NLnetLabs/unbound

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

4932 stars · 456 forks observed · 2026-09-23

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Unbound is a validating, recursive, and caching DNS resolver written in C, designed to be fast and lean while implementing modern open standards. It supports DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS for encrypted client communication, plus privacy features like query name minimisation and aggressive use of the DNSSEC-validated cache.

Use cases

• run a local recursive DNS resolver for my machine or network
• set up a validating DNSSEC caching resolver
• encrypt DNS queries with DNS-over-TLS or DNS-over-HTTPS
• self-host a fast DNS resolver to replace my ISP's DNS
• improve DNS privacy with query name minimisation
• run a caching resolver for a home lab or router
• load a copy of the root zone with authority zones

When to choose

• you need a recursive, caching resolver rather than an authoritative name server
• you want DNSSEC validation and encrypted DNS (DoT/DoH) out of the box
• you need a fast, lean resolver that ships in most Linux and BSD base systems
• privacy is a priority and you want standards-based features like qname minimisation

When to avoid

• you need an authoritative name server to serve your own zones - use NSD instead
• you want a full recursive resolver library to embed in an application rather than a daemon
• you need a DNS proxy or load balancer rather than a full resolver

Facets

service · maturity stable

networking caching security privacy networking security privacy self-hosted windows bsd cross-platform self-hosted dns-resolver dnssec dns-over-tls dns-over-https recursive-resolver caching-resolver nlnet-labs linux macos

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markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="NLnetLabs/unbound")