Quick and dirty speed test for public DNS services.

dnstest.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
#
import DNS
import time
import sys

from collections import defaultdict

services = {
  #'local': ['192.168.10.1'],
  'Google': ['8.8.8.8', '8.8.4.4'],
  'OpenDNS': ['208.67.222.222', '208.67.220.220'],
  'Norton': ['198.153.192.1', '198.153.194.1'],
  'Verizon': ['4.2.2.1', '4.2.2.2', '4.2.2.3', '4.2.2.4', '4.2.2.5',
              '4.2.2.6'],
  'Level3': ['209.244.0.3', '209.244.0.4'],
  'Securly': ['184.169.143.224', '184.169.161.155'],
  'Comodo Secure DNS':  ['8.26.56.26', '8.20.247.20'],
  'DNS Advantage':	['156.154.70.1', '156.154.71.1'],
  'Norton ConnectSafe':	['198.153.192.40', '198.153.194.40'],
  'OpenNIC': ['74.207.247.4', '64.0.55.201'],
  'SmartViper': ['208.76.50.50', '208.76.51.51'],
  }

requests = (
  'bakdlkkd.tz',
  'dlkdkdkd.il',
  'duckduckgo.com',
  'klsilkkd.cn',
  'twitter.com',
  'www.bing.com',
  'www.cnn.com',
  'www.dropbox.com',
  'www.facebook.com',
  'www.google.com',
  'www.huffingtonpost.com',
  'www.msnbc.com',
  'www.yahoo.com',
  )

def benchmark(server):
  DNS.defaults['server'] = [ server ]
  start = time.time()
  for host in requests:
    try:
      DNS.dnslookup(host, 'A')
    except DNS.ServerError:         # the domain is not found
      pass
    except (DNS.TimeoutError, DNS.SocketError):  # cannot connect to the DNS
      return -1
  end = time.time() - start
  return end

def run():
  print 'Collecting data:',
  sys.stdout.flush()
  response_times = defaultdict(list)
  for service, servers in services.iteritems():
    for server_ip in servers:
      bench = benchmark(server_ip)
      if bench > 0.0:
        response_times[service].append(bench)
    print '.',
    sys.stdout.flush()
  print
  return response_times

if __name__ == '__main__':
  results = run()
  namelen = max([len(s) for s in results.keys()])
  output = "%%%ds\t%%0.3f\t%%s" % (namelen + 2)
  for service, bench in results.iteritems():
    print output % (service, sum(bench) / float(len(bench)),
                             ["%.3f" % r for r in bench])

results.txt

# results taken from different locations (network providers) in california
#
fred:src$ python ./dnstest.py
Collecting data: . . . . . . . . . . .
             Securly  0.389  ['0.551', '0.228']
   Comodo Secure DNS	0.593	['0.795', '0.390']
          SmartViper	1.586	['1.694', '1.478']
             Verizon	0.516	['0.350', '0.626', '0.409', '0.422', '0.418', '0.870']
             OpenDNS	0.301	['0.301']
              Level3	0.333	['0.334', '0.332']
              Google	0.454	['0.520', '0.387']
             OpenNIC	0.631	['0.143', '1.119']
  Norton ConnectSafe	0.273	['0.113', '0.433']
              Norton	0.320	['0.329', '0.311']
       DNS Advantage	0.614	['1.046', '0.182']


-bash-4.2$ python2.7 dnstest.py 
Collecting data: . . . . . . . . . . . .
             Securly    0.471   ['0.296', '0.646']
   Comodo Secure DNS    0.400   ['0.440', '0.361']
          SmartViper    1.198   ['1.225', '1.171']
             Verizon    0.143   ['0.124', '0.080', '0.081', '0.083', '0.079', '0.408']
             OpenDNS    0.093   ['0.077', '0.109']
              Level3    0.100   ['0.091', '0.109']
              Google    0.248   ['0.396', '0.101']
             OpenNIC    0.626   ['0.121', '1.132']
  Norton ConnectSafe    1.013   ['0.183', '1.843']
              Norton    0.102   ['0.102']
       DNS Advantage    0.428   ['0.778', '0.077']
               local    0.051   ['0.051']


-bash-4.2$ python2.7 ./dnstest.py 
Collecting data: . . . . . . . . . . . .
             Securly    0.200   ['0.239', '0.161']
   Comodo Secure DNS    0.657   ['1.025', '0.289']
          SmartViper    1.043   ['1.058', '1.028']
             Verizon    0.104   ['0.040', '0.031', '0.449', '0.031', '0.036', '0.037']
             OpenDNS    0.022   ['0.022', '0.021']
              Level3    0.037   ['0.036', '0.037']
              Google    0.152   ['0.269', '0.036']
             OpenNIC    0.573   ['0.050', '1.096']
  Norton ConnectSafe    0.191   ['0.038', '0.344']
              Norton    0.122   ['0.043', '0.201']
       DNS Advantage    0.376   ['0.723', '0.029']
               local    0.025   ['0.025']

# From Comcast.
fred:src$ python ./dnstest.py
Collecting data: . . . . . . . . . . . .
             Securly      0.537	['0.537']
   Comodo Secure DNS	0.509	['0.475', '0.543']
          SmartViper	1.329	['1.355', '1.304']
             Verizon	0.440	['0.359', '0.893', '0.334', '0.366', '0.342', '0.347']
             OpenDNS	0.355	['0.349', '0.360']
              Level3	0.339	['0.343', '0.334']
              Google	0.365	['0.506', '0.224']
             OpenNIC	0.783	['0.291', '1.276']
  Norton ConnectSafe	0.301	['0.228', '0.374']
              Norton	0.295	['0.231', '0.358']
       DNS Advantage	0.307	['0.363', '0.252']
               local	0.134	['0.134']

Having some problems find the DNS package you used. Can you like me to the source?