Price checkMonthly
Essentials$99/moStandard$349/moPremiumCustom
See all 3 plans

All NS1 (IBM) Plans & Pricing

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
View all features by plan (compare side-by-side)

Essentials

  • 30-80M DNS queries/month
  • 1000 DNS records
  • 2 health check monitors
  • 1 traffic filter chain
  • 5 HTTPS redirects
  • Activity log, Query reporting, DNSSEC, HTTP redirects

Standard

  • 50M - 1BN DNS queries/month
  • 1000 - 10,000 DNS records
  • 2 - 100 health check monitors
  • 1-100 traffic filter chains
  • 50 HTTPS redirects
  • Unlimited zone backup/restore
  • Spike protection (DDoS + NXD)
  • Primary and secondary DNS support

Premium

  • Custom DNS queries/month
  • Custom DNS records
  • Custom number of monitors
  • Custom number of filter chains
  • Unlimited HTTPS redirects
  • Unlimited zone backup/restore
  • Spike protection (DDoS + NXD)
  • Custom Pulsar (RUM/Multi-CDN)
  • Custom DNS insights
  • Custom Dedicated DNS
  • Custom DNS for China
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At a glance

List price by tier (annualized, per license)

Per-license list price across NS1 (IBM)'s plans, annualized. Custom-priced tiers show a hatched bar.

Essentials$1.2K/yr
Standard$4.2K/yr
PremiumCustom
Real-world benchmark

Buyers actually pay a median of $36K/yr for NS1 (IBM) contracts (Vendr deal flow, n=30). That's a contract total — the more seats, the more leverage to negotiate down.

Quick Answer
Last verified:
Estimate

NS1 (IBM) pricing: Essentials $99, Standard $349/mo. Premium is quote-based. Plans: Essentials at $99/month, and Standard at $349/month. Custom pricing is available on request. The median contract is $36,473/year based on 30 buyer-reported purchases (Vendr).

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available

NS1 (IBM) offers 3 pricing tiers: Essentials, Standard, Premium. Paid plans include Essentials at $99/month, Standard at $349/month. The Standard plan is mid-size businesses needing scalable authoritative dns.

Compared to other dns management software, NS1 (IBM) is positioned at the premium price point.

  • Median contract: $36,473/yr from 30 purchases Precise
    • 0
  • 5 documented hidden costs beyond list price
Last verified: | Sources: 1 pricing pages and reviews

How much does NS1 (IBM) cost?

NS1 (IBM) has 2 paid plans costing $99–$349/mo. Premium is quote-based. Plans include Essentials at $99/month, Standard at $349/month, Premium (custom pricing).

NS1 (IBM) Pricing Overview

NS1 (IBM) pricing: Essentials $99, Standard $349/mo. Premium is quote-based. The Essentials plan costs $99/month, best for small to mid-size businesses. The Standard plan costs $349/month, best for mid-size businesses needing scalable authoritative dns. The Premium plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for enterprises with high dns demands.

The median NS1 (IBM) customer pays $36,473/year based on 30 buyer-reported purchases (Vendr).

There are at least 5 documented hidden costs beyond NS1 (IBM)'s list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in October 30, 2026 from 1 independent source.

Try NS1 (IBM) Free

NS1 (IBM) pricing starts with a Free Developer plan at no cost for development and testing. The Essentials plan runs $99/month ($1,188/year) for small to mid-size businesses, while the Standard plan is $349/month ($4,188/year) for mid-size organizations needing scalable authoritative DNS. The Premium plan uses custom pricing for enterprises with high DNS demands, scoped to zone count, query volume, and advanced feature requirements.

How NS1 (IBM) Pricing Compares

Compare NS1 (IBM) pricing against top alternatives in DNS Management.

AWS Route 53 $0.4-$0.8/user/mo Compare → Constellix $5-$25/user/mo Compare → DNS Made Easy $0-$175/user/mo Compare →

Compare NS1 (IBM) vs Alternatives

Before committing to NS1 (IBM), compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

VSAWS Route 53
From $0.4/user/mo

All DNS hosting needs

Full comparison
VSConstellix
From $5/user/mo

Small websites

Full comparison
VSDNS Made Easy
Free

Trial users

Full comparison

All NS1 (IBM) alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for NS1 (IBM)

The median NS1 (IBM) buyer pays $36,473/year based on 30 buyer-reported purchases (Vendr).

What companies actually pay $36,473/yr Median across 30 buyer-reported purchases (Vendr) Precise
0
Review scores
TrustRadius 8.9out of 10 (21)
Third-party review aggregates, as of Feb 2026
Top pricing complaints
User interface complexity for new usersPricing transparency - lacks clear public pricingLearning curve requires networking expertiseDocumentation could be more comprehensive
Source: Vendr buyer data — median of 30 purchases reported to Vendr. Buyer-reported estimates, not verified by CostBench or the vendor; savings reflect discounts buyers reported.

