Every record, as it was
Captured A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, and CNAME answers are stored with their observation dates, so you can compare earlier public values with later ones.
Historical DNS lookup
Look up the DNS a domain used to have.
A normal lookup shows where a domain points today. It cannot show the answer that came before. DNSTimeMachine compares previously observed A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, and CNAME values, each stamped with the date the change was first seen, before you trust, acquire, or build on a domain.
Enter the site, mail domain, or vendor domain whose history you need.
Publicly observed DNS history, not a complete zone backup.
For SREs, administrators, domain buyers, and analysts who need historical DNS records rather than another current snapshot.
How the history reads
The record, before and after.
Each captured answer is stored with its observation date, so you can compare the earlier value with the change that replaced it.
The date the flip was first seen
Each captured change is stamped with the date its replacement first appeared in the archive, narrowing the window you need to investigate.
One field, no login
Type a domain, read its past. The lookup is the product, so checking what a domain used to point to takes one field and one click.
When you reach for this.
- Auditing a domain before you acquire it
- Reconstructing a vendor's DNS from last quarter
- Confirming when a domain changed hosts
- Answering "what did this point to before?"
"What did this used to be?"
The question a live lookup cannot answer. Enter the domain above and we will send its history the moment access opens.
Look up a domainDirect answers
Questions about historical dns lookup.
What does a historical DNS lookup show?
It shows DNS answers observed at different points in time, including values that were later replaced or removed. A live lookup only shows the current answer.
Is historical DNS a complete copy of a domain's zone?
No. It is a record of publicly observable answers that were captured. Private, short-lived, delegated, or never-queried records may be missing.
What can I investigate with DNS history?
Common jobs include comparing a DNS change with an outage, reconstructing public records after a handover, reviewing past mail routing, and checking a domain's earlier infrastructure.