Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 Launched, a Free and Privacy-Focused DNS Service

Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider Cloudflare on Sunday announced the launch of 1.1.1.1 - the company's latest privacy-focused consumer Domain Name System (DNS) service. The new, free DNS is the result of Cloudflare's partnership with APNIC, which owns the easy-to-remember 1.1.1.1 IP address. It is also the company's first consumer-front product launch by the CDN provider. "We wanted to reach a wider audience. At the same time, we're geeks at heart. 1.1.1.1 has 4 1s. So it seemed clear that 4/1 (April 1st) was the date we needed to launch it," said Cloudflare in a blog post.

Cloudfare claims that this service will be as privacy-based as it gets. Even logging data, required generally for checking abuse and debug issues, will removed from their servers within 24 hours of acquisition. Talking about performance, Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 is claimed to be the "fastest DNS resolver" even while servicing non-Cloudflare users with an average global query speed of 14ms. Comparatively, OpenDNS has a query speed of about 21ms, while Google scores about 35ms in the same test.

For Cloudflare customers, however, things are slightly better. "Because the resolver and the recursor are now on the same network, running on the same hardware, we can answer queries for Cloudflare's customers incredibly quickly." Cloudflare says that this means that every new user of 1.1.1.1 makes Cloudflare's Authoritative DNS service a bit better; vice versa also works in the user's favour.

At launch, 1.1.1.1 will support both DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS, the latter is currently only provided by Google. The company also states that other ISPs and CDNs should work on implementing DNS-over-HTTPS to create a better online experience for customers.