This also means that your computer’s IP address is ever-changing, making it difficult to connect with the outside world. Dynamic DNS solves this issue by constantly updating its DNS service with your latest IP address. If you are looking to run a home network, here, in no particular order, are some of the best free dynamic DNS providers.
1. Namecheap
Namecheap provides a free dynamic DNS app with its domains, which just so happens to be one of the best DNS services. It’s fast and responsive, quickly reporting your changes to Google DNS. Namecheap is a service that’s quietly been one of the simpler, faster options and is particularly beneficial for those registering and hosting their own domains.
2. YDNS
YDNS is a free dynamic DNS provider that only asks for you to sign up with your email address and password before getting started with it. Unless you’re using a custom domain name, you’re restricted to using the “ydns.eu” domain, but for many people, that will suffice. There’s no limit to the amount of custom domains or hosts you can have on YDNS, and there’s support for the DNSSEC security extension. It works with the majority of dynamic DNS implementations. More tech-savvy users can also download the bash script for YDNS, using that to update the dynamic hosts.
3. FreeDNS
With its extremely minimal presentation, FreeDNS offers one of the simplest ways to quickly set yourself up with a Dynamic DNS. (It also offers static DNS services.) The process for setting up an account is quite straightforward, making DNS pointing instantaneous.
4. ClouDNS
ClouDNS offers free dynamic DNS services for Windows, macOS, Linux, and all other types of Unix systems. As one of the most popular DNS hosting serviceS, ClouDNS currently supports four DNS servers, one DNS zone, and up to 50 DNS records for free account users.
5. Dynu
Dynu DNS is a reliable dynamic DNS provider. It offers free and paid versions, with the paid version having some additional features. However, the free version will provide reliable DNS uptime through a number of servers located across the world. This is important because it implies that even top-level domains will work, regardless of the countries they belong to. It’s free to download THE DDNS client, which will run in the background and automatically updates the DNS record when your IP address changes. With the free version, all the services are available for just one subdomain. These services include email service, domain registration, and SSL certificates. With the paid version, you have all the services for an unlimited amount of subdomains.
6. DuckDNS
This system, however, has a decent amount of written tutorials to help set up DuckDNS on a number of platforms. These platforms include, but are not limited to, macOS, Windows, and Linux. Your account is allowed to have four subdomains on duckdns.org. You will only get more if you make donations to the team.
7. No-IP
This US-based DDNS provider offers a free package as well as two paid packages. The free version limits you to three hostnames, a limited number of domains, and a need for account confirmation every 30 days. If accounts are not confirmed, they are immediately deleted. You also will have floods of adverts in the freeware version. None of these downsides apply to the paid version, however.
8. dynv6
Unlike many other names in this list, dynv6 is a truly free dynamic DNS provider. It quickly assigns public hostnames to any IPv4 or IPv6 addresses without the need to enable your router’s port forwarding or NAT translation. As soon as you finish the basic task of adding a domain with dyn6 as explained above, the dynamic DNS is enabled within seconds.
9. DNSExit
As the last item in our list of free DNS providers, DNSExit is worth trying because of its relative ease in assigning dynamic IP addresses. Aside from dynamic IP addresses, you also get free second level domains under the main domain. There is no obligation to run any paid or premium servers, although the adverts are frequent and annoying. DNSExit also supports the downloading of dynamic DNS clients and DNS failover monitoring for both static and dynamic IP addresses. Image credit: Pixabay All screenshots by Sayak Boral
