dnsmasq
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 6 DNS servers
Lightweight DNS and DHCP server that people run on routers and home labs, praised for simplicity and reliability. Critics cite recurring security vulnerabilities.
26 people recommended dnsmasq in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 46 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 43 of those comments still count.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 26
- mixed feelings
- 3
- warn against or regret it
- 9
The record
Recommended in 10 of 12 months
In 17 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 26 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 17 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 19% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 45 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable, runs without problems
“dnsmasq has served me well for like an eternity in multiple setups”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “CERT is releasing six CVEs for serious security vulnerabilities in dnsmasq” “dnsmasq handling the resolve and I have not had a single issue”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “macOS 26 breaks custom DNS settings including .internal” “No problems no issues. Just quietly runs in the background.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “You Can Run a DNS Server” - Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “Falsehoods Programmers Believe About LANs”
Simple, lightweight and easy to set up
“migrating to dnsmasq for DHCP alone was extremely simple, light weight and most importantly trivial to comprehend”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server” “dnsmasq plus a cron on a server of your choice will do this pretty easily”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “Blocking LLM crawlers without JavaScript” “hosting local DNS service is easy as `apt-get install dnsmasq”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “My Homelab Setup” DNS and DHCP in one tool
“configure your router's DHCP to assign specific DNS servers per MAC address with dnsmasq managing time windows”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban” “dnsmasq is awesome if you want a one-stop shop for DHCP and DNS for sure.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server” “dnsmasq is the defacto tool on these embedded devices for dhcp+dns”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “DNS Explained – How Domain Names Get Resolved” Good local DNS features
“I use dnsmasq mostly for its fantastic integration with DNS.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server” “you can also make wildcard DNS pretty easily in dnsmasq”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “My Homelab Setup” “dnsmasq for DNS whitelisting”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Running Claude Code dangerously (safely)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Recurring security holes and CVEs
“a remote attacker capable of asking DNS queries or answering DNS queries can cause a large OOB write in the heap.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “CERT is releasing six CVEs for serious security vulnerabilities in dnsmasq” “It's a good thing this software isn't used in millions of devices which almost never receive updates.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “CERT is releasing six CVEs for serious security vulnerabilities in dnsmasq” “dnsmasq has had so many freaking security holes in 2025 and 2026”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root” - Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root”
Bugs and wrong local resolution
“the latest versions contain many non-CVE bug fixes”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “CERT is releasing six CVEs for serious security vulnerabilities in dnsmasq” “I've had issues with dnsmasq in the past where it was remotely resolving domains even when they were configured to resolve locally”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “New gTLD Application for .lan”
Other DNS servers people recommend
The four most recommended other DNS servers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dnsmasqThis page | 26 | 3 | 9 | 74% | 10 | — | Approved |
| BIND 9 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 64% | 8 | — | — |
| PowerDNS | 13 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 10 | — | Approved |
| djbdns | 7 | 0 | 2 | 78% | 6 | — | — |
| Technitium DNS Server | 7 | 0 | 2 | 78% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 45 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which will quickly set you right after any GUA change”
“This Just Works™ on dnsmasq, which is one of the most widely-deployed DNS+DHCP servers on SoHo gear.”
“I've had issues with dnsmasq in the past where it was remotely resolving domains even when they were configured to resolve locally”
“It might not look pretty, but it works really well.”
“has had so many freaking security holes in 2025 and 2026”
“dnsmasq has had so many freaking security holes in 2025 and 2026”
“Just run ADGUARD or unbound/dnsmasq/dnsdist in recursive mode on your router or machine.”
“Out came Docker, dnsmasq, miles of duct tape and a whole lot of swearing.”
“Consider coredns, dnsmasq, if bind is too much”
“There are few dnsmasq (only?) features that are indispensable to some.”
“to do a simple setup you'd need to glue together at least 3 daemons otherwise”
“I never liked dnsmasq or the Pi-Hole dderivation and do not use it”
“it also goes against the Linux "way of doing things”
“a remote attacker capable of asking DNS queries or answering DNS queries can cause a large OOB write in the heap.”
“dnsmasq has served me well for like an eternity in multiple setups”
“the latest versions contain many non-CVE bug fixes”
“It's a good thing this software isn't used in millions of devices which almost never receive updates.”
“Dnsmasq, you don't need the whole PiHole for that.”
“possible to add block-lists to dnsmasq or unbound”
“dnsmasq on an RPi Zero 2W is the backbone of my self-hosted setup”
“No problems no issues. Just quietly runs in the background.”
“Even easier, just throw together some iptables rules & install dnsmasq.”
“dnsmasq handling the resolve and I have not had a single issue”
“they worked in the most annoying way possible”
“hosting local DNS service is easy as `apt-get install dnsmasq”
“you can also make wildcard DNS pretty easily in dnsmasq”
“It's a wrapper around dnsmasq, so you really just need dnsmasq.”
“far more suited as a recursive server and DHCP provider with some basic authoritative records”
“dnsmasq is the defacto tool on these embedded devices for dhcp+dns”
“dnsmasq for DNS whitelisting”
“then on top of that running dnsmasq locally”
“a bog standard dnsmasq, turn up the logging, that's it”
“configure your router's DHCP to assign specific DNS servers per MAC address with dnsmasq managing time windows”
“NB. I'm not thinking of dnsmasq/PiHole. I'm not suggesting it's "bad”
“migrating to dnsmasq for DHCP alone was extremely simple, light weight and most importantly trivial to comprehend”
“dnsmasq is awesome if you want a one-stop shop for DHCP and DNS for sure.”
“The best part is that you can assign the same IP to multiple interfaces”
“I use dnsmasq mostly for its fantastic integration with DNS.”
“My DHCPv6 is working flawlessly now whereas I was never able to get it running smoothly/persistently on ISC.”
“dnsmasq plus a cron on a server of your choice will do this pretty easily”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.