DNS lookup
Enter a domain, pick a record type and a resolver. You get the answer as that resolver sees it, with the TTL, so you know how long it will keep it.
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What is a DNS lookup?
DNS turns a name like example.com into the addresses and settings the internet needs: where the website is, which servers take its email, who may issue its certificates. A lookup asks a DNS resolver for one type of record and shows what comes back.
| Type | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| A / AAAA | The IPv4 / IPv6 address the name points to |
| CNAME | The name this one is an alias for |
| MX | The servers that receive the domain’s email, by priority |
| TXT | Text records: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, domain verification |
| NS | The nameservers in charge of the domain |
| SOA | The primary nameserver and the zone’s serial number |
| CAA | Which certificate authorities may issue certificates |
Straight from the resolver you pick.
Our server in Germany sends the question to the resolver you chose and shows its answer as it came back: every record, with its TTL. Public resolvers are anycast, so the answer comes from their location nearest to us, in Europe. Pick «Authoritative» and we find the domain’s own nameservers and ask one of them directly, without any cache in between. Enter an IP address to get its reverse (PTR) name.
Want to know whether a change has reached everyone? The DNS checker asks all four resolvers and the domain’s nameservers at once and marks the ones that still have the old answer.
Where does the answer come from?
From the resolver you pick: Cloudflare (1.1.1.1), Google (8.8.8.8), Quad9 (9.9.9.9) or OpenDNS. Pick «Authoritative» to ask the domain’s own nameservers, which always have the current records.
Why do resolvers give different answers?
Each one caches answers until their TTL runs out. Right after a change, some still hand out the old record. The DNS checker compares them side by side.
What does TTL mean?
Time to live: how many seconds a resolver may keep the answer before asking again. 300 means five minutes; 86400 means a day.
Why does my site have no AAAA record?
It has no IPv6 address. That’s common and fine; visitors on IPv6 still reach it over IPv4.
Do you store what I look up?
We keep your IP address and the time for one hour, only to limit how often you can check. We don’t keep the domain or address you entered.