary DNS server by Cloudflare is 1.1.1.1. There are others as well, which can be found at the following IP addresses: 1.1.1.2, 1.0.0.2, 1.1.1.3, and 1.0.03.

And here are the IPv6 addresses that are used by Cloudflare: 2606:4700:4700::1111 & 2606:4700:4700::1001.

Now let’s delve into what makes Cloudflare’s DNS special

Excellent security

One of the main excellent features of Cloudflare’s DNS is that it is very secure. It has a strict policy about not keeping and utilizing its users’ data for targeted ads. All of the user data is wiped from the server after 24 hours, making it inaccessible for anyone to utilize.

Protection against DDoS

Cloudflare also provides protection against DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks can crash websites and cause much harm to online brands and businesses. Cloudflare protects websites from such malicious activity.

Excellent loading times

Another thing that makes Cloudflare stand out from the rest is its quick loading time.

Many sources on the internet describe Cloudflare as the fastest DNS server. According to its own claim, Cloudflare’s DNS server can resolve requests in 10 to 20 milliseconds.

    • OpenDNS

Another public DNS server that you can use in 2024 is OpenDNS. OpenDNS is an online platform that offers different services, one of which is the DNS resolving service.

There are different security features provided by OpenDNS, making it a safe option for everyone to use.

Let’s delve into some more details about why OpenDNS stands out and why it is an excellent choice. But before that, here are the IP addresses used by this DNS service:

What are the IP addresses of OpenDNS?

OpenDNS is available on the following IP addresses:

  • IPV4: 208.67.222.222
  • IPV4: 208.67.220.220
  • IPV6: 2620:0119:0035:0000:0000:0000:0000:0035
  • IPV6: 2620:0119:0053:0000:0000:0000:0000:0053

What makes OpenDNS service stand out?

Anycast Routing

One of the excellent features of OpenDNS is the Anycast Routing. With Anycast Routing, the user is connected to the database or server closest to them. As a result of this, the requests are quickly responded to, and the overall network speed is improved.

Essentially, with OpenDNS, the same data is available not only on just one DNS server, but rather hundreds of different ones spread around the world. The availability of all these servers helps ensure that the user's request is routed to the nearest one.

Phishing Protection

OpenDNS also provides phishing protection. Its DNS service uses a filtering service to block malicious websites from intercepting and responding to requests made by users.

Excellent Redundancy

Thanks to the large number of servers that OpenDNS operates and the different telecom carriers that it uses, the whole system is very resilient. There are a total of 25 data centers around the globe. Even if there is a problem in one part or section of the whole network, there are multiple servers that take up Slack and keep on providing data to users.

    • Google Public DNS

Moving on, let’s talk about the public DNS service offered by Google.

It goes without saying that whatever service or solution Google provides is high-quality to a certain, undeniable degree. That applies to their DNS service as well.

As is the case with the other DNS services mentioned so far, Google DNS is also free to use. You don’t have to make any sort of payment when using it.

What are the IP addresses of Google DNS?

Google’s DNS servers are found at the following IPv4 addresses:

  • 8.8.8.8
  • 8.8.4.4

…and also, on the following IPv6 addresses:

  • 2001:4860:4860::8844
  • 2001:4860:4860::8888

What makes Google DNS stand out?

Now, let’s talk about some of the salient features of Google’s DNS service that make it stand out.

Fast and reliable services thanks to the large and up-to-date database

Google's DNS service is fast and reliable due to the large amount of data and information stored in its database. You can trust the server to load the right IP addresses for the entered domains and give you updated data at all times.

Safe and secure

Although there are some security concerns expressed by users with regard to Google’s DNS, they are related to how Google itself utilizes the information it gets on user activity. They are more appropriately named privacy concerns.

As for the security of the DNS itself, such as in receiving and sending DNS requests, Google’s service is quite exemplary.

Large user-base

Another good thing about the Google DNS server is that it has a large user base. Many people use it, and due to that, you can easily find solutions to your problems on forums and discussion boards.

One of the problems that a lot of people have with Google’s DNS is that there isn’t a lot of official support from Google itself, considering the large number of users. However, this problem is balanced out considering the large community that can step in and help other users.

    • Quad9

Quad9 is also ranked amongst the best, most reliable DNS servers that you can use in 2024 and beyond. It has its strengths along with some downsides, although the former considerably outweighs the latter.

In its speed and reliability, Quad9 is often compared to Cloudflare and OpenDNS. The quality of its DNS service comes close to these two, although it cannot be decisively said that it is better.

What are the IP Addresses of Quad9’s DNS service?

Like the other DNS services, Quad9 uses both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

Here are the IPv4 addresses:

  • 9.9.9.9
  • 149.112.112.112

And here are the IPv6 addresses used by Quad9:

  • 2620:00fe:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0009
  • 2620:00fe:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:00fe

What makes the Quad9 DNS service so excellent?

Now, let’s talk about why we’ve listed Quad9 here on our list of best DNS servers to use in 2024 and beyond.

Easy to set up + user-friendly interface

Quad9 is said to be easy to set up and easy to use. In comparison to Google’s DNS service, this is quite a major perk. It makes Quad9 great for beginners. Even after the initial setup, the ease of use can make the day-to-day experience smooth and hassle-free.

Security features

With Quad9, you can enjoy different security features that are designed to protect you against phishing, man-in-the-middle attacks, and other similar malicious activity. Essentially, Quad9 uses a threat blocking system that recognizes malicious websites and online platforms and then bars you from accessing them. It utilizes different sources to find these malicious websites and then blocks their IP addresses.

Free and accurate

Quad9 is free to use, as is the case with the other competitors that we’ve listed so far. It is also known to provide accurate results, i.e., to accurately resolve DNS requests to the right IP addresses. This makes it a reliable and trustworthy service, outstanding even amongst the other popular names.

Final Thoughts

And with that, we’re going to bring our post to an end.

All of the DNS servers that we’ve listed above are free to use. All of them have their own perks and benefits, such as Cloudflare with its remarkable privacy policy and speed and Google with its large user base.

You can choose the server that is best for your needs and requirements by looking at the features that we’ve described above. In the end, they are all great servers that can be reliably used to host websites.

FAQs

Which is the fastest DNS server?

Cloudflare’s DNS, found at the IP address 1.1.1.1, is known to be the fastest DNS server, with loading speeds as low as 10 to 20 milliseconds. 

Should I use the IPv6 address of my DNS server or the IPv4 address?

It is better to use the IPv6 address when binding your website with a DNS server. IPv6 provides better security features.

Is Google DNS better than Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is generally known to be faster and more secure than Google. While Google is also secure, it doesn’t offer the same level of intense user privacy that Cloudflare does. It can be said that Cloudflare is better than Google, even though the latter is also excellent in its reliable uptimes and quick performance.

How do you change your website's DNS server?

You can change your website's DNS server by adding the respective IP address to the NS records. The NS records are found in the DNS zone. You can check what data the NS records initially contain by using a DNS lookup tool.