Who Hosts a Domain's DNS?
When people ask who hosts this domain, they often mean three different companies at once. The DNS host answers lookups, the web host runs the website, and the registrar manages the registration. Each is found a different way. This guide untangles the three and shows exactly how to identify each one.
Three different hosts
The word host hides three distinct roles, and confusing them is the most common reason people look in the wrong place:
- DNS host — the provider whose nameservers answer DNS queries for the domain.
- Web host — the company running the server the website actually lives on.
- Registrar — the company the domain name is registered through.
These are frequently three separate companies. A domain might register with one provider, host DNS with a second, and serve its website from a third. Work out which one you care about, then use the matching method below.
Find the DNS host
The DNS host is identified by the domain's nameservers. Query the NS records:
The hostnames returned, such as ns1.somedns.net, almost always name the DNS provider directly. For a deeper walkthrough, see our guide on how to find your nameservers.
Find the web host
The web host runs the server the domain points to, so start by finding that address with the A record:
Take the IP address that comes back and look it up against an IP or ASN database. The organization that owns the address block is usually the hosting provider or, behind a CDN, the network in front of it. Note that a CDN or proxy can mask the true origin server, so the owner you see may be the edge network rather than the host itself.
Find the registrar
The registrar appears in the domain's WHOIS record. Run a lookup:
Read the Registrar field for the company the domain is registered through. For more on the other fields a WHOIS record contains, see how to perform a WHOIS lookup.
Handy tools
If you would rather not use the command line, ZoneWatcher's free DNS lookup tools let you read NS, A, and other records straight from your browser, which covers the DNS-host and web-host steps in a couple of clicks.
Once you know who runs each layer, you may want to keep an eye on it. An unexpected change of DNS host or registrar can be an early warning sign, and continuous monitoring catches it far faster than periodic manual checks.