DNS Records Lookup
Look up live dns records lookup data straight from public records.
What is the DNS Records Lookup?
The DNS Records Lookup tool queries a domain's live DNS records — A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, CAA, SRV, PTR and DNSKEY — and returns them in a readable table with the TTL of each one. Enter a domain, pick a single record type or leave it on ALL, and the tool queries a public DNS resolver in real time, so what you see is what is actually set right now, not a snapshot from a third-party database that might be hours old. Developers use it to confirm a CNAME points where it should before a deploy, check MX records after switching email providers, verify SPF, DKIM and DMARC TXT records for deliverability, and work out why a DNS change made an hour ago still hasn't shown up everywhere.
Every lookup goes straight to Google's public DNS-over-HTTPS resolver (dns.google), the same infrastructure that backs Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8). That means the results reflect what a real resolver returns for that domain at query time, not a cached WHOIS-style record. If a record type has nothing set, the tool tells you that plainly instead of treating it as an error — plenty of domains simply don't have, say, an SRV or CAA record.
Why use a free dns records lookup?
Eleven record types in one query
Check A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, CAA, SRV, PTR and DNSKEY together, or filter down to just the one you need.
Live, not cached
Each search sends a fresh DNS-over-HTTPS request to dns.google. You see the current state of the zone, not a stored snapshot from an earlier crawl.
TTL shown for every record
Time-to-live tells you how long a resolver will hold onto that answer before asking again — the number you actually need to predict when a change becomes visible.
Export the full result set
Download every record found as a plain text file for a ticket, a migration checklist or a client handover.
One failed type doesn't sink the query
If one record type times out, the others still return. The tool tells you which type failed rather than showing a blank page.
How do you use the DNS Records Lookup?
- 1
Enter the domain
Type the domain or subdomain you want to check — for example example.com or mail.example.com.
- 2
Choose a record type, or leave it on ALL
Pick a single type like MX or TXT to cut the noise, or query all eleven supported types at once.
- 3
Read the results table
Each row shows the record name, type, TTL in seconds, and the value — the IP address, hostname or text string the record resolves to.
- 4
Export if you need a record of it
Download the results as a text file to attach to a support ticket or keep as a before/after snapshot during a migration.
How accurate is it?
Records come directly from a live DNS-over-HTTPS query to Google's public resolver (dns.google) at the moment you run the check — there is no caching layer on our side. If the result looks wrong, the most common reason is that your own DNS zone hasn't caught up with a change you made, not that this tool is reading stale data.
- A DNS change never reaches every resolver on the internet instantly. Each resolver — your ISP, your phone's carrier, Google's 8.8.8.8, your office network — caches an answer for as long as the record's TTL says, and only re-queries the authoritative nameserver after that TTL expires.
- "Propagation" is really just every individual cache expiring on its own schedule. A record with a 3600-second (1 hour) TTL can still show the old value to some people up to an hour after you changed it, even though the authoritative nameserver already has the new value.
- Lowering a TTL before a planned change (to something like 300 seconds) shrinks that window. Raise it back to a normal value like 3600 or 86400 once the change is stable, since very low TTLs increase query load on your nameservers.
- NXDOMAIN (domain does not exist) and an empty result for one record type are different things — a domain can exist and simply have no MX or CAA record set.
What should you know before using it?
