Hurricane Electric DNS
Free, no-limits DNS hosting with IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack support, dynamic DNS, and secondary DNS services.
Best for developers who need truly unlimited free DNS with strong IPv6 support and don't mind a no-frills interface.
Use Cases
Free Tier
Unlimited domains, unlimited records, IPv6 native, dynamic DNS, secondary DNS
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Hurricane Electric DNS has no artificial limits — create as many domains and records as you need. There's no dashboard analytics or API, so automate updates with scripts that POST to their web form. Use their DDNS endpoint with a cron job for dynamic IP updates. For IPv6, they're one of the few free DNS providers with native AAAA support. The interface is dated but reliable — bookmark your domain list for quick access since there's no search or filter.
Getting Started
Go to https://dns.he.net → create a free account → Add Domain → enter your domain → set nameservers to ns1.he.net through ns5.he.net at your registrar → Add records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT) → DNS propagates in minutes. For DDNS, generate a key and set up a cron job to ping their update URL.
Pros
- Truly unlimited: No domain limits, no record limits, no query caps — genuinely free with zero upgrade pressure
- IPv6 first-class: Native dual-stack support including AAAA records and IPv6 reverse DNS — rare among free DNS providers
- Rock solid: Hurricane Electric is a tier-1 ISP with backbone infrastructure — their DNS has been running reliably for decades
Cons
- Dated interface: No dashboard analytics, no modern UI, no search — managing many domains is tedious without automation
- No API: No REST or programmatic API — all zone management is through basic web forms, making automation difficult
- No extras: No CDN, no DDoS protection, no WAF — it's pure DNS without bundled services like Cloudflare