What are the best free dynamic DNS services?

8

Options
Considered

107

User
Recs.

Nov 15, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 2 of 7 OptionsWhy?

Best free dynamic DNS services?	Price	Release Date	Author
94 FreeDNS	-	–	–
90 Duck DNS	-	–	–
-- Dynu	-	–	–
-- 1.1.1.1	free	April 1, 2018	APNIC and CloudFlare
-- Hurricane Electric Internet Services	-	–	–

Duck DNS

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Top Pro

Detailed setup instructions for a wide variety of OSs

Duck DNS includes step by step instructions on how to set up their service on a wide variety of operating systems. There even are instruction on how to set it up on raspberry pi, mikrotik routers, tomatoUSB as well as multiple ways for Linux, Windows and OSX. See More

Top Con

Lacks advanced functionality

In an effort to focus on simplicity, Duck DNS lacks features such as custom domains, url or port forwarding and uses just 1 domain. See More

Top Pro

DuckDNS sync app for Android

Top Con

Difficult to use on some routers and NVRs

Routers and NVRs that give you set options (that don't include Duck DNS) won't work with Duck DNS. Apparently Duck DNS claims they support DynDNS or something of the sort, but the information it gives you, there's nowhere to plug it in in these boxes. See More

5 Other Options Considered

Dynu

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Top Pro

Thorough setup instructions on different routers and operating systems

Dynu provides thorough setup instructions on different routers and operating systems. Everything is explained in a detailed and understandable way even for beginners. See More

Top Con

Some features are only available if you get a paid membership

You do get to use all features of Dynu services with a free account. But if you need to use say 300 hostnames, you may need to pay $9.99/year membership fee. Usually, a free account is more than enough. See More

Top Pro

Includes url/port forwarding

Their service includes a system for redirecting URLs (including to a different port). See More

Top Pro

Advanced DNS records supported

Various DNS records can be setup for your domain name including A, AAAA, MX, SPF, SRV, DKIM, TXT, PTR, HINFO records etc. See More

Top Pro

Offline settings

Option to redirect to a URL or display offline message. See More

Top Pro

Supports custom domains

Allows using own domain names. See More

Top Pro

Free client software for different operating systems

Free IP Update client software for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux is available. See More

Top Pro

Extremely fast IP updates due to user controlled TTL

Top Pro

Super fast DNS propagation

Top Pro

Custom nameserver records for sub-domain names

If your domain name uses their nameservers, you can set up other nameserver records for your sub-domain names if you want to use those sub-domain names with other hosting providers. This kind of flexibility does not exist anywhere else. See More

Top Pro

Custom DNS records for your own domain name

Dynu allows you to manage DNS records for your domain name for free. Supported DNS records include A, AAAA, MX, SRV, TXT, SPF, NS, HINFO, CNAME etc. See More

1.1.1.1

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Top Pro

As easy to type as 8.8.8.8

This is one of those DNSes that use a rare IP range, which is using single digits to denote their IPv4 address, so keystrokes are saved. See More

Top Con

Might be slow in some areas

Some DNS queries from places like India might be slower than anticipated. But anyone from places like US or Hong Kong should be fine. See More

Capuccino 's Experience

If you live near a CloudFlare data center (which is most of the time, you are!), then this DNS will boost your internet speed - without privacy concerns. See More

Specs

Release Date:April 1, 2018

Author:APNIC and CloudFlare

Top Pro

Privacy-focused

Being a joint effort with APNIC and CloudFlare, 1.1.1.1 aims to be more privacy-focused. They have taken a lot of steps to ensure none of your data will be in their Anycast servers. See More

Top Con

Has conflicts with some ISPs and routers

Because of the nature of 1.1.1.1 not being reserved - some routers use this IP address space to serve their admin web consoles. However, some manufacturers have been notified and are deploying updates. See More

Top Pro

DNS over HTTPS

This DNS serves queries over HTTPS - making it more secure and queries encrypted at rest. See More

Hurricane Electric Internet Services

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Now DNS

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