do dns providers log query data?

People obsess over hosting logs but ignore DNS logs.

Your DNS provider sees every domain you query, when you query it, and how often. If you're using their DNS resolver, they have a complete picture of your traffic patterns.

Cloudflare logs DNS queries for 24 hours. Some providers log indefinitely. The few that don't log at all are rare.

Run your own DNS resolver or accept that your browsing history is recorded somewhere.

Running your own resolver is straightforward with Unbound or dnscrypt-proxy.

# Basic Unbound setup
apt install unbound
systemctl enable unbound
systemctl start unbound

The challenge is that you still need upstream resolvers. Unless you run a full recursive resolver, you're just moving the logging from one provider to another.

dns logging is unavoidable

Which providers don't log at all?

None that I would trust with critical infrastructure. The ones that claim zero logs either haven't been tested or are lying.

The realistic approach is to assume logging exists and use it for benign traffic only.