DNSimple vs Amazon Route 53
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of DNSimple and Amazon Route 53 built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose DNSimple if…
Teams that want DNS as a product rather than a loss leader: $0.50 per zone, 50,000 queries each, an API, domain registration and access control — priced openly at every tier including the overage rate.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Amazon Route 53 if…
A 100% uptime commitment on your nameservers, which only Google matches here, plus the AWS integrations — alias records to load balancers and CloudFront, health checks, and IAM on the zone itself.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- DNSimple: The zones are yours and the budget is nothing. Cloudflare and bunny.net charge neither per zone nor per query, and DNSimple's entry plan publishes 'No SLA' in those words — so you are paying for the product and the tooling rather than for a commitment.
- Amazon Route 53: You want DNS to be free. $0.50 a zone and $0.40 per million queries is small until you run hundreds of domains, and Cloudflare and bunny.net charge nothing for either at any volume.
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.
DNSimple 0
Amazon Route 53 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | DNSimple | Amazon Route 53 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | No | No |
| Entry paid plan | $0.50 per hosted zone per month on Solo, which is free for one user; 50,000 queries per zone per month are included, then $0.80 per million. Teams is $29/month including one seat, with 500,000 queries per zone and $0.60 per million after. | $0.50 per hosted zone per month for the first 25, then $0.10 for each additional zone. Extra record sets within a zone are $0.0015 a month each. |
| Pricing model | Per zone and per query, with the seat free on Solo. Both meters loosen as the plan rises: Teams doubles nothing but raises the included queries tenfold and lowers the overage rate. | Per hosted zone and per million queries, with the zone rate falling fivefold after the first 25 and the query rate halving after the first billion. Health checks and DNS firewall rules are metered separately again. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Uptime SLA | None on Solo, stated in those words on the pricing page. Higher plans are where an SLA appears. | 100%. AWS defines the monthly uptime percentage as 100% minus the minutes a hosted zone was unavailable, and any month below 100% earns a service credit — 10% down to 99.99%, 25% down to 99.95%. |
Where they differ.
Entry paid plan
- DNSimple
- $0.50 per hosted zone per month on Solo, which is free for one user; 50,000 queries per zone per month are included, then $0.80 per million. Teams is $29/month including one seat, with 500,000 queries per zone and $0.60 per million after.
- Amazon Route 53
- $0.50 per hosted zone per month for the first 25, then $0.10 for each additional zone. Extra record sets within a zone are $0.0015 a month each.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- DNSimple Pricing ↗
“Solo Free For 1 user $0.50 per hosted zone per month 50,000 queries per zone per month included, then $0.80 per million queries”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- AWS Price List — Amazon Route 53 ↗
“"description": "$0.50 per Hosted Zone for the first 25 Hosted Zones", "beginRange": "0", "endRange": "25", "unit": "HostedZone", "pricePerUnit": { "USD": "0.5000000000" }”
Read 2026-09-15 · official docs
Pricing model
- DNSimple
- Per zone and per query, with the seat free on Solo. Both meters loosen as the plan rises: Teams doubles nothing but raises the included queries tenfold and lowers the overage rate.
- Amazon Route 53
- Per hosted zone and per million queries, with the zone rate falling fivefold after the first 25 and the query rate halving after the first billion. Health checks and DNS firewall rules are metered separately again.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- DNSimple Pricing ↗
“Most Popular Teams $ 29 USD /month Includes 1 seat $0.50 per hosted zone per month 500,000 queries per zone per month included, then $0.60 per million queries”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- AWS Price List — Amazon Route 53 ↗
“$0.10 per Hosted Zone for additional Hosted Zones”
Read 2026-09-15 · official docs
Uptime SLA
- DNSimple
- None on Solo, stated in those words on the pricing page. Higher plans are where an SLA appears.
- Amazon Route 53
- 100%. AWS defines the monthly uptime percentage as 100% minus the minutes a hosted zone was unavailable, and any month below 100% earns a service credit — 10% down to 99.99%, 25% down to 99.95%.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- DNSimple Pricing ↗
“Register, transfer, renew domains 100 DNS records per zone 1 user Let's Encrypt SSL Certificates HTTP Redirects Anycast DNS No SLA”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Amazon Route 53 Service Level Agreement ↗
“Service Credit Percentage Less than 100% but greater than or equal to 99.99% 10% Less than 99.99% but greater than or equal to 99.95% 25%”
Read 2026-09-15 · official site
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: DNSimple or Amazon Route 53?
DNSimple: $0.50 per hosted zone per month on Solo, which is free for one user; 50,000 queries per zone per month are included, then $0.80 per million. Teams is $29/month including one seat, with 500,000 queries per zone and $0.60 per million after.
Amazon Route 53: $0.50 per hosted zone per month for the first 25, then $0.10 for each additional zone. Extra record sets within a zone are $0.0015 a month each.
Should I choose DNSimple or Amazon Route 53?
Pick DNSimple if Teams that want DNS as a product rather than a loss leader: $0.50 per zone, 50,000 queries each, an API, domain registration and access control — priced openly at every tier including the overage rate.
Pick Amazon Route 53 if A 100% uptime commitment on your nameservers, which only Google matches here, plus the AWS integrations — alias records to load balancers and CloudFront, health checks, and IAM on the zone itself.