About the Nameserver Lookup
NS records say which servers hold the authoritative zone for a domain. Everything else in DNS depends on them: if the registrar points the domain at the wrong name servers, no A, MX or TXT record will be found no matter how correct they are at the old host. This lookup returns the NS set the resolver sees, sorted, with the TTL, and recognises the common DNS hosts from their hostnames, such as Cloudflare, Route 53, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google and Azure.
Use it after changing DNS hosts to confirm the delegation has moved, when a site is down and the A records look fine, or simply to learn where a domain is managed. Name servers are set at the registrar, so if the answer is wrong the fix is in the registrar's control panel rather than in the DNS host.
The query is sent from our edge function to Cloudflare's resolver; the domain name is the only thing transmitted and it is not stored. For the full record set see the DNS lookup; for the registrar and expiry date see the WHOIS lookup.
How to use
- Enter the registrable domain, for example example.com rather than www.example.com.
- Press Look up and read the NS list and the DNS host line.
- Compare with the name servers shown in the registrar account if you are debugging a delegation.
Common questions
- Why does a subdomain return no NS records?
- Most subdomains are not delegated; they are ordinary records inside the parent zone. Query the registrable domain to see the name servers that serve the whole zone.
- How long does a nameserver change take?
- The parent zone (the TLD) publishes NS records with a TTL that is often 24 to 48 hours, so resolvers can hold the old delegation for that long.
- Is the DNS host line always shown?
- Only when the hostnames match a known provider pattern. Vanity name servers such as ns1.yourbrand.com give no provider line.