Yes, nip.io / sslip.io is free to use with no time limit and no usage cap that forces a paid upgrade. The free plan includes access to DNS-01 challenge delegation for wildcard certificate validation. No credit card is required to sign up.
About
nip.io and sslip.io are DNS services that resolve hostnames containing embedded IP addresses back to those IP addresses. They support dotted, dashed, subdomain, hexadecimal, and IPv6 hostname formats, and can be queried directly with standard DNS tools such as dig.
The service is used for local development, testing, and TLS certificate issuance for IP-based hostnames. It also supports white-label custom domains through delegated nameservers, and provides self-hosted binaries and source code for running the same DNS behavior independently.
- Embedded IP address hostname resolution
- IPv4 and IPv6 hostname formats
- White-label custom domain delegation
- Self-hosted DNS server binaries
- TXT lookup for public IP address
- DNS-based server version and metrics
Free Tier Value
This is a perpetual free service with no paid tiers shown on the page, so there is no defensible monthly price anchor to compare against. The free offering appears uncapped and publicly available, with no credit card required, so the practical monthly value is best treated as unbounded rather than estimated.
What's included in the free tier
Verified
- Access to DNS-based public IP lookup via a TXT query to ip.nip.io, using the ns.nip.io nameserver.
- Access to server version lookup via TXT query to version.status.nip.io.
- Access to server metrics via TXT query to metrics.status.nip.io.
- Access to DNS-01 challenge delegation for wildcard certificate validation.
- Access to PTR lookups for IPv4 and IPv6 reverse DNS resolution.
- Access to blocked-response notifications for unsafe sites.
See nip.io / sslip.io pricing for current limits.
Common questions
Is nip.io / sslip.io free forever?
Yes. nip.io / sslip.io is free forever, with no time limit and no usage threshold that forces a paid plan.
Does nip.io / sslip.io require a credit card?
No. You can start on nip.io / sslip.io's free tier without entering card details.
What is nip.io / sslip.io's free tier worth?
nip.io / sslip.io's free tier has no dollar cap - it's unlimited, with no usage threshold that forces a paid plan. That maps to an FTV score of 100/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.
