{"rid":"domains-dns/he-dns","card":{"rid":"domains-dns/he-dns","eid":"he","topic":"domains-dns","slug":"he-dns","provider":"Hurricane Electric Free DNS","url":"https://dns.he.net/","domain":"he.net","category":"managed authoritative DNS","tier":null,"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","confidence":"documented","binding":"write-gated","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":null,"egress_metered":0,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-22T03:05:00.000Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-23","stale_on":"2026-11-22","n_evidence":2,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"free hosted forward and reverse DNS with multiple domains per account, in open beta, for IPv6 certification or tunnelbroker account holders, colocation custo...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":2},"record":{"topic":"domains-dns","slug":"he-dns","provider":"Hurricane Electric Free DNS","url":"https://dns.he.net/","category":"managed authoritative DNS","free_tier":{"stated":"free hosted forward and reverse DNS with multiple domains per account, in open beta, for IPv6 certification or tunnelbroker account holders, colocation customers and transit customers","unit":"objects","source_url":"https://dns.he.net/","read_on":"2026-10-22","metered_on":"none"},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"no record count is published","bytes":null},"retention":{"stated":"zones persist while the account is active","days":null,"source_url":"https://dns.he.net/"},"egress":{"terms":"no query cap published","metered":false,"free_allowance":null,"price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://dns.he.net/"},"interface":["unknown"],"interface_detail":"a web panel; no documented REST API for record management. The dynamic-update path is a key-based URL that takes ipv4 and ipv6 separately and the dyndns key is the credential, which a script can call; the TXT variant exists for ACME DNS-01","tooling":"the web panel for zone and record management; the dyndns URL for dynamic A, AAAA and TXT records; no SDK and no documented REST API","chaining":"reverse DNS and secondary zones, which the other free providers in this set do not do as readily","limits":[{"kind":"write-gated","value":"the service is in open beta and is limited to IPv6 certification or tunnelbroker account holders, colocation customers and transit customers; no record count and no query cap is published","source":"https://dns.he.net/"}],"binding":"write-gated","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"an account plus an IPv6 certification or a tunnelbroker account, or a colocation or transit relationship","country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"documented","confidence_note":"the service page was read today and states the eligibility gate and the dyndns syntax. No account was created, so the record and query caps stay unpublished.","evidence":[{"url":"probe:https://dns.he.net/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"200, 16,458 bytes, the service page and login portal; the service answers and requires an account"},{"url":"https://dns.he.net/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'The Open Beta has been expanded and now includes our IPv6 certification or tunnelbroker account holders, Colocation customers and those with Transit services'; 'Multiple domains per account.'; the dyndns update syntax with separate ipv4 and ipv6 values and a txt= variant for Let's Encrypt DNS-01, where the dynamic record must be created in the panel first"}],"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","verified_at":"2026-10-22T03:05:00.000Z","price_per_tb_month":null,"notes":"An unpublished cap is a discretionary throttle. A design that depends on it has no ceiling to plan against, which is worse than a small published one. The interface field is 'unknown' rather than 'rest' because the only programmatic path is a key-based dyndns URL, which cannot create a zone or enumerate records."},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:write-gated","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.reliability_note","none-observed"]],"history":[{"hid":"history/2026-10-22T041505Z/he-dns-interface-rest-without-rest.md","when":"2026-10-22T04:15:05Z","status":"corrected","title":"Hurricane Electric's free DNS was recorded with `interface: rest` beside a detail field saying it has no REST API"}],"drift":[]}