--- title: "Free DNS Lookup — A, MX, TXT, NS and CNAME Records" description: "Free DNS lookup tool. View A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS records for any domain. Verify DNS configuration instantly." canonical: "https://lemwatch.com/tools/dns-lookup" source: "https://lemwatch.com" --- # DNS lookup > View all DNS records for any domain — A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS records. Verify DNS configuration instantly. A DNS lookup shows what the internet currently believes about your domain: where the website lives, where the mail goes, who is allowed to send on your behalf, and which nameservers are authoritative for all of it. Enter a domain above and the check resolves each record type and shows the answers side by side. ## What each record type is for A and AAAA records point a hostname at an IPv4 or IPv6 address — this is what makes the website load. CNAME records alias one hostname to another, which is how most CDN and platform setups are wired. MX records name the servers that accept mail for the domain; get these wrong and mail stops, usually silently. TXT records carry everything else, including the SPF, DKIM and DMARC values that decide whether your email reaches an inbox or a spam folder. NS records name the authoritative nameservers, which is where every other answer ultimately comes from. ## The failures worth knowing about A domain with two sets of nameservers, one at the old provider and one at the new, answering differently depending on which resolver a visitor hits — that is the classic half-migrated site where the problem reproduces for some people and not others. An MX record pointing at a host that no longer exists, which loses mail without bouncing visibly to the sender. Two SPF records on the same domain, which is invalid and causes both to be ignored. A CNAME on the apex domain, which is not permitted and behaves differently at every provider. A TTL left at a very long value right before a planned migration, which turns a fifteen-minute cutover into a day of split traffic. ## Reading the answers with propagation in mind DNS is cached at every layer between you and the authoritative server, so "it has not propagated" usually means a resolver somewhere is still serving the old answer until the TTL expires. Lowering the TTL a day before a change, and raising it again afterwards, avoids most migration pain. When a change looks like it has not applied, compare what the authoritative nameserver returns with what a public resolver returns — if they differ, you are waiting on a cache, not on a broken record. ## Why it is worth watching rather than checking DNS records change rarely and matter enormously, which is exactly the profile of a thing that breaks unnoticed. A changed A record means someone moved your site; a changed MX record means someone moved your mail; a changed NS record means someone else now controls the answers. Continuous DNS monitoring compares each resolution against the last and tells you when any of that happens. ## What this tool checks - A records (IPv4 addresses) - AAAA records (IPv6 addresses) - CNAME records (aliases) - MX records (mail servers) - TXT records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) - NS records (nameservers) ## Why it matters DNS misconfiguration can make your site unreachable, break email delivery, or create security vulnerabilities. Regular DNS checks catch issues before they affect users. ## How to fix what it finds - Ensure A records point to the correct server IP - Verify MX records for email delivery - Add SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for email authentication - Check nameserver delegation is correct ## Methodology We resolve the domain you enter against public recursive resolvers and report the answer set for each record type: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and NS. Queries run in parallel with a short timeout, and an empty answer is reported as an empty answer rather than as an error, because plenty of domains legitimately have no AAAA or no CNAME. MX answers are shown with their preference values in priority order, since a lower number is tried first and a misordered set sends mail to the wrong host. TXT answers are returned verbatim so you can read the SPF, DKIM and DMARC values exactly as a receiving mail server sees them, including any quoting. We report what the resolver returns at the moment you ask, which is the cached view most of the internet has; if you have just made a change, that view may lag the authoritative record until the previous TTL expires. ## This tool also answers ### Is there a DNS records lookup tool? Yes — enter a domain above and this tool resolves A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SOA and CAA records in one pass, straight from public resolvers, with no signup and no query limit. ### How do I check nameservers online? Run the lookup and read the NS section. It lists the authoritative nameservers currently serving the domain, which tells you which provider actually controls DNS — often different from where the domain was bought. ### How do I check MX records online? The MX block in the results shows every mail exchanger with its priority, so you can confirm mail is pointed at the right provider. Missing or misordered MX records are the usual reason inbound email silently disappears. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why do I see the old IP address after changing my A record? Resolver caching. The previous record's TTL governs how long caches may keep the old answer. Until it expires, some visitors reach the old address and some the new. Lower the TTL a day before a planned change to shorten that window. ### Can I point my apex domain at a CNAME? Not in standard DNS. Providers offer workarounds — ALIAS, ANAME, flattened CNAME — that resolve to an address behind the scenes. Behaviour differs between providers, so check what yours actually returns rather than assuming. ### Why is my mail failing when the website works? Website and mail are different records. A and CNAME control the site; MX controls mail. Moving hosting without copying the MX records across is one of the most common ways a business loses email during a migration. ### How many SPF records should a domain have? Exactly one. Two TXT records both starting v=spf1 is a configuration error, and receiving servers are entitled to ignore both. Merge them into a single record with all the required include mechanisms. ### What TTL should I use? For stable records, an hour or more is fine and reduces lookup load. Before a planned migration, drop it to a few minutes a day ahead so the cutover is quick, then raise it again once the change has settled. ### Does this show DNSSEC status? No. This lookup reports the record answers themselves. DNSSEC validation is a separate check, and a domain can have perfectly correct records with or without it. ### Is there a DNS records lookup tool? Yes — enter a domain above and this tool resolves A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SOA and CAA records in one pass, straight from public resolvers, with no signup and no query limit. ### How do I check nameservers online? Run the lookup and read the NS section. It lists the authoritative nameservers currently serving the domain, which tells you which provider actually controls DNS — often different from where the domain was bought. ### How do I check MX records online? The MX block in the results shows every mail exchanger with its priority, so you can confirm mail is pointed at the right provider. Missing or misordered MX records are the usual reason inbound email silently disappears. ## Lemwatch at a glance - What it is: website monitoring that checks uptime, page changes, SEO, security, SSL and speed in one tool. - Free plan: 10 sites, no time limit, all check types. - Pro: $19/mo, 50 sites, public API and webhooks. - Agency: $59/mo, 150 sites, white-label status pages. - Source: https://lemwatch.com/pricing (facts verified from the product's own plan limits). ## Related - [All free tools](https://lemwatch.com/tools) - [SSL checker](https://lemwatch.com/tools/ssl-checker) - [SPF DKIM DMARC checker](https://lemwatch.com/tools/spf-dkim-dmarc-checker) - [meta tag analyzer](https://lemwatch.com/tools/meta-tag-analyzer) - [website carbon calculator](https://lemwatch.com/tools/carbon-calculator) - [Lemwatch pricing](https://lemwatch.com/pricing) - [All monitoring checks](https://lemwatch.com/features) - [domain age checker](https://lemwatch.com/tools/domain-age-checker)