Fastest public DNS servers in India
No public DNS is fastest on every Indian connection. Cloudflare (1.1.1.1), Google (8.8.8.8) and Quad9 (9.9.9.9) answer from whichever anycast site your ISP reaches fastest, so measure on your own line. Quad9 also blocks known malware domains, a separate goal from speed. Changing resolver never moves your website.
For home users, office IT and developers in India choosing a DNS resolver, testing it and fixing lookup errors.
knowledge
- Read time
- 3 min
- Sections
- 5
- Updated
- 14 Nov 2026
- Written by
- WebJi® team
Last editorial update: 14 November 2026.
Which public DNS server is fastest in India?
No public DNS resolver is fastest on every Indian connection: Cloudflare (1.1.1.1), Google (8.8.8.8) and Quad9 (9.9.9.9) all answer from the nearest anycast site your ISP reaches, so the winner depends on your provider and city. Your ISP's own resolver on Jio, Airtel or a local fibre network is often quick too, because it sits inside the same network.
WebJi® does not publish a national ranking, because the route to each anycast site differs by ISP. Measure on the line you actually use, as shown below, and treat any national "fastest DNS" list you did not measure yourself as a guess.
How do Cloudflare, Google, Quad9 and OpenDNS compare?
All four resolve public names reliably; the differences are filtering, privacy policy and the encrypted-DNS hostnames they offer. Quad9's default addresses block known malware domains; the default Cloudflare and Google pairs do not filter.
| Resolver | IPv4 | IPv6 | Encrypted DNS hostname | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1 | 2606:4700:4700::1111, ::1001 | one.one.one.one | No filtering on the default pair |
| Cloudflare malware filter | 1.1.1.2, 1.0.0.2 | 2606:4700:4700::1112, ::1002 | security.cloudflare-dns.com | Blocks known malware |
| Google Public DNS | 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 | 2001:4860:4860::8888, ::8844 | dns.google | No filtering |
| Quad9 | 9.9.9.9, 149.112.112.112 | 2620:fe::fe, 2620:fe::9 | dns.quad9.net | Blocks known malware domains |
| Quad9 unfiltered | 9.9.9.10, 149.112.112.10 | 2620:fe::10, 2620:fe::fe:10 | dns10.quad9.net | Same network, no block list |
| Cisco OpenDNS | 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220 | 2620:119:35::35, 2620:119:53::53 | doh.opendns.com | Category filtering with an account |
Use both addresses from one row; mixing providers makes failures harder to diagnose.
How do you measure DNS speed on your own connection?
Ask each resolver for the same uncached name several times and compare the reported query time; repeat at a busy hour, because evening congestion changes the result.
dig @1.1.1.1 example.in | grep "Query time"
dig @8.8.8.8 example.in | grep "Query time"
dig @9.9.9.9 example.in | grep "Query time"On Windows PowerShell, time a lookup with Measure-Command { Resolve-DnsName example.in -Server 1.1.1.1 -DnsOnly }. The first query to a resolver may be slower while it fetches the answer; the repeats show its cached speed, which is what browsing feels. A low ping to an address is not the same as a fast lookup, so test both, and use the DNS lookup tool to see what a name returns.
How do you change DNS on Windows, Mac, Android and a router?
Note your current addresses, enter both addresses from one resolver in the device or router settings, flush the cache, and look up a name you know. A router change covers every device on that network; a laptop change covers only that laptop.
| Device | Where to change it | Flush command |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 and 11 | Settings › Network › adapter › DNS server assignment › Edit | ipconfig /flushdns |
| macOS | System Settings › Network › active service › Details › DNS | sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder |
| Android 9 and later | Settings › Network › Private DNS › hostname (e.g. one.one.one.one) | Toggle airplane mode |
| Ubuntu with systemd-resolved | Netplan or NetworkManager DNS settings | resolvectl flush-caches |
| Home router | DHCP or WAN DNS settings | Reboot the router, then reconnect devices |
Android's Private DNS encrypts lookups with DNS-over-TLS, so your ISP cannot read or alter them; it takes the hostname, not the IP address.
How is a public DNS resolver different from your domain's nameservers?
A resolver looks up names for your device; nameservers are the authoritative source for a domain's records. Changing 1.1.1.1 on your laptop never moves your website, while changing nameservers at the registrar does.
If a site moved and the world still sees the old server, the fix lies in the domain's records or nameservers, explained in what a nameserver is and DNS propagation. The underlying system is covered in what DNS is.
How do you fix "DNS server not responding"?
The error usually means your device cannot reach a resolver, not that a website was deleted; test on a phone hotspot first to see whether the fault follows the device or the network.
- Connect to a phone hotspot; if the error disappears, the original network or router is the cause.
- Temporarily set a known public pair from the table above.
- Flush the device cache and restart the router.
- If every site works except one domain, restore your old resolver and check that domain's nameservers with checking DNS records.
Frequently asked questions
Does changing DNS make my internet faster?
Only the lookup step, which takes milliseconds per new name. Download speed, streaming and gaming ping are unchanged. A switch helps noticeably only when your current resolver is slow or unreliable.
Is it safe to use Google or Cloudflare DNS?
Yes. Both publish privacy commitments for their public resolvers. If you want malware blocking as well, use Quad9 or Cloudflare's 1.1.1.2 pair; if you want lookups hidden from your ISP, use the encrypted hostname rather than the plain IP.
Can public DNS unblock websites blocked in India?
Sometimes a site blocked only at the ISP's resolver loads with another resolver, but blocks applied at the network or IP level are unaffected. Follow the law and court orders that apply to you; changing DNS is not a way around legal restrictions.
Which DNS should I set on a server or VPS?
Use the hosting provider's resolvers if offered. Otherwise many admins deliberately pair two providers on a server, such as 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8, because independent networks are less likely to fail together and server logs make failures easy to trace.
Checked 15 November 2026 against each resolver's published addresses · Reviewed by the WebJi® team, Jaipur.
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