What each record type does, and when you'd check it:
| Record | What it does |
|---|---|
| A | Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address. Check this first when a site is unreachable or pointing at the wrong server. |
| AAAA | Maps a hostname to an IPv6 address. Increasingly common alongside A records as IPv6 adoption grows. |
| CNAME | Aliases one hostname to another, e.g. www → example.com. A hostname with a CNAME cannot also have other records at the same name. |
| MX | Points a domain to the mail servers that should receive its email, each with a priority number. Check this after switching email providers. |
| TXT | Holds arbitrary text, most often SPF, DKIM and DMARC records used to authenticate outgoing mail and reduce spam/phishing of your domain. |
| NS | Lists the authoritative nameservers for the domain — where every other record actually lives. Wrong NS records mean nothing else resolves correctly. |
| SOA | Start of Authority — one record per zone holding the primary nameserver, admin contact, and refresh/retry/expire timing values used between nameservers. |
| CAA | Certificate Authority Authorization — restricts which certificate authorities are allowed to issue TLS certificates for the domain. Missing CAA means any CA can issue one. |
| SRV | Points to a host and port for a specific service, such as SIP or XMPP. Less common on ordinary websites, standard for some enterprise protocols. |
| PTR | Reverse DNS — maps an IP address back to a hostname. Mail servers with no valid PTR record are more likely to be flagged as spam. |
| DNSKEY | Publishes the public key used for DNSSEC signature verification. Present only on domains with DNSSEC enabled. |
Which tools relate to the dns records lookup?
The dns records lookup is one of 18 domain & ip tools on this site. These are the ones most often used alongside it — either because they handle the next step in the same job, or because they answer a question this tool raises.
WHOIS Lookup
DNS tells you where a domain's traffic goes right now; WHOIS/RDAP tells you who registered it and when it expires.
SSL Checker
Once you confirm the A or AAAA record points at the right server, check that the certificate serving that IP is valid and covers the hostname.
HTTP Headers Checker
DNS gets a request to the right server; the headers checker shows what that server actually sends back, including security headers.
Domain to IP
A focused lookup of just the A/AAAA resolution, useful when all you need is the current IP address behind a hostname.
Geo IP Locator
Once you have the IP a domain resolves to, check roughly where that server is hosted geographically.
When should you use a dns records lookup?
The dns records lookup queries live public records, so it suits checks where a stale answer would be misleading — during a migration, after a DNS change, or before you commit to a domain. These are the situations people reach for it in most often.
Pre-launch verification
Confirm A, CNAME and MX records point where they should before you switch a domain live on a new host or CDN.
Email deliverability checks
Verify SPF, DKIM and DMARC TXT records are present and correctly formatted after configuring a new email provider.
Debugging "it works for me but not for them"
When a site resolves correctly on one network but not another, mismatched TTLs and uneven cache expiry are a common cause — check the TTL to estimate how long the gap will last.
Migration audits
Snapshot every record before moving a domain to a new registrar or DNS provider, so you have a reference to rebuild from if anything gets missed.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check the DNS records for a domain?
Why does my DNS change still not show up?
What does TTL mean in a DNS record?
Why does a record type show no results?
Which resolver does this tool use?
Can I look up a subdomain instead of the root domain?
Does this tool store the domains I look up?
Is the dns records lookup safe to use?
This tool sends the domain you enter to our server, which queries Google's public DNS-over-HTTPS resolver on your behalf and returns the result to your browser. DNS records are public by design, so this is no different from what any resolver on the internet can already see — but don't use it to probe internal-only hostnames or private naming schemes you don't want logged anywhere, since the query still leaves your machine.
Where do these figures come from?
Every method, threshold and standard this page relies on, with a link to the document that defines it. Check them — a tool that will not show its sources is asking you to take its word for it.
- 1Domain Names — Implementation and Specification
IETF, RFC 1035 · 1987
Supports: The core DNS record types (A, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA) and the definition of TTL used throughout the page.
- 2Resource Records for the DNS Security Extensions
IETF, RFC 4034 · 2005
Supports: The DNSKEY record type and its role in DNSSEC signature verification.
- 3DNS Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) Resource Record
IETF, RFC 8659 · 2020
Supports: The description of the CAA record restricting which certificate authorities may issue TLS certificates for a domain.
- 4DNS-over-HTTPS
Google Developers, Public DNS documentation
Supports: The claim that lookups query Google's public DNS-over-HTTPS resolver at dns.google in real time.
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