--- title: IBM NS1 Connect Reviews meta_title: 'IBM NS1 Connect Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 89 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how IBM NS1 Connect works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 89 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-14' parent_category: name: Hosting url: https://www.g2.com/categories/hosting --- # IBM NS1 Connect Reviews **Vendor:** IBM **Category:** [Managed DNS Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/managed-dns-solutions) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 89 ## About IBM NS1 Connect IBM NS1 Connect is a managed authoritative DNS and traffic steering service built on an always-on, API-first architecture. It ensures fast, secure, and reliable global connectivity, ideal for enterprises prioritizing uptime and seamless digital experiences. With a global anycast DNS network spanning 26 points of presence, NS1 Connect minimizes latency worldwide and offers 100% uptime backed by an SLA. It delivers up to 3x DNS performance improvement in China and safeguards availability even during large-scale DDoS attacks. Its API-first architecture enables easy integration and automation for efficient operations. To manage consistent DNS configurations across providers like IBM NS1 Connect and Amazon Route 53, IBM Cloud Sync is the solution. It provides continuous, bidirectional synchronization of DNS zones, records, and traffic policies — whether your primary DNS is on NS1 Connect or Amazon Route 53. Free trials are available for both solutions on product page. With preconfigured integrations for leading DevOps tools like Ansible and Terraform, IBM® NS1 Connect supports automation of routine maintenance tasks, further streamlining DNS management for enterprises looking to optimize their performance and reliability. ## IBM NS1 Connect Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **ease and reliability of DNS management** with IBM NS1 Connect, enhancing team efficiency and performance. (16 reviews) - Users value the **intelligent DNS traffic routing** of IBM NS1 Connect, enhancing performance and reliability effectively. (13 reviews) - Users appreciate the **ease of use** of IBM NS1 Connect, enabling efficient management and monitoring of DNS with simplicity. (7 reviews) - Users value the **strong traffic control features** of IBM NS1 Connect, enhancing security and network management effectively. (6 reviews) - Users appreciate the **high reliability** of IBM NS1 Connect, ensuring smooth performance even during heavy traffic loads. (5 reviews) - Users value the **robust security features** of IBM NS1 Connect, ensuring protection from external threats and managing network traffic. (5 reviews) - Users appreciate the **easy integrations** of IBM NS1 Connect, enhancing their development processes with minimal configuration effort. (4 reviews) - Performance Speed (3 reviews) - Setup Ease (3 reviews) - Uptime (3 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **complex user interface** of IBM NS1 Connect challenging, hindering quick onboarding and ease of use. (7 reviews) - Users face a **steep learning curve** due to complex configurations and lack of adequate support, impacting their experience. (4 reviews) - Users find the **pricing too high** , which can be inconvenient and limit flexibility in service options. (3 reviews) - Users note the **limited features** of IBM NS1 Connect, which hampers onboarding and lacks clear reporting tools. (3 reviews) - Users often face **compatibility issues** with the cloud, leading to inconvenient synchronization problems and a frustrating experience. (1 reviews) - Users find the **inadequate monitoring** of services less user-friendly, impacting their overall experience with IBM NS1 Connect. (1 reviews) - Poor Customer Support (1 reviews) - Poor Documentation (1 reviews) ## IBM NS1 Connect Reviews ### 1. Great API Potential, But Developer Account Setup and Support Fell Short **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** George C. | Network Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 23, 2026 **What do you like best about IBM NS1 Connect?** The product integration features including the API functions are very attractive to me as a network engineer. I intend to integrate NS1 into our network source-of-truth to enhance provisioning processes. **What do you dislike about IBM NS1 Connect?** I need to have a development environment set up to test automations. The NS1 website just led me around in circles and sent me to a chat bot when I tried to sign up for a developer account. Instead, I reached out to the sales team indicating I was a current customer and needed the developer account. There was no response. Hopefully that is not indicative of the level of support that the product has. I am a subject matter expert on DNS myself and I know this could just be a deficiency in the sales or support process. **What problems is IBM NS1 Connect solving and how is that benefiting you?** NS1 seems to meet our needs for scalability and availability. It also seems to be very flexible. I withhold my opinion on the integrations pending resolution of my request for a developer account. I was impressed with the documentation for the product; it seems to have all the features that we require as a service provider. ### 2. Quick record update, but support takes time when there are issues. **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2026 **What do you like best about IBM NS1 Connect?