DomainMOD Alternative: Hosted, RDAP-Live Portfolio Tracking
DomainMOD is the open-source answer to domain portfolio management: a PHP/MySQL application you install on your own server with no license fee and with your data entirely under your control. For a certain kind of investor, especially one who is technical, privacy-minded, and allergic to subscriptions, it is genuinely hard to argue against.
The honest counterargument is operational: you become the sysadmin, and the data is only as fresh as the integrations you wire up. This comparison lays out both sides.
What DomainMOD does well
DomainMOD is free and open source, and self-hosting means no vendor can raise prices, sunset the product, or hold your data. It can import domains via registrar APIs where you configure credentials, and it goes beyond domains — SSL certificates, hosting accounts, DNS servers, and IP addresses can all live in the same database. A built-in task scheduler can email you about upcoming expirations.
If you already run a homelab or a VPS, adding DomainMOD is a weekend project, and the total cost is your existing server plus your time.
Where it falls short for investors
Self-hosted means self-maintained: PHP and MySQL versions, security patches, backups, and upgrades are all yours. If the server quietly dies, so do your expiration alerts — the exact failure mode a tracker exists to prevent.
Data freshness is the bigger issue. Registrar API imports only cover registrars you have wired up, and anything else is manual entry that goes stale the day you stop updating it. Feature details change between releases, so check domainmod.org for current capabilities.
How Sourdough compares
Sourdough is hosted — nothing to install, patch, or back up — and it verifies every domain against the registry via live RDAP/WHOIS and DNS regardless of which registrar holds it, no API credentials required. On top of that sit the investor-specific pieces: a renewal alert ladder, lifecycle stages including a watchlist, cost basis and P&L, and sale listing plus inquiry tracking. CSV import gets an existing portfolio in quickly. 7 days free, then $10/mo unlimited. A card starts the trial, $0 due today.
The honest gaps: Sourdough is not self-hosted, so your data lives in our cloud rather than on your hardware. The trial ends after 7 days, and it does not track adjacent assets like SSL certificates or hosting accounts the way DomainMOD can. It also hosts no landers and runs no marketplace.
When DomainMOD is the better choice
Choose DomainMOD if data sovereignty is non-negotiable, your budget for tooling is zero and your sysadmin comfort is high, or you want one self-hosted database covering domains, SSL certificates, and hosting together. For a technical investor with a stable server habit, it is a legitimate long-term answer — the trade is your time for the subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DomainMOD really free?
Yes — it is open-source software with no license fee. The real costs are the server it runs on and the time you spend installing, updating, backing up, and wiring registrar APIs. For many people that is a fine trade; just price your time honestly.
Do I need to be technical to run DomainMOD?
Yes, moderately. You need to be comfortable provisioning a web server with PHP and MySQL, applying updates, and configuring registrar API credentials. If those words are unfamiliar, a hosted tracker will fit better.
Can I migrate from DomainMOD to Sourdough?
Yes. Export your domain list to CSV and import it into Sourdough — RDAP enrichment then re-verifies registrar and expiry data from the registry, so stale fields correct themselves on import.