Dynamic DNS, also known as DDNS, or DynDNS, is a very important tool for mapping domain names to IP addresses. It’s all about allowing a single web address to connect to an IP address that is always changing.
Note that DDNS works best if you want to create a web server at home, or remotely connect to your Windows computer from anywhere in the world. A free DDNS system would make it super easy to get these things up and running if you had no idea prior.
Free Dynamic DNS services
In this post, we will discuss some of the best free Dynamic DNS options that are available:
- Duck DNS
- Dynu
- No-IP
- Afraid.org.
1] Duck DNS
One of the top DDNS options available on the web for free today is Duck DNS, and no, it doesn’t have links with the privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo. The service relies heavily on the Amazon Web Services infrastructure, so if you’re looking for reliability, then this is the spot.
Unfortunately, the user-interface is not the best, but then you realize it is maintained by two software engineers so the quality design is not their strong suit. The good news is, there are a bunch of tutorials on the website for anyone who may get lost. Visit DuckDNS here.
2] Dynu
What we have here is a neat tool designed to set up your home network. We like Dynu because it gives the user the option to use his or her own domain name or a third-level domain, which includes Dynu.com. No matter where the domain originates from, it will work with a problem.
Now, setup is super easy due to the Dynu client running in the background of your computer. This client makes sure your IP addresses are never out of sync, and that’s wonderful, of course.
Note that the free Dynu account has some limitations. Users are limited to four sub-domains, so if you want more than that, prepare to pay. Download Dynu here.
3] No-IP
Have you ever heard of No-IP? You should because it is one of the old players in the DDNS market. It began life as a free service, but like many such services, they either give up the free option 100 percent or add limitations.
Fortunately for us, No-IP didn’t go all out in abandoning its free tier. Free users get up to three sub-domains that will never expire as long as the user confirms their activity every 30-days. That can be an issue if folks forget to perform the task, but certainly, it’s easy to set an alarm using Window.
While the No-IP basic offering is limited, it fits the bill for most users, so we have no problem recommending it. Visit No-IP. to start using it.
4] afraid.org
When you want free Dynamic DNS, DNS, and domain hosting, then how about giving afraid.org a chance? Yes, the name is quite strange for a DNS host, but that’s something you shouldn’t worry about. In truth, what we have here is one of the best DDNS free hosting services on the web today.
For those who want to use unlimited domains, worry not. The option is there plus 20 subdomains for each. Furthermore, when it comes to free subdomains, users can only take advantage of five of them.
Note that DNS pointing doesn’t take a long time. In fact, it’s instant, and when it comes down to domains the user can choose from, well, there are over 55,000. There is even free URL redirection, which is a feature many of the DDNS hosts on this list lack. Visit afraid.org to get started.
Read next: Free DNS Lookup Tools & Online services.
