Why You Shouldn’t Rely On a Registrar’s DNS
When you register a domain, your registrar may offer “free DNS hosting.” It sounds convenient, but that convenience often comes at the cost of speed, reliability, and control.
A DNS registrar’s main job is to sell and manage domain names, not to specialize in DNS management. By contrast, a managed DNS provider like No-IP focuses solely on ensuring your website resolves quickly, securely, and without downtime.
Here are five reasons to avoid relying on your registrar’s DNS.
1. Keep Your Site Online 24/7
Your DNS must be available around the clock so your website and connected services never go offline. Most registrars run DNS on only a few servers, often in one region, leaving you vulnerable to outages. With over 100 points of presence located across the globe in distinct geographic locations, when your websites DNS is with No-IP, your website is protected from unnecessary downtime. Since our founding in 1999, we have guaranteed a 100% uptime for our service and delivered.
2. Faster Website Performance with Anycast DNS
Your website’s speed depends heavily on DNS resolution time. Managed DNS providers like No-IP’s Anycast network have over 100 points of presence across the globe. It means that when your customer is trying to connect to your site it will ping to whatever DNS server is closest to them, making sure it has the fastest speed possible. If they are connecting from San Diego, it will ping off our Los Angeles site. In Japan? It will ping our server in Tokyo. This guarantees that your site loads fast, no matter where your customers are.
3. Stay Online During Outages
Registrar DNS is often hosted on one or two servers, oftentimes in the same place. This means if something bad happens, like a power outage or natural disaster, your website can go down completely. It may even be down for an extended period of time. This is because they don’t understand the importance of DNS redundancy. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, two of our DNS servers were affected by the storm. However, no websites or DNS services were affected because of our redundancy due to our Anycast Network. When one of our servers goes down, all the information from that server is rerouted to one of the 100 other POPs No-IP has.
4. Advanced Tools for Complete Control
Basic free DNS offered by a domain registrar typically lacks advanced DNS features. What you see is what you get and there is no ability to customize the DNS to your website’s wants and needs.
No-IP’s Plus Managed DNS gives you full control and customization with:
- Port 80 redirection
- TXT and SPF record support
- Support for up to five MX records
With these features, you can customize your DNS to meet your exact needs, something registrar DNS rarely allows.
5. Real DNS Experts, Not Outsourced Help
When a company doesn’t specialize in a DNS service, its support team may not be as knowledgeable about that service. This means when you have an issue with your DNS, they may not be able to fix the problem or even help you at all. In fact, many large registrars outsource their support to various countries, making it that much harder to get help when you need it. When dealing with something as technical as DNS, good support is necessary.
At No-IP, we never outsource our support and make sure they are given the best training possible. Each of our support techs is knowledgeable about not only DNS but Domain Registration as well, they can walk you through the steps to fix your DNS or even fix it for you. NO support ticket goes unanswered, which is why we have some of the best support in the industry.
Why Managed DNS from No-IP is the Better Choice
Despite the fact that many registrars have had serious outages and significant downtime as a result, companies still make the mistake of choosing them for their DNS services. Not only do these outages cost them time, but they also cost money as well. It is an easy thing to avoid as many DNS providers offer a managed DNS service that is cost-effective and easy to use.
Frequently Asked Questions About Registrar DNS
Q: What is a registrar’s DNS?
A registrar’s DNS is the free DNS hosting service that comes with many domain registrations. While convenient, it’s often limited in speed, reliability, and features because registrars focus on selling domains, not managing DNS infrastructure.
Q: Is registrar DNS reliable enough for business websites?
Typically, no. Registrar DNS is hosted on a small number of servers and lacks redundancy. That means an outage, power failure, or network issue could make your website temporarily unreachable.
Q: What’s the difference between registrar DNS and managed DNS?
Registrar DNS is basic and usually free, but limited in performance and features. Managed DN, like No-IP’s, offers advanced features such as Anycast routing, redundancy, and expert support designed for maximum uptime and flexibility.
Q: Should I switch from registrar DNS to managed DNS?
If you want your site to load faster, stay online during outages, and have full control over DNS settings, switching to a managed DNS provider like No-IP is a smart move.