| Provider | $/mo ▼ | $/zone/mo | $/mil queries | Free tier | Features | Trustpilot | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Is it worth paying for DNS?
For most people, no. Cloudflare's free DNS is among the world's fastest, includes DNSSEC and unlimited queries — enough for most sites and apps. Hetzner, Bunny and deSEC are also free (note: Hetzner lacks DNSSEC). Paid DNS is worth it only if you need advanced traffic steering (GeoDNS, latency routing, failover), an SLA guarantee or tight integration with your cloud.
Hyperscaler hidden costs: AWS Route 53 and Google/Azure charge for both zones ($0.20–0.50/mo) and queries ($0.40/mil), and advanced routing types cost more (latency $0.70/mil) plus health checks separately. On a busy site query charges add up. Also compare CDN (many include DNS), uptime monitoring (failover) and load balancers.
How to choose?
Basic use: Cloudflare (free, fastest, DNSSEC) is the default choice. EU data protection first: deSEC (non-profit, Berlin, automatic DNSSEC) and Hetzner (Germany, but no DNSSEC). Bunny DNS made DNS free in 2026 and even offers smart routing at no charge.
Advanced needs: AWS Route 53 is the most feature-rich (GeoDNS, latency, weighted, health checks, failover) and integrates with AWS resources; NS1 and DNS Made Easy are enterprise-grade traffic steering and SLA. DNSimple combines DNS and domain management developer-friendly. Checklist: verify DNSSEC support, anycast network reach, API and whether you need GeoDNS/failover — for basic A/CNAME needs free is almost always enough.