1. Domain Registrar vs DNS Service

These are two different things — people often confuse them.

Domain Registrar DNS Service
What it does You buy/register your domain name here Manages your DNS records (where traffic goes)
Examples GoDaddy, Namecheap, Amazon Registrar Route 53, Cloudflare DNS
Paid how Annual fee Per query / free tier

Key point: You can buy a domain from one place and manage DNS records somewhere else.

Example:

2. Using a 3rd Party Registrar with Route 53

If you bought your domain on GoDaddy (or any other registrar), you can still use Route 53 as your DNS.

Steps:

  1. Create a Hosted Zone in Route 53 for your domain
  2. Route 53 gives you 4 Name Server (NS) records
  3. Go to your registrar (GoDaddy) and update the NS records to point to Route 53

That's it — Route 53 now handles all DNS for your domain.

Remember: Domain Registrar ≠ DNS Service. Every registrar comes with basic DNS, but you don't have to use it.

3. Route 53 Resolver (Default Behavior)

The Route 53 Resolver lives inside your AWS VPC and automatically answers DNS queries for: