Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Open database tracking 77K public DNS servers every 10 minutes

Hey HN! We built DNS Directory (https://dnsdirectory.com), a free, searchable database of public DNS servers with live monitoring every 10 minutes. We needed to find an up-to-date list of DNS servers used by carriers around the world for a proxy fingerprinting / web-scraping project but we were shocked to find that it didn’t exist so we built it ourselves in an internal Hackathon We’re adding more features but so far we: Test 77K+ servers every ~10 minutes Allow filtering by uptime, location, security features (ad blocking, malware protection, DNSSEC) Show info on IPv6…

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

1. 1
   DN$ – an innovative, ad-supported DNS resolver▲294

   Tired of companies snooping through your DNS traffic? Don't you wish you could get advertisements with your DNS records? Today we're introducing the innovative, privacy-focused, ad-supported DNS resolver - DN$! Traditional DNS resolvers provided by your internet service provider, cloudflare, or google could be tracking your internet activity and selling it to third-party data vendors. We at DN$ want to fix that and cut out these nefarious actors (until we've amassed a critical number of users to exploit). In order to support such a radically new business model, our service needs to serve…

   2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

2. 24D
   4B+ DNS Records Dataset▲90

   Hi HN, I've been working on building a pipeline to create a DNS records database lately. The goal is to enable research as well as competitive landscape analysis on the internet. The dataset for now spans around 4 billion records and covers all the common DNS record types: A AAAA ANAME CAA CNAME HINFO HTTPS MX NAPTR NS PTR SOA SRV SSHFP SVCB TLSA TXT Each line in the CSV file represents a single DNS record in the following format: www.example.com,A,93.184.215.14 Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!

   2024 · merklemap.com · its alternatives →

3. 3
   domdb▲96

   Park your domain in less than 15 seconds

   2017 · domdb.com · its alternatives →

4. 4
   A DNS server that removes the top million domains▲48

   2012 · millionshort.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   I built a guided Build your own DNS Server challenge▲57

   Hey everyone. It's Sherub here, author of the Build your own DNS Server challenge on CodeCrafters. Currently it’s available in Rust, Go, and Python and is free while in beta. https://codecrafters.io/dns-server I've kept the challenge accessible but still challenging for an intermediate developer. This challenge, like others from CodeCrafters, is self-paced. You can use any tools you prefer (terminal, editor, etc.) to build the project. At the end of the challenge, you will have created a DNS forwarding server. The server can create and read DNS packets and respond to DNS…

   2023 · app.codecrafters.io · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Review My DNS▲7

   Check DNS propagation across 50+ global servers

   Nov 2025 · reviewmydns.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   I've created the fastest open-source DNS bruteforcer using XF_ADP▲15

   An experimental high-performance DNS query bruteforce tool built with AF_XDP for extremely fast and accurate bulk DNS lookups. - c3l3si4n/pugdns

   2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

8. 8RD
   Recursive DNS Server Fingerprint▲120

   2017 · recdnsfp.github.io · its alternatives →

9. 9
   NsLookup▲72

   A simple and powerful tool for querying DNS records

   2020 · nslookup.io · its alternatives →

10. 10
    Sinkzone DNS – Forwarder that blocks everything except your allowlist▲96

    Most site blockers work by blacklisting distractions. That never worked for me, the internet is too big, and there’s always something new to waste time on. I wanted the opposite: allowlist‑only browsing. Block everything by default, and explicitly allow only what I need. So I built Sinkzone: a local DNS forwarder with two modes: Monitor mode: lets all traffic through, but logs every domain so you can decide what to allow. Focus mode: only allowlisted domains resolve; everything else is blocked (NXDOMAIN). It’s open source, written in Go, and runs locally on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Works a…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

11. 11
    A site to look up DNS records▲82

    DNS record lookups just as you like 'em

    2017 · dnsrecords.io · its alternatives →

12. 12
    DNSPerf▲91

    Free DNS performance analytics

    2018 · dnsperf.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    MassDNS – A high-performance DNS stub resolver in C▲35

    A high-performance DNS stub resolver for bulk lookups and reconnaissance (subdomain enumeration) - blechschmidt/massdns

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

14. 14DL
    DNS Live on Handshake▲48

    2020 · live.ix · its alternatives →

15. 15
    Reverse IP/DNS▲4

    DNS history data repository covering billions of DNS records

    2021 · reverse-ip.whoisxmlapi.com · its alternatives →

16. 16PD
    Privacy DNS – free, encrypted, no-logs, DoH, DoT, DoQ, DNSProxy▲14

    2024 · privacy-dns.pw · its alternatives →

17. 17DS
    DNS spy, monitoring for a more robust DNS setup▲6

    2017 · dnsspy.io · its alternatives →

18. 18
    OneDollarDNS▲4

    DNS record monitoring for $1/domain/month

    Jun 2026 · onedollardns.com · its alternatives →

19. 19DB
    DNS-based alternative to Semantic Web – 23M data points now in DNS▲25

    We’ve just launched NUM [1] in the UK, it’s an alternative to the semantic web [2] but based in DNS. We’ve published 23 million data points about 4.8m UK businesses. We had some really interesting HN feedback when we previously posted about one of our example apps [3] so keen to hear what the community has to say this time round. 1. https://www.num.uk 2. https://num.uk/blog/we-crawled-5m-uk-websites-and-published-23m-data-points-to-dns 3. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27598164

    2021 · its alternatives →

20. 20
    DnsTrace - Monitor DNS Queries by host processes using BPF▲23

    Monitor DNS queries by host processes using eBPF! Contribute to furkanonder/DnsTrace development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

21. 21MD
    Mapping DNS▲5

    I learned about LOC records some time around the start of the year from a post here on hackernews, and I've been slightly obsessed with the idea of mapping them ever since - and now I've finally done so! There ended up being a few more than I expected, but still very much within reasonable bounds.

    Dec 2025 · loc.place · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Denisse DNS Checker▲2

    Check DNS propagation from 24 places, as a box of donuts

    Aug 2026 · donutdns.com · its alternatives →

23. 23DS
    DNS Spy – Monitor, back-up and alert on changes in DNS records▲6

    2017 · dnsspy.io · its alternatives →

24. 24AO
    Add OpenDNS servers to resolve names with most recent successful entry▲5

    If my experience is any indicator, the DNS issue seems to be getting worse as the hours go by, not better. However, I have found that adding OpenDNS servers (208.67.222.222, 208.67.222.222) to my list of DNS servers has completely eliminated the issue, at least for the time being. So, under my IPv4 configuration, in the "DNS Servers" field, I have "208.67.222.222, 208.67.222.222, 8.8.8.8" - the last one is the Google DNS server. I'm able to resolve Twitter, Github, etc.

    2016 · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →