Do I have a DNS leak without a VPN?

Without a VPN there is nothing to “leak” — your ISP's resolver is expected. The test matters mainly when you use a VPN or custom DNS.

Why does the resolver differ from my IP's country?

Public resolvers (Google, Cloudflare) run worldwide, so a different country isn't always a leak. A leak is when the resolver belongs to a network you didn't intend to use.

Is a DNS leak dangerous?

It won't expose passwords, but it reveals your browsing destinations and can undermine a VPN's location privacy.

What is a DNS leak and how to test for one

What is a DNS leak?

A DNS leak is when your DNS lookups travel outside your VPN — to your provider's resolver — revealing which sites you visit even though your traffic is encrypted.

Tool: DNS leak test Try it now — free, no signup. Open →

What it is

DNS turns a name like example.com into an IP address. Your device asks a DNS resolver to do this. Normally, when a VPN is on, those lookups should go through the VPN's own resolver.

A DNS leak happens when they don't — your operating system keeps using your ISP's resolver (or another one outside the tunnel), so your real provider sees every domain you request.

Why it matters

Even with an encrypted VPN tunnel, a DNS leak exposes your browsing to your ISP and anyone on that resolver's path, and can give away your real location. It quietly defeats much of the privacy you expect from a VPN.

How to check

Run the DNS leak test above. Your browser resolves a unique one-time name on our own authoritative DNS server, and we record which resolver actually asked — its IP, provider and country — then compare it to your network. We never store your own IP.

How to fix

If the resolver doesn't match your VPN:

Turn on your VPN's “DNS leak protection” / “use VPN DNS” setting.
Set DNS manually to your VPN's resolver, or a trusted one like 1.1.1.1.
Disable IPv6 if your VPN doesn't tunnel it (a common leak path).
Flush your DNS cache and re-test.