Open database tracking 77K public DNS servers every 10 minutes
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Hey HN! We built DNS Directory (https://dnsdirectory.com), a free, searchable database of public DNS servers with live monitoring every 10 minutes.We needed to find an up-to-date list of DNS servers used by carriers around the world for a proxy fingerprinting / web-scraping project but we were shocked to find that it didn’t exist so we built it ourselves in an internal HackathonWe’re adding more features but so far we:Test 77K+ servers every ~10 minutes Allow filtering by uptime, location, security features (ad blocking, malware protection, DNSSEC) Show info on IPv6 support, anycast, etc. Show all historical testing informationWe have no plans to monetize the site and it will stay free so it can be used as a public resource.I’d love to hear ways we can improve the site. It works but certain things like content filtering detection are rough around the edges, and we want to add test nodes in Asia + US for better coverage as right now we just test from Amsterdam.If you want a DNS server that isn’t already on the website then you can add them via the form and if you’re a large org that has a bunch to add then you can email me at [email protected] and we’ll ingest them.Cheers!
HN · launched Dec 18, 2025 · 7 upvotes (top 64%) · 0 views
Niche: network monitoring and diagnostics tools · 193 launches, 11 in the last 7 days ▼ -35% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Data infrastructure
- Developer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 193 launches in network monitoring and diagnostics tools →
Could you build this?
Partial The web UI and directory database are trivial, but maintaining distributed scanning infrastructure that probes 77,000 DNS servers across global carriers every 10 minutes without getting IP banned requires non-trivial network engineering.
What it would actually take: The architecture requires a distributed fleet of probes or proxy endpoints globally, an asynchronous network scanner (e.g., in Go or Rust using raw sockets/massdns patterns) executing 77k queries every 10 minutes, and a time-series or analytical database like ClickHouse to aggregate uptime and performance stats. The hardest parts are managing global IP reputation, preventing abuse blocks from ISPs when scanning continuously, and orchestrating reliable ultra-low-latency distributed checks.
Discussion
5 comments analyzed.
Concerns raised: Rate limiting enforcement strategy unclear, Organization identification by ASN insufficient for large companies with multiple ASNs
Feature requests: Daily JSON dump for data portability, API release, Consolidate multiple organizational entities into single filter
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 374 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #196 of 375 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 44 days after the earliest competitor.
- Mapping DNS · hn · 2025-12-03 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.57
- DNS Auth · ph · 2026-10-27 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.52
- Domain IP Lookup DNS Tracking · ph · 2026-10-20 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- Browse Internet Infrastructure · hn · 2026-02-09 · 110 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- D.NIX. · ph · 2026-09-20 · 2 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- TheLittleHost · hn · 2026-03-16 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- DNS Benchmark Tool · hn · 2025-11-19 · 59 upvotes · similarity 0.48
- I created a BGP-based blackhole system that you can set up in minutes · hn · 2026-09-30 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.47
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