One of the areas that a lot of computer users do not bother to optimize is the domain name server (DNS) of their Internet connection. A mediocre DNS not only slows down the connection speed on websites and Internet servers in general, but can also be the cause for connection issues and even censorship.
Selecting the right third party DNS provider should require at least some research on the user’s part to find the best suitable server. A user in the US for instance would not necessarily want to pick a European DNS provider and vice versa. Another aspect that plays a role besides speed is the legal situation if a DNS provider in a foreign country or by a foreign company is selected. Plus, you may get extras like options to filter out spam or specific types of sites automatically.
DNS Benchmark is a free portable software for the Windows operating system that can be used to test the speed of multiple DNS servers. The program ships with dozens of pre-added servers that include Google DNS and Open DNS among others. The program comes with options to add or remove particular domain name servers from the listing.
A click on run benchmark runs a series of tests that include name and owner look-ups, status messages and the response time. The latter is further divided into cached and uncached response times.
You can switch to a tabular data view which offers minimum, average and maximum values as well as a providers reliability in percentage.
The program works best for users who have found a few prospective DNS providers on the Internet. These users would add the server IPs of all prospective domain name servers to the DNS Benchmark software to test their speed and reliability.
Speed is of course only one of the variables that computer users need to look at. Interested Windows users can download DNS Benchmark from the official developer website. The program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. An alternative is the previously reviewed Namebench.
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I’m missing 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4 in the screenshot :-)
Well the servers are included in the test ;)