Questions, answered

What is Namestead?

Namestead (namestead.dev) gives developers free subdomains, like yourname.portfilio.live, on a small catalog of domains that the community funds. You sign in, claim a name, and point it at your portfolio or project.

Is it really free?

Yes. Names cost nothing and Namestead never asks for a card. The domains’ registration and the servers are paid for by contributions from supporters, and every rupee in and out is published on the public ledger.

How do I get a free subdomain?

Sign in on namestead.dev with GitHub, Google or an email link, pick a domain from the catalog, type the name you want and claim it. Most names go live straight away; a claim from a brand-new account with little history can wait for a short manual review. You must be 18 or older.

Which domains can I choose from?

Today the catalog has portfilio.live and digitalplayground.quest. Anyone can request a new domain on the requests board, signed-in users vote, and Namestead decides what to buy using its domain acceptance policy, guided by the votes and the money raised.

What can I point my name at?

Everyone can set a name to redirect to an address they choose, or show a parked page. From the Resolver tier you can add a CNAME to Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages or Render, plus the TXT records those hosts verify with. Proxy mode, which serves your own verified server under the name, is not open yet.

Can I use it with Vercel, Netlify or GitHub Pages?

Yes. On day one you can redirect the name to your .vercel.app, .netlify.app or .github.io address. At the Resolver tier you can connect it with a CNAME so the name stays in the address bar; the guides walk through each host.

Is HTTPS included?

Yes. Redirects and parked pages are served with Namestead’s wildcard certificate for each catalog domain. With direct DNS, your host issues the certificate for your name, as it does for any custom domain.

How many names can I have?

Everyone starts at Ping: one name, as a redirect or a parked page. Resolver (150 Trust Points and an account at least 7 days old) gives three names and direct DNS. Authority adds a fourth and fifth name and proxy mode, which is not open yet. The two highest tiers, Registry and Root, allow 10 and 20 names and need a person to approve them.

What are Trust Points?

Trust Points come from time on Namestead, connecting GitHub (its account age, public repositories and followers count), linking other accounts, keeping a name healthy, helping the project (a domain you asked for going live, an abuse report that was acted on) and contributing money. They have no cash value. Points decide your tier, and your tier decides how many names you can hold, which modes you can use and how much your vote counts.

Can I get email on my name, or point it at my own server’s IP?

Not today. Names don’t take MX, A, AAAA or NS records. Pointing a name at your own server will be possible through proxy mode once it opens, after Namestead has checked that you control the server.

What isn’t allowed?

Phishing, malware, impersonation, illegal content, harassment and content that infringes someone’s rights. Names that imitate a protected brand, including look-alike spellings, are refused when you claim them. Reports follow the published abuse policy, and dangerous content is suspended first and reviewed after.

What happens to my name if a domain can’t be kept?

Every catalog domain is registered in Namestead’s own registrar account. If a domain can’t be kept, Namestead gives notice before the names under it stop working.

Who runs Namestead?

Sushil Kumar, a developer in India, runs it as an independently operated project. It is not a registered organisation such as a trust, society or Section 8 company.

How is Namestead different from is-a.dev?

is-a.dev hands out names on is-a.dev through GitHub pull requests that volunteers review, and supports a wide range of DNS records. On Namestead you claim on a website with no pull request, choose from several domains, and can see where every rupee goes; it supports fewer record types. The comparison guide has the details.

Is Namestead related to namestead.com?

No. namestead.com is an older, unrelated domain-portfolio-management service. This Namestead is namestead.dev, the free subdomain service for developers.

More detail in the guides and the Terms.