DNS Speed Test

The Two Giants of DNS

When people decide to switch away from their ISP's default DNS server, two names come up more than any others: Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 and Google Public DNS 8.8.8.8. Together they handle billions of DNS queries per day from every corner of the internet. Both are free, both support modern encrypted DNS protocols, and both claim to put user privacy first. But they are not identical, and the differences matter depending on what you care about.

Cloudflare launched 1.1.1.1 in April 2018, making it the newest major player in the public DNS space. The company already operated one of the world's largest content delivery networks, so adding a DNS resolver was a natural extension. Cloudflare's pitch was simple: the fastest DNS resolver on the planet, combined with a privacy policy that logs nothing and deletes everything within 24 hours. KPMG audits the claim annually.

Google Public DNS has been around since December 2009, making it the elder statesman of the comparison. Google built it to make the web faster and more secure, and it has been rock-solid ever since. Google's infrastructure is enormous, and its DNS service benefits from the same global network that powers Search, YouTube, and Gmail. The trade-off is that Google retains anonymized query logs for 24 to 48 hours for debugging, which puts it a step behind Cloudflare on pure privacy.

This comparison breaks down every dimension that matters: raw speed, regional performance differences, privacy policies, security features, reliability, encrypted DNS support, and practical setup instructions. We tested both resolvers from 8 countries using DNS-over-HTTPS queries to produce the benchmark data below.

Speed Benchmarks: Cloudflare vs Google

Speed is the headline feature for both providers, and it is where Cloudflare pulls ahead. Our testing measured uncached DNS lookup times using DoH queries from multiple geographic locations. Here are the global averages:

Global Average Response Times

Cloudflare 1.1.1.1: 11 ms median response time. Cloudflare's anycast network routes your query to the nearest of over 300 edge locations worldwide. The physical distance between you and the resolver is the single biggest factor in DNS latency, and Cloudflare's network density gives it a consistent advantage. In North America and Europe, response times regularly dropped below 8 ms. In Asia-Pacific, results ranged from 12 to 25 ms depending on the country.

Google 8.8.8.8: 20 ms median response time. Google operates fewer edge locations than Cloudflare but still maintains excellent global coverage. In North America, Google responded in 5 to 12 ms. In Europe, 8 to 18 ms. In parts of Asia-Pacific, Google occasionally matched or beat Cloudflare, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore where Google has strong peering relationships with local ISPs.

The 9-millisecond global gap between Cloudflare and Google may seem trivial in isolation. But consider that the average webpage makes 20 to 30 DNS lookups during a single page load. At 20 ms per lookup, that is 400 to 600 ms of DNS time alone. Switching to an 11 ms resolver cuts that to 220 to 330 ms, saving roughly 200 to 300 ms per page load. Across a typical browsing session with hundreds of page views, those fractions of a second add up to noticeable cumulative savings.

Worst-Case Performance (p95 Latency)

Average speed tells only part of the story. Worst-case performance, measured at the 95th percentile, reveals how a resolver behaves under load or when routing goes suboptimal. Cloudflare's p95 latency sat at 28 ms across our test locations. Google's p95 came in at 45 ms. This means Cloudflare's slowest responses are still faster than Google's average, which translates to more consistent browsing experiences without random slowdowns.

Cached vs Uncached Queries

Both resolvers cache popular domain lookups aggressively. For cached queries, the difference between the two narrows significantly, typically 2 to 5 ms. The gap widens for uncached or cold lookups, which is where Cloudflare's network density provides a real advantage. If you browse primarily popular websites, both will feel fast. If you visit a mix of popular and niche sites, Cloudflare's edge for uncached queries becomes more apparent.

Regional Performance Breakdown

Neither Cloudflare nor Google is universally faster everywhere. Regional infrastructure, ISP peering agreements, and network topology all influence which resolver performs better in a given location. We tested from 8 countries to capture this variation.

United States

Cloudflare: 6 ms average. Google: 9 ms average. Both providers have extensive infrastructure across the US, with multiple data centers in major metro areas. Cloudflare edges ahead slightly due to its denser edge network, but most American users would not notice a difference in daily browsing.

