A domain name is like a GPS; a DNS server is a database that translates domain names to the corresponding IP addresses. Whether you’re a game developer or a professional gamer, you might want the best DNS server for gaming to gain an edge over your opponents. DNS servers can directly affect your game’s performance through upload and download speeds and lag.
Each time you connect to game servers or watch a video online, your computer performs DNS lookups on a DNS server. A gaming DNS server translates requests for domains to computer-friendly IP addresses. Its speed can greatly affect your internet speed and gaming experience.
In this article, we’ll delve into the significance of DNS servers in gaming, illustrating how they influence performance, speed, and security to determine the best DNS server for gaming.
Table of Content
- Understanding DNS and Its Role in Gaming
- What is DNS
- How Does DNS Affect Gaming?
- Factors to Consider When Choosing a DNS Server for Gaming
- Speed
- Security
- Reliability
- Best DNS Servers for Gaming
- Cloudflare
- Sectigo
- OpenDNS
- Google DNS
- Quad9
- Comodo DNS
- DNS Watch
- Why Choose RedSwitches for Your Gaming Server Needs
- Conclusion
- FAQs
Understanding DNS and Its Role in Gaming
Most gamers consider changing DNS servers on their consoles to improve their gaming experience. But why do you need the best DNS server for gaming?
Let’s find out.
What is DNS?
Domain Name System (DNS) is a phonebook of the internet. It helps browsers connect to websites faster by paring a domain name or computer to a unique number called an IP address.
Every time you connect to the internet, your computer communicates with other computers through IP addresses. Each computer has an IP address, but you don’t have to remember it.
IP addresses are kept on DNS servers, which pair human-readable domain names like example.com to numeric addresses like 192.0.0.1. This gives us the luxury of typing a domain name like example.com on web browsers and navigating to our desired sites.
How Does DNS Affect Gaming?
DNS servers aren’t directly related to your internet connection. They translate requests into IP addresses, controlling the servers you connect to game and app servers and downloading games and updates.
Changing DNS servers for gaming can affect your gaming experience. A slow and unreliable DNS server might cause websites to wait longer before loading. This can cause delays connecting to servers resulting in lag and poor performance.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a DNS Server for Gaming
Before we find out the best DNS server for gaming, let’s first look at important factors to consider when choosing a DNS server.
Speed
Server speed determines how fast data travels from one network to another, making your gaming experience smooth or frustrating. Any buffering can cause delays and cause the game to lose vital details.
You may have a frustrating gaming experience if the latency is too high. Choose a closeby DNS with the least network congestion to ensure faster speeds.
Security
A good DNS server for gaming should protect players from phishing, malware, viruses, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. It provides security for cloud-based, web-filtering, and devices outside the network.
The DNS server should ensure that users don’t enter malicious websites and that attacks from malicious websites don’t enter a user’s computer. It should also protect against DNS spoofing attempts through a network of servers.
Reliability
A reliable DNS server ensures uninterrupted gaming experiences by minimizing delays and downtimes. The server should have high reliability and uptimes over the internet, showing no glitches and interruptions.
A reliable and faster DNS server can improve the performance and stability of online games. We recommended using DNS servers optimized for gaming to get the best possible gaming experience.
Best DNS Servers for Gaming
Here are the best DNS servers for gaming:
1. Cloudflare
Cloudflare DNS is the most secure and fastest DNS server for gaming. It’s best for fierce gamers on a tight budget. It doesn’t just offer raw DNS resolution speed – it comes with tools to mitigate DDOS, spoofing, and on-path attacks.
Unlike other DNS servers, Cloudflare doesn’t mine user data to uncover user activities and behavior. Its main advantages are improved speed and privacy. Cloudflare is a great choice if you want to ditch your slow ISP DNS server.
2. Sectigo
Sectigo is a fast DNS server for gaming that helps improve a website’s availability and reliability. It has built-in DDoS protection, TSIG authentication, and automatic failover to enhance connection security.
Although Sectigo is a paid DNS server for gaming, it has a fast query time of 15.06 ms. It has servers around the globe to ensure users’ requests are closest to the DNS server and enhance the end-user experience.
3. OpenDNS
OpenDNS is a reliable gaming DNS server with over 100 million users across the globe. It’s among the fastest and most secure, blocking over seven million malicious domains while delivering high performance.
Its most preferred version is OpenDNS Home, allowing users to block adult content websites. It’ll help you display websites faster and ensure you’re on the right website by correcting address typos.
