What is the name of Google’s public DNS service, launched in 2009 at 8.8.8.8?

Google’s public DNS service, launched at 8.8.8.8, is called Google Public DNS.

Google announced Google Public DNS on December 3, 2009. The service lets users resolve website names through Google-operated Domain Name System servers instead of relying solely on the DNS servers supplied by an internet service provider.

Its best-known IPv4 addresses are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Google also provides IPv6 addresses. Users commonly choose the service for reliability, performance, security features, or convenience when configuring routers and devices.

DNS translates human-readable domains such as example.com into numerical IP addresses used by networks. Google Public DNS does not provide internet access by itself and is not the same as Google Search or Google Cloud DNS. Google Cloud DNS is a managed authoritative DNS product for hosting domains, while Google Public DNS is a recursive resolver used to look up domains.