Monday 27 June 2016

Top 6 free DNS services 2016 - public DNS services


Google - 8.8.8.8 with its backup on 8.8.4.4
Easy to remember for IPv4 on 8.8.8.8 with its backup on 8.8.4.4, users will expect and get high availability a lot of filtering and security such as DNSSEC as standard. Since Google’s business is advertising, it’s very much a one size fits all model with no configuration to speak of. The standard-setter for public DNS, Google is one of the fastest too. Google collects data on users as it does from all its services although in the case of DNS it should be impersonal. If you can put up with that, this is definitely the one to beat.

OpenDNS - 208.67.220.220 with a backup on 208.67.222.222
Now part of the Cisco empire, the primary is 208.67.220.220 with a backup on 208.67.222.222. Home users can simply adjust their DNS to point at one of the above but OpenDNS also offers the service wrapped up in three further tiers of service, Family Shield, Home, and VIP Home, the latter having a subscription fee of $19.95 (£14) per annum. These come with varying levels of filtering and security, including parental control, anti-phishing protection and, on the subscription tier, web whitelisting.

Norton ConnectSafe - 199.85.126.10 (backup 199.85.127.10)
Available in its basic form on 199.85.126.10 (backup 199.85.127.10) with other servers specified to filter content such as porn, file sharing, abortion, mature content. Also offered as Norton ConnectSafe for Business.

Comodo Secure DNS - 8.26.56.26 and 8.20.247.20.
Rather like Google in that there is no configuration – using the service is simply a matter of switching to the services primary and backup servers on 8.26.56.26 and 8.20.247.20.

DNS.Watch - 84.200.69.80 and 84.200.70.40
Available on 84.200.69.80 and 84.200.70.40, DNS.Watch is almost unique in offering an alternative DNS service without the website logging found on most others. We quote: “We're not interested in shady deals with your data. You own it. We're not a big corporation and don't have to participate in shady deals. We're not running any ad network or anything else where your DNS queries could be of interest for us.”

VeriSign Public DNS - 64.6.64.6 and 64.6.65.6
Not to be outdone, VeriSign recently started offering public servers on 64.6.64.6 and 64.6.65.6. Interestingly, the company made a big point is saying it would not collect data on users of the service, a sign that privacy is starting to become something companies believe they can market themselves on. What VeriSign gets from this setup is intelligence on the sorts of malicious sites real users attempt to visit.
It is important to remember that there is probably no single DNS service that will do the job for everyone. The one that delivers the best performance for one company or individual might not do so for someone else. This is why it is important to run some tests.

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