Cloudflare DNS vs Google Cloud DNS
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Cloudflare DNS and Google Cloud DNS built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Cloudflare DNS if…
Any domain you are already putting behind Cloudflare. Authoritative DNS on its anycast network costs nothing, meters nothing, and has no volume at which that changes — the query bill other providers charge simply does not exist here.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Google Cloud DNS if…
An estate already on Google Cloud, where DNS should be another line on the same bill and another resource in the same IAM. Zones are billed by the hour and queries by the million, with no plan to pick and no minimum to clear.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Cloudflare DNS: You want DNS bought separately from a CDN and a proxy. Cloudflare prices DNS at zero because it is a way into the rest of the platform, and the product page names no paid DNS tier at all — what the account costs is decided by everything else on it.
- Google Cloud DNS: You want to know what a month costs without doing arithmetic. A zone priced at $0.000273973 an hour is roughly twenty cents a month, and routing-policy queries cost nearly twice a regular one — both true, neither obvious, and both free elsewhere.
3 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Cloudflare DNS 0
Google Cloud DNS 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Cloudflare DNS | Google Cloud DNS |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Entry paid plan | None for DNS itself. The product page prices it at nothing and names no paid DNS tier; what a Cloudflare account costs is decided by the other products on it. | No minimum and no plan. A managed zone costs $0.000273973 an hour — about $0.20 a month — and queries are $0.40 per million up to a billion, $0.20 above that. No magnitude is recorded because an hourly zone rate is not a monthly plan fee. |
| Pricing model | Free, with no separate meter for zones or queries. DNS comes with any Cloudflare plan rather than being priced on its own. | Two meters, one of them hourly. Managed zones are billed per hour — $0.000273973 for the first 25, falling twice above that — and queries by the million, with routing-policy queries priced higher than regular ones. |
| Compliance | ||
| DNSSEC | Supported — Cloudflare signs the zone and generates the DS record for you | Supported — Cloud DNS creates and rotates the keys and signs the zone itself |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Cloudflare DNS
- Yes
- Google Cloud DNS
- No
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- DNS — Cloudflare ↗
“DNS The world's fastest and most reliable DNS - for free Cloudflare's Authoritative DNS translates domain names into IP addresses - usin”
Read 2026-09-15 · official site
- Cloud DNS pricing ↗
“Managed zones 0 month to 25 month $0.000273973 / 1 hour, per 1 month / account 25 month to 10,000 month $0.000136986 / 1 hour, per 1 month / account”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Entry paid plan
- Cloudflare DNS
- None for DNS itself. The product page prices it at nothing and names no paid DNS tier; what a Cloudflare account costs is decided by the other products on it.
- Google Cloud DNS
- No minimum and no plan. A managed zone costs $0.000273973 an hour — about $0.20 a month — and queries are $0.40 per million up to a billion, $0.20 above that. No magnitude is recorded because an hourly zone rate is not a monthly plan fee.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- DNS — Cloudflare ↗
“Cloudflare's Authoritative DNS translates domain names into IP addresses - usin”
Read 2026-09-15 · official site
- Cloud DNS pricing ↗
“Regular queries 0 count to 1,000,000,000 count $0.40 / 1,000,000 count, per 1 month / account 1,000,000,000 count and above $0.20 /”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Cloudflare DNS
- Free, with no separate meter for zones or queries. DNS comes with any Cloudflare plan rather than being priced on its own.
- Google Cloud DNS
- Two meters, one of them hourly. Managed zones are billed per hour — $0.000273973 for the first 25, falling twice above that — and queries by the million, with routing-policy queries priced higher than regular ones.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- DNS — Cloudflare ↗
“The world's fastest and most reliable DNS - for free”
Read 2026-09-15 · official site
- Cloud DNS pricing ↗
“Managed zone pricing Hourly Hourly Monthly Monthly Item Price (USD) Managed zones 0 month to 25 month $0.000273973 / 1 hour, per 1 month / account”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Cloudflare DNS or Google Cloud DNS?
Cloudflare DNS: None for DNS itself. The product page prices it at nothing and names no paid DNS tier; what a Cloudflare account costs is decided by the other products on it.
Google Cloud DNS: No minimum and no plan. A managed zone costs $0.000273973 an hour — about $0.20 a month — and queries are $0.40 per million up to a billion, $0.20 above that. No magnitude is recorded because an hourly zone rate is not a monthly plan fee.
Free tier: Cloudflare DNS or Google Cloud DNS?
Cloudflare DNS: Yes
Google Cloud DNS: No
Should I choose Cloudflare DNS or Google Cloud DNS?
Pick Cloudflare DNS if Any domain you are already putting behind Cloudflare. Authoritative DNS on its anycast network costs nothing, meters nothing, and has no volume at which that changes — the query bill other providers charge simply does not exist here.
Pick Google Cloud DNS if An estate already on Google Cloud, where DNS should be another line on the same bill and another resource in the same IAM. Zones are billed by the hour and queries by the million, with no plan to pick and no minimum to clear.