Terms of service

Last updated: 2026-10-23

In these terms, "we" and "us" mean SatsDNS. These terms apply to the API at https://api.satsdns.com, the dashboard at https://app.satsdns.com, the Lightning addresses at pay.satsdns.com, the nameservers ns1.satsdns.com and ns2.satsdns.com and the per-zone names under them, the dynamic-DNS hostnames under dynkite.com, and this website. By paying for an order, or by using an account, you accept these terms and the acceptable use policy, which is part of them. Domain registrations are also governed by the registration agreement, which takes precedence for them. How we handle data is described in the privacy notice.

The service

• Hosted zones: we serve the DNS records of a domain you control from our two nameservers, signed with DNSSEC, and you manage the records through the API or the dashboard.
• Secondary zones: we copy a zone from a primary server you run, and serve it from our nameservers.
• Dynamic-DNS hostnames: you may use a name under dynkite.com, a domain we hold, for the period you paid.
• Domain registration: we sell registrations, renewals and transfers of .com, .net and .org names as a reseller of the ICANN-accredited registrar Global Domain Group LLC (IANA ID 3956), under the registration agreement. Domains are ordered with an account, in the dashboard or through the API.
• Accounts are optional and free, except that domain orders need one. An account is a Nostr public key.

The routes, limits and prices are described in the API reference and on the pricing page.

Your domain

This section is about domains registered elsewhere. For domains registered through us, see the registration agreement.

• You may only host a zone for a domain you hold or are allowed to manage. The delegation of the domain to the zone's own nameservers, given to you by the free check and checked before every order, is the only proof we ask for. When you remove a zone, also remove its nameservers at your registrar; for 90 days, and while the registry still lists them, only you can host the name here again.
• Your domain, its registration and renewal, its nameservers and its DS records stay with you and your registrar. We are not responsible for what your registrar or registry does, or for a domain that lapses there.
• If you remove a zone or let it expire while a DS record for it is still at your registrar, validating resolvers will reject your domain. Remove the DS record first.

Prices and payment

• Each order costs the price in sats shown on the pricing page and in the 402 Payment Required answer or the invoice for that order. Domain orders are quoted per order, as described in the registration agreement. The price in the 402 answer or invoice is the one you pay.
• Without an account you pay on the paid API routes over Lightning (L402) or with Cashu ecash from an accepted mint. With an account each order gets its own Lightning invoice, or a bitcoin address for orders of at least 5,000 sats. Renewals can also be paid to a zone's Lightning address.
• Lightning routing fees and on-chain network fees are paid by the payer. At Cashu mints that charge a swap fee, your token must also cover that fee.
• We never hold money for you. There are no balances or credits: nothing can be stored, withdrawn or transferred. Each payment pays for one order.
• Nothing renews automatically. We do not charge you without a new payment from you.

Periods, renewal and expiry

• A zone or hostname runs for the period you paid (30 or 365 days), from the moment the order runs. A renewal adds its period to the current end date. A zone or hostname cannot be paid more than 1,125 days ahead.
• When the period ends, a 7-day grace period starts. During it the zone keeps answering and can be edited and renewed.
• After the grace period we remove the zone or the hostname's records, and the name can be ordered again by anyone. Removed zones cannot be restored.
• Reminders by Nostr direct message are a courtesy for accounts. Not receiving one does not extend the period.

Quotas

Each zone includes 1,000,000 queries per calendar month (UTC) and the other limits listed in the docs. When a zone goes over its query quota we flag it and tell its owner; its records keep answering. Above 120% of the quota, or 3 days after the flag, we review the zone and may stop serving its records until extra queries are bought or the next month starts; query volume alone never does that automatically. The zone, its keys and its records are kept during that time.

