Technitium DNS Server
DNS server with a web console for hosting zones and blocking domains.
- Replaces
-
Paid DNS filtering services, such as NextDNS.
All open-source alternatives to NextDNS
- Difficulty
-
Difficulty: Easy
1 service, 2 volume mounts, no env values to set, no elevated host access. Heuristic score 1 of 11: easy.
- Stack
C# (language)
- Deployment
docker_compose
- Requirements
Not stated.
- License
-
GPL-3.0(OSI-approved open source)Read from github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/LICENSE
- Business model
-
Unknown
The README at the pinned commit does not state a business model, so it stays unknown.
Source: github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/README.md, read on .
- Repository
GitHub stats
- Stars
- 10,195
- Forks
- 807
- Open issues and pull requests
- 160
- Last push
- 2026-10-17
- Latest release
- v15.6.2
- Released
- 2026-10-17
From the GitHub API on . These numbers are a snapshot, not live. GitHub detected the license as GPL-3.0.
Compose file
services:
dns-server:
container_name: dns-server
hostname: dns-server
image: docker.io/technitium/dns-server:latest
# For DHCP deployments, use "host" network mode and remove all the port mappings, including the ports array by commenting them
# network_mode: "host"
ports:
- "5380:5380/tcp" #DNS web console (HTTP)
# - "53443:53443/tcp" #DNS web console (HTTPS)
- "53:53/udp" #DNS service
- "53:53/tcp" #DNS service
# - "853:853/udp" #DNS-over-QUIC service
# - "853:853/tcp" #DNS-over-TLS service
# - "443:443/udp" #DNS-over-HTTPS service (HTTP/3)
# - "443:443/tcp" #DNS-over-HTTPS service (HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2)
# - "80:80/tcp" #DNS-over-HTTP service (use with reverse proxy or certbot certificate renewal)
# - "8053:8053/tcp" #DNS-over-HTTP service (use with reverse proxy)
# - "67:67/udp" #DHCP service
environment:
- DNS_SERVER_DOMAIN=dns-server #The primary fully qualified domain name used by this DNS Server to identify itself.
# - DNS_SERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=password #DNS web console admin user password.
# - DNS_SERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD_FILE=password.txt #The path to a file that contains a plain text password for the DNS web console admin user.
# - DNS_SERVER_PREFER_IPV6=false #DNS Server will use IPv6 for querying whenever possible with this option enabled.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_LOCAL_ADDRESSES=172.17.0.1,127.0.0.1 #Comma separated list of network interface IP addresses that you want the web service to listen on for requests. The "172.17.0.1" address is the built-in Docker bridge. The "[::]" is the default value if not specified. Note! This must be used only with "host" network mode.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_HTTP_PORT=5380 #The TCP port number for the DNS web console over HTTP protocol.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_HTTPS_PORT=53443 #The TCP port number for the DNS web console over HTTPS protocol.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_ENABLE_HTTPS=false #Enables HTTPS for the DNS web console.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_USE_SELF_SIGNED_CERT=false #Enables self signed TLS certificate for the DNS web console.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_TLS_CERTIFICATE_PATH=/etc/dns/tls/cert.pfx #The file path to the TLS certificate for the DNS web console.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_TLS_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD=password #The password for the TLS certificate for the DNS web console.
# - DNS_SERVER_WEB_SERVICE_HTTP_TO_TLS_REDIRECT=false #Enables HTTP to HTTPS redirection for the DNS web console.
# - DNS_SERVER_OPTIONAL_PROTOCOL_DNS_OVER_HTTP=false #Enables DNS server optional protocol DNS-over-HTTP on TCP port 8053 to be used with a TLS terminating reverse proxy like nginx.
# - DNS_SERVER_RECURSION=AllowOnlyForPrivateNetworks #Recursion options: Allow, Deny, AllowOnlyForPrivateNetworks, UseSpecifiedNetworkACL.
