I'd like to separate my DNS from my registrar. Which DNS hosting to go with?

Forums › IT Pro and developers › I'd like to separate my DNS from my registrar. Which DNS hosting to go with?

Baboon

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#295813 26-Apr-2022 07:25

I only use my handful of domains for my own personal and (very) small business email and a few other very low traffic things. So I'm not needing anything corporate-grade. But nor am I adverse to paying a wee bit to get a quality service that won't egregiously sell my data, or drop off the face of the earth one day.

Mainly I just want to ease the hassle of switching registrars again in the future, so I only have to point at nameservers, instead of dealing with exporting and importing zone files.

So who should I look at? TIA for your welcome advice :-)

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

CYaBro

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#2906640 26-Apr-2022 07:32

Cloudflare.
Free plan works great.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

SirHumphreyAppleby

2838 posts

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#2906642 26-Apr-2022 07:44

dns.he.net.

Used it for years for my own domains and those I manage for others. Simple, clean interface.

Baboon

386 posts

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#2906643 26-Apr-2022 07:48

SirHumphreyAppleby:
dns.he.net.

Used it for years for my own domains and those I manage for others. Simple, clean interface.

Yeah, I've seen them. But the "Open Beta" turned me off. Not because it's beta, so much. But the feeling free won't last, and what happens then?

Or am I wrong? :-)

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2906644 26-Apr-2022 07:50

Baboon:

Yeah, I've seen them. But the "Open Beta" turned me off. Not because it's beta, so much. But the feeling free won't last, and what happens then?

Or am I wrong? :-)

I wouldn't worry. I've been using their 'open beta' for 12 years.

Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2906647 26-Apr-2022 07:52

SirHumphreyAppleby:
Baboon:

Yeah, I've seen them. But the "Open Beta" turned me off. Not because it's beta, so much. But the feeling free won't last, and what happens then?

Or am I wrong? :-)

I wouldn't worry. I've been using their 'open beta' for 12 years.

Oh :-D It's _that_ kind of open beta, okay. Well, I'll add them to the list to take a closer look at, thanks.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

freitasm

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#2906652 26-Apr-2022 08:15

Another vote for Cloudflare. And it's available on the free plan.

Beccara

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#2906654 26-Apr-2022 08:19

We use Route 53 by AWS at work, never had an issue

Most problems are the result of previous solutions...

All comment's I make are my own personal opinion and do not in any way, shape or form reflect the views of current or former employers unless specifically stated

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freitasm

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#2906661 26-Apr-2022 08:23

freitasm:

Another vote for Cloudflare. And it's available on the free plan.

You mention email so it's worth noting that Cloudflare also offers free email routing - basically you create the email addresses you want to use (even catch all) and it will receive/forward to your preferred email service - so you only need one mailbox instead of multiple or aliases. Helpful for those service peoples driving vans around with a domain name but xtra.co.nz email addresses.

Baboon

386 posts

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#2906662 26-Apr-2022 08:25

Beccara:
We use Route 53 by AWS at work, never had an issue

It's certainly affordable https://aws.amazon.com/route53/pricing/

But I'm not sure it offers me anything over the other two suggestions. Not for my modest needs, anyway.

I do already have a domain registered with Route 53 - they were the best balance of cheap + reliable + reputable for the TLD I wanted, at the time.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2906666 26-Apr-2022 08:27

Baboon:
Beccara:
We use Route 53 by AWS at work, never had an issue

It's certainly affordable https://aws.amazon.com/route53/pricing/

But I'm not sure it offers me anything over the other two suggestions. Not for my modest needs, anyway.

I do already have a domain registered with Route 53 - they were the best balance of cheap + reliable + reputable for the TLD I wanted, at the time.

Good to know, but for me I'm a bit of an email addict, so I already pay for hosted email.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

amanzi

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#2906675 26-Apr-2022 09:07

I use and recommend Cloudflare. They support just about any DNS record type you need, they integrate well into third-party services, they let you use MFA to log in (essential for a DNS provider!), and there's a bunch of value-add services you can choose to use if you like. And that's all just on the free plan, if you move up to a Pro plan they offer even more. But even if you just need DNS hosting, Cloudflare is great.

timmmay

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#2906679 26-Apr-2022 09:22

I've used CloudFlare free plan for years for many websites. It's excellent and on the rare occasion you need support it's good even on the free plan. AWS Route53 has more enterprise features, and isn't expensive, but it's a lot more complex than CloudFlare and I'd really only recommend it for enterprises or if you need features it offers.