DNS Propagation Checker

Changed a DNS record and want to know if it has gone live? Compare the answers of two public resolvers for any record type, enter the value you expect, and see per resolver whether your change is visible.

Your browser queries these services directly, so the name you look up and your IP address are visible to them: Cloudflare DNS and Google Public DNS (both public recursive resolvers) for records and comparison, and rdap.org, a redirector that forwards to the registry's RDAP server, for registration data. DevDome does not proxy, see or store these lookups. Privacy policy.

Run a lookup to get an evidence-based summary: web resolution, delegation, DNSSEC, email records, CAA and expiration, each with the observation behind it.

Enter a name above to query common DNS records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, CAA) from a public recursive resolver, or pick a specific type including DS, DNSKEY, SRV, TLSA, SVCB and HTTPS.

Registration data appears here via RDAP: registrar, creation and expiration dates, EPP status codes, nameservers and DNSSEC delegation state.

SPF and DMARC analysis appears here: record syntax, the 10-DNS-lookup limit, policy strength and common misconfigurations, with the exact records as evidence.

Compares one record type between Cloudflare and Google. These are observations from two public recursive resolvers, not proof of global propagation. Add an expected value above to check whether your change is visible to each.

Propagation is caching, not distribution

Nothing pushes a DNS change out to the world. The new record sits on your nameservers from the moment you save it; every other resolver keeps serving the answer it cached until that answer's time-to-live runs out, then asks again. "Propagation" is just the long tail of those caches expiring at different moments. That is why two resolvers can disagree for a while and both be behaving correctly, and why the fastest way to a quick changeover is lowering the TTL well before the change.

This checker asks two independent public resolvers and compares their answers to the value you expect. When both match, the change is live for most of the internet; when one still lags, the old TTL tells you how long to wait.

DNS propagation FAQ

How long does DNS propagation take?

As long as the old record's TTL, plus however long each resolver on the way chooses to hold its cache. A record with a 300 second TTL is usually visible everywhere within minutes of the change; a record that had a 24 hour TTL can keep showing the old value to some visitors for a day. Lower the TTL a day before a planned change and raise it again afterwards.

Why do Cloudflare and Google answer differently?

Each resolver caches independently. One may have looked the record up before your change and still hold the old answer; the other looked it up after. Different answers are the normal, temporary state during propagation, not an error. If they still differ after the old TTL has fully expired, check that every nameserver for the zone serves the new value.

Both resolvers show the new value but my visitors still see the old site. Why?

Their own resolver (the ISP's, the office's, or the router's) still holds the old answer, or their browser has cached it. A visitor can flush their DNS cache or switch to a public resolver, but mostly the fix is time. If it persists for days, the old server may be the one still answering for the hostname on a CDN or load balancer, not DNS at all.

Is a public resolver proof of global propagation?

No. This page compares two large public resolvers, which is a strong signal but not a worldwide survey. What it can prove is whether the authoritative answer has changed: query the zone's own nameservers (the nameserver lookup lists them) from a terminal to see what is actually published.

Which record type should I check?

A or AAAA when you moved the site to a new server, CNAME when you pointed a subdomain at a service, MX after changing mail providers, TXT after adding a verification token or an SPF record, NS after changing where the domain is hosted. Enter the value you expect and the checker says per resolver whether it matches.

More free tools: DNS Lookup & WHOIS · Nameserver Lookup · MX Lookup · Is It Down?