About DNSTail

Why DNSTail exists

DNSTail was born out of necessity. Like many tools developers build, it started as a solution to scratch an itch—my own.

Over the years, I found myself needing the same thing across different projects and services: a reliable way to monitor DNS changes. Whether it was detecting when a domain's A record changed, watching for MX record updates, or catching unexpected DNS modifications, the problem kept coming back.

Each time, I'd cobble together scripts, set up cron jobs, deal with false positives, and spend hours debugging why my monitoring solution missed a critical change. It was tedious, error-prone, and honestly, a waste of time that could have been spent building actual features.

The problem with existing solutions

I looked for existing services to handle this. What I found was either too general (full infrastructure monitoring platforms that happened to include DNS), too expensive for what I needed, or simply didn't exist in the way I wanted it to work.

I wanted something purpose-built for DNS monitoring. Something simple, reliable, and developer-friendly. A service that would just work, alert me when something changed, and get out of the way the rest of the time.

Built for developers

So I built DNSTail. As a developer, for developers.

The goal was simple: externalize DNS verification so you can focus on building your product instead of babysitting DNS checks. You shouldn't have to worry about:

• Writing and maintaining monitoring scripts
• Dealing with DNS propagation quirks and false positives
• Setting up infrastructure just to watch for changes
• Debugging why you missed a critical DNS update
• Managing rate limits when querying DNS servers

A serious, well-tested service

DNSTail is built to be reliable. It's the service I wish existed when I needed it, so I made sure it's:

• Robust: Battle-tested DNS verification logic that handles edge cases and reduces false positives
• Simple: Clean API designed for developers who just want it to work
• Transparent: No hidden complexity, no surprises—just straightforward DNS monitoring
• Focused: Does one thing well instead of being a bloated all-in-one platform

No more hassle

With DNSTail, you set up your monitors once, configure your webhooks or alerts, and then forget about it. We handle the complexity of DNS checks, verification, and filtering out noise so you only get notified when something actually changes.

Whether you're monitoring your production domains, keeping tabs on third-party DNS configurations, or need to be alerted immediately when DNS records change, DNSTail has you covered.

Join us

If you've ever spent hours debugging DNS issues, missed a critical domain change, or just want to sleep better knowing your DNS is monitored, DNSTail is for you.

Start monitoring your DNS today and spend your time building what matters.