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Free DNS Provider vs Paid

Compare Paid vs Free DNS Providers

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Why Free vs Paid DNS?

Free DNS isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, on the onset it sounds like you are getting the deal of the century but after you begin to scratch the surface, it becomes apparent that your "free" service isn't exactly a "no-strings attached" situation. If you own a business you should reconsider, because that free service can really cost you in the long term. How? Keep reading the pro's and con's of free vs paid DNS services.

One thing you don’t want to overlook is the fine print, even with “free” services. For instance, some premium providers also offer free DNS, but with a catch—the free version is typically restricted to the most basic of features. However, alongside the free options, there are often more advanced configurations available, and it may not be obvious that once you’ve configured them, you’ll be charged. To avoid getting sucker-punched with an unexpected (and potentially hefty) bill, make sure you’re clear on what you’re getting into ahead of time.

Free vs Paid Comparison Demo
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The Constellix DNS Difference

Ultimate Security
Ensure your site and services are always live and available to your end users in the event of outages.
No other DNS provider can say that, free or otherwise.


DNS Outage Prevention
The Constellix suite of DNS management solutions creates an indestructible plan for ultimate brand security and 100% guaranteed uptime. If your business reputation matters to you, paid is the only option.


Cost Effective Solution
Is it free? No. But compared to other providers, the Constellix payment model is only pay-for-what-you-use. You can actually save money because you won't have to deal with costly outages.

DNS Feature Comparison Overview

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Free Providers

100% Uptime
YES
NO
Easy Wizards and
Import Utilities
YES
NO
IP Anycast DNS Network (DNS resolution at the edge)
YES
NO
24/7/365 Technical Support
YES
NO
Multi-Factor Authentication and SSO
YES
NO
DNS Failover on A / AAAA / CNAME/ and ANAME
YES
NO
Geo DNS Capabilities
YES
NO
MultiCDN Capabilities
YES
NO
Full API Capabilities
YES
NO
GUI Interface for DNS Management
YES
Some Free Providers
DNS Templates
YES
NO
Vanity Name Servers
YES
NO
Real-Time Logging of
DNS queries
YES
NO
DNS Query Reporting
YES
NO
Weighted Round Robin
YES
NO
ANAME (Alias records)
YES
NO
Multi-User Access
YES
NO
Real-Time Anomaly Detection (artificial intelligence/machine learning)
YES
NO
Top tier DNS Speeds
YES
NO
Dedicated DNS Specialists and Support
YES
NO

Paid or Managed DNS?

Benefits to Having a Paid Provider:
• Faster resolution speeds
• Improved performance
• Better security and privacy
• Dynamic DNS functionality
• Superior end-user performance
• Load balancing solutions
• Redundancy options
• Advanced features
• Web traffic optimization options
• Geo-specific customization
• Stronger, more advanced infrastructure 
• Larger peering capacity
• The ability to filter by IP or ASN (not available at every provider)


Cons to Managed DNS
• Price can vary
• Requires basic knowledge of DNS + record configurations
• Configurations can be complex (we have an expert support team)
• Some features may require API
• Some Providers like AWS create vendor lock-in



tick Constellix 10

100% Uptime

Constellix combines the reassurance of DNS Made Easy, a network with a 20-year legacy who has consistently outperformed the competition with intelligent traffic-routing services that can dynamically adapt to network conditions and resource performance. We even offer a 500% back uptime SLA guarantee.

tick Constellix 10

Proprietary Software

We designed Constellix with a completely new, custom code base that allows us to do amazing things that DNS Made Easy (and other legacy services) could never accomplish. Such as proprietary name server software that allows us to implement a number of advanced features not possible with a standard RFC-compliant name server software.

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Smart Solutions

This technology opened the doors for innovative solutions for managing Multi-CDN architectures and globally distributed cloud services, such as our Traffic Steering. Traffic Steering uses a combination of advanced DNS routing rules and Real-User Monitoring to optimize how traffic is routed to your resources based on the current state of the Internet.

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