ResolveBench

A cross-platform TUI application that benchmarks different DNS providers to help you find the fastest, most reliable DNS resolver for your network.

Features

• TUI Interface: Beautiful Bubble Tea terminal UI with real-time progress
• Multi-Provider Testing: Benchmarks Cloudflare, Google DNS, Quad9, AdGuard DNS, and OpenDNS
• Multi-Site Coverage: Resolves 10 popular domains per provider
• Direct DNS Queries: Bypasses OS resolver cache, queries each provider's DNS server directly over UDP
• Scoring System: Weighted score (60% reliability, 30% latency, 10% consistency)
• Raw Metrics: Reports min/avg/max latency and success rate alongside the composite score
• Smart Recommendations: Optimal primary/secondary DNS selection based on DNS resolution performance
• Network Latency Tests (informational): TCP ping to major DNS servers and endpoints
• Cross-Platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows

Requirements

• Go 1.22+

Installation

npm i -g resolvebench

Or manually (requires Go 1.22+):

git clone https://github.com/keval144/resolvebench.git
cd resolvebench
make build

Usage

# Run the benchmark TUI
resolvebench

# List available DNS providers
resolvebench list-dns

# Show help
resolvebench -h

DNS Providers Tested

| Provider | Primary | Secondary | Use Case | |---|---|---|---| | Cloudflare | 1.1.1.1 | 1.0.0.1 | Speed and Privacy | | Google DNS | 8.8.8.8 | 8.8.4.4 | Reliability | | Quad9 | 9.9.9.9 | 149.112.112.112 | Security | | AdGuard DNS | 94.140.14.14 | 94.140.15.15 | Ad Blocking | | OpenDNS | 208.67.222.222 | 208.67.220.220 | Content Filtering |

Test Sites

github.com, google.com, reddit.com, wikipedia.org, cloudflare.com, microsoft.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow.com, youtube.com, openai.com

Methodology

ResolveBench measures DNS resolution performance — not routing quality or download speed.

• Each provider's DNS server is queried directly via UDP/53 using Go's net.Resolver with a custom dialer, bypassing the OS stub resolver and local cache
• 10 popular domains are resolved per provider, with 10 lookups per domain (5 concurrent workers)
• For each provider we report: min/avg/max latency, success rate, and a composite score
• Raw metrics are provided alongside the score so you can make your own judgment

Scoring

The composite score is a quick comparison aid. Raw min/avg/max latency and success rate are displayed alongside for your own interpretation.

• Reliability (60%): Percentage of successful resolutions — highest weight for production use
• Latency (30%): Normalized average response time
• Consistency (10%): Lower variance between min/max latency

Project Structure

├── cli.js                     # NPM wrapper to launch Go binary
├── main.go                    # Entry point
├── cmd/
│   ├── root.go                # Cobra root command (launches TUI)
│   └── list-dns.go            # List DNS providers subcommand
├── internal/
│   ├── dns/
│   │   ├── providers.go       # DNS provider definitions & benchmark domains
│   │   ├── resolver.go        # Direct DNS lookup via UDP/53
│   │   ├── resolver_test.go
│   │   ├── benchmark.go       # Benchmark orchestration & scoring (60/30/10)
│   │   └── benchmark_test.go
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── models.go          # Shared data types
│   ├── network/
│   │   ├── latency.go         # TCP network latency tests (informational)
│   │   └── latency_test.go
│   └── tui/
│       ├── tui.go             # Bubble Tea model & update loop
│       ├── screens.go         # TUI screen views
│       └── styles.go          # Lip Gloss style definitions
├── Makefile
├── package.json
├── go.mod / go.sum
└── README.md

Limitations

• DNS resolution ≠ routing quality: Low DNS latency doesn't guarantee optimal CDN routing or fast downloads
• A records only: Tests resolve A records via LookupHost; does not test AAAA, MX, or TXT records
• Popular domains: Test sites are heavily cached, globally distributed, and CDN-optimized — results may differ for less-common domains
• UDP/53 only: No DoH (DNS-over-HTTPS) or DoT (DNS-over-TLS) support yet
• Geographic bias: Results reflect performance from your location; a provider fast in one region may differ drastically in another

Troubleshooting

• Terminal Issues: Ensure you're using a modern terminal that supports ANSI colors
• Import Errors: Run go mod tidy to ensure all dependencies are downloaded
• Firewall: DNS benchmarks require outbound UDP on port 53; network tests use TCP port 80

License

MIT