- Network test
- DNS benchmark
Find the fastest DNS resolver for your network
Novabench benchmarks your system nameserver against popular public resolvers and reports which one answers queries fastest from your location.
What the DNS benchmark measures
The benchmark sends a batch of queries to each resolver and captures full latency statistics. It mixes uncached lookups with popular queries (likely to be cached), so the results reflects day-to-day browsing experience.
- Uncached queries reach authoritative servers, showing each resolver’s upstream speed
- Popular-domain queries hit resolver caches, matching how your browser loads sites you visit every day
- Per-resolver latency statistics (mean, median, min, max, p95, p99) plus success and failure counts
- A live ranking chart updates as each resolver completes, with your system nameserver highlighted
Test tradeoffs of DNS protocols
- UDP lookups give the standard Do53 baseline that matches the default for most home networks
- DoT, DoH, and DoQ lookups measure the latency cost of privacy-focused protocols
- DNSSEC validation catches resolvers that fail to reject tampered responses
- Equivalent workload on Windows, macOS, and Linux, with system nameserver detection built in
How the DNS benchmark works under the hood
The DNS benchmark is designed to reflect typical lookup patterns encountered in browsing the modern web. A mix of queries for popular domains that are likely cached by the resolver, and uncached lookups that need to reach the authoritative servers.
- Query mix that reflects real browsing
- Each resolver faces a blend of uncached lookups that force fresh responses from authoritative servers and popular-domain queries that exercise the resolver cache the way day-to-day browsing does.
- Full latency distribution per resolver
- Novabench records minimum, maximum, mean, median, standard deviation, and p95/p99 latencies for every resolver, along with success and failure counts.
- Protocol support
- The benchmark tests standard UDP lookups, with the option to test alternative protocols that have different privacy and performance trade-offs.
- Configurable query volume and custom resolvers
- The default of 100 queries per resolver balances statistical reliability with test time. On Plus, you can scale from 10 to 500 queries per resolver and add up to 10 custom nameservers to test corporate or private DNS alongside the public ones.
- DNSSEC validation check
- Turn on DNSSEC validation to verify that each resolver actually rejects tampered responses on signed domains, and see how much latency the validation step adds.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Novabench Free runs the DNS benchmark with UDP against public resolvers on Windows, macOS, and Linux, alongside the full speed test and traceroute. Plus adds the ability to test custom resolvers with additional query configuration.
Benchmark your DNS
Download Novabench free and find your fastest resolver in minutes on Windows, macOS, or Linux.