6 ms·

Worse, they'll happily sell you Whoisguard for domains that don't support it. When you discover it's not usable, they'll give you a refund, then include it agai

by scoot 11y ago

Worse, they'll happily sell you Whoisguard for domains that don't support it. When you discover it's not usable, they'll give you a refund, then include it again in the next billing cycle. I switched to Namecheap based on recommendations here, and their previous stance on certain privacy issues, but I'm running out of alternatives.

newman314 11y ago
Plus Whoisguard is only free for the first year. There's Google Domains for $12/yr but the dollar and some savings isn't worth the hassle of switching away from Namecheap.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
veidr 11y ago
I've always wondered why I never see pairNIC mentioned on the "everybody knows godaddy is garbage but who should I use to register domains?" threads on HN. I have used them since they opened (2002) and never used anybody else after that, because I have never been dissatisfied. (I don't remember if the box is checked by default, but they definitely offer whois privacy, along with services like custom/dynamic DNS and some other stuff, at no extra charge). Their site is kinda barebones and old-school, but there are real humans in the rare case you actually need one, and they've never done me wrong. So for whatever that's worth: another recommendation on HN. [1]: https://www.pairnic.com/about.html https://www.pairnic.com/about.html
- gkop 11y ago
  Last I checked pairNIC was > $15/year for .com etc. That adds up when you have many domains. Therefore I use pairNIC for the domains I really care about, and Namecheap for the rest.
  - joshwa 11y ago
    it seems they are down to $9.99/year: https://www.pairnic.com/prices.html https://www.pairnic.com/prices.html
    - gkop 11y ago
      Wow! No excuses now. With pairNIC you can call up and talk to a technical person during business hours in Pittsburgh, PA.
- cenal 11y ago
  I used Pair right after they were accredited as a registrar in the 90's up till the mid 2000's but found they were expensive both for domain registration and for hosting. Great customer service but for a commodity like a domain name it's just not worth it for me.
lpsz 11y ago
A happy NameCheap user for years, I have started switching away. Their horrid "modern" 40px padding everywhere bubbly redesign makes GoDaddy look good in comparison. A major pain to manage more than a couple of domains, and numerous user feedback seems to fall on deaf ears, e.g. [1][2][3][4] Example weird feature: all domains are shown, even ones that you've let expire/sold years ago, and there is no way to hide them. [1] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7949 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=... [2] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=66644 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=... [3] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=65871 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=... [4] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=43083 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=...
- chrisper 11y ago
  Do you mind sharing where you switched to?
  - lpsz 11y ago
    Ah, just Amazon (which uses Gandi under the hood.) Many pluses: predictable, can be administered using the AWS CLI, consolidated billing with other AWS services. Heck, can even register domains from the CLI. Only downside as others have pointed out is that Gandi doesn't make it at all easy to hide your name or company contact information.
    - the_ancient 11y ago
      >Ah, just Amazon So you are recommending someone switch over privacy concerns from namecheap to Amazon in story about how Amazon is leaking private Customer data..... Really...
  - Spooky23 11y ago
    I've used joker.com for years. The website isn't pretty, but you can actually do many functions via pgp email.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
odonnellryan 11y ago
What's wrong with name.com?
- vanadium 11y ago
  Depends on who you're asking and from what timeframe you're asking about. They used to be absolutely horrid in the age of alternate and meta-TLDs when the real rush to nab a domain was on. I can't speak about present times, however.
jrcii 11y ago
I'm happy with hover.com. They're part of Tucows, who I've been a fan of since the good ol' days.
- seanp2k2 11y ago
  OpenSRS is also Tucows but only for resellers. Their reseller system works alright. Used to use it when I worked for a hosting co.
cparker15 11y ago
I've been a happy user of Google Domains since closed beta. I'll never go anywhere else for domains again.
- revanx_ 11y ago
  Still waiting for them to open to the rest of the world, beta is only for USA. Frankly , no idea what is taking them so long.
JoshTriplett 11y ago
I'd recommend gandi.net; among many other reasons, they don't charge for whois privacy, though you still have to turn it on.
shocks 11y ago
Maybe check out gandi.net? Very happy with them so far.
imron 11y ago
Namesilo works well for me, and they have free whois privacy.
the_ancient 11y ago
I have been happy with NameSilo. They have a very strong privacy stance and take security seriously

