Hostinger keeps your domain’s DNS in a zone editor inside hPanel: Domains, then DNS, then the DNS records tab. That page is where you change an A record, add the TXT value a third-party service asks for, or point a subdomain at another server. It works on any domain that uses Hostinger’s nameservers, including domains registered at another registrar. Every save is subject to propagation, which Hostinger documents as up to 24 hours. This is the walkthrough for the editor itself: where it sits, what the seven tabs hold, how to add and edit records without breaking mail, and how to roll the whole zone back when a change goes wrong.
Where the DNS zone editor lives
The editor is not on the website dashboard. It sits under the domain, not under the hosting plan, which is the first thing people get wrong when they go looking for it after a plan upgrade.
- Sign in at
hpanel.hostinger.com. - In the left sidebar, open Domains.
- Choose DNS.
- Select the domain you want from the list.
- Stay on the DNS records tab, which is the first of seven.
The list on that page holds domains registered with Hostinger plus domains registered elsewhere that have been connected to a Hostinger plan. Domains you connected but did not move onto Hostinger’s nameservers appear under External domains. If a domain’s nameservers still point at another provider, the records are not in this editor at all, because whoever holds the nameservers serves the zone. That is the line to keep clear: this editor changes records inside a zone Hostinger already controls. It does not move a zone to Hostinger. Moving the zone is a nameserver change, which is a different job covered in the nameserver guide.
Try it yourself: check the current Hostinger hosting plans — Premium is $1.99/mo on a 48-month term ($95.52 up front, renews at $10.99/mo), and every hosting plan carries a 30-day money-back guarantee.
What the seven tabs do
Across the top of the DNS page you get seven tabs. They are not all available on every domain, because child nameservers and DNSSEC depend on the TLD you registered. Hostinger documents each tab in its own knowledge base at support.hostinger.com, which is worth a look before you change anything you cannot undo.
| Tab | What you do there |
|---|---|
| DNS records | The zone itself: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA and ALIAS rows. |
| Child nameservers | Register a nameserver hostname under your own domain, for example for a reseller setup. TLD dependent. |
| Redirects | Send one hostname to another URL without touching the hosting account. |
| DNSSEC | Sign the zone. TLD dependent, and it must be turned off before a nameserver move. |
| DNS history | Snapshots of earlier versions of the zone, restorable in one action. |
| Subdomains | The list of subdomains that exist on the domain. |
| SSL | Certificate status for the domain and its subdomains. |
Two of these save real time. DNS history is the undo button for the whole zone, and Redirects handles a permanent redirect that would otherwise need a plugin or a server rule.
How to add a single record
The add form asks for four fields, five when the type needs a priority.
- Pick the Type. The dropdown carries a short built-in explanation of each one, so you do not have to leave the page to check what an ALIAS is.
- Enter the Name. This is the part before the domain:
www,mail, or@for the root. - Enter the Value. For an A record that is an IPv4 address, for a CNAME it is a hostname, for a TXT record it is the string the other service gave you.
- Leave TTL alone unless you have a reason. It defaults to 14400 seconds.
- Add the priority if the type is MX.
- Save, then wait. The new row appears in the list immediately, but resolvers elsewhere keep the old answer until their cached copy expires.
Paste TXT values exactly. A single missing quote or a stray space at the end is the most common reason a domain verification fails, and the record looks correct in the list while the service on the other side still rejects it.
Editing, deleting and adding several records at once
Each row has a pencil for editing and a trash icon for deleting, and deletion asks for confirmation before it commits. For a cleanup, tick the checkboxes on several rows and use Delete selected. Search filters the list, and the column headers sort it, which is faster than scrolling once a zone has a long list of rows.
Bulk creation is hidden behind Add more records, then Add 3 records. You get three blank rows in one form, which is the sane way to enter a mail provider’s full MX set or a group of verification TXT values. Above that sits Quick setup, a set of one-click presets for Shopify, Google Workspace (Gmail) and Google site verification. If you are connecting one of those three, use the preset instead of transcribing values by hand.
What each record type is for
Values below use placeholders on purpose. Copy the real values from your hosting plan or from the service you are connecting, never from an example.
| Type | Job | Value looks like |
|---|---|---|
| A | Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address. This is the record that sends a visitor to your server. | <your server IP> |
| AAAA | The same mapping for IPv6. | <your server IPv6> |
| CNAME | Points a hostname at another hostname instead of an address, so it follows that hostname if the address changes. | shop.example-provider.com |
| ALIAS | A CNAME that is legal at the root of the domain, where a plain CNAME is not. | <target hostname> |
| MX | Tells the world which servers accept mail for the domain. Needs a priority number. | <priority> <mail hostname> |
| TXT | Free-text verification and policy records. SPF, DKIM and DMARC all live here as TXT. | v=spf1 include:<provider> ~all |
| SRV | Advertises a service on a specific port and host, used by chat, voice and some mail setups. | <priority> <weight> <port> <hostname> |
| CAA | Names the certificate authorities allowed to issue SSL for the domain. | <flags> issue "<ca domain>" |
The record reference takes each of these apart field by field, including the mistakes that break mail. Read it before you touch MX or SPF on a domain that already receives email.
