Free CNAME Record Checker
Look up what hostname a CNAME record points to.
Need to monitor this across every client domain you manage? ActiScan does bulk scanning, scoring, and white-labeled reporting for MSPs.
What Is a CNAME Record?
A CNAME (Canonical Name) record aliases one hostname to another – instead of resolving directly to an IP address, it tells resolvers 'the real answer lives at this other name instead.' The resolver then follows that chain to whatever A, AAAA, or other records exist at the target.
- •Pointing www to a bare domain, or to a hosting/CDN provider's own domain
- •Delegating a subdomain to a third-party service (email marketing tools, help-desk widgets, custom tracking domains) without managing its IP directly
- •Confirming a third-party integration's setup instructions were followed correctly
Example
www.example.com. CNAME example-hosting-platform.net.
www aliased to a hosting platform's own domain, which resolves from there.
Things to Know
A name with a CNAME can't have other records
This is a hard DNS rule (RFC 1034/2181), not a quirk of this tool: a name that has a CNAME can't also have an A, MX, TXT, or any other record type at that exact name. This is why a domain's root usually can't use a CNAME – it needs an MX and other records too.
CNAMEs can chain
A CNAME target can itself be another CNAME, which the resolver follows until it hits a record type that actually answers the query. Long chains can add latency, so most setups keep it to one hop.
Next Steps
A Record Checker
Check whether the CNAME's target actually resolves to an IPv4 address.
A Record Checker →Domain Security Analyzer
A full scan across every email-security record type at once, with an A-F grade.
Domain Security Analyzer →Frequently Asked Questions
Is this CNAME record checker free?
Yes – look up CNAME records for any domain, for free, no signup required.
Why can't I add a CNAME at my root domain (example.com)?
Because the root almost always needs other records too (MX for email, NS for the zone itself), and a name with a CNAME can't have anything else. Some DNS hosts offer 'CNAME flattening' or an 'ALIAS' record to work around this at the root specifically.
The result shows a different hostname than I expected
That's the CNAME doing its job – it's supposed to point elsewhere. If that target itself has no A/AAAA record, the hostname still won't resolve to an IP.
What resolver does this use?
Cloudflare's public DNS-over-HTTPS resolver. Every lookup is live, not a cached snapshot.