How long does DNS propagation take?
By Ash, Founder, HosteazePublished 2 min read
The short answer
Most DNS changes are visible within a few minutes to an hour, but some take up to 48 hours. The wait depends on the record's TTL, which tells servers how long to keep the old answer, and on whether you changed a record or your nameservers. Nameserver changes are usually the slowest.
You've changed a DNS record, refreshed the page six times, and nothing has happened. Annoying, but normal. "Propagation" sounds like the change is slowly spreading across the internet. What's really happening is that servers everywhere remembered the old answer, and they're waiting for that memory to expire.
Why do DNS changes take time?
When anyone visits your site, their internet provider's DNS server (the resolver) looks up your domain and keeps the answer for a while, so it doesn't have to ask again for every visitor. How long it keeps it is set by the record's TTL (time to live), in seconds.
If your A record has a TTL of 3600, a resolver that looked it up a minute before your change will keep serving the old address for up to an hour. Different resolvers looked it up at different times, which is why the change appears for some people before others.
How long does each kind of change take?
| What you changed | Typical wait | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A, CNAME, TXT or MX record | Minutes to a few hours | Limited by the old record's TTL, often 300 to 3600 seconds |
| A brand-new record that didn't exist before | Usually minutes | Nothing old to forget, unless someone looked it up and got "not found" |
| Nameservers (moving DNS to a new provider) | Up to 24 to 48 hours | The domain registry's own records carry long TTLs, often a day or two |
These are typical figures, not promises. A provider with a long TTL on its records can stretch any of them.
How do I check if my change has gone through?
- Open the free Google Admin Toolbox Dig tool.
- Enter your domain and pick the record type you changed, such as A or MX.
- Compare the answer with what you entered. The TTL shown is how many seconds remain before that cached copy expires.
If the tool shows the new value but your browser doesn't, the old answer is cached on your own device or network. Try mobile data, or ask Google Public DNS to flush its cache for your domain.
How do I make the next change faster?
Lower the TTL in advance. A day before a planned move, set the record's TTL to 300 seconds (five minutes). Once the old, longer TTL has expired everywhere, your real change will spread within minutes. Put the TTL back to an hour or more afterwards.
This matters most when pointing a domain at a new website or moving email, because a slow switch means some visitors or emails end up at the old place. For the difference between the two most common website records, see A record vs CNAME.
Frequently asked questions
Can I speed up DNS propagation?
Not once the change is made. You can prepare for a planned change by lowering the record's TTL to 300 seconds a day or two beforehand, so caches expire quickly when you make the switch.
Why does my site work on my phone but not my laptop?
They're asking different DNS servers. Your phone on mobile data uses your network's resolver, while your laptop uses your broadband's, and one has the new answer while the other still has the old one cached.
Will my email stop working during propagation?
Not if you keep the old mailboxes running until the change has fully spread. Some email may arrive at the old provider for a while, so check both for a couple of days after changing MX records.
