PowerDNS
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 6 DNS servers by recommenders
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.
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.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Handles DNSSEC with simple commands
“PowerDNS has nice cli to deal with DNSSEC and bind (file) backend so I don't have to deal with it by hand.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “You Can Run a DNS Server” “adding DNSSEC is basically two CLI invocations per domain”
Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “Aws.com and google.com don't have DNSSEC enabled” “I've run DNSSEC with all three and have no complaints.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “You Can Run a DNS Server” Flexible backends and API access
“PowerDNS has nice cli to deal with DNSSEC and bind (file) backend so I don't have to deal with it by hand.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “You Can Run a DNS Server” “PowerDNS auth server supports dynamic DNS and you can filter access by IP and TSIG-KEY”
Comment from 21 Mar 2026 in “You Can Run a DNS Server” “PowerDNS has an API which is working pretty well”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “DNS-Persist-01: A New Model for DNS-Based Challenge Validation” - Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “deSEC – Free Secure DNS”
Full control of own DNS
“so I have direct control over my public namespace”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?” “I can administer my DNS records any way I want”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “deSEC – Free Secure DNS”
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 | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dnsmasq | 32 | 11 | 74% | 10 | — | Approved |
| BIND 9 | 17 | 9 | 65% | 8 | — | — |
| PowerDNSThis page | 15 | 0 | 100% | 10 | — | Approved |
| djbdns | 8 | 2 | 80% | 6 | — | — |
| Technitium DNS Server | 7 | 2 | 78% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
12 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“so I have direct control over my public namespace”
“I can administer my DNS records any way I want”
“they don't make it too difficult to contribute”
“adding DNSSEC is basically two CLI invocations per domain”
“PowerDNS will look after everything else”
“these days I'd use something like PowerDNS with”
“Powered by PowerDNS and Rails”
“PowerDNS has nice cli to deal with DNSSEC and bind (file) backend so I don't have to deal with it by hand.”
“I've run DNSSEC with all three and have no complaints.”
“PowerDNS auth server supports dynamic DNS and you can filter access by IP and TSIG-KEY”
“PowerDNS has an API which is working pretty well”
“This is convenient because you don't have to synchronize zone files on multiple hosts.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.