Payments are final, with these exceptions

• Free check. An order refused by the free check before payment costs nothing: no invoice is made.
• Paid API routes (no account). If an order is refused or fails after payment, the answer carries an automatic remedy: an L402 retry with the same proof within the hour, or a Cashu refund token for the price. Redeem a refund token promptly: until you do, anyone who sees it can take it. If no automatic remedy could be given, ask through the contact page with the route, the time, the rail and the headers you got back.
• Account orders. A payment that arrives after the invoice expired, a payment below the invoice amount, and an order we could not carry out are refunded on request. An amount paid above the invoice is kept unless you ask for it back. Ask with POST /v1/account/refunds or in the dashboard. Each refund is reviewed and paid by hand, from 1,000 sats, with the network fee deducted; refunds of on-chain payments wait until the payment has 3 confirmations. Amounts below 1,000 sats, for example a late or short payment on a 200- or 500-sat order, cannot be refunded.
• Lightning addresses. A payment to a zone's Lightning address that cannot be applied (for example because the zone was removed meanwhile) is kept, and refunded if the payer contacts us and shows the payment.
• Removing a zone or hostname before its end date, letting it expire, and suspension or removal for breaking the acceptable use policy do not give a refund for the rest of the period.
• Domains. Registrations, renewals and transfers that went through are final; paid domain orders that failed before the domain was registered, renewed or transferred are refundable on request, as described in the registration agreement.

Tokens, keys and accounts

• Management tokens and API keys are shown once. Keep them secret: whoever holds a zone's token controls that zone. We store only a hash, so we cannot show a token again.
• An account is controlled by whoever holds its Nostr private key. We do not know who you are and cannot verify identity, so we cannot hand a zone to anyone without the zone's token, the account's key, or a recovery key set in advance, as described in the docs. Without any of these, a zone runs until it expires.
• A token holder can start a recovery of a zone owned by an account; the owner is told and has 72 hours to cancel it. Owners who do not want this can disable the zone's token.
• A zone moves to another account only when both accounts sign.

Dynamic-DNS hostnames

dynkite.com and the names under it belong to us. A hostname gives you the use of that name for the period you paid, not ownership. Because a shared domain can be listed by outside blocklists or filters because of other people's abuse, we do not promise that a hostname will be reachable from every network. If dynkite.com is blocklisted because of other people's abuse, we move the dynamic-DNS hostnames to a spare domain, keeping each hostname's label and remaining period. We tell account owners by Nostr direct message and post a notice on this website, and /v1/info always names the current domain (ddns_domain). Hostnames bought without an account learn of the move from the notice and from /v1/info.

Secondary zones

You are responsible for your primary server and the data it sends. We transfer a zone only from the primary addresses you registered, and we stop serving a secondary zone whose transfers have failed for 7 days or whose data is older than its SOA expire time.

Suspension and removal

We may suspend a zone or hostname (stop serving its records while keeping it), remove it, block the name for new orders, or ban an account from new orders, when it breaks the acceptable use policy, when we reasonably believe it is used for abuse, or when the law requires it. Some of this is automatic, as described in the acceptable use policy. Where we can, we tell an account owner by Nostr direct message.

No warranty, no availability promise

The service is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not promise that it will be available at any time, that every query will be answered, or that it is fit for a particular purpose. DNS mistakes can make your domain unreachable; check your records. We may change, limit or stop any product, route, price, payment method or accepted mint, or the whole service. Orders already paid and carried out are not changed by a later price change.

Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, or for lost profits, data or business, arising from the service, including from a domain that could not be resolved. Our total liability for any claim about the service is limited to the amount you paid for the order the claim is about. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. The current version is always on this page, with its date. Changes apply to orders paid after they are published; an order is governed by the terms in force when it was paid.

Disputes

If you have a dispute with us, please raise it first through the contact page so we can try to settle it. A dispute that cannot be settled that way may be brought before any court that has jurisdiction over it. For disputes about the use of a domain registered through us, the registration agreement's dispute section also applies.

Nothing in these terms takes away any right that the mandatory law of the country where you live gives you and that a contract cannot exclude.

Contact

Questions, refund requests and complaints: see the contact page. Abuse reports: see the abuse page.

These pages are written in plain language and are not legal advice.