Software Alternatives & Reviews

NSD VS dnsmasq

Compare NSD VS dnsmasq and see what are their differences

NSD logo NSD

NSD is an authoritative only, high performance, simple and open source name server.

dnsmasq logo dnsmasq

Dnsmasq is a lightweight, easy to configure DNS forwarder and DHCP server.
  • NSD Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-09
  • dnsmasq Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-04-03

NSD videos

NSD Powerball Review 2020: What They Don't Tell You

More videos:

  • Review - NSD Spinner Review And Test
  • Review - SVS PB12-NSD Subwoofer!!! Black Friday!!! Influencing on Amazon!!! MUST WATCH!!!

dnsmasq videos

DHCP Server Setup with Dnsmasq

More videos:

  • Review - Quick Configs Ubiquiti - DNSMASQ & DHCP
  • Review - DD-WRT DNSMasq Setup and Local DNS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NSD and dnsmasq)
Security & Privacy
30 30%
70% 70
Ad Blockers
31 31%
69% 69
Monitoring Tools
44 44%
56% 56
Block Ads
33 33%
67% 67

User comments

Share your experience with using NSD and dnsmasq. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, dnsmasq seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

NSD mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of NSD yet. Tracking of NSD recommendations started around Mar 2021.

dnsmasq mentions (5)

  • Working on Multiple Web Projects with Docker Compose and Traefik
    This seems like an improvement over my current solution in that it can keep multiple projects open simultaneously and route to each of them, but does add more complexity to the setup. I'm using Dnsmasq (https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html) to map anything at .lo to the currently running project, like so:
      brew install dnsmasq.
    - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • easiest way to setup internal DNS routing?
    I would use a simple dns proxy like Blocky if you want adblocking or dnsmasq if you don't. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Frustrated with the hardware I own
    The pervious setup was much the same except the lab was under the UDMP without another gateway. I used UnifiOS to create networks(vLANs) and trusted that segregation to work. It did not. As I progressed in my home lab, I went through a few hypervisors and settled on EXSi and vSphere. 100% overkill but that is what labbing is for right? Again progressing through and adding things like windows AD and many Home... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Can I use a custom dns entry to get to my local dev site?
    If you can handle all these, then the easiest way to setup a local dev DNS is dnsmasq. You can install it via HomeBrew. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Is there any way to boot an operating system over PXE?
    If you are still interested, I heartily suggest using dnsmasq to do the dhcp/tftp/PXE service. I’ve used it on airgapped networks to boot systems and install a base Linux OS or run diagnostic tools. Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing NSD and dnsmasq, you can also consider the following products

BIND - BIND is by far the most widely used DNS software on the Internet.

PowerDNS - PowerDNS offers open source DNS software, services, and support.

Unbound - Unbound is a validating, recursive, and caching DNS resolver.

Knot DNS - High-performance authoritative-only DNS server

AdGuard - Surf the Web Ad-Free and Safely. Shield up!

Simple DNS Plus - DNS Server for Windows