NS1 (IBM) Cost by Company Size

Example costs for teams of different sizes. Each figure is labelled with the period it covers.

Small Team (10-50 zones, moderate traffic) $99 per month

$99/month billed monthly on Essentials ($1,188 Year 1 at $99 × 12); Standard is $349/month billed monthly

Small development team or startup using NS1 for authoritative DNS and basic traffic steering across fewer than 50 zones with moderate query volume.

Mid-Market Company (median buyer) $36,473 per year

$36,473 per year (Vendr median)

Mid-sized company using NS1 for multi-region DNS management, traffic steering, and application resilience across 100+ zones with standard enterprise query volume.

Enterprise High-Volume Deployment Custom-quoted; Premium has no published price

Large enterprise with high transaction volumes, extensive Filter Chains usage, and mission-critical uptime requirements across hundreds of zones.

Extrapolated from Vendr median and Reddit pricing discussions

How NS1 (IBM) Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
NS1 (IBM) $99/month $349/month
AWS Route 53 $0.4 per month $0.8 per month
Constellix Custom Custom
DNS Made Easy $50 per month $50 per month
Oracle Dyn DNS $100 per month $2000 per month
ClouDNS Free $9.95/month

Detailed pricing comparisons:

Browse all DNS Management pricing →

5 NS1 (IBM) Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, NS1 (IBM) has at least 5 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 5 hidden costs
  • Traffic steering billed separately by query volume
  • Dedicated DNS instances are additional cost
  • DNS for China region requires separate pricing
  • DNS Insights analytics charged per query volume
  • Enterprise support packages may require additional fees
Tip

Ask your NS1 (IBM) sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 2 independent sources
Vendr Verified buyer transactions TrustRadius Enterprise reviews
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 7 source citations total.

NS1 (IBM) Contract Terms

NS1 (IBM) contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Auto-Renewal No
Mid-Term Downgrade Not allowed
Price Escalation 5% annual uplift standard since IBM acquisition
Based on 2 verified sources

How to Negotiate NS1 (IBM) Pricing

NS1 (IBM) contracts are negotiable. These 4 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.

Negotiation Playbook 4 tactics
Leverage budget constraints high success

Push back on annual price increases by citing budget limitations. Multiple buyers successfully negotiated flat renewals by emphasizing budget constraints when NS1 proposed the standard 5% uplift.

Vendr community insights - multiple successful negotiations
Push back on IBM uplift policy high success

Since IBM acquisition, NS1 pushes standard uplifts. Buyers report success getting uplifts waived by pushing back twice and citing budget constraints.

Vendr - uplift waived after two rounds of pushback
Use economies of scale medium success

For high-volume usage, negotiate lower monthly rates for transactions and Filter Chains by demonstrating scale. One buyer reduced per-transaction costs through volume commitments.

Vendr community insight
Reference service issues medium success

If experiencing unresolved service problems, use these as leverage to remove contractual increases or negotiate better terms.

Vendr - buyer removed contractual increase due to unresolved service issues
High success Medium Low / difficult

Full negotiation guide →

NS1 (IBM) Pricing FAQ

01 Does NS1 offer a free tier?

Yes, NS1 offers a free Developer account with full authoritative DNS capabilities and unlimited API access, though traffic scale is limited. This can be used in production as a primary or secondary DNS solution.

02 How is NS1 Premium pricing calculated?

Premium pricing is based on monthly query volume and total DNS records. Additional services like traffic steering, Dedicated DNS, DNS for China, and DNS Insights are priced through query volumes. Premium has no published price and is custom-quoted, so large-scale deployments should expect a quote based on their own volumes.

03 Can I use NS1 with AWS?

Yes, the Essentials plan is available for purchase directly through AWS Marketplace, making it easy to integrate with existing AWS infrastructure and billing.

04 What is the typical annual cost for NS1?

Based on Vendr marketplace data from 30 purchases, the median buyer pays $36,473 per year. Pricing varies significantly based on zone count, query volume, and feature requirements, ranging from basic plans to enterprise deployments exceeding $270,000 annually.

05 Will my pricing increase after the first year?

Since IBM's acquisition of NS1, the company has implemented a standard 5% annual uplift on renewals. However, multiple buyers have successfully negotiated flat renewals by pushing back and citing budget constraints, so price increases are negotiable.

06 How can I get a better price on NS1?

Leverage budget constraints when negotiating - this has proven highly effective for removing annual uplifts. If you have high query volumes, negotiate economies of scale for transaction rates. Consider pushing back multiple times on standard uplift proposals, as buyers report success after second rounds of negotiation.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.