Check DNS propagation worldwide (free tool)

You can verify whether a DNS update has completed globally by using our free public lookup at flashcloud.com/tools/dns-propagation-checker. The tool queries more than 25 public resolvers across five continents plus your authoritative nameserver in about 3 seconds. It requires no login and works for any domain on the internet.

If the checker confirms that resolvers around the world return your new record, but your own computer still reaches the old server, the change has propagated. The delay is sitting in your operating system, local browser, or router cache.

How to run a global propagation check

Open the checker in your browser and fill out the query fields:

1. Your domain: Enter the full record name, such as example.com or sub.example.com.
2. Record type: Pick it from the dropdown next to the domain field. The tool supports A (selected by default, the website address), AAAA, MX, and NS.
3. Click Check now.

The tool accepts up to 60 checks per hour per visitor. Results stay cached for 30 seconds. To track an ongoing migration, click Check again under the results.

Every resolver answer is judged against what your domain's authoritative nameserver returns at that moment, so the verdicts always reflect the record you most recently saved.

Resolvers checked and verdict pills

The query tests two classes of resolvers:

• Global anycast resolvers: Google Public DNS, Cloudflare, Quad9, OpenDNS, AdGuard DNS, and Control D. These appear in the results under a Global group because they route queries to whichever point of presence is closest to our checking server.
• Regional ISP and national resolvers: Recursive resolvers located in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Czechia, Poland, Russia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.

The top summary card shows the total count (such as "9 of 26 locations match your nameserver"), the percentage that agrees, your domain's authoritative nameserver and its response, and the exact timestamp. Below the summary, individual cards are grouped into Global services, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Each card lists the provider name, location, the raw answer, the latency in milliseconds (or, for a stale answer, how long until that cache refreshes), and a status pill:

• Up to date: The resolver's answer matches your authoritative nameserver.
• Still old: The resolver returned an outdated record from its local cache. It will continue serving this answer until its cached TTL reaches zero.
• No record: The resolver answered, but no record of that type exists in the zone.
• No answer: The resolver failed to reply or timed out. This indicates an unreachable upstream resolver, not a problem with your domain. Unresponsive resolvers are excluded from the calculated propagation percentage.
• Via Cloudflare: The domain is proxied through Cloudflare edge servers. Every resolver returns Cloudflare anycast addresses instead of your hosting origin. The origin address cannot be verified from the outside while proxy mode is active.

Why propagation takes time

There is no central switch that pushes a DNS update across the globe. As explained in our guide on what affects DNS propagation time (TTL, caches, registrars), resolvers cache DNS answers for the duration defined by the record's TTL (time to live) in seconds.

A record configured with a 300-second TTL usually propagates within 15 minutes worldwide because resolvers dump their cached copy five minutes after their first lookup. A record with a 3600-second (1 hour) or 86400-second (24 hour) TTL will hold the old data until that timer runs out. You cannot force third-party resolvers to drop their cache early. If you are preparing for a migration, lower your TTL a day in advance so resolvers learn the shorter window before you point the domain.

For standard turnaround windows across different DNS providers, read how long DNS propagation takes. Note that load balancers and CDNs that cycle through multiple IP addresses per lookup may occasionally trigger a Still old pill on resolvers that are actually serving live traffic.

Fixing stale results on your own device

If the global checker reports that resolvers around the world see your new IP, but your browser continues to show the old host, your computer or local network is serving a cached lookup. Follow our guide on flushing your DNS cache on Windows, macOS and Linux to clear it.

On Windows, run ipconfig /flushdns from Command Prompt. On macOS, run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder in Terminal. You should also close and reopen your browser or test your site from a phone on cellular data to bypass your local router cache.

If you need to test your website on a new server before updating public DNS records at all, see our walkthrough on previewing your site before changing DNS.

Checking propagation inside the Flashcloud portal

If your hosting service is active with Flashcloud, you do not need to use the public tool manually. We build the same lookup into your account:

1. Log in to portal.flashcloud.com.
2. Go to Services and select your hosting service.
3. Click DNS propagation.

The portal tool includes a hostname dropdown populated with your account's domains, record-type selector pills, and an auto-refresh toggle. The summary panel automatically detects your assigned Flashcloud IP and displays "N of 26 locations see Flashcloud", marking cards with Propagated, Via Cloudflare ✓, or Still old.

When to contact support

If 48 hours have passed since you updated your records, the public checker still returns Still old or No record across authoritative nameservers, or your records do not appear after saving them in the portal's DNS Zone Editor, open a ticket. Go to Support → New ticket in the portal. Include the domain name, the specific record type, and the destination value you configured.

Related: preview your website before DNS points at it with the free preview link, and, if you host with Flashcloud, run the same check from the portal with "sees Flashcloud" verdicts.