# - DNS_SERVER_RECURSION_NETWORK_ACL=192.168.10.0/24, !192.168.10.2 #Comma separated list of IP addresses or network addresses to allow access. Add ! character at the start to deny access, e.g. !192.168.10.0/24 will deny entire subnet. The ACL is processed in the same order its listed. If no networks match, the default policy is to deny all except loopback. Valid only for `UseSpecifiedNetworkACL` recursion option.
# - DNS_SERVER_RECURSION_DENIED_NETWORKS=1.1.1.0/24 #Comma separated list of IP addresses or network addresses to deny recursion. Valid only for `UseSpecifiedNetworkACL` recursion option. This option is obsolete and DNS_SERVER_RECURSION_NETWORK_ACL should be used instead.
# - DNS_SERVER_RECURSION_ALLOWED_NETWORKS=127.0.0.1, 192.168.1.0/24 #Comma separated list of IP addresses or network addresses to allow recursion. Valid only for `UseSpecifiedNetworkACL` recursion option. This option is obsolete and DNS_SERVER_RECURSION_NETWORK_ACL should be used instead.
# - DNS_SERVER_ENABLE_BLOCKING=false #Sets the DNS server to block domain names using Blocked Zone and Block List Zone.
# - DNS_SERVER_ALLOW_TXT_BLOCKING_REPORT=false #Specifies if the DNS Server should respond with TXT records containing a blocked domain report for TXT type requests.
# - DNS_SERVER_BLOCK_LIST_URLS= #A comma separated list of block list URLs.
# - DNS_SERVER_FORWARDERS=1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8 #Comma separated list of forwarder addresses.
# - DNS_SERVER_FORWARDER_PROTOCOL=Tcp #Forwarder protocol options: Udp, Tcp, Tls, Https, Quic.
# - DNS_SERVER_LOG_USING_LOCAL_TIME=true #Enable this option to use local time instead of UTC for logging.
- DNS_SERVER_LOG_FOLDER_PATH=/var/log/technitium/dns #The folder path on the server where the log files should be saved.
# - DNS_SERVER_LOG_MAX_LOG_FILE_DAYS=365 #Max number of days to keep the log files. Log files older than the specified number of days will be deleted automatically. Set 0 to disable auto delete.
# - DNS_SERVER_STATS_ENABLE_IN_MEMORY_STATS=false #This option will enable in-memory stats and only Last Hour data will be available on Dashboard. No stats data will be stored on disk.
# - DNS_SERVER_STATS_MAX_STAT_FILE_DAYS=365 #Max number of days to keep the dashboard stats. Stat files older than the specified number of days will be deleted automatically. Set 0 to disable auto delete.
volumes:
- config:/etc/dns
- logs:/var/log/technitium/dns
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -f http://127.0.0.1:5380/api/dnsClient/healthCheck | grep '\"status\":\"ok\"'"]
#test: ["CMD", "dig", "+short", "+norecurse", "+retry=0", "@127.0.0.1", "localhost"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
retries: 3
start_period: 10s
restart: unless-stopped
sysctls:
- net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range=1024 65535 #remove when using "host" network mode
volumes:
config:
logs:
From the app's own repository: github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml.
Compose file from the app repository.
Install
- Docker with the Compose plugin (github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml)
A host with Docker and the Docker Compose plugin. This entry runs from a compose file.
- Save the compose file as docker-compose.yml (github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml)
Use the compose file shown above.
- Start it (github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml)
docker compose up -d - Open the app (github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml)
Open http://localhost:5380. The compose file publishes host port 5380 for the dns-server service.
Compose file check: config_ok on 2026-10-22.
Gotchas and maintenance
Gotchas
- Some images use the latest tag or no tag. Images without a pinned version: dns-server: docker.io/technitium/dns-server:latest. A later pull can get a different version. (github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml, checked 2026-10-22)
- The compose file publishes host ports. Host ports: 5380 (dns-server), 53/udp (dns-server), 53 (dns-server). A port without a host address listens on all host network interfaces. (github.com/TechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer/blob/0dd592a/docker-compose.yml, checked 2026-10-22)
Signals
- Open issues and pull requests: 160
- Last push: 2026-10-17 (4 days before this page was built)
- Latest release: v15.6.2 on 2026-10-17 (4 days before this page was built)