DNS Management
DNS Management tools -- a subcategory of DevOps & Infrastructure
10 Tools
Pi-hole
56KNetwork-wide ad blocking DNS server that protects every device on your network without installing anything on individual devices.
AdGuard Home
33KNetwork-wide software for blocking ads and tracking. Covers all your home devices with no client-side software needed.
Technitium DNS Server
7.9KTechnitium DNS Server gives you authoritative/recursive DNS server with ad blocking functionality on your own infrastructure.
blocky
6.2KBlocky lets you run fast and lightweight DNS proxy as ad-blocker for local network with many features entirely on your own server.
Unbound
4.3KReleased under BSD-3-Clause, Unbound provides validating, recursive, and caching DNS resolver on self-hosted infrastructure.
ddclient
3.4KReleased under GPL-2.0, ddclient provides dynamic DNS updates across a range of services on self-hosted infrastructure.
DDNS Updater
2.9KDDNS Updater gives you periodic DNS record updates across a number of DNS providers on your own infrastructure.
Gravity
908Self-hosted ad blocking & DNS filtering tool that provides fully-replicated DNS and DHCP server with ad-blocking powered by etcd.
GoAway
692GoAway handles lightweight DNS sinkhole for blocking unwanted domains as a self-hosted solution.
DumbWhoIs
223DumbWhoIs is a self-hosted DNS management tool that provides stupidly simple WHOIS, IP, and ASN lookups.
Why Self-Host Your DNS Management?
Every DNS query your devices make reveals which websites and services you access. When you use your ISP’s DNS or Google’s 8.8.8.8, that entity logs your complete browsing history. Self-hosted DNS gives you recursive resolution on your own server, keeping your query logs private while often improving resolution speed due to local caching.
Pi-hole and AdGuard Home are the most popular self-hosted DNS solutions, combining recursive DNS resolution with ad and tracker blocking at the network level. Technitium DNS Server goes further by providing a full authoritative DNS server, useful if you manage your own domains. Blocky offers a lightweight, configuration-file-driven DNS proxy and ad blocker for users who prefer declarative YAML configuration over web interfaces. Unbound provides a validating, recursive, and caching DNS resolver focused purely on resolution performance and DNSSEC validation.
Dynamic DNS is essential for self-hosters with residential internet connections where IP addresses change. DDClient and DDNS-Updater automatically update DNS records when your public IP changes, ensuring your self-hosted services remain accessible. GoAway provides DNS-based bot blocking. DumbWhois offers a self-hosted WHOIS lookup tool. Gravity manages and optimizes blocklist updates for Pi-hole. Together, these tools give you complete DNS infrastructure independence — from recursive resolution to authoritative serving to dynamic updates — without relying on any external DNS provider.