** In a short time, you can have the records updated because they propagate very quickly. **What do you dislike about IBM NS1 Connect?** sometimes when failing, support does not respond quickly **What problems is IBM NS1 Connect solving and how is that benefiting you?** I don't have to set up DNS servers myself. ### 3. Trying out **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** MANDARA S. | Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 16, 2025 **What do you like best about IBM NS1 Connect?** Fast reliable, routing features, optimize traffic management **What do you dislike about IBM NS1 Connect?** Less docs for beginners, and advance features should include guide for better usage **What problems is IBM NS1 Connect solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helping me learn routing for one of my project. ### 4. Good but not reliable as it is not as known as other in market **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 15, 2025 **What do you like best about IBM NS1 Connect?** Fast, advanced routing features. Helps in improving application availability. **What do you dislike about IBM NS1 Connect?** GUI limitations, less learning docs for advanced features. **What problems is IBM NS1 Connect solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helpful for me as a learner. ### 5. From Scratching the Surface of NS1 -- the IBM Company **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ramy H. | Technical Support Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 05, 2023 **What do you like best about IBM NS1 Connect?** Providing a service that could take work done in a week by a professional Very Straight, thorough Support Pages and price plans Keep track of DNS lookups and traffic flow control using DNS Resolves the issue of Public DNS problems **What do you dislike about IBM NS1 Connect?** Support Communication and customer service are not right there for customers No Prices visible on the price plan page No images nor downloadable demos for the product, even though it's made for On-premise solutions Firewalls are great for providing access and monitoring over networks and using DNS feature to apply that might affect the speed, reliability and functionality of the DNS actual function Technology for having a private DNS or managed DNS is already applicable by multiple OSs and Cloud Service providers, why create a project out of that except for Premise Clients **What problems is IBM NS1 Connect solving and how is that benefiting you?** Every Operating system has the capability of having a self-managed DNS Server, it decreases the effort for a company, offering more traffic control or monitoring, yet it might cause other issues for being standalone and not publicly having DNS records databases; it could be best used as mentioned for Private on-premise companies if they are luxurious enough to buy such service, but I believe it would be more beneficial to get a higher standard service for fastest DNS, Secured DNS, not a manageable one or a one that is capable of traffic monitoring ### 6. Senior Specialist **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 04, 2023 **What do you like best about IBM NS1 Connect?** Manager DNS, Deducated DNS and traffic steering **What do you dislike about IBM NS1 Connect?** Traffic querying using Manager DNS does not meet the maximum requirement **What problems is IBM NS1 Connect solving and how is that benefiting you?** Managed DNS - [View IBM NS1 Connect pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-ns1-connect/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=3§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-14+06%3A35%3A34+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=2ad6d007-420d-4408-9b19-ea7a55d353e0&secure%5Btoken%5D=4882256283dd0d6c19aac2b8172b912c7df2df34e379dd73947028aad3456f0c&format=llm_user) ## IBM NS1 Connect Integrations - [Okta](https://www.g2.com/products/okta/reviews) ## IBM NS1 Connect Features **Additional Functionality** - Penetration Testing - Alerts/Notifications - Audit Trail - Anti Virus - Vulnerability Scanning - Remote Monitoring & Management - VPN - Behavior Analytics - Reporting/Analytics - Real-Time Notifications - Access Controls/Permissions - SSL Security - Patch Management - Event Logs - Anomaly/Malware Detection - DNS Leak Protection - Third-Party Integrations - Server Monitoring - Real-Time Monitoring - Compliance Management - Network Provisioning - API - Email Alerts - Security Auditing - Intrusion Detection System - Data Visualization - Two-Factor Authentication - Generative AI - Firewalls - AI Copilot - Anti Spam - Threat Response - Activity Monitoring - Risk Alerts - Data Loss Prevention - Single Sign On - Intrusion Prevention System - Secure Login - Policy Management - Activity Dashboard **Protection** - Quarantine - Continuous Monitoring - Off-Network Protection - Guest Network Protection - BYOD Protection - Native DNS over HTTPS (DoH) **Functionality** - DNS Lookups - Threat Intelligence - Advanced Traffic Filtering **Administration** - Whitelisting - Policy Enforcement - Incident Reports - Domain Categorization - Multi-Network Management ## Top IBM NS1 Connect Alternatives - [Amazon Route 53](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-route-53/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (127 reviews) - [Cloudflare Application Security and Performance](https://www.g2.com/products/cloudflare-application-security-and-performance/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (678 reviews) - [WPMU DEV](https://www.g2.com/products/wpmu-dev/reviews) - 4.8/5.0 (856 reviews)