8 ms·

Which domain registrar is best?

26 points by rfreytag 15y ago

davidedicillo 15y ago
I just registered a domain with name.com After years of godaddy it was really refreshing to try a registrar that didn't try to upsell you 100 different things during the check out process.
- bjtitus 15y ago
  I also use Name.com and love them (still in the process of switching domains over as they expire from GoDaddy). Very useable interface with no up selling and excellent customer service. They have a small office in Denver which is convenient for me since I'm in school just down the road. Overall I'm 100% happy with them.
  - stellar678 15y ago
    Do you actually visit the office of your domain registrar? I'm curious about the convenience afforded by their office being close...can't think of what they might do for you in-person.
phillijw 15y ago
I set up some domains using Google Apps (which uses GoDaddy as a back end) but after realizing I didn't want them as my provider, I tried transferring to GoDaddy. I couldn't get it to work for the life of me even though I paid the GoDaddy transfer fee. I eventually let the domains expire.
amorphid 15y ago
I use 1&1. I've largely been happy with it, and they have decent 24x7 support.
iSimone 15y ago
Well that is a really good question. I have had the same thoughts about consolidation to one, but it's hard since none really offer all domain extenstions I own. I have been with Godaddy for a long time (before I moved away and got on the train again). It's ugly and a shitty organisation but it just works and is rather cheap. I have some domains hosted with mediatemple since they had a great 5£/com offer not long ago. There are a few others out there that I hear often like namecheap gandi hover On this topic it's really interesting to read http://www.marco.org/2011/04/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-be-a-good-registrar http://www.marco.org/2011/04/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-be-a-go... I guess I could go on and on with the list, but the only thing I can not do so far: give a surefire, perfect and reliable solution. I guess it also comes down to personal preference in the end.
- mishmash 15y ago
  > hover Hover apparently stores your password in plaintext, as discussed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2727123 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2727123.
  - grandpa 15y ago
    Not any more: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2740887 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2740887
    - mishmash 15y ago
      Nice to see, thanks.
- nakkiel 15y ago
  My experience with Gandi is quite different. I always received timely responses to my emails and I'd say their service was always in line with their "No bullshit" punchline. For more on this, read http://www.gandi.net/no-bullshit http://www.gandi.net/no-bullshit I've been a satisfied customer for five-plus years. Being French, I wonder if the difference in support might be related to language issues (but isn't Marco Arment French?). Also, they tend to hire good hackers even though they may not offer the best work experience for a hacker. I hear they let them work on other projects if roughly in line with the company's development. For example the main guy behind dotclear (a blogging engine) is/used to be working there. IIRC, a guy working on OpenBSD is also working there. And they support some Open Source projects: http://www.gandi.net/supports/ http://www.gandi.net/supports/
  - netnichols 15y ago
    Marco is definitely not French. Listen to a talk or podcast with him and that will be immediately apparent. ;-)
bhartzer 15y ago
It's certainly not Godaddy.
suking 15y ago
namecheap
hackermom 15y ago
I've used Joker (joker.com) for 11 years now. Barring a very large syn-flood attack on their infrastructure about 5 years ago, I've had no trouble with them. They also give you free mail-forwarding and DNS which is a welcomed bonus.
- modoc 15y ago
  I use, and love, Joker, but they don't offer any sort of anonymous whois data which is a gap.
  - hackermom 15y ago
    They at least used to allow it - I've got "n/a" on all my contact IDs (except the e-mail fields, of course). Not sure if they allow it when creating a new contact ID today. The last one I set up anonymously was 4 years ago.
johnzimmerman 15y ago
I've used Namecheap, Moniker, Hover and Godaddy. The only one I didn't like was Godaddy due to how difficult their site is to navigate.
- johnx123-up 15y ago
  Godaddy seems to get more orders through affiliate than retail.
yalogin 15y ago
What does a domain registrar do exactly? I buy the domain and they hold the purchase records for me and then tell me when it expires. What is a crappy registrar and what problems can you face with a crappy one?
- bradleyland 15y ago
