In 2023, a mid-size e-commerce company's main domain expired on a Saturday because the renewal email went to a former employee's inbox. They lost 72 hours of sales — roughly $180,000 — while fighting with their registrar to restore it. The CEO later admitted they managed domains in a shared Google Sheet that nobody had updated in 8 months.
For a developer running 5-10 side projects across different registrars (Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains), keeping track of renewals, SSL certs, and DNS is a manual nightmare. Each registrar sends renewal emails to different addresses at different times. And if you're using Let's Encrypt auto-renewal, it usually works — until the one time it doesn't and your site shows a scary browser warning.
The market is surprisingly thin. DomainMONSTER and DNS Spy exist but feel abandoned. There's no clean, modern domain portfolio monitor at indie-friendly pricing. At $5-15/mo, this is an easy sell to anyone managing more than 3 domains.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
5 domains, expiry + SSL monitoring, email alerts only, weekly checks
25 domains, daily checks, DNS change detection, Slack + email alerts, SSL monitoring, dashboard
Unlimited domains, hourly checks, WHOIS monitoring, team access, API, CSV export, custom alert rules
Why Now?
More domains registered than ever (350M+ globally). Let's Encrypt adoption means more auto-renewal complexity. Multi-registrar management is increasingly common.
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
No modern, clean domain monitoring tool exists at indie pricing. Existing tools (DNS Spy, DomainMONSTER) are either abandoned or enterprise-priced.
Revenue Examples
Small bootstrapped tool
Broader monitoring tool
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DNS Spy | $2-20/mo | Basic DNS monitoring, small team |
| StatusCake | $20-66/mo | Uptime monitoring with some SSL checks |
| Hetrix Tools | Free-$15/mo | Uptime + blacklist monitoring, some domain features |
Basic DNS monitoring, small team
Uptime monitoring with some SSL checks
Uptime + blacklist monitoring, some domain features
Launch Strategy
1) Free monitoring for 5 domains. 2) SEO: 'domain expiry checker' and 'SSL monitoring tool' have decent search volume. 3) Target domain investors and developers. 4) Launch on HN. 5) Blog: 'The $180K domain expiry: how to never let it happen.'
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: Go is fast and efficient for DNS lookups across many domains. TimescaleDB tracks DNS record history over time. Fly.io runs checkers close to DNS servers for accuracy.
Strengths
- ✓Very low competition in this specific niche
- ✓Extremely fast to build
- ✓Low support burden
- ✓Sticky — set and forget
Risks
- ⚠Small addressable market
- ⚠Low willingness to pay (only $5-15/mo)
- ⚠Registrars could build this in
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
Niche but real pain point, proven by DNS Spy
Small market — limited revenue examples
Stable, not growing significantly
Very low — most tools are abandoned
Very fast — well-understood APIs
Low ARPU but low competition makes it viable
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "DNS & Domain Expiry Monitor". ## Product Overview Track domains, SSL certificates, and DNS changes across your portfolio. $5-15/mo. ## Problem Companies with multiple domains lose track of expiry dates, SSL certificates, and DNS configurations. A forgotten domain renewal can take down a business for days. SSL expirations cause browser warnings that tank user trust instantly. ## Solution Dashboard that monitors all your domains in one place: expiry dates, SSL certificate status, DNS record changes, and WHOIS data. Get alerts 60/30/7 days before anything expires. ## Target Audience Dev teams managing multiple projects, agencies with client domains, portfolio domain owners ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors DNS Spy, StatusCake, Hetrix Tools ## Key Risks to Address Small addressable market Low willingness to pay (only $5-15/mo) Registrars could build this in ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.