Top DNS Monitoring Tools in 2024

DNS monitoring tool is a cloud-based scanner that constantly monitors DNS records and servers for anomalies. This tool aims to ensure that users are sent to genuine and intended website pages, instead of fakes or replicas. It alerts users about issues with the DNS servers, such as slow response times or server outages.

The tool tracks changes made in DNS records, such as SOA, MX, SRV, and NS, and compares records among primary and secondary DNS servers for any mismatch. It also ensures that users are being served from the geographically closest server.

Overall, it’s critical for all brands to ensure their DNS servers perform at their best.

The Geekflare team has researched, tested, and listed the best DNS monitoring tools, based on factors like real-time monitoring, coverage, integrations, ease of use, and analytics.

• Dotcom-monitor – Best for Global Network Monitoring
• Uptrends – Best for Combined DNS and API Monitoring
• Sucuri – Best for Existing Sucuri Users
• Site24x7 – Best for All-in-One Monitoring
• DNS Spy – Best for Small to Medium Business
• DNS Check – Best for Quick Propagation Checks
• ZoneWatcher – Best for Domain/DNS Change Alerts
• AppNeta – Best for Network Path Analysis
• Paessler PRTG – Best for On-Premise DNS Sensors
• Nagios – Best Open-Source Monitoring Software
• Catchpoint – Best for Large Business
• Show moreShow less

Dotcom-monitor

Dotcom-monitor caters to teams overseeing their entire IT infrastructure, including DNS, FTP and SMTP servers, blacklists, and networking, among others.

Its DNS module allows teams to monitor performance from an array of geographically dispersed locations, covering the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Dotcom-monitor also enables teams to deploy private agents to monitor applications on a local network.

This service ensures continuous checking of DNS server availability, as well as monitoring response time and resolution accuracy to map performance. Businesses can visualize every hop the query takes, from the root server to its final resolution.

Dotcom-monitor’s advanced DNS checks include DNSSEC verification, SOA monitoring, and blacklist scans for IP address and domain names.

Admins are immediately notified of DNS issues via email, phone calls, SMS, and on connected applications such as WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Alert Ops.

Dotcom-monitor Pricing

Teams can try Dotcom-monitor for 10 days without registering payment details. The starting plan is priced at $36/month for 5 targets, when billed annually.

Try Dotcom-monitor

Uptrends

Uptrends offers website and API performance monitoring from 200+ global locations. Teams can track their DNS server’s efficacy with multiple checks in place for domain resolution, records tampering, or downtime.

It ensures every DNS record, such as A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, and SOA serial numbers, stays free from irregularities. Teams can configure Uptrends to send alerts to authorized members for quick resolution.

However, like many similar tools, Uptrends offers more than DNS monitoring. Depending on the subscription, it also covers SSL issues, uptime, SMTP servers, networking, and more.

Uptrends supports notifications via email, SMS, and third-party apps, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, StatusHub, StatusPage, Zapier, and more. Moreover, businesses can use Uptrends API to build their custom integrations.

Uptrends Pricing

Uptrends has a 30-day free trial for newcomers. Paid plans for DNS checks come at $5.25/monitor/month.

Try Uptrends

Sucuri

Sucuri is a suite of cybersecurity tools geared toward overall website security and protection. It includes basic checks that scan for changes to DNS records and server availability. Upon detecting anomalies, it notifies immediately via email, SMS, Slack, RSS feeds, and webhooks.

This DNS service is activated by enabling website malware scanning on the Sucuri dashboard. Teams can adjust scanning frequency to suit their specific needs.

In addition to DNS, Sucuri also monitors uptime, SSL certificate, blacklist status, malware, security misconfigurations, and more.

Sucuri Pricing

DNS monitoring is supported by Sucuri’s Security Platform subscription, which unfortunately does not have a trial or free tier. Paid plans start from $199.99/year, and DNS monitoring is available for every plan.

Try Sucuri

Site24x7

Site24x7 presents a collection of monitoring tools for websites, cloud servers, networks, activity logs, real user experience, and more. DNS checks are included in every subscription.

It has a strong network to check DNS availability and resolution times from 130+ global locations dispersed across the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The tool enables teams to find DNS record type availability and check resolved names and search values for their authenticity.

Businesses can combine Site24x7 DNS monitoring with SLA reports to ensure their hosting providers honor minimum uptime commitments.

Site24x7 provides detailed reports highlighting key DNS performance metrics, such as availability, general health, and average response times by server location. Teams get the exact time of outages and errors (covering issues spanning network, configuration, updates, inaccessibility to root servers, etc.) for seamless troubleshooting.

Site24x7’s alert system works via calls, SMS, instant messaging apps, RSS, push notifications, and integrated apps (such as Slack).

Site24x7 Pricing

Teams can try Infrastructure monitoring for a 30-day free trial. Smaller teams can also opt for a free tier, monitoring up to 5 resources. Paid plans start from $9/month, valid for 10 basic monitors (e.g., DNS). Users can top it up with 10 extra monitors for $15/month.

Try Site24x7

DNS Spy

DNS Spy provides DNS records monitoring, backup, and 100% coverage via AXFR zone transfer.

It tracks changes in popular DNS record types, including A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, SRV, DNSKEY, NS, TXT, and more. Teams can also add custom records for extended monitoring.

A standout feature of DNS Spy is its export functionality via the dashboard. You can export records in 3 formats: Bind zone files, PowerDNS SQL queries, and CSV.

DNS Spy monitors every record for alteration, and businesses can review the entire change log for the last 365 days of activity. Additionally, teams get recommendations to make their DNS records RFC-compliant for optimum functionality.

DNS Spy Pricing

DNS Spy does not have a free tier, but teams can use a 10-day free trial before subscribing to the paid plans shown below.

• Light: €4.99/month (approx. $5.56/month)
• Standard: €9.99/month (approx. $11.13/month)
• Premium: €19.99/month (approx. $22.28/month)

Try DNS Spy

DNS Check

DNS Check allows teams to confirm if all DNS queries resolve to their intended destinations. You can enter specific monitoring-worthy records or import entire zone files for a full scan.

It covers major DNS issues, such as unresponsive name servers, IP address mismatch, missing, faulty, or duplicate entries, and conflicting forward and reverse DNS records. DNS Check also suggests solutions for effective and quick troubleshooting.

Team members can share DNS records, their actual and desired values, and whether they need updating, from the DNS Check dashboard. Admins are also notified when the intended change occurs.

DNS Check integrates with Slack, PagerDuty, Pingdom, OpsGenie, and more for notifications. You also get alerted on emails, and the tool provides an API for building custom solutions.

DNS Check Pricing

DNS Check’s free tier (Basic) allows monitoring up to 10 records. Checking more records, custom NS querying, and load balancer monitoring are reserved with paid subscriptions.

• Professional: $8/month
• Enterprise: $60/month

For larger DNS record monitoring (up to 3,000), you’ll have to contact the DNS Check sales team for a custom quote.

Try DNS Check

ZoneWatcher

ZoneWatcher tracks DNS records directly synced with popular providers, such as Cloudflare, Namecheap, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Teams can ask for more connectors to automatically update records as they are created or changed. Moreover, ZoneWatcher tracks the WHOIS details for domain expiry, nameserver change, and successful domain renewals.

Its automatic DNS checks notify via email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord.

ZoneWatcher supports multiple team creation to handle specific domains under a single account. You can export the records as a Bind Zone file or CSV and import them into any other DNS provider of your choice.

ZoneWatcher Pricing

ZoneWatcher has multiple plans for monitoring 5 to 5,000 domains, each with at least 7 days of free trial. These plans differ in the number of domains, team members, monitoring interval, and trial period. Below are the 3 introductory plans.

• Small: $5/month
• Medium: $13/month
• Large: $39/month

Try ZoneWatcher

AppNeta

AppNeta’s approach to DNS monitoring is suitable for multiple use cases, including cloud infrastructure, on-premises servers, and SAAS applications. It works with a comprehensive monitoring engine that covers diverse servers, both internal and external, and runs across an array of ISPs and DNS providers.

Teams get data indicating AppNeta’s queries to configured DNS servers, their resolution times, responding IP addresses, uptime, aggregate performance, and more. Businesses can also select the DNS servers to compare the performance with charts.

AppNeta allows you to create alert profiles with specific performance thresholds. Teams are notified on their preferred channel (emails, event management server, SNMP notifications) whenever their target metric deviates from their desired values.

The tool stores collected data for 1 year with no additional charges. Teams can visualize the impact of DNS resolution on the user experience of their business applications. The monitoring service adds the application context to its reports to help IT staff identify DNS resolution issues related to application problems.

AppNeta Pricing

AppNeta is an enterprise-grade software, and you have to contact Broadcom’s partners for a quote.

Try AppNeta

Paessler PRTG

Paessler is a made-for-enterprise monitoring solution covering the entire IT and IoT infrastructure, including DNS, under a single subscription. It checks for issues on user-defined metrics for DNS traffic, server availability, response times, latency, and overall performance.

Teams get detailed analytics and data logs for effective troubleshooting and resource allocation. Paessler PRTG enables businesses to keep track of their DNS records and be notified of changes. In addition to servers, you can monitor traffic from routers and switches to find out common DNS errors.

PRTG has 250+ preconfigured sensors for major device manufacturers and service providers, including Dell, HP, Cisco, IBM, AWS, Windows, Oracle, and more. Additionally, teams can create custom sensors to monitor every possible aspect of their on-premises, virtual, and remote systems.

Paessler allows teams to self-host on their Windows servers or deploy its cloud monitoring solution from 26 global locations, including the Americas, Europe, Oceania, Asia, and Africa.

Paessler PRTG Pricing

Paessler PRTG pricing is based on the number of sensors and devices under scrutiny.