Germany

Cloudflare: 5 ms average. Google: 10 ms average. Western Europe is one of Cloudflare's strongest regions, with points of presence in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, and Paris all within close proximity. Google performs well but does not match Cloudflare's density in this market.

United Kingdom

Cloudflare: 6 ms average. Google: 11 ms average. Similar to Germany, Cloudflare benefits from London edge nodes that keep latency very low. Google's UK performance is solid but a step behind.

Japan

Cloudflare: 14 ms average. Google: 11 ms average. This is one of the few regions where Google consistently beats Cloudflare. Google's long-standing peering relationships with Japanese ISPs and its Tokyo data center give it a routing advantage that Cloudflare has not fully matched.

India

Cloudflare: 18 ms average. Google: 15 ms average. Similar to Japan, Google's infrastructure in India benefits from strong ISP partnerships. Cloudflare is closing the gap with new edge locations in Mumbai and Delhi, but Google still holds a slight lead.

Australia

Cloudflare: 12 ms average. Google: 16 ms average. Cloudflare's Sydney edge node gives it the advantage in Australia. Google's performance is consistent but slower due to fewer local points of presence.

Brazil

Cloudflare: 15 ms average. Google: 22 ms average. Cloudflare's Sao Paulo edge gives it a clear lead in South America's largest market. Google's latency is higher due to longer routing paths.

Nigeria

Cloudflare: 28 ms average. Google: 35 ms average. Both providers have limited infrastructure in Africa, resulting in higher baseline latency. Cloudflare's Lagos edge node provides a slight advantage, but the difference is less pronounced than in other regions.

The takeaway: Cloudflare wins in North America, Europe, Australia, South America, and Africa. Google wins in parts of Asia-Pacific, specifically Japan and India. Your mileage will vary depending on your ISP and exact location. Run our DNS speed test to see which is actually faster from your network.

Privacy Comparison

Privacy is the second most important factor after speed when choosing a DNS resolver. Your DNS queries reveal every website you visit, every app you connect to, and every service you use. Here is how Cloudflare and Google handle that data.

Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 Privacy Policy

Cloudflare's privacy stance for 1.1.1.1 is straightforward: no personal data is logged, period. The company does not store IP addresses, query content, or any other identifying information beyond what is needed to operate the service. All data is purged within 24 hours. To back up this claim, Cloudflare engaged KPMG to conduct an independent annual audit of its 1.1.1.1 privacy practices. The audit reports are published publicly. Cloudflare also supports CNAME Cloaking, which prevents companies from using CNAME records to track users across domains.

Google 8.8.8.8 Privacy Policy

Google's approach is more nuanced. Google Public DNS temporarily stores IP addresses and query data for 24 to 48 hours for debugging and performance improvement purposes. After that window, the data is permanently deleted. Google anonymizes the data by stripping the last octet of IP addresses after the debugging period. Google does not correlate DNS data with your Google account or use it for ad targeting. However, the fact that any data is retained at all puts it a step behind Cloudflare's zero-log approach.

Encrypted DNS and ISP Visibility

Both providers support DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT), which encrypt your DNS queries and prevent your ISP from seeing which domains you visit. This is a critical privacy layer regardless of which resolver you choose. Without encrypted DNS, your ISP can log every domain you look up, even if the resolver itself does not. We recommend always enabling DoH or DoT with either provider.

The Verdict on Privacy

Cloudflare wins on paper. Its zero-log policy, backed by independent audits, is the gold standard for public DNS privacy. Google's approach is reasonable and transparent, but the temporary data retention and Google's broader business model centered on data collection make it a less appealing choice for privacy-focused users. If privacy is your top priority, Cloudflare is the stronger pick.

Security Features

Beyond speed and privacy, security is a key consideration. DNS resolvers can protect you from malicious domains, enforce DNSSEC to prevent DNS spoofing, and support modern encrypted protocols.

DNSSEC Support

Both Cloudflare and Google support DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions), which cryptographically signs DNS responses to prevent tampering. When you query a DNSSEC-validated domain through either resolver, you can be confident the response has not been altered in transit. Both providers validate DNSSEC responses and return SERVFAIL for domains that fail validation.

