What is Technitium DNS Server used for?

Technitium DNS Server, a self-hosted authoritative and recursive DNS server with ad blocking, encrypted DNS and a web console. It is a good fit for blocking ads across a home network and running private DNS for an office.

Is Technitium DNS Server open source?

Yes. Technitium DNS Server is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer and is written mainly in C#.

Is Technitium DNS Server free?

Yes. Technitium DNS Server is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Technitium DNS Server?

Yes. Technitium DNS Server can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Technitium DNS Server an alternative to?

Technitium DNS Server is an open-source alternative to Cloudflare, Cisco Umbrella, Gcore and Amazon Route 53. Other open-source alternatives to Cloudflare include PowerDNS.

Is Technitium DNS Server actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Technitium DNS Server was on 26 September 2026, and the latest release is v15.5.1, published on 26 September 2026. The project has 10k stars on GitHub.

Technitium DNS Server: open-source alternative to Cloudflare

About Technitium DNS Server

Technitium DNS Server is an open-source DNS server that can act as both an authoritative and a recursive resolver. People host it themselves for privacy and security, and it works out of the box with little or no configuration. A friendly web console is reachable from any modern browser.

It can block ads and malware at the DNS level for an entire network. By forwarding queries over DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS or DNS-over-QUIC, it limits what an internet provider can see or tamper with. A local DNS server also gives logs and statistics for understanding network activity, serves many queries from cache, and allows network-wide domain blocking. Repository topics also mention DHCP server functions and DNS-over-Tor.

The server is written in C# on .NET and runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi, with Docker support. It is released under the GPL-3.0 license, and the project site at technitium.com provides downloads and documentation. It is suited to home networks and organizations that want more control over name resolution.

Key features

Authoritative and recursive DNS server
Network-wide ad and malware blocking
DNS-over-TLS, HTTPS and QUIC forwarders
Browser-based web console
DNS logs and statistics
Windows, Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi support

Good fit for

→Blocking ads across a home network
→Running private DNS for an office

Built with: C#; .NET
Tags: dns; dns-server; privacy; ad-blocking; dhcp; self-hosted; dotnet; network

Technitium DNS Server: questions and answers

What is Technitium DNS Server used for?: Technitium DNS Server, a self-hosted authoritative and recursive DNS server with ad blocking, encrypted DNS and a web console. It is a good fit for blocking ads across a home network and running private DNS for an office.
Is Technitium DNS Server open source?: Yes. Technitium DNS Server is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer and is written mainly in C#.
Is Technitium DNS Server free?: Yes. Technitium DNS Server is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Technitium DNS Server?: Yes. Technitium DNS Server can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Technitium DNS Server an alternative to?: Technitium DNS Server is an open-source alternative to Cloudflare, Cisco Umbrella, Gcore and Amazon Route 53. Other open-source alternatives to Cloudflare include PowerDNS.
Is Technitium DNS Server actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Technitium DNS Server was on 26 September 2026, and the latest release is v15.5.1, published on 26 September 2026. The project has 10k stars on GitHub.