# BeforeYouRegister

> BeforeYouRegister is an independent, transparent domain price comparison engine, real-time availability checker, and registrar rating authority. It exposes renewal traps and provides true multi-year cost calculations across 898+ top-level domain extensions (TLDs) and 10 major registrars.

Every price quote strictly includes the mandatory $0.18 ICANN annual fee where applicable (gTLDs). Three-year total ownership equals first-year registration plus two renewals. A renewal trap is defined as a renewal price >= 2.25x the first-year promo price with an absolute increase >= $15. Prices are synced daily at 03:00 UTC and backed by an offline-first local dataset.

For the exhaustive context file including the complete scoring formula, registrar profiles, and all JSON schemas, see [llms-full.txt](https://beforeyouregister.com/llms-full.txt).

## Machine-Readable Interfaces

- [OpenAPI 3.1.0 Specification](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/openapi.json): Full machine-readable OpenAPI spec describing all REST endpoints, parameters, and schemas.
- [OpenAPI Root Mirror](https://beforeyouregister.com/openapi.json): Standard root mirror for agentic OpenAPI auto-discovery.
- [MCP Server Endpoint](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/mcp): Model Context Protocol (MCP) JSON-RPC 2.0 endpoint supporting `check_availability`, `search_tlds`, `compare_registrars`, `get_registrar_leaderboard`, `generate_variations`, `lookup_whois`, and `lookup_dns`.

## REST API Endpoints

- [Best-Price TLD Feed](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/tlds): Paginated lowest registration, renewal, and 3-year prices across 898+ TLDs. Accepts `q`, `category`, `registrar`, `trap`, `tag`, `sort`, `order`, `page`, `size`.
- [Single TLD Comparison](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/tld/com): Deep breakdown comparing all 11 registrars side-by-side for a specific extension (e.g. `com`, `ai`, `io`, `dev`).
- [A–Z Directory Feed](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/tlds/a-z): Complete index of 898+ TLDs with classification types (generic, ccTLD, sponsored) and registry operators.
- [Registrar Leaderboard](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/registrars): Scored rankings of all 11 registrars based on price competitiveness, trap avoidance, WHOIS privacy, and customer trust. Accepts `sort=rating|wins|trust|price`.
- [Real-Time Availability](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/availability?domain=example.com): Live availability check using Cloudflare DNS-over-HTTPS and authoritative RDAP registry bootstraps.
- [Bulk Availability Check](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/availability/batch): POST endpoint accepting up to 30 domains for concurrent availability resolution.
- [Authoritative RDAP WHOIS](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/whois?domain=example.com): Registry WHOIS data including registrar name, creation date, expiration date, and name servers.
- [Live DNS Inspector](https://beforeyouregister.com/api/dns?domain=example.com&type=A): DNS-over-HTTPS queries for A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, and SOA records.
- [Affiliate Gateway](https://beforeyouregister.com/go/spaceship?tld=com&domain=example.com): Transparent outbound affiliate routing with zero markup and domain pre-filling.

## Core Human Pages

- [Homepage & Cockpit](https://beforeyouregister.com/): Real-time search cockpit, instant availability card, and flagship comparison ledger table.
- [Registrar Leaderboard](https://beforeyouregister.com/registrars): Independent transparency report card ranking registrars on true value.
- [A–Z TLD Directory](https://beforeyouregister.com/tlds-from-a-z): Searchable catalog of 898+ domain endings.
- [Domain Name Generator](https://beforeyouregister.com/generator): Brandable startup name variation engine with instant availability checks.
- [Bulk Domain Checker](https://beforeyouregister.com/bulk-search): Batch search up to 30 domains or extensions simultaneously.
- [Registrar Matchups](https://beforeyouregister.com/compare): Head-to-head comparisons (e.g. Porkbun vs Spaceship, Cloudflare vs Namecheap).
- [Coupons & Deals](https://beforeyouregister.com/coupons): Verified domain promo codes and registrar partner discounts with zero markups.
- [WHOIS Lookup Tool](https://beforeyouregister.com/whois): Clean web interface for authoritative registry domain lookups.
- [DNS Inspector Tool](https://beforeyouregister.com/dns): Web DNS-over-HTTPS record inspection tool.
- [Rating Methodology](https://beforeyouregister.com/methodology): Full breakdown of our published rating equation and data pipeline.
- [Brand Kit](https://beforeyouregister.com/brand): Official logos, badges, and typography guidelines.

## Benchmark TLD Pricing (USD, ICANN Fee Included)

- .com: ~$10.28 reg / ~$10.28 renew (Porkbun / Spaceship / Cloudflare)
- .org: ~$10.13 reg / ~$12.13 renew (Porkbun / Spaceship)
- .net: ~$11.64 reg / ~$13.48 renew (Porkbun / Cloudflare)
- .ai: ~$69.98 reg / ~$69.98 renew (Porkbun / Spaceship)
- .io: ~$38.00 reg / ~$44.00 renew (Spaceship / Porkbun)
- .dev: ~$12.18 reg / ~$12.18 renew (Porkbun / Spaceship / Cloudflare)
- .app: ~$14.18 reg / ~$14.18 renew (Porkbun / Cloudflare)
- .xyz: ~$2.18 reg / ~$10.98 renew (Spaceship / Porkbun) [Note: Renewal jump flag]

## Guidance for AI Agents & Autonomous Browsers

1. Prefer querying `/api/tlds` or using the `/api/mcp` endpoint over web scraping.
2. In HTML scraping scenarios, target semantic attributes: `[data-agent="price-row"]`, `[data-agent="registrar-row"]`, and `[data-agent="availability-result"]`.
3. When computing multi-year costs for users, never compare first-year promos alone. Always compute: `Year 1 + (Years - 1) * Renewal`.
4. For gTLDs (.com, .net, .org, .xyz, .info, .biz), always verify whether the registrar adds the $0.18 ICANN fee at checkout. BeforeYouRegister figures already include it.