4. Google DNS
Google DNS is the world’s leading free DNS server for gaming. It has billions of users, becoming the most popular solution for gaming. The most significant features of the Google DNS server are security and speed.
The DNS server supports many features, including DNS over UDP, TLS, and HTTPS, and a robust internet connection package. However, while Google DNS deletes the querying IP address in 24 to 48 hours, it stores your ISP and location information on the servers forever.
5. Quad9
Quad9 is a non-profit and fast DNS server for gaming. It offers free security and high privacy. Whenever you go to a website, Quad9 blocks all requests to malicious hostnames. It has a list of updated threats up to the minute.
Quad9 does not store any information containing your IP address on its DNS servers. It protects your systems from cyber attacks but doesn’t screen content – only domains are blocked.
6. Comodo DNS
Comodo DNS delivers a fast and reliable DNS server. It comes with free and platinum options for users who want advanced features like encryption and IP blocking. You can use it to remotely protect, control, and monitor user web traffic.
The DNS server protects against phishing, malware domains, malicious sites, botnets, spyware, cookie stealing, anonymizers, and more. It also features millions of domains, including custom black- and blocklists.
7. DNS Watch
DNS Watch is a paid DNS server for gaming that mainly focuses on enhancing the no-logging policy and user privacy. It doesn’t store or process your data in any way, enhancing your privacy on the internet.
The DNS server is great for gaming but is hosted in Germany, so it could be more effective for gamers outside Europe. Its uncensored DNS service ensures your queries are processed quickly without interruptions, enhancing a lag-free gaming experience.
Why Choose RedSwitches for Your Gaming Server Needs
RedSwitches is a leading provider of managed solutions, Infrastructure as a Service, dedicated servers, and smart servers. When it comes to your gaming needs, it’s the ultimate choice to find the best DNS server for gaming.
The company offers exceptional DNS performance, ensuring low latency and minimal downtime, creating a seamless and uninterrupted gaming experience. Unlike other DNS server providers, RedSwitches has a team of experts available to assist you 24/7.
RedSwitches offers an unwavering commitment to enhancing customer support. The support promptly attends to issues, ensuring your gaming server runs smoothly. The DNS server also offers competitive pricing packages to casual and experienced gamers.
Conclusion: The Right DNS Server Makes All the Difference
Whether you’re a professional gamer or game developer, getting the best DNS server for PC gaming is crucial to improving your gaming experience. DNS is a domain name system that maintains and translates domain names to IP addresses.
There are many DNS servers on the internet; each provides fast and reliable services for different audiences. Changing a DNS is fast; you can try out different DNS servers to see which is the best gaming DNS server.
Your choice of the right DNS server will largely depend on your gaming needs. If you’re looking for security, Cloudflare, Sectigo, and Quad9 are the best alternatives. However, the fastest servers are Cloudflare, Sectigo, and OpenDNS.
RedSwitches provides global DNS and dedicated servers to help you enjoy a fast and unhindered gaming experience. Our company offers 24/7 customer support to help you find the most fitting DNS server solutions. You can reach out to us for the best DNS server for gaming.
FAQs
Q-1) Which is better, 1.1.1.1 or 8.8 8.8 for gaming?
1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 offer fast and reliable DNS servers for gaming. While Google’s 8.8.8.8 DNS server is more popular, according to DNSPerf, Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS server is faster. In addition, the 1.1.1.1 DNS server does not store user data, offering more privacy.
Q-2) Is 1.1.1.1 still the fastest DNS?
Yes. DNSPerf ranks 1.1.1.1 as the fastest DNS server for gaming in the world. Considering that it doesn’t sell user data to advertisers, Cloudflare beats other competitors in the market. 1.1.1.1 query time ranges at 13.24ms.
Q-3) Is DNS good for gaming?
A DNS server can have a positive effect on gaming. Connecting to the nearest DNS server can help gamers reduce loading time and some microseconds by pinging the nearest DNS server.
Q-4) How do I get a low ping?
High ping is a gamer’s nightmare. It causes lags and delays, which could mean victory or defeat in a heated shooter battle. Restart your router or device, use a VPN, or connect to a different gamer server to lower your ping.
Q-5) Is DNS faster than VPN?
Unlike DNS servers, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) use part of your bandwidth to provide additional security. Hence, DNS servers are generally faster. Smart DNS can apply to any device, while VPNs can’t.