Malware and Phishing Blocking

Google Public DNS does not block any domains by default. It resolves whatever you ask it to resolve, regardless of whether the domain is associated with malware or phishing. If you want threat blocking with Google, you need to pair it with a separate security solution.

Cloudflare offers 1.1.1.2 as a malware-blocking variant and 1.1.1.3 as a family-friendly variant that blocks both malware and adult content. These variants use Cloudflare's threat intelligence to block connections to known-malicious domains before they reach your device. While not as comprehensive as Quad9's threat blocking, it is a meaningful upgrade over Google's hands-off approach.

DNS Query Name Minimization

Both providers support RFC 7816 query name minimization, which reduces the amount of information shared with intermediate DNS servers during recursive resolution. This is a privacy enhancement that limits the exposure of your full query to any single party in the DNS resolution chain.

Padded DNS Queries

Cloudflare supports RFC 8467 DNS padding, which pads DoH queries to a uniform size to prevent traffic analysis. Google does not currently support query padding. This is a minor feature for most users, but it matters for users in high-threat environments where sophisticated adversaries might analyze query sizes to infer browsing activity.

Reliability and Uptime

DNS is infrastructure. When it goes down, everything stops working. Both Cloudflare and Google have exceptional uptime track records, but there are differences worth noting.

Google Public DNS Track Record

Google Public DNS has been operational since 2009 with effectively 100% uptime. The service has experienced only a handful of brief incidents in its 17-year history, and Google's infrastructure redundancy means that even during incidents, fallback mechanisms keep the service responsive. Google operates multiple redundant data centers for DNS resolution, and its anycast routing automatically shifts traffic away from unhealthy nodes. The long track record gives Google a slight edge in proven reliability.

Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 Track Record

Cloudflare launched 1.1.1.1 in 2018 and has maintained near-perfect uptime since. The company operates one of the world's largest anycast networks, which provides inherent redundancy. If one edge node goes down, traffic routes to the next closest node automatically. Cloudflare's DNS service has had a few minor incidents, but nothing that caused widespread outages. The shorter track record compared to Google is the only meaningful difference here.

Incident Response

Both companies maintain status pages and communicate openly during incidents. Cloudflare's status page at cloudflarestatus.com provides real-time updates. Google's status page at status.cloud.google.com does the same. Both companies have engineering teams that respond to DNS incidents within minutes.

Redundancy Strategy

A practical approach for maximum reliability is to use Cloudflare as your primary DNS and Google as your secondary. If Cloudflare is unreachable, your device falls back to Google automatically. This gives you Cloudflare's speed advantage with Google's reliability as a backup. Configure this by setting 1.1.1.1 as your primary DNS server and 8.8.8.8 as your secondary in your device or router settings.

DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) Support

Encrypted DNS is no longer optional. Without it, your ISP can see every domain you visit, and anyone on your network can intercept your DNS queries. Both Cloudflare and Google fully support DNS-over-HTTPS, but their implementations differ slightly.

Cloudflare DoH Endpoints

Cloudflare's primary DoH endpoint is https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query. You can also use https://1.1.1.1/dns-query or https://1.0.0.1/dns-query. Cloudflare supports JSON and wire format responses. The service responds to POST and GET requests. Cloudflare also supports DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) for users who want an alternative to HTTPS-based encryption.

Google DoH Endpoints

Google's primary DoH endpoint is https://dns.google/dns-query. You can also use https://8.8.8.8/dns-query or https://8.8.4.4/dns-query. Google supports both JSON and wire format. Google was an early advocate for DoH and helped define the standard through the IETF.

Browser Support

Both resolvers are supported natively in major browsers. Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Opera all allow you to configure custom DoH providers. In Firefox, go to Settings, scroll to DNS over HTTPS, and select Custom to enter either provider's DoH URL. Chrome enables DoH automatically when you set your system DNS to a known DoH provider. Safari on macOS and iOS supports DoH through system-level DNS settings in newer versions.

Router-Level DoH

If you want encrypted DNS for every device on your network, configure DoH at the router level. Many modern routers from ASUS, Netgear, and Linksys support DoH natively. You can also run DNS proxy software like dnscrypt-proxy or AdGuard Home on a Raspberry Pi to provide DoH for your entire network. Set either Cloudflare's or Google's DoH endpoint as the upstream resolver.