• PRTG 500: $2,149/year
• PRTG 1000: $3,899/year
• PRTG 2500: $8,099/year
• PRTG 5000: $14,199/year
• PRTG 10000: $17,899/year

Try Paessler PRTG

Nagios

Nagios (Nagios XI and Nagios Core) allows teams to monitor DNS servers, protocols, and queries to check for service availability, protocol failures, and DNS hijacking and spoofing.

The tool can be extended with third-party components listed on Nagios Exchange, such as wizards and plugins. These add extra functionality, such as additional reporting power, mobile access to logs, and in-depth analysis. Besides DNS, Nagios offers monitoring over other protocols, including SNMP, HTTP, SSH, FTP, and SMTP.

Nagios sends instant alerts of DNS issues via email, SMS, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.

Nagios Pricing

Nagios Core is an open-source tool teams can download for free and implement as they see fit. Nagios XI, on the other hand, has a free version for 7 nodes (hosts) or 100 services (checks) without any tech support. The standard variant of Nagios XI starts from $2,495 for a 100-node license.

Try Nagios

Catchpoint

Catchpoint is an internet performance monitoring solution that ensures the entire DNS resolution chain remains flawless. It helps teams constantly monitor DNS response times, latency, packet loss, etc., throughout the entire networking infrastructure. Moreover, you can compare public, private, and internal DNS systems in a multi-DNS setup.

Teams can find misconfigured nameservers in their resolution chain and check the DNS cache and performance from popular DNS resolvers. By identifying response time anomalies and monitoring DNS servers directly, this solution ensures early detection of potential attacks.

Catchpoint DNS monitoring is backed by its 1000+ nodes, helping teams get pinpoint information closest to their end-users.

In addition to DNS, Catchpoint covers networking protocols such as BGP, SASE, CDN, WANs, and MQTT.

Catchpoint Pricing

Catchpoint has a quote-based pricing model, and you’ll have to contact their team with your requirements for a tailored price quote.

Try Catchpoint

DNS Monitoring Tools Comparison Table

The table below compares the best DNS monitoring tools based on their pricing, check types, scanning interval, alert types, and server locations.

DNS Monitoring Tool	Base Pricing	Check Types	Scanning Interval	Monitoring Locations	Alert Types
Dotcom-monitor	$36/month	DNS records, DNSSEC	1 minutes-3 hours	30+	Call, SMS, Email, webhook, Integrated apps, API
Uptrends	$5.25/monitor/month	Basic DNS records	One minute minimum	200+	Email, SMS, 3rd-party apps, API
Sucuri	$199.99/year	Basic DNS records	4-12 hours	Customizable	Email, SMS, Slack, RSS feeds, webhooks, API
Site24x7	$9/month	Basic DNS records, Resolution times, Server availability, Misconfigurations	10 seconds-1 day	130+	Calls, SMS, Integrated apps, RSS, Push Notifications, API
DNS Spy	€4.99/month	A, AAAA, CAA, CNAME, DNSKEY, NS, MX, TXT, SRV	Every 5 minutes	1	Email, web dashboard, API
DNS Check	$8/month	AAAA, CNAME, Load Balancer, MX, NS, Reverse DNS (PTR), SOA, SPF, SRV, and TXT.	Every 5 minutes	3	Email, API, Integrated Apps
ZoneWatcher	$5/month	A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, SRV, TXT	5-10 minutes based on subscription	21+	Email, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord
AppNeta	Custom	DNS records, Resolution times, Uptime, Performance	5 seconds+, 30 minutes default	Customizable	Emails, Event management server, SNMP notifications
Paessler PRTG	$2,149/year	DNS traffic, Uptime, Response times, Overall performance	30 seconds to 24 hours	Customizable	Email, SMS, Teams, Slack, SNMP notifications, Pust notifications
Nagios	$2,495/year	DNS availability, protocol failures, DNS hijacking, spoofing	Customizable	Internal network, customizable	Email, SMS, Slack, or Microsoft Teams
Catchpoint	Custom	DNS response times, latency, packet loss	Customizable	1000+	Email, SMS, Push notifications, Integrated apps.

Why is DNS Monitoring Important?

DNS monitoring helps businesses ensure that their users land at their intended destination after entering the correct URLs.

While users can encounter errors because of DNS misconfigurations, bad actors actively siphon off innocent users to fakes of original websites, looting them of their personal or financial details. Furthermore, other types of cyberattacks, such as DDoS, can increase the lookup times or even render a DNS server completely unreachable.

Essentially, DNS server failures, sub-par performance, or misconfigurations cause substantial losses to business reputation and associated stakeholders. Therefore, it’s important for teams to constantly monitor the performance of their DNS servers.

What is the Difference Between Website Monitoring and DNS Monitoring Software?

Website monitoring software is a tool for tracking a website’s overall health and performance. It entails a series of checks for SSL certificate, domain expiry, uptime, page speed, content accuracy, and more.

DNS monitoring, on the other hand, ensures that the domain name (ex., geekflare.com) correctly resolves to the intended IP address. Advanced DNS monitoring tools also check resolution times, compare server performance, detect misconfigurations, and offer troubleshooting guidance.

FAQs