Hetzner DNS

Domains 6.8/10

Completely free authoritative DNS hosting and zone management via Hetzner Console, REST API, and the hcloud CLI.

Card required: No

Hetzner DNS scores 6.8/10 for free value in Domains. The main constraint: Free authoritative DNS for up to 25 zones (raisable on request) with up to 500 records per zone, no charge even without other Hetzner services.

Category Domains Kind Managed DNS Caveats Manages DNS only — Hetzner does not register the domain itself, so you bring your own domain. No DNSSEC support, and the default cap is 25 zones / 500 records per zone (increase requires a justified support request). Card required No Eligibility anyone

Free value score

6.8 / 10

Show the math

Overall 6.8/10

value = 6.8/100

weighted_components_v1

Name/DNS value 7.2/10

value = 13 $/yr

fixed_log_v1

API/DDNS fit 6.4/10

value = 6.4/100

policy_score_v1

Trust and friction 6.5/10

value = 6.5/100

policy_score_v1

Key metrics

25 Free domains

500 DNS records

API-driven DDNS refresh no native DDNS

Yes Ad-free

What you get

100% free DNS zone and record management with no requirement to buy other Hetzner services

Full automation via developer-friendly REST API and the hcloud CLI

Primary and secondary (AXFR) zone modes across 3 anycast nameservers

Supports A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, CAA, SRV, HTTPS, SVCB, TLSA, DS, PTR, and more record types

Gotchas

25 zones cap

Up to 25 DNS zones across all projects by default; can be increased with a justified support request.
500 records per zone

Up to 500 records per zone by default; increasable on justified demand.
50 records per RRset

A maximum of 50 records is allowed within a single RRset (name + type combination).
No DNSSEC

Hetzner Console DNS does not currently support DNSSEC signing.
DNS management only, not registration

Service hosts DNS for domains you already own; you must register the domain elsewhere (or via Hetzner's separate paid domain product). No free domain registration is included.
No native dynamic DNS

There is no built-in DDNS endpoint; dynamic IP updates require self-built scripts or community tools calling the REST API.
Free Hetzner account required

Requires creating a free Hetzner account / Hetzner Console access; no payment method is needed for DNS use.
Per-record value/comment caps

Each record value is limited to 4096 characters and each comment to 512 characters, with a minimum TTL of 60 seconds.
Up to 4 primary nameservers

Secondary zones support up to 4 configured primary nameservers for AXFR transfers.

Sources

"We do not charge for our DNS zones."
https://docs.hetzner.com/networking/dns/overview/
"Up to 25 zones across all projects *; Up to 500 records per zone *; Up to 50 records per RRset; Up to 4 primary nameservers (for secondary zones)"
https://docs.hetzner.com/networking/dns/overview/
"By default, you can add up to 25 zones. However, if you would like to increase this limit, it's easy to do. Just write a support ticket, and give us a quick explanation for why you need the increase."
https://www.hetzner.com/dns/
"Currently, Hetzner Console does not include support for DNSSEC."
https://www.hetzner.com/dns/

dns domains hetzner rest-api cli free secondary-dns automation

Open service Source ← All Domains

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