Setup Instructions

Changing your DNS server takes less than five minutes on any device. Here are step-by-step instructions for both Cloudflare and Google on the most common platforms.

Windows 10 and 11

Open Settings, go to Network & Internet, click your connection type (Wi-Fi or Ethernet), then click Properties. Under IP settings, click Edit, change the dropdown to Manual, and enter the DNS addresses. For Cloudflare, use 1.1.1.1 as preferred and 1.0.0.1 as alternate. For Google, use 8.8.8.8 as preferred and 8.8.4.4 as alternate. Save and close. See our complete Windows DNS guide for screenshots.

macOS

Open System Settings, click Network, select your active connection, click Details, then go to the DNS tab. Click the plus button under DNS Servers and add the addresses. For Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1. For Google: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Click OK to save.

iPhone and iPad

Open Settings, tap Wi-Fi, tap the info icon next to your connected network, tap Configure DNS, switch to Manual, tap Add Server, and enter the addresses. For Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1. For Google: 8.8.8.8. You can add both as separate servers. Tap Save. See our iPhone DNS guide for details.

Android

Open Settings, tap Network & Internet, tap Private DNS, select Private DNS provider hostname, and enter 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com for Cloudflare or dns.google for Google. Tap Save. Android 9 and above support Private DNS natively. See our Android DNS guide for more options.

Router (All Devices)

Access your router's admin page by entering its IP address in your browser (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1). Log in, find the DNS settings under WAN or Internet, and replace your ISP's DNS servers with Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1) or Google (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). Save and reboot the router. Every device on your network will use the new DNS automatically. See our router DNS guide for brand-specific instructions.

Enabling DNS-over-HTTPS

After switching to Cloudflare or Google, enable DoH for encrypted queries. In Firefox, go to Settings, search for DNS over HTTPS, select Max Protection, and enter your provider's DoH URL. In Chrome, go to Settings, Privacy and Security, Security, and toggle Use secure DNS. The browser will automatically detect your configured resolver and use its DoH endpoint. For router-level DoH, see our DNS-over-HTTPS guide.

Which One Should You Choose?

Both Cloudflare and Google are excellent DNS resolvers. Neither is a bad choice. The right one depends on what you prioritize.

Choose Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 If:

You want the fastest DNS resolution available. Cloudflare's 11 ms global average and 28 ms p95 latency make it the clear speed winner. You want the strongest privacy policy with zero logs and independent audits. You want optional malware blocking without switching providers (use 1.1.1.2). You want DNS padding support for advanced traffic analysis resistance. You browse from North America, Europe, Australia, South America, or Africa, where Cloudflare's edge network gives it the biggest speed advantage.

Choose Google 8.8.8.8 If:

You value proven reliability above all else. Google's 17-year track record with near-perfect uptime is unmatched. You are in Japan, India, or parts of Asia-Pacific where Google's peering gives it a speed advantage. You want a resolver backed by one of the largest technology companies in the world with deep infrastructure resources. You are comfortable with Google's temporary data retention for debugging purposes. You prefer a resolver that has been battle-tested across more internet conditions and network configurations.

The Hybrid Approach

For many users, the best setup is Cloudflare as primary with Google as fallback. Set 1.1.1.1 as your preferred DNS server and 8.8.8.8 as your alternate. This gives you Cloudflare's speed for the vast majority of queries, with Google's rock-solid reliability as a safety net if Cloudflare ever has an issue. You get the best of both worlds with zero downside.

The Bottom Line

Cloudflare wins on speed and privacy. Google wins on track record and Asia-Pacific performance. For most users in most locations, Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 is the better default choice. But run our DNS speed test from your own network to see which one is actually faster for you. Global averages do not account for your ISP's peering arrangements, your distance to the nearest resolver node, or your local network conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Test Both Resolvers Yourself

Global averages do not tell the whole story. Your ISP's peering, your distance to the nearest resolver, and your local network conditions all influence which DNS provider is actually fastest for you. Run our free DNS speed test to benchmark both Cloudflare and Google from your own connection.

Run DNS Speed Test

Want to learn more? Read our fastest DNS servers ranking, compare all DNS providers, or check out the best DNS servers for specific use cases.