DNS Lookup
Query any domain's DNS records in real time. Check A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, and CNAME records — powered by Cloudflare's DNS-over-HTTPS for fast, accurate results.
Enter a domain above and click Lookup to query DNS records.
DNS Records Guide
Understanding DNS record types and what they tell you
DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's phonebook — it translates domain names into IP addresses and routing information. For SEO and technical site management, understanding DNS records is essential for diagnosing indexing issues, verifying domain ownership, setting up email, and diagnosing slow TTFBs caused by DNS propagation delays.
A record — IPv4 address
The A record maps a domain to its IPv4 address. Most domains have one A record pointing to their server. CDN-backed sites (Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS CloudFront) often return multiple A records — each is a different edge server. A records are the most fundamental DNS record type and the first thing to check when a site is unreachable.
AAAA record — IPv6 address
The AAAA (quad-A) record is the IPv6 equivalent of the A record. IPv6 adoption is accelerating — about 40% of Google traffic is now IPv6. If your site lacks AAAA records, visitors on IPv6-only networks must fall back to IPv4, which can be slightly slower. Hosting providers increasingly auto-provision AAAA records.
MX record — email routing
MX (Mail Exchanger) records specify which servers handle incoming email for a domain. Each MX record has a priority number — lower numbers have higher priority. If you send email from your domain and it is being rejected or going to spam, verifying MX records is the first diagnostic step. Multiple MX records provide failover redundancy.
TXT record — verification and authentication
TXT records store arbitrary text and are used for: domain ownership verification (Google Search Console, Meta, etc.), SPF (Sender Policy Framework) to authorise email senders, DKIM public keys for email signing, and DMARC policies. If email deliverability is poor, inspecting TXT records for correct SPF and DKIM configuration is essential.
NS record — nameserver delegation
NS (Name Server) records specify which DNS servers are authoritative for a domain. If NS records point to the wrong nameservers (e.g., still pointing to old hosting after a migration), all DNS lookups will resolve incorrectly or not at all. NS record mismatches are a common cause of post-migration DNS failures.
CNAME record — alias mapping
A CNAME (Canonical Name) record maps one hostname to another. "www.example.com" is typically a CNAME pointing to "example.com". Subdomains (blog.example.com, shop.example.com) are often CNAMEs pointing to third-party platforms (Shopify, WordPress.com, HubSpot). CNAME chains slow down DNS resolution — keep them to one hop.
Pro Tips
TTL (Time To Live) shown in results is in seconds. A TTL of 300 means DNS resolvers cache the record for 5 minutes. Before making DNS changes, lower TTL to 60 seconds and wait 24 hours — this reduces the propagation window from hours to minutes when you make the actual change.
If a domain returns 4+ A records with different IP ranges, it is almost certainly behind a CDN like Cloudflare or AWS CloudFront. These IPs are edge servers, not the origin server. The actual origin IP is hidden — which is intentional for DDoS protection.
Before configuring a new email sending platform (SendGrid, Mailchimp, etc.), query TXT records to see if an SPF record already exists. You cannot have two SPF records — they must be merged into one. Duplicate SPF records cause email authentication failures.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which DNS provider does this tool use?
- This tool uses Cloudflare's public DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) API at cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query. Cloudflare's DNS (1.1.1.1) is one of the fastest and most accurate public DNS resolvers globally. Lookups are performed from your browser directly to Cloudflare — no intermediate server.
- Why do results differ from my local DNS?
- Your local DNS resolver (provided by your ISP or configured on your machine) may have cached older records. Cloudflare's resolver sees the current authoritative records. Differences usually indicate that your local DNS has not yet received a recent DNS change — wait for the TTL to expire for your local resolver to update.
- How do I check if my domain is behind Cloudflare?
- Query the A records for your domain. If they return IP addresses in Cloudflare's IP ranges (104.16.x.x, 172.64.x.x, 162.158.x.x, etc.), your domain's traffic is being proxied through Cloudflare. Also check NS records — if they end in cloudflare.com, Cloudflare manages your DNS.
- What does "NXDOMAIN" mean in DNS results?
- NXDOMAIN (Non-Existent Domain) means no records of the requested type exist for that domain, or the domain does not exist in DNS at all. If you get NXDOMAIN for an A record query on a live site, either the domain has not propagated, the A record was deleted, or you queried the wrong domain name.