About the DNS Propagation Checker
After you change a DNS record, resolvers keep serving the old answer until their cached copy expires. This tool asks five public resolvers directly for the same record and compares what they return: Google (8.8.8.8), Cloudflare (1.1.1.1), Quad9 (9.9.9.9), OpenDNS (208.67.222.222) and Comodo (8.26.56.26).
Each resolver's answer is shown with its latency and a Match, Differs or Error badge. The majority answer is the one most resolvers agree on; when all five return the same thing, the record is marked as propagated. Supported types are A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME and NS.
How to use it
- Enter the domain or host name you changed, such as
www.example.com. - Choose the record type you edited (A by default).
- Select Check and compare the answers. Re-run it later if some resolvers still differ.
Examples
- Check A record propagation for example.com: the IPv4 address each resolver returns.
- Compare the NS records for example.org: useful right after switching DNS providers.
- Check the TXT records for example.com: confirm a new verification or SPF record is visible everywhere.
Common questions
How long does DNS propagation take?
It depends on the TTL of the old record: resolvers that cached it can keep serving it for up to that many seconds. Name server changes at the registry can take longer because parent-zone NS records often have TTLs of a day or more.
Why do resolvers show different answers even though I changed nothing?
Some DNS setups return different answers by location or load (geo-DNS, CDNs, round-robin), so disagreement is not always a propagation problem.
Can I force resolvers to pick up my change?
Not directly. Lower the TTL well before a planned change, then wait for the old TTL to run out. Some public resolvers offer a cache-flush page for individual names.
Related tools
- DNS Lookup: see every record type for the domain at once.
- WHOIS Lookup: confirm which name servers the registry has on file.
- SSL Certificate Checker: verify the certificate once traffic reaches the new server.