DNS Leak Test
A DNS leak happens when your device sends DNS lookups outside the private tunnel you think you're using — quietly handing your browsing history to your ISP and revealing your real location even when your IP looks hidden.
Honest note: a fully accurate DNS leak test has to watch which resolvers actually answer your queries from dedicated authoritative-DNS servers. We don't run that infrastructure, so we won't invent resolver results here. Instead, this page shows you exactly how to confirm a DNS leak yourself and explains what to look for.
Weak location signals from your browser
These are indirect hints your browser exposes — not a resolver test. If they don't match the location you expect to be showing, your setup may be leaking more than your DNS.
Network
- Public IP (as seen by us)
- 216.73.216.214
- Browser timezone
- —
- Browser languages
- —
Indirect hints only. A timezone or language that contradicts your IP's country is a clue something is leaking, but it is not proof of a DNS leak by itself.
What your browser reveals
- User agent
- Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; [email protected])
- Platform
- —
How to check for a DNS leak
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1
Connect the way you normally browse. Turn on your VPN, proxy, or privacy tool first, exactly as you would in everyday use, so the test reflects your real setup.
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2
Run a dedicated DNS-leak service. Visit a service whose authoritative DNS servers can record which resolvers query them (for example dnsleaktest.com or your VPN provider's own checker) and run the extended test. It lists every resolver that answered for you.
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3
Inspect the resolvers it reports. If any resolver belongs to your own ISP or sits in your real country while your VPN claims to be elsewhere, that's a leak. Ideally every resolver should belong to your VPN/DNS provider.
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4
Confirm in your OS network settings. On Windows, macOS, Linux, Android or iOS you can open the active connection's details and read the configured DNS servers directly. Compare them with what you expect your tunnel to be using.
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5
Re-test after any change. Switching networks, waking from sleep, or a dropped connection can silently revert your DNS. Re-run the check whenever your environment changes.
What is a DNS leak?
Every time you open a website, your device first asks a DNS (Domain Name System) resolver to translate the human-readable address into a numeric IP. Those lookups reveal every domain you visit. When you use a VPN or proxy, you expect both your traffic and your DNS queries to travel through the encrypted tunnel. A DNS leak occurs when your queries escape that tunnel and go straight to your ISP's resolver instead — so even though your visible IP looks anonymous, the resolver answering your lookups still knows who you are and what you're browsing.
Why DNS leaks defeat your privacy
A leak quietly undoes much of the point of hiding your IP. Your ISP can keep logging the sites you visit, regional restrictions can still be applied based on the resolver's location, and anyone watching your DNS traffic can build a timeline of your activity. Because the lookups happen automatically in the background, most people never notice that their DNS is bypassing the tunnel they thought was protecting them.
Common causes of DNS leaks
Leaks usually come from misconfiguration rather than malice: an operating system that falls back to its default resolver, IPv6 queries escaping an IPv4-only tunnel, "smart" multi-homed routing on Windows that sends some lookups out the local interface, or a VPN that doesn't force DNS through its own servers. Browser features and split-tunnelling rules can also send certain requests around the tunnel.
How ProxyMule and VPNs affect your DNS
A trustworthy VPN tunnels your DNS queries through its own resolvers so your ISP never sees them. ProxyMule takes a different but complementary approach: instead of asking your tools to route around your own network, it fetches the page you request from our servers, so the destination site sees our address rather than yours. Whichever method you use, it's worth verifying that no stray lookups are escaping. After testing your DNS, check that your real address isn't leaking through other channels with our WebRTC Leak Test, and confirm the IP you're presenting to the world with What Is My IP.
How to fix a DNS leak
Enable your VPN's built-in DNS-leak protection and kill switch, manually set a trusted resolver (such as your VPN's, or a privacy-focused public resolver) in your OS, and disable IPv6 if your tunnel doesn't support it. Then re-run the steps above to confirm only your intended resolvers answer.
Does this page detect my actual resolver?
No — and we won't pretend otherwise. Detecting your true resolver requires authoritative-DNS infrastructure we don't operate. This page teaches you how to test reliably and shows only weak, clearly labelled browser hints like your timezone and language.
Can I have a DNS leak even if my IP is hidden?
Yes. Your visible IP and your DNS resolver are separate. It's entirely possible to mask your IP while your DNS lookups still travel to your ISP, which is exactly why a dedicated test matters.
How often should I test?
Test whenever you change networks, update your VPN client, or notice a reconnection — and periodically as a routine check, since a configuration change can reintroduce a leak silently.