DynDNS used to be THE free DNS service everyone was always recommending. Unfortunately Dyn has recently announced that it’s free service will cease on May 7th, 2014. This means anyone using their free DNS hosting has to upgrade to a paid version or will get cut off. Their paid version costs $25 per year just for DNS services.
So what are we left with now? Well a slew of free subdomain providers still offer free DNS to their users; and Namecheap is still actively developing their own Namecheap FreeDNS service and it is more robust and resilient than ever. They currently have a large cluster of servers spread across North America and Europe, delivering fast and reliable DNS services. For free.
So those of you who were utilizing the free DynDNS service should start thinking about making a switch to a new provider; or taking the plunge and upgrading to a paid version of DynDNS. However if you’re anything like me – you’re initial reaction is going to be WHYYYYYY? Well Dyn has a very valid answer:
We have an obligation to have the cleanest DNS network possible. There is a danger to a free infrastructure and over the years, we have seen mixed results from our freemium model. We have seen an increase in abuse and a portion of users violating our trust, so we felt closing this down was the most responsible action we could take to our paying customers.
Truth be told – they have a very valid point. And this is probably exactly why Namecheap utilizes a seperate network for their premium DNS service. Albeit this still causes some issues (take note of the Feb. 2014 DDoS attack); however it seems Namecheap is more than happy to continue development and providing their free DNS service.