Recently we have encountered a question of selecting a reliable and fast DNS service providers. Why? The main reason was that 1and1 – the registrar for some of our sites has the most terrible domain control panel ever that does not allow configuring TXT records that we need for SPF. See the comparison below.

No-IP

50 hosts/subdomains (not domains) – $25/year; Nameserver for 52K domains
Another dynamic DNS provider. The reviews for DNS hosting are mixed.

FreeDNS.afraid.org

Nameserver for 60K domains; ; Response time: 210ms

Primarily used to provide free dynamic DNS. But also provide DNS hosting for free (you’d have to keep your domain on “shared” lists – not sure what it is, but doesn’t sound good)

EasyDNS

1 domain – $15/year; Nameserver for 73K domains

Too expensive

Dyn.com / DynDNS / Dynect

5 domains – $30/year; Nameserver for 27K domains; Response time: 90ms

Good reviews. 1 free account (at the end of the trial). Up to 75 records and 600,000 queries per month. Mail forward is an additional not so cheap service.

DNS Made Easy

10 domains – $30/year; Nameserver for 188K domains; Response time: 69ms

Generally gets good reviews. Control panel not as smooth as DynDNS, but actually annoying. They log you off after a few minutes of inactivity, registration asks too much. Annoying.

ZoneEdit

1 domain – $12/year; Nameserver for 123K domains;; Response time: 105ms

ZoneEdit was a major player for a long time despite one of the ugliest but functional control panels. Primarily it was due to the generous free plan. However 2011 disastrous AJAX interface update made it almost unusable and free plans disappeared. There are better options out there.

Zonomi

1 domain – free, 10 domains – $10/year; Nameserver for 5K domains

Nice interface and looks like a very nice service. However it is relatively new (since 2009) and small

Summary

In the result we have selected DNS Made Easy. The support so far was outstanding.

See a good DNS comparison review.