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If you’re new to DNS servers, the DNS or Domain Name System is a protocol or system that will take the domain names that you enter into a browser and translate them into the IP addresses needed to access those particular websites.

If you don’t have your own server, you’ll be assigned one every time you go online. However, since it’s being assigned to you by your ISP, it’s not always the best choice available. Slow servers can result in websites loading slowly, and if the server assigned to you goes down, you might essentially have no real internet connection at all.

By jumping to a free and public DNS server, you’ll experience a much smaller chance of technical issues, as well as much more responsive browsing. Additionally, some of them come with security features such as blocking infected or phishing websites as well as offering content filtering to keep your children from certain, unsavory parts of the online world.

You need to choose your service with care - not all providers will necessarily be better than your ISP - but to help point you in the right direction, this article will highlight six of the best DNS servers around.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a phone book for the internet, a framework which translates domain names, like facebook.com or twitter.com, into the IP addresses necessary for devices to load those internet resources (e.g. 126.125.4.4). In geek terms, that's called Resolution.

The mechanics of DNS can be quite complicated, as information isn't held in a single database, but rather distributed in a worldwide directory including a vast number of DNS servers.

Fortunately, the average internet user doesn't normally have to get involved in any of the low-level technical details. Your ISP automatically provides you with access to a DNS server whenever you go online, and whenever you enter a URL into your browser, this will find the relevant IP address for you.

We've also featured the best small business servers.

Best known for its top-rated CDN, Cloudflare has extended its range to include a new public DNS service, the catchily-named 1.1.1.1.

Cloudflare has focused much more on the fundamentals. These start with performance, and independent testing from sites like DNSPerf shows Cloudflare is the fastest public DNS service around.

Privacy is another major highlight. Cloudflare doesn't just promise that it won't use your browsing data to serve ads; it commits that it will never write the querying IP address (yours) to disk. Any logs that do exist will be deleted within 24 hours. And these claims aren't just reassuring words on a website. Cloudflare has retained KPMG to audit its practices annually and produce a public report to confirm the company is delivering on its promises.

The 1.1.1.1 website has some setup guidance, with simple tutorials covering Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux and routers. These are very generic - you get one set of instructions for all versions of Windows, for instance - but there are some pluses (IPv6 as well as IPv4 details) and you should be able to figure it out. Additionally, mobile users can use WARP which secures all of the phone’s internet traffic.

The product doesn't offer ad-blocking or attempt to monitor what you can access, and what you can't. The one caveat is that Cloudflare has introduced content filtering for malware and adult content blocking, with their 1.1.1.2/1.0.0.2 and 1.1.1.3/1.0.0.3 services respectively, but this is an option a user can choose rather than have forced on them.

If you have any problems, Cloudflare offers a community forum where you can ask questions or see what others are doing, a nice extra touch which we'd like to see followed by other providers.

Read our full Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 review.

Google Public DNS is a simple and effective replacement for your own ISP's nameservers.

Privacy can't quite match the 'we don't keep anything' promises of Cloudflare, but it's not bad. The service logs the full IP address information of the querying device for around 24 to 48 hours for troubleshooting and diagnostic purposes. 'Permanent' logs drop any personally identifiable information and reduce location details to the city level, and all but a small random sample of these are deleted after two weeks.

There's a further benefit for experienced users in Google's detailed description of the service. If you'd like to be able to assess the significance of Google's privacy policy, for instance, you can read up on absolutely everything the service logs contain to find out for yourself.

Google's support site offers only very basic guidance targeted at experienced users, warning that "only users who are proficient with configuring operating system settings make these changes." If you're unsure what you're doing, check the tutorials from a provider such as OpenDNS, remembering to replace its nameservers with Google's: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Read our full Google Public DNS review.

Quad9 is a young DNS outfit which has been providing a fast and free DNS service since August 2016.

The company sells itself on its ability to block malicious domains by collecting intelligence from 'a variety of public and private sources.' It's not clear what these sources are, but the website says Quad9 used 18+ 'threat intelligence providers' as of December 2018.

That's a little too vague for us, and we're not convinced that using a large number of threat intelligence providers will necessarily help – the quality of the intelligence is generally more important than the quantity.

There's no arguing about Quad9's performance, though. DNSPerf currently rates it sixth out of ten for average worldwide query times among Public DNS resolvers, lagging behind 1.1.1.1 in the top position, but just ahead of juggernaut Google, which is saying a lot.

Drilling down into the detail reveals some variations in speed - Quad9 is in ninth place for North American queries - but overall the service still delivers better performance than most others.

Setup guidance is a little limited, with tutorials for the latest versions of Windows and macOS only. Overall, it’s well presented, though, and it's not difficult to figure out what you need to do.

Read our full Quad9 review.

Founded in 2005 and now owned by Cisco, OpenDNS is one of the biggest names among public DNS providers. Their volume is quite high, resolving 620 billion DNS queries each day.

The home oriented service offers a ton of benefits including high speeds, and 100% uptime since 2006 in the OpenDNS Home package that is no cost.  For those in need of more security, also offered is the OpenDNS Family Shield plan that blocks adult content, and also is no cost. Finally, there is the OpenDNS Home VIP that includes usage stats, and a mode with optional usage stats for a reasonable $19.95 annually.

Commercial plans enable viewing a history of your internet activity for up to the last year, and can optionally lock down your system by allowing access to specific websites only. These aren't going to be must-have features for the average user, but if you're interested, they can be yours for a modest fee.

If you're an old hand at swapping DNS, you can get started immediately by reconfiguring your device to use the OpenDNS nameservers.

If you're a newbie, that's okay too, as OpenDNS has setup instructions for PCs, Macs, mobile devices, routers and much, much more.

Read our full OpenDNS review.

For those looking for a DNS to provide some level of security, but just want it simple, Cleanbrowsing can fit the need. We like that you just need to choose the type of filtering that you want to do, and then insert the primary and secondary DNS’ that accomplishes that goal.

There are three filters to choose from, starting with a basic security filter, that can get rid of the malware, spam and phishing domains. For those looking for even more, then there is the adult version that protects from any pornographic or explicit sites. Finally, there is a family filter, that includes the protection from adult, pornographic and explicit sites, but takes it further by blocking proxy and VPN domains that can be used to block filters, and also mixed content sites.

Finally, there is protection as search engines like Google, Bing get set to safe mode, and blocking of malicious domains. Whichever you choose, the choice is yours as each one of them is free, which is a good deal for this level of security at the DNS level.

Comodo Group is the power behind a host of excellent security products, so it's no surprise that the company also offers its own public DNS service.

Just as you'd expect, Comodo Secure DNS has a strong focus on safety. It doesn't just block phishing sites, but also warns if you try to visit sites with malware, spyware, even parked domains which might overload you with advertising (pop-ups, pop-unders and more). Furthermore, you can try out the Comodo Dome Shield service, which adds additional features to Comodo Secure DNS.

Comodo claims its service is smarter than average, too, detecting attempts to visit parked or 'not in use' domains and automatically forwarding you to where you really want to go. We also like the available iOS and Android apps.

Performance is key, of course, and the company suggests its worldwide network of servers and smart routing technology give it an advantage. Unfortunately, Comodo stats weren't that impressive, and in our tests, we got an average query time of around 72ms. Furthermore, we did not find it ranked on DNSPerf for either worldwide, nor North America.

That said, Comodo may still be interesting if you're looking for an extra layer of web filtering, and the support website has some short but useful instructions on setting the service up on Windows PCs, Macs, routers and Chromebooks.

Read our full Comodo Secure DNS review.

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