# PowerDNS 15 Hacker News commenters recommended PowerDNS and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Open source DNS server people run for their own zones, praised for DNSSEC handling, API access, and flexible backends that avoid hand-managing zone files. ## Why people recommend it - Handles DNSSEC with simple commands (3 comments): "PowerDNS has nice cli to deal with DNSSEC and bind (file) backend so I don't have to deal with it by hand." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47518713)) "adding DNSSEC is basically two CLI invocations per domain" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48484741)) "I've run DNSSEC with all three and have no complaints." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47515399)) - Flexible backends and API access (4 comments): "PowerDNS has nice cli to deal with DNSSEC and bind (file) backend so I don't have to deal with it by hand." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47518713)) "PowerDNS auth server supports dynamic DNS and you can filter access by IP and TSIG-KEY" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47472797)) "PowerDNS has an API which is working pretty well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47072393)) - Full control of own DNS (2 comments): "so I have direct control over my public namespace" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50013219)) "I can administer my DNS records any way I want" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569074)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [dnsmasq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dnsmasq.md): 32 recommend - [BIND 9](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bind.md): 17 recommend - [djbdns](https://hackerapproved.com/p/djbdns.md): 8 recommend - [Technitium DNS Server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/technitium-dns-server.md): 7 recommend - [Knot DNS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/knot-dns.md): 6 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "PowerDNS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/powerdns/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).