How it works
A DNS change does not reach the whole world at once. This shows where the new record has arrived and where the old one is still being served.
Type a domain name and choose the record you want to see: A for the website’s server address, MX for email, TXT for SPF and verification records, and so on.
A server in each country asks its own local DNS resolver, the same way a visitor’s device there would. You can also ask Google, Cloudflare, Quad9 or OpenDNS from every location.
Each location shows the value it received, how long the answer may be kept (TTL) and how long the lookup took. Locations that returned something different are highlighted.
Record types
Pick the record that matches what you changed or what is not working.
The server address of a website. A is the IPv4 address and AAAA is the IPv6 address. Check these after moving a site to a new host.
A name that points to another name, such as www pointing to your main domain or to a CDN.
The mail servers that receive email for the domain. Check these when email is not arriving or after switching email provider.
Text records: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and the verification codes that Google, Microsoft and other services ask you to add.
NS lists the nameservers that hold the domain’s DNS records. SOA shows the main nameserver and the serial number of the zone.
For specialised checks: reverse DNS for an IP address (PTR), services such as SIP (SRV), DNSSEC keys (DS and DNSKEY) and HTTPS service records.
When to use it
Most “my site is down” reports after a change are DNS that has not finished spreading.
01
Check the A record. When every location shows the new server address, the move is finished and it is safe to cancel the old hosting.
02
Check MX to confirm mail is routed to the right provider, then TXT to confirm that your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are visible everywhere.
03
Different answers in different countries explain most of these cases. Compare the address each location receives with the one you expect.
When you change a DNS record, DNS servers around the world keep the old answer until its time to live (TTL) runs out. During that time some places see the new value and some still see the old one. That spreading of the new value is called DNS propagation.
Usually between a few minutes and a few hours. It depends on the TTL that was set on the record before you changed it. Changes to nameservers (NS records) can take up to 48 hours.
Either a recent change is still spreading, or the domain is set up to give different answers on purpose. Large sites and CDNs often return a different server address in each region so visitors reach a nearby server. That is normal.
The DNS server answered, but there is no record of that type for the name. Check the spelling and the record type. A status of NXDOMAIN means the name itself does not exist.
Time to live: the number of seconds a DNS server may keep an answer before asking again. A record with a TTL of 3600 can take up to an hour to update everywhere.
Not after the change is made. Before a planned change, lower the record’s TTL (for example to 300 seconds) a day in advance. Resolvers will then pick up the new value within minutes.
Try it
Enter your domain, pick the record type and compare the answers from up to 44 countries.
More tools: Website checker · Mail tester