by scoot 11y ago

newman314 11y ago

Plus Whoisguard is only free for the first year. There's Google Domains for $12/yr but the dollar and some savings isn't worth the hassle of switching away from Namecheap.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

veidr 11y ago

I've always wondered why I never see pairNIC mentioned on the "everybody knows godaddy is garbage but who should I use to register domains?" threads on HN. I have used them since they opened (2002) and never used anybody else after that, because I have never been dissatisfied. (I don't remember if the box is checked by default, but they definitely offer whois privacy, along with services like custom/dynamic DNS and some other stuff, at no extra charge). Their site is kinda barebones and old-school, but there are real humans in the rare case you actually need one, and they've never done me wrong. So for whatever that's worth: another recommendation on HN. [1]: https://www.pairnic.com/about.html https://www.pairnic.com/about.html

gkop 11y ago
Last I checked pairNIC was > $15/year for .com etc. That adds up when you have many domains. Therefore I use pairNIC for the domains I really care about, and Namecheap for the rest.
- joshwa 11y ago
  it seems they are down to $9.99/year: https://www.pairnic.com/prices.html https://www.pairnic.com/prices.html
  - gkop 11y ago
    Wow! No excuses now. With pairNIC you can call up and talk to a technical person during business hours in Pittsburgh, PA.
cenal 11y ago
I used Pair right after they were accredited as a registrar in the 90's up till the mid 2000's but found they were expensive both for domain registration and for hosting. Great customer service but for a commodity like a domain name it's just not worth it for me.

lpsz 11y ago

A happy NameCheap user for years, I have started switching away. Their horrid "modern" 40px padding everywhere bubbly redesign makes GoDaddy look good in comparison. A major pain to manage more than a couple of domains, and numerous user feedback seems to fall on deaf ears, e.g. [1][2][3][4] Example weird feature: all domains are shown, even ones that you've let expire/sold years ago, and there is no way to hide them. [1] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7949 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=... [2] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=66644 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=... [3] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=65871 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=... [4] https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=43083 https://community.namecheap.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=...

chrisper 11y ago
Do you mind sharing where you switched to?
- lpsz 11y ago
  Ah, just Amazon (which uses Gandi under the hood.) Many pluses: predictable, can be administered using the AWS CLI, consolidated billing with other AWS services. Heck, can even register domains from the CLI. Only downside as others have pointed out is that Gandi doesn't make it at all easy to hide your name or company contact information.
  - the_ancient 11y ago
    >Ah, just Amazon So you are recommending someone switch over privacy concerns from namecheap to Amazon in story about how Amazon is leaking private Customer data..... Really...
- Spooky23 11y ago
  I've used joker.com for years. The website isn't pretty, but you can actually do many functions via pgp email.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

odonnellryan 11y ago

What's wrong with name.com?

vanadium 11y ago
Depends on who you're asking and from what timeframe you're asking about. They used to be absolutely horrid in the age of alternate and meta-TLDs when the real rush to nab a domain was on. I can't speak about present times, however.

jrcii 11y ago

I'm happy with hover.com. They're part of Tucows, who I've been a fan of since the good ol' days.

seanp2k2 11y ago
OpenSRS is also Tucows but only for resellers. Their reseller system works alright. Used to use it when I worked for a hosting co.

cparker15 11y ago

I've been a happy user of Google Domains since closed beta. I'll never go anywhere else for domains again.

revanx_ 11y ago
Still waiting for them to open to the rest of the world, beta is only for USA. Frankly , no idea what is taking them so long.

JoshTriplett 11y ago

I'd recommend gandi.net; among many other reasons, they don't charge for whois privacy, though you still have to turn it on.

shocks 11y ago

Maybe check out gandi.net? Very happy with them so far.

imron 11y ago

Namesilo works well for me, and they have free whois privacy.

the_ancient 11y ago

I have been happy with NameSilo. They have a very strong privacy stance and take security seriously