# CoreDNS vs Unbound

| Attribute | CoreDNS | Unbound |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 57.8 (28% (low)) | 47.7 (16% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 91 | 84 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1,324 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 14,279 | 4,817 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source DNS server designed for containerized and cloud-native deployments, offering DNS resolution and service discovery through a plugin-based architecture. Provides direct integration with Kubernetes and support for major cloud platforms. | A free DNS resolver software that encrypts user queries and validates domain lookups. Designed for privacy and performance, it supports modern encrypted DNS protocols and works across Linux, BSD, and macOS systems. |
| integrations.count | 4 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"etcd"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure DNS"},{"name":"GCP Cloud DNS"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Go | C |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"NL","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://coredns.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-20T16:32:08.922Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://nlnetlabs.nl/projects/unbound/about/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-20T16:34:32.426Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 39 | 52 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.7","date":"2026-08-19T01:39:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.6","date":"2026-07-10T05:51:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.5","date":"2026-07-10T00:35:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.4","date":"2026-06-09T07:23:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.3","date":"2026-04-22T12:43:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.2","date":"2026-03-06T06:34:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.1","date":"2026-01-16T05:35:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.0","date":"2026-01-08T01:10:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.13.2","date":"2025-12-10T03:15:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.13.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.13.1","date":"2025-10-08T20:47:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.13.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.13.0","date":"2025-10-06T07:03:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.12.4","date":"2025-09-09T00:12:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.12.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.12.3","date":"2025-08-05T17:24:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.12.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.12.2","date":"2025-06-06T11:42:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.12.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.12.1","date":"2025-03-31T20:26:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.12.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.12.0","date":"2024-11-21T19:41:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.11.4","date":"2024-11-13T03:07:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.11.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.11.3","date":"2024-07-29T17:29:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.11.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.11.1","date":"2023-08-15T20:00:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.11.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.11.0","date":"2023-08-08T14:15:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.11.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.26.0","date":"2026-08-04T08:00:13Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.26.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.25.2","date":"2026-07-22T09:18:40Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.25.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.25.1","date":"2026-05-20T09:17:20Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.25.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.25.0","date":"2026-04-29T09:56:24Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.25.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.24.2","date":"2025-11-26T11:22:30Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.24.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.24.1","date":"2025-10-22T10:28:00Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.24.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.24.0","date":"2025-09-18T08:36:55Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.24.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.23.1","date":"2025-07-16T09:20:27Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.23.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.23.0","date":"2025-04-24T08:07:21Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.23.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.22.0","date":"2024-10-17T08:43:37Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.21.1","date":"2024-10-04T10:42:01Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.21.0","date":"2024-08-15T08:56:18Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.20.0","date":"2024-05-08T09:06:15Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.19.3","date":"2024-03-14T09:26:00Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.19.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.19.2","date":"2024-03-07T09:09:39Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.19.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.19.1","date":"2024-02-13T12:54:31Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.19.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/NLnetLabs/unbound/releases/tag/release-1.19.0","date":"2023-11-08T09:54:09Z","type":"stable","version":"release-1.19.0"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 8.2 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":16,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcoredns%2Fcoredns&per_page=100","last_12m":9,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FNLNetLabs%2Funbound&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:41:23.606Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*