# Google Public DNS

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Google Public DNS and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a fast DNS resolver that never blocks domains and rarely goes down. Critics' main caveat is privacy, as Google can build profiles of activity.

## Why people recommend it

- Reliable, works when others fail (6 comments): "Gone back to Google DNS (gasp) for now, yes as a European... no blocking, fast, never goes down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706799)) "This is the one area where I continue to use Google DNS as it just works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47479526)) "If you set your DNS to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 everything works fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49129961))
- No domain blocking, bypasses censorship (3 comments): "I think changing your default DNS servers to Google 8.8.8.8 or Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 might bypass the spanish sunday ban" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47741690)) "Gone back to Google DNS (gasp) for now, yes as a European... no blocking, fast, never goes down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706799)) "no blocking, fast, never goes down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48705449))
- Fast, low latency (3 comments): "Gone back to Google DNS (gasp) for now, yes as a European... no blocking, fast, never goes down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706799)) "no blocking, fast, never goes down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48705449)) "consistently has the lowest latency" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49572080))
- Easy alternative to ISP DNS (2 comments): "just configure a DNS server other than the ISP-provided one" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46426549)) "I would rather just use cloudflare or google's DNS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48406543))

## What people warn about

- Profiles users and logs domain visits (4 comments): "The fact that Cloudflare and Google have convinced us all to use Cloudflare's and Google's resolvers is the problem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041588)) "builds profiles and extensive activity records on its users" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50222914)) "one of the largest data mining companies out there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431019))
- Breaks public wifi and streaming (3 comments): "I've run into issues with using public wifi when I override my MacBook's DNS server to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49469348)) "switched to 8.8.8.8 DNS at home and my Netflix streaming become extrelemly slow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48725718)) "these cansometimes direct users to incorrect CDN servers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46136924))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Cloudflare DNS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-dns.md): 52 recommend
- [Unbound DNS resolver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unbound.md): 45 recommend
- [systemd-resolved](https://hackerapproved.com/p/systemd-resolved.md): 10 recommend
- [Numa DNS resolver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/numa-dns-resolver.md): 10 recommend
- [DNS4EU](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dns4eu.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Google Public DNS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-public-dns/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).