How to check DNS propagation

Before you start: know the answer you expect

Write down the exact value you set — the new IP address, mail server hostname or TXT value. A checker can only tell you what resolvers return; you decide whether that's right.

Check propagation online

1. Open the DNS propagation checker.
2. Type the exact name you changed. For the website itself that's usually both example.co.za and www.example.co.za — check them separately, because www is often a separate CNAME or A record.
3. Choose the record type: A for an IPv4 address, AAAA for IPv6, CNAME for an alias, MX for mail, TXT for SPF/verification values, NS for nameservers.
4. Press Search and compare each result with the value you expect.

Reading the results

• Every check returns your new value — the change has reached these public resolvers. Some ISP resolvers may still lag by up to the old TTL.
• A mix of old and new values — propagation is in progress. Re-check later.
• Different values that never converge — the domain may use geo-DNS, a CDN or round-robin records that intentionally return different answers. That's normal for many large sites.
• “No record” everywhere — the record doesn't exist at the authoritative nameservers, the name is misspelt, or you edited DNS at a provider that isn't actually authoritative for the domain. Check the NS records to see which provider is in charge.
• “No answer” on some rows — that resolver didn't respond in time (or a browser extension blocked it). It doesn't mean the record is wrong.

Check from the command line

On macOS or Linux, dig is the most precise tool:

# what does a specific public resolver return?
dig @8.8.8.8 www.example.co.za A +short
dig @1.1.1.1 www.example.co.za A +short

# ask the authoritative nameserver directly (bypasses all caches)
dig NS example.co.za +short
dig @ns1.yourdnsprovider.com www.example.co.za A +short

# follow the delegation from the root down
dig +trace example.co.za

On Windows, use nslookup:

nslookup -type=A www.example.co.za 8.8.8.8
nslookup -type=MX example.co.za 1.1.1.1

If the authoritative nameserver returns the new value but public resolvers don't, you're simply waiting for caches to expire. If the authoritative nameserver returns the old value, the change wasn't saved where you think it was.

Clear your own cache

If the online checker shows the new value but your own browser doesn't, flush your local cache:

Windows:   ipconfig /flushdns
macOS:     sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
Linux:     resolvectl flush-caches
Chrome:    chrome://net-internals/#dns  →  Clear host cache