⏱️ DNS TTL Checker
Check Time To Live (TTL) values for all DNS records and plan your DNS changes.
TTL values explained (in minutes and hours)
TTL (Time To Live) is the number of seconds a resolver may cache a DNS record before asking your nameservers again. DNS providers show it in seconds, which is why "what is a TTL of 7200 in minutes?" is such a common question. Convert any value here, or use the table for the ones you'll actually meet:
| TTL (seconds) | In minutes / hours | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | 1 minute | Failover records, load-balancer health switching |
| 300 | 5 minutes | Before and during a DNS change or migration |
| 600 | 10 minutes | Records that change occasionally (dynamic DNS) |
| 900 | 15 minutes | Common CDN and cloud-provider default for A/CNAME records |
| 1800 | 30 minutes | A middle ground for active web properties |
| 3600 | 1 hour | The most common default; balanced for most records |
| 7200 | 2 hours | Stable records such as MX, TXT (SPF/DMARC) and NS |
| 14400 | 4 hours | Default at many registrars and cPanel hosts |
| 43200 | 12 hours | Rarely changed records |
| 86400 | 24 hours (1 day) | NS records and long-lived infrastructure |
| 604800 | 7 days | Maximum you'll see in practice; avoid unless a record never changes |
Best Practices
- Before migration: Lower TTL to 300 seconds, 24-48 hours in advance
- During migration: Keep low TTL for quick changes
- After migration: Raise TTL back to 3600+ after 48 hours
- Email (MX) records: Can use higher TTL (7200) since email retries
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a TTL of 7200 good?
7200 seconds is 2 hours, and it is a sensible value for records that rarely change — MX, NS and TXT records such as SPF and DMARC. It is too slow for a record you are about to change: resolvers may keep serving the old value for up to two hours, so lower it to 300 a day before the switch and raise it again afterwards.
What is TTL 3600 in minutes?
3600 seconds is 60 minutes, or exactly one hour. It is the most common default TTL and a good general-purpose setting for A, AAAA and CNAME records.
What TTL should I use for MX records?
3600 to 7200 seconds (one to two hours) is typical. Mail servers retry delivery for hours or days, so a stale MX rarely loses mail — but a lower TTL shortens the window in which senders hit the old server after a migration. Lower it before you change email providers, then restore it.
Does a lower TTL make DNS propagate faster?
Yes — for the next change. How long a DNS change takes to be seen everywhere is essentially the TTL of the old record, because resolvers keep the cached value until it expires. Lower the TTL before you make the change, not after, or the old long TTL still applies. Read how long DNS propagation really takes.