Network registry · reviewed 2026-09-24

Public DNS resolvers, documented and measured

Addresses, DNS-over-HTTPS URLs and DNS-over-TLS hostnames for 20 public resolver operators, each taken from the operator's own documentation and checked word for word. We then queried every address to record DNSSEC validation, client-subnet forwarding and whether the encrypted endpoints answer.
20
operators, 49 service variants
167
addresses (89 IPv4, 78 IPv6)
11/20
validate DNSSEC in our test
70/72
DoH and DoT endpoints answered

Comparison

Every resolver at a glance

Select a resolver for its full address list, encrypted endpoints, measured behaviour and the operator's own policy statements. Measured 2026-09-24.
Public DNS resolvers compared
ResolverPrimary IPv4DNSSECClient subnet (ECS)ProtocolsVariants
Cloudflare 1.1.1.1
Cloudflare
1.1.1.1 ValidatesNone sent
DNS (53)DoTDoH
3
Google Public DNS
Google
8.8.8.8 ValidatesSends /24
DNS (53)DoTDoH
1
Quad9
Quad9
9.9.9.9 ValidatesSome addresses send /24
DNS (53)DoTDoH
3
OpenDNS
Cisco
208.67.222.222 ValidatesSends /24
DNS (53)
2
AdGuard DNS
AdGuard
94.140.14.14 ValidatesSends /24
DNS (53)DoTDoH
3
CleanBrowsing
CleanBrowsing
185.228.168.9 ValidatesNone sent
DNS (53)DoTDoH
3
Control D Free DNS
Control D
76.76.2.0 ValidatesNone sent
DNS (53)DoTDoH
6
Mullvad DNS
Mullvad VPN AB
194.242.2.2 ValidatesNot measured
DoTDoH
6
DNS.SB
xTom GmbH
185.222.222.222 ValidatesNone sent
DNS (53)
1
Comodo Secure DNS
Comodo
8.26.56.26 Does not validateNone sent
DNS (53)
1
Yandex DNS
Yandex
77.88.8.8 Does not validateNone sent
DNS (53)DoT
3
AliDNS (Alibaba Cloud Public DNS)
Alibaba Cloud
223.5.5.5 Does not validateSends /25
DNS (53)DoT
1
DNSPod Public DNS
Tencent Cloud
119.29.29.29 Does not validateSends /24
DNS (53)DoTDoH
1
114DNS
114DNS
114.114.114.114 Does not validateNone sent
DNS (53)
3
CIRA Canadian Shield
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
149.112.121.10 Does not validateNone sent
DNS (53)DoTDoH
3
DNS4EU
Whalebone, s.r.o.
86.54.11.1 ValidatesNone sent
DNS (53)DoTDoH
5
SafeDNS
SafeDNS
195.46.39.39 Does not validateNone sent
DNS (53)
1
Surfshark DNS
Surfshark B.V.
194.169.169.169 Does not validateNone sent
DNS (53)DoH
1
DNS.WATCH
DNS.WATCH
84.200.69.80 ValidatesNone sent
DNS (53)DoH
1
LibreDNS
LibreDNS
116.202.176.26 Does not validateNot measured
DoTDoH
1

Privacy

Client subnet (ECS)

ECS sends a truncated form of your address to the authoritative server, so a CDN can answer with a nearby server. It also tells that server roughly where you are. 12 operators sent no subnet on any address we probed; 6 sent one. A resolver can send ECS to some authoritative servers and not others; this test shows what reached Google's.

Encrypted only

Resolvers without public plain DNS

These operators document service over DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS only, so we measured them through those endpoints.

Method

How every entry is checked

Two separate steps: the facts an operator publishes, and the behaviour we can observe.

Documented facts

  • Addresses, DoH URLs, DoT hostnames and filtering descriptions come only from the operator's own pages, linked on each entry.
  • A script renders each source page in a browser and confirms all 265 facts appear word for word (2026-09-24). The build refuses to run if one is missing.
  • Policy statements are quoted, not summarised. We have not audited any operator's practices.
  • Where an operator does not describe a variant's filtering, the registry says so instead of guessing.

Measured behaviour

  • DNSSEC: SERVFAIL for all three mis-signed names while example.com resolves counts as validating; answers for all three counts as not validating; anything else is inconclusive.
  • ECS: the TXT record at o-o.myaddr.l.google.com echoes the subnet the resolver sent. We record only the prefix length.
  • NXDOMAIN: a random name under .com must return NXDOMAIN; an address instead would mean the resolver rewrites errors.
  • Encrypted: DoH over HTTP/2 (RFC 8484) and DoT on port 853 with certificate validation against the documented hostname.
  • 3 rounds per address, majority result, from one vantage point. IPv6 addresses are listed but were not probed.

Not measured: speed, uptime, or how well any filter blocks what it promises. Those depend on where you are and change over time.

Questions

Public DNS resolver questions

Which public DNS resolvers validate DNSSEC?

In our 2026-09-24 measurement, 11 of 20 operators rejected all three deliberately mis-signed test domains on every address that answered: Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Google Public DNS, Quad9, OpenDNS, AdGuard DNS, CleanBrowsing, Control D Free DNS, Mullvad DNS, DNS.SB, DNS4EU, DNS.WATCH.

Which public DNS resolvers do not validate DNSSEC?

Comodo Secure DNS, Yandex DNS, AliDNS (Alibaba Cloud Public DNS), DNSPod Public DNS, 114DNS, CIRA Canadian Shield, SafeDNS, Surfshark DNS, LibreDNS returned addresses for all three mis-signed test domains, so they did not validate DNSSEC in our test.

Which resolvers send part of my IP address to other DNS servers?

EDNS Client Subnet (ECS) passes a truncated client subnet to authoritative servers so they can pick a nearby answer. We saw it reach Google's authoritative servers from Google Public DNS, Quad9, OpenDNS, AdGuard DNS, AliDNS (Alibaba Cloud Public DNS), DNSPod Public DNS. The others sent none on the addresses we probed. A resolver can send ECS to some authoritative servers and not others.

Which DNS resolver does my proxy use?

That depends on where hostnames are resolved. With an HTTP proxy, or a client set to socks5h://, the proxy side resolves them. Clients such as curl and Python requests set to socks5:// resolve the name on your device first and send only the IP address. A DNS leak test shows which resolvers actually received your queries.

Are the addresses on this page official?

Every address, DoH URL and DoT hostname comes from the operator's own documentation. A script renders each source page and checks all 265 facts word for word before the registry is built.

Proxies and DNS

Check which resolver your traffic really uses

A resolver setting only matters if your queries reach it. Our DNS leak test lists the resolvers that received your lookups, and the SOCKS5 vs SOCKS5h guide explains when a proxy resolves names for you.