How to use custom DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) matches the URL you enter into your browser’s address bar to its corresponding IP address. It’s often compared to a telephone directory that cross-references domain names to their IP addresses.
Learn more about DNS and how it works
In this support guide, we look at what custom DNS is, and how to enable it on supported Proton VPN apps:
What is custom DNS?
Custom DNS allows you to choose one or more third-party DNS resolvers. By default, DNS queries are resolved by your ISP, but when you use Proton VPN, they’re usually sent through the encrypted VPN tunnel to be securely and privately resolved by Proton VPN. However, with our Custom DNS feature, you can choose third parties to resolve your DNS queries instead.
Custom DNS is a Plus feature, available to everyone with a paid Proton VPN plan.
Which Proton VPN apps support Custom DNS?
Custom DNS is currently available on our official Windows and Linux apps. Support for more platforms on our roadmap. Custom DNS is a premium feature available to everyone with a paid Proton VPN plan.
Using Custom DNS can have some security risks
Using custom DNS isn’t unsafe in itself, but we can’t guarantee that it will be as secure as Proton VPN’s DNS service.
Our DNS service resolves queries through our encrypted VPN tunnel, adhering to our strict no-logs policy. Custom DNS queries don’t pass through the VPN tunnel, and their overall safety depends entirely on the resolver you choose. You also won’t be able to enable NetShield ad-blocker while using custom DNS.
So if you use custom DNS, it’s really important to choose a resolver you trust.
Why can’t I use Custom DNS with NetShield Ad-blocker?
NetShield Ad-blocker is our DNS filtering feature that protects you from ads, trackers, and malware. It works because DNS queries are sent through the VPN tunnel to be resolved by Proton VPN, allowing us to filter out unwanted queries.
Learn more about Netshield Ad-blocker
If the DNS queries are sent to a third party, we can’t filter them. The third party resolver may or may not offer its own DNS filtering solution, but that’s out of our hands.
How to use custom DNS
Windows
1. Open the Windows app and go to ☰ → Settings → Connection tab and toggle the Custom DNS servers switch on.
2. Read the text in the alert box. If you wish to proceed, click Continue.
3. In the space provided (where it says Add IPv4 address), enter the IP address of a third-party DNS resolver. Click + when you’re done. You can add multiple addresses in this way, with each address after the first providing redundancy in the order they are listed.
Linux
1. Open the Linux app and go to Menu (V) → Settings → Connection and toggle the Custom DNS switch on.
2. Read the text in the alert box. If you wish to proceed, click Enable.
3. In the Add new server box, enter the IPv4 or IPv6 address of a third-party DNS resolver. Click Add when you’re done.
You can add multiple addresses in this way, with each additional address providing redundancy in the listed order. However, some Linux distributions impose a limit on the number of active DNS addresses that can be configured (on Ubuntu, for example, this limit is three). This is a limitation imposed by the distro, not Proton VPN.
