# DNS Records Checker - Domain DNS Lookup Data (`benthepythondev/dns-records-checker`) Actor

Look up public DNS records for domains and export A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SOA and CAA records as structured data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/benthepythondev/dns-records-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Ben](https://apify.com/benthepythondev) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Business, Automation
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## 🔎 DNS Records Checker - Domain DNS Lookup Data

Look up public DNS records for domains and export A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SOA and CAA records as structured data. Export to JSON/CSV/Excel, run on a schedule, call via API, or connect to Make, Zapier or n8n.

### What is the DNS Records Checker?

The DNS Records Checker turns public technical signals from domains and URLs into structured data. These checks are common in SEO audits, lead enrichment, deliverability reviews, site migrations, security reviews, and technical due diligence, but they are slow to repeat manually across large lists. This actor lets you paste domains or URLs and receive normalized rows that are ready for spreadsheets, CRM enrichment, dashboards, alerts, and API workflows.

The actor is designed for reliability first. It uses direct network requests, avoids browsers, keeps defaults small for Apify health checks, and returns one or more clear rows per target. That makes it useful both as a standalone audit tool and as a building block in larger automation stacks.

#### What data does it extract?

- Input domain or URL
- Final source URL where applicable
- HTTP status or DNS record type
- Parsed technical fields for this actor's check
- Raw values where useful for auditability
- Stable fields suitable for exports and joins
- A `source` marker for downstream pipelines

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `targets` | array | Domains or URLs to check, depending on the actor. |
| `maxResults` | integer | Maximum rows to return per target. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "maxResults": 25
}
```

### Output

```json
{"domain": "apify.com", "record_type": "A", "value": "104.18.12.123", "source": "dns"}
```

### Use cases

- SEO audits: check redirects, metadata, DNS and domain configuration at scale.
- Lead enrichment: add technical signals to company domains before outreach.
- Email deliverability: verify MX, SPF and DMARC setup for prospect or client domains.
- Site migration QA: confirm redirect paths, final URLs and public metadata.
- Technical due diligence: collect infrastructure details during website or business research.
- Monitoring: schedule recurring checks and alert when important values change.

### Practical workflow

Start with a clean list of domains or URLs. For enrichment workflows, include one domain per target and keep `maxResults` small. For audit workflows, increase `maxResults` so all relevant records or redirect hops are captured. Export the dataset to CSV or Excel for manual review, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n, Airtable, Google Sheets, BigQuery, or a webhook.

For recurring monitoring, keep the same target list and run the actor on a schedule. Compare the latest dataset with the previous run using stable fields such as domain, URL, record type, hop index, or metadata key. This makes it easy to detect broken redirects, missing mail records, changed Open Graph previews, or DNS changes that could affect SEO, deliverability, analytics, or sales workflows.

### Data quality notes

Technical website data is not always tidy. DNS providers return values in different forms, websites may redirect across hostnames, and pages can include incomplete social metadata. The actor keeps normalized fields where possible while preserving raw values that matter for audits. This is intentional: clean columns help automation, and raw values help humans verify edge cases without re-running the check.

The default target is chosen to return real data in a small Apify test run. In production, use your own domains or URLs. If a target fails, the actor logs the failure and continues with the rest of the list so one bad domain does not ruin the whole run.

For agency and sales workflows, use the output as a first-pass signal rather than a final verdict. A missing record can indicate a genuine configuration issue, but it can also mean the domain is parked, redirected, protected by a provider, or intentionally configured differently. The dataset gives you enough structured evidence to sort the list, identify likely problems, and decide which targets deserve a deeper manual review.

For technical teams, the same output works well as a regression snapshot. Store each scheduled run, compare the latest rows with the previous dataset, and flag records that changed. This is useful before and after migrations, DNS provider changes, domain launches, marketing campaign launches, email-platform changes, and website redesigns.

### Reliability and performance

This actor does not use a browser, residential proxy, or paid unblocker. It performs public DNS lookups or HTTP requests that are expected to work from Apify's cloud environment. That keeps costs low and makes the actor suitable for daily auto-tests, scheduled audits, and larger domain lists.

### FAQ

**Does it require an account or API key?** No. It uses public DNS or public webpage data.

**Can I check multiple targets at once?** Yes. Add multiple domains or URLs to the input list.

**Can I schedule it?** Yes. Use Apify schedules to run recurring checks.

**Can I export to Excel?** Yes. Apify datasets export to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and RSS.

**Can I connect it to automations?** Yes. Use Apify API, webhooks, Make, Zapier, n8n, or dataset integrations.

**What happens when a target fails?** The actor logs the failure and continues with the remaining targets.

**Is it legal?** The actor checks public technical data. You are responsible for respecting website terms, rate limits, privacy rules, and applicable laws.

**How is billing calculated?** Pay-per-event billing charges per result pushed to the dataset.

**Why include raw values?** Raw values make audits verifiable and preserve details that can matter in edge cases.

### You might also like

- Website Status Checker
- HTTP Headers Checker
- SSL Certificate Checker
- Meta Tags Extractor
- Website Contact Extractor

**Keywords:** DNS records checker, DNS lookup scraper, domain DNS audit, MX lookup, TXT records, domain intelligence, website audit, technical SEO tool, domain intelligence, lead enrichment, Apify scraper, automation, monitoring, business data

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

Domains or URLs to check.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum rows to return per target.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "maxResults": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "targets": [
        "apify.com"
    ],
    "maxResults": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("benthepythondev/dns-records-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "targets": ["apify.com"],
    "maxResults": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("benthepythondev/dns-records-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "targets": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "maxResults": 10
}' |
apify call benthepythondev/dns-records-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,benthepythondev/dns-records-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/jowFGGPqcahFEo1Ed/builds/G2pnK2FPn03tuKRkI/openapi.json