TTL and how long a change takes to show
TTL is how long a resolver is allowed to keep an answer before asking again. The default here is 14400 seconds. Hostinger’s own wording for the wait after a change is up to 24 hours, so treat the first day as unsettled and do not re-edit a record because it “did not work” the moment you saved it. Re-saving restarts nothing; it just replaces the value that resolvers may already have cached, and you end up unsure which version you are looking at.
Change one thing at a time where you can. If a site breaks after you edited three rows in one sitting, you have three suspects and one undo button. If you edited one row, you have one.
Undoing a mistake with DNS history
This is the part of the page most people never open, and it is the reason a bad edit is survivable.
- Open the DNS history tab.
- Review the snapshot you want to go back to and compare it against the current zone.
- Tick the acknowledgement checkbox.
- Click Restore DNS zone.
The restore rewrites the zone to the snapshot, so anything you added after that snapshot disappears with the bad record. That is usually what you want after a botched migration, and it is not what you want if you made three good changes and one bad one an hour ago. In that case, fix the single row by hand instead.
For a full copy of the zone, use the import and export of a standard BIND zone file. Export before any large restructure, keep the file, and you have a text record of every row that you can read without logging in. It is also the fastest way to move a zone between providers that both accept BIND format.
What this editor will not do
Three limits are worth knowing before you plan around them.
No custom nameservers for subdomains. On a Hostinger-registered domain, only the main domain can have custom NS records. A subdomain has to be handled with an A, CNAME or TXT record instead, so a subdomain cannot be delegated to a different DNS provider the way it can at some registrars.
No control over a zone that points elsewhere. If the nameservers are at another provider, edits here do nothing. The domain shows under External domains for reference, but the live zone is the other provider’s.
No instant result. There is no way to flush the world’s resolvers. You can flush your own machine, and that will often show the new value while a colleague in another city still sees the old one.
When to edit here and when to change nameservers
Edit records here when Hostinger already runs your DNS and you need to add or correct something: a verification TXT, a subdomain for a staging site, an MX change for a new mail provider. Change nameservers instead when the zone itself should live somewhere else, or when you are moving a domain in from another registrar. Hostinger’s plan comparison at hostinger.com lists what each tier includes, and the GoDaddy walkthrough at using a GoDaddy domain with Hostinger hosting shows both routes side by side: a nameserver change moves everything at once, including mail, while record-by-record edits leave the old provider holding whatever you did not touch.
Before you buy: compare the Hostinger plans here — a free domain for the first year is included on Premium and above, and the DNS editor comes with the domain rather than as an add-on.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to change DNS if I only moved my website files?
No. If the domain already points at the Hostinger server, moving files between folders or reinstalling WordPress does not require a DNS change. DNS only decides which server a hostname resolves to. It has nothing to say about what is inside the account once traffic arrives.
How long should I wait before deciding a record change failed?
Hostinger documents the wait as up to 24 hours. If the old value is still showing inside that window, the change may simply not have propagated to the resolver you are testing from. Check with a public DNS lookup tool from more than one location before you edit the record again.
Can I delete the default records Hostinger created?
Some of them, yes, but be careful with mail. Removing MX rows stops email delivery, and removing the SPF and DKIM TXT rows makes your mail more likely to be filtered. If you no longer use Hostinger’s mail, point the MX rows at your new provider rather than deleting them.
Will changing DNS records break my SSL certificate?
Not the certificate itself, but issuance depends on the domain resolving to the right server. If you point an A record somewhere new, the certificate has to be issued for that new destination. That is why the SSL tab shows the state it does after a move.
Where do I see the nameservers for my domain?
On the hosting side, not in the DNS records tab. For shared, cloud and Agency plans the values sit in the plan details for the site; on a VPS they are in the DNS Manager. The exact pair is worth reading off the dashboard rather than copying from any article, including this one.
DNS edits are reversible, which is the main thing to hold on to. The history tab exists precisely because zones get broken, and a restore takes seconds. Take the export before a big change, change one record at a time, and give the zone a day to settle before you judge the result.
