Edition comparison_Public authoritative DNS resolution - Alibaba Cloud DNS

Purchase a Public Zone subscription instance to obtain stronger guarantees for domain name resolution, including availability SLA, TTL, and security defense. This service is suitable for individual or enterprise users with specific DNS requirements.

Edition comparison

Important

Purchase DNS security services to increase the DNS resolution query limit and prevent resolution failures when the number of requests reaches the limit.
In scenarios that involve frequent batch changes to DNS records, you can use the DNS record backup feature to quickly revert incorrect changes.
The number of attached domain names is based on the number of primary domain names. If you host a subdomain separately, it is counted as a primary domain name.

Note

Alibaba Cloud DNS supports seamless instance upgrades. For more information, see Upgrade, detach, replace, or downgrade an instance.

Feature/Edition	Free Edition	Paid Edition
Feature/Edition	Free Edition	Personal Edition	Enterprise Ultimate Edition	Exclusive Edition
Applicable scenarios	Business testing scenarios	For purchase and use by individual developers only Note Enterprise users cannot purchase new Personal Edition instances. Existing Personal Edition instances can still be used and renewed.	Suitable for enterprise customers across various industries. This edition provides refined O&M capabilities and expert consulting services.
Availability SLA	No availability guarantee	100% monthly availability	100% monthly availability	100% monthly availability
Dedicated service support	None	DingTalk user support group	DingTalk user support group	1-on-1 expert service 6 resolution change support requests per year 1 DNS architecture planning consultation per year
DNS Node	4 in the Chinese mainland	12 in the Chinese mainland, 15 outside China	12 in the Chinese mainland, 15 outside China	12 in the Chinese mainland, 15 outside China
Subdomain hosting level	Level 16	Level 16	Level 16	16
Number of DNS records for a single primary domain	100,000	100,000	100,000	Unlimited*
Subdomain levels	Level 10	Level 20	Level 20	Unlimited*
Minimum TTL value	600 seconds	600 seconds	1 second	1 second
Intelligent Resolution	Region Regions in China Outside China Carrier Supported: China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile, CERNET Search engine Supported: Google, Baidu, Bing, Sogou, Qihoo, Youdao	Region Mainland China regions Outside China Carrier Supported: China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile, CERNET, China Broadcasting Network, Dr. Peng Search engine Supported: Google, Baidu, Bing, Sogou, Qihoo, Youdao, Yahoo	Region Chinese mainland (by province) Outside China (by country) Cloud provider Alibaba Cloud (Chinese mainland) Alibaba Cloud (outside China) Carrier Supported: China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile, Dr. Peng, CERNET, China Broadcasting Network, CSTNET, Chilian Network, Founder Broadband, Topway, Wasu, Oriental Cable Network, Haokuan Network, Gehua Search engine (in and outside the Chinese mainland) Supported: Google, Baidu, Bing, Sogou, Qihoo, Youdao, Yahoo Custom lines	Region Chinese mainland (by province) Outside China (by country) Cloud provider Alibaba Cloud (Chinese mainland) Alibaba Cloud (outside China) Carrier Supported: China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile, Dr. Peng, CERNET, China Broadcasting Network, CSTNET, Chilian Network, Founder Broadband, Topway, Wasu, Oriental Cable Network, Haokuan Network, Gehua Search engine (in and outside the Chinese mainland) Supported: Google, Baidu, Bing, Sogou, Qihoo, Youdao, Yahoo Custom lines
URL forwarding (single domain name)	2 items	5 items	10 items	Unlimited*
Weight configuration (A, CNAME, and AAAA records)	Support	Support	Support	Supported
Alias record type (single domain name)	×	×	10 items	Unlimited*
Load balancing (IP address capacity for a single domain name on a single line)	10 items	100 items	100 items	Unlimited*
Request statistics (accurate to the subdomain level)	×	Support	Support	Supported
IPv6 DNS	Supported	Support	Support	Support
Secondary DNS	×	×	Support	Supported
DNS record backup	×	×	Supported	Support
DNSSEC	×	Support	Support	Supported
Number of domain names that can be attached to an instance	Not applicable	1 by default, up to 100,000	1 by default, up to 100,000	1 by default, up to 100,000
DNS resolution peak	Up to 20,000 requests per second	Up to 200,000 queries/second	Up to 200,000 queries/second	Up to 200,000 queries/second
DNS attack protection	Not supported	Optional Basic Protection and Full Protection	Optional Basic Protection and Full Protection	Full Protection included by default
Note *Unlimited: If you exceed the default system limit during actual use, you can request a parameter limit increase, provided the product remains stable and secure.

DNS security protection

The Free Edition of Public Zone does not support DNS security protection. Paid DNS editions offer security features that you can purchase based on your security requirements.

Security level	Specification	Description
DNS Security	Basic Protection	Provides basic DNS attack protection for domain names attached to a Public Zone instance. The protection limit for each domain name is up to 10 million queries per second.
DNS Security	Full Protection	Provides full DNS attack protection for domain names attached to a Public Zone instance. The protection capability for each domain name exceeds 100 million queries per second (QPS), ensuring normal DNS resolution during flood QPS attacks.

FAQ

Q: What is "Intelligent Resolution"?

"Intelligent Resolution" returns resolution results based on the user's geographic location and carrier, which reduces resolution latency and improves website access speed. It supports resolution based on criteria such as carrier lines, carrier provinces, overseas lines, continents, countries, and custom resolution lines. For more information, see Intelligent Resolution.

Q: Does Alibaba Cloud DNS support instance downgrades?

Alibaba Cloud DNS does not support instance downgrades. However, you can achieve a similar result by replacing the instance to which your domain name is attached. For more information, see Upgrade, detach, replace, or downgrade an instance.

If a domain name is attached to a higher-edition DNS instance and you want to switch to a lower edition, you can replace the current instance with a paid instance of a lower edition.
You can also use this method to reduce the security protection level or the number of domain names in your current package.

Note

After you attach the domain name to the new instance, you can unsubscribe from the old instance. For more information, see Unsubscribe from an instance.

Q: What cluster points of presence (POPs) are included in the global network of Public Zone?

The global cluster points of presence (POPs) for Public Zone are distributed as follows:

Global nodes: US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley), Mexico, Indonesia (Jakarta), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Singapore, Japan (Tokyo), SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region), UAE (Dubai), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), Thailand (Bangkok), South Korea (Seoul), Philippines (Manila), China (Hong Kong), China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Hangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Qingdao), Dalian, Xi'an, Tianjin, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, China (Nanjing - Local Region - Decommissioning).
Cluster deployment is subject to change based on the development of Alibaba Cloud's infrastructure and is not covered by the service's Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Q: What does "number of domain names that can be attached to an instance" mean?

Each Public Zone instance supports one domain name by default (for example, example.com). To support more domain names, such as example.cn or example.net, you can increase the number of domain names supported by the instance, up to a maximum of 100,000.