Are you looking for the best and fastest DNS servers in the USA for 2023, or the best DNS servers for games consoles such as the PS4, PS5 or Xbox? First, we provide known DNS servers used by US ISPs, including Xfinity (Comcast), AT&T Internet, CenturyLink and Verizon. If your broadband performance is slow or sporadic, you could try an alternative DNS server from your provider. Alternatively, you may be best changing your DNS settings to use one of the best Public DNS servers, and we provide the best options below, including Google, Cloudflare and OpenDNS. Since the USA is such a large country, it is vital that you determine the best DNS settings for your particular state and location, and we provide a guide on how to do this.
Getting the right DNS service is critically important for your broadband performance
As described in our guide How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups for Faster Performance, DNS look-ups play a critical role in defining how fast your broadband connection is. Given the geographical size of the United States, a DNS server placed in a faraway state may add substantial delay. This can be made worse if the DNS server used by your broadband provider is unreliable or slow. Manually changing your DNS servers to one of the ones shown in the tables below could make a dramatic difference.
DNS server settings for popular ISPs in the USA
Below are details of DNS servers used by some of the most popular broadband providers in the USA. In general, broadband providers configure router modems to use their own DNS servers, but these may be a significant distance away or may not be the fastest or most reliable. You may find that you will get better performance by using alternative DNS settings from your broadband provider. The servers are ranked in performance (for our location) but you may get different results for your location. Some of the DNS servers work when you are not using that particular broadband provider (so essentially work like Public DNS servers).
Provider/ISP | DNS servers |
---|---|
Xfinity (Comcast) | 75.75.75.75 75.75.76.76 68.87.64.146 68.87.75.194 68.87.73.246 68.87.73.242 68.87.72.134 68.87.72.130 68.87.75.198 68.87.68.166 68.87.68.162 68.87.74.162 68.87.74.166 68.87.76.178 68.87.76.182 |
AT&T Internet | 68.94.156.1 68.94.157.1 12.127.17.72 12.127.16.68 |
CenturyLink | 205.171.2.65 205.171.202.166 205.171.2.26 205.171.3.65 205.171.3.26 205.171.3.66 205.171.2.25 205.171.3.25 |
Verizon Fios | 151.197.0.38 151.202.0.85 151.202.0.84 199.45.32.37 199.45.32.43 151.203.0.85 199.45.32.40 151.197.0.39 199.45.32.38 |
Windstream | 166.102.165.32 207.92.5.32 166.102.165.11 207.91.5.20 |
Spectrum (Charter Communications) | 71.10.216.1 71.10.216.2 209.18.47.61 209.18.47.62 71.10.142.101 |
Frontier | 74.40.74.40 74.40.74.41 |
Cox Communications | 68.1.16.107 68.1.16.108 68.111.106.68 |
Suddenlink | 208.180.42.100 66.76.175.100 |
Sparklight (part of Cable One) | 24.119.5.32 24.116.0.206 |
Mediacom | 108.166.149.2 108.166.149.3 97.64.183.162 97.64.183.163 97.64.209.34 97.64.209.35 97.64.209.37 97.64.168.10 97.64.168.11 |
Table 1: DNS Server Settings For Broadband Providers in the USA
DNS server settings for Public DNS providers in the USA
While many ISPs run their own servers, a number of third parties including Google, Cloudflare and OpenDNS provide independent, so-called ‘Public’ DNS servers. The table below shows some of the most popular Public DNS servers for broadband users in the USA.
Provider | DNS Servers |
---|---|
8.8.4.4 8.8.8.8 |
|
Cloudflare | 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1 |
OpenDNS | 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.222 |
Quad9 | 9.9.9.9 149.112.112.112 |
Level3 | 4.2.2.1 4.2.2.2 4.2.2.3 4.2.2.4 4.2.2.5 4.2.2.6 |
Sprintlink | 204.117.214.10 199.2.252.10 |
NTT | 129.250.35.250 129.250.35.251 |
Comodo Secure | 8.26.56.26 8.20.247.20 |
Verisign | 64.6.64.6 64.6.65.6 |
Table 2: Public DNS Server Settings in the USA
How to identify the best DNS servers for your location
As described in our How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups for Faster Performance guide, we recommend three approaches (in order of time needed) to ensure you select the DNS server for your location:
- just pick one from our list of Public DNS server. Google (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1) are easy to remember and generally give excellent results
- measure the ping to/from several DNS servers and pick ones with the smallest ping (which should ensure that they are close to you)
- download and run software called DNS Benchmark.
Other pages you may be interested in:
How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups | How to Fix Bufferbloat | How to Improve Wi-Fi | 10 Gigabit Ethernet Guide