DNS Lookup

Query DNS records for any domain. Select a record type and instantly fetch results via Cloudflare DNS over HTTPS.

What is DNS and How Does a DNS Lookup Work?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the internet's phonebook. Every time you visit a website, your device performs a DNS lookup to translate the human-readable domain name (like example.com) into a machine-readable IP address (like 93.184.216.34). Without DNS, you would need to remember the numeric IP address of every website you visit.

DNS Record Types Explained

  • A Record — Maps a domain to an IPv4 address. This is the most common record type and is what most people mean when they say "DNS record." For example, example.com might resolve to 93.184.216.34.
  • AAAA Record — Maps a domain to an IPv6 address. As the internet transitions to IPv6, this record type is becoming increasingly important. IPv6 addresses are 128-bit and written in hexadecimal notation.
  • MX Record — Mail Exchange records specify which mail servers handle email for a domain. They include a priority value so that multiple servers can be listed as fallbacks. Every domain that receives email must have at least one MX record.
  • NS Record — Name Server records indicate which DNS servers are authoritative for a domain. These are set at your domain registrar and control where all other DNS records are managed.
  • TXT Record — Text records store arbitrary text data. They are widely used for domain verification (Google Search Console, etc.), email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and other human-readable or machine-readable metadata.
  • CNAME Record — Canonical Name records are aliases that point one domain to another. For example, www.example.com might be a CNAME pointing to example.com.
  • SOA Record — Start of Authority records contain administrative information about a DNS zone, including the primary name server, the email of the domain administrator, and zone timing parameters.
  • PTR Record — Pointer records are used for reverse DNS lookups, mapping an IP address back to a hostname. They are critical for email deliverability and are covered in our Reverse DNS tool.

How This Tool Works

This DNS lookup tool queries Cloudflare's public DNS resolver (1.1.1.1) using the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol. Instead of sending a traditional UDP DNS query (which could be intercepted or monitored), this tool makes an encrypted HTTPS request to cloudflare-dns.com directly from your browser. This means your queries are private and the results come straight from one of the world's fastest DNS resolvers.

Common Use Cases

  • Verify DNS propagation after making changes at your registrar
  • Debug email delivery issues by checking MX and TXT (SPF/DKIM) records
  • Check if a domain is correctly pointing to your web server
  • Investigate nameservers for a domain
  • Look up CDN configurations via CNAME chains
  • Confirm TXT record ownership verification for third-party services

DNS TTL and Propagation

Every DNS record has a TTL (Time to Live) value, measured in seconds. This tells DNS resolvers how long to cache the record before re-querying. A TTL of 3600 means the record is cached for one hour. When you update a DNS record, it can take up to 48 hours for the change to propagate globally as all caches expire, though most resolvers reflect changes within minutes to a few hours.

DNS over HTTPS (DoH)

Traditional DNS queries are sent in plaintext over UDP port 53, making them visible to your ISP, network administrators, and anyone monitoring your connection. DNS over HTTPS (DoH) encrypts your DNS queries inside standard HTTPS traffic, protecting your browsing privacy. Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DoH endpoint is one of the fastest and most privacy-respecting resolvers available, committing to never logging your queries in a personally identifiable way.