  A crappy registrar spams the hell out of you and makes the renewal process long, painful, and full of irrelevant marketing. A good registrar provides you with a service that is easy to use, unobtrusive, and provides flexible tools for managing (updating WHOIS, transferring, configuring) your domains. The actual task of domain registration is technically straight forward, but it is the type of service that touches a lot of businesses, so it attracts a the type of business owner who looks to leverage their large customer base. This allows them to push the cost of registration down to the point of being a loss leader. The real value for them isn't in selling registrations, but building a large list of customers to whom they can sell "value add" services.
thetrumanshow 15y ago
Dang, ok, I'll be the dissenter. I like Godaddy. Despite their slimy personna, their one saving grace is that when I am setting anything up that requires a DNS configuration (example: Heroku-hosted site), there is ALWAYS a Godaddy-specific tutorial available to help me get through it. For that reason alone, I bailed on Namecheap (et. al) and embraced Godaddy as a registrar. Now, because the brand is so horribly raunchy, I rarely mention this to anyone... as it embarasses me personally.
- guildchatter 15y ago
  I'm in the same boat as you. Websites usually have tutorials specifically tailored for GoDaddy. Also, whenever I call their customer support, they've always been friendly and helpful. Man, my karma is already negative. It's gonna plummet now... =]
- shazow 15y ago
  I don't care about a slimy persona or raunchy brands. Have you never used a registrar where making a DNS change doesn't require 11 clicks and each one takes 3~10 seconds to load? Not to mention how everything is plastered with upsells that are worthless to me. GoDaddy goes out of its way to make what you're trying to do harder. This is why I don't like GoDaddy. Edit: I use Dreamhost for my domains. It may be a mediocre shared hosting solution but the domain registering and managing experience is fast, clean, market-priced, and they provide free whois anonymizing.
  - nt_mark 15y ago
    Exactly why we created http://nametoolkit.com http://nametoolkit.com, I've used Gandi and they're not bad, but even their interface is a bit clunky, makes you click twice (to commit the DNS change you've just submitted).
  - sjs382 15y ago
    > Have you never used a registrar where making a DNS change doesn't require 11 clicks and each one takes 3~10 seconds to load? Yeah. And I won't be moving from name.com anytime soon.
Urgo 15y ago
I had been using a number of companies in the past, most recently 1&1 which I HIGHLY recommend AGAINST. I ended up dishing out the $90 or whatever reseller fee to tucows and I am now my own opensrs registrar at http://urgo.shopco.com http://urgo.shopco.com . I don't really actively try sell domains, it just gives me the power to make sure things work. Been doing this for about a year now and quite happy with it.
digitalclubb 15y ago
Maybe a simple vote would be more beneficial? Trying to digest all of the comments is hard work when you are looking for a definitive answer :) My vote goes to 123-reg though, great interface offers a nice user experience but if things go wrong, their support is awful!
- larrys 15y ago
  Any vote would be skewed in the direction of larger registrars.
aculver 15y ago
http://www.dnsimple.com/ http://www.dnsimple.com/ . Worth every penny.
trustfundbaby 15y ago
1and1 is not bad ... their domains were only $8.99, but now cost $9.99 ... but they offer free private whois info which others (GoDaddy and Namecheap charge for). The downsides? ... interface is slow and annoying and to cancel domains you have to go to an entire other subdomain (something like cancel.1and1.com) ... for reasons that I do not understand.
- mtogo 15y ago
  IIRC namecheap gives you an ssl cert and whois privacy for free with their $10 domains.
gks 15y ago
I really like NearlyFreeSpeech.net for domain registration. I have a few at Gandi that will be moved either to NFS or to Namecheap when renewal time comes up. Gandi is nice and all, but quite a bit more expensive comparatively.
danielrm26 15y ago
DYN.
goo 15y ago
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned dynadot yet. They're amazing. Of the several registrars I've tried, they are by far the best.
larrys 15y ago
A few things to consider with any registrar: - Cost for a redemption if a name is deleted. There is always a cost for this since the registrar is charged for this by the registry operators. The only question is what the markup is. - How soon after expiration does the registrar put the name on hold so it doesn't resolve. - Does the registrar try to make you renew with them once the name has expired (many do but ICANN doesn't allow this). - Although a domain can be deleted by the registrar any time after expiration, most registrars offer a grace period that could run up to 44 days past expiration that you can still renew the name - Make sure they are not only ICANN accredited (in other words not a reseller) but that they are actually registering names. There are ICANN accredited registrars that actually have gone through the accreditation process and are acting as resellers for others (as hard as that is to believe). Check the registry whois on their domain for example and see if it lists another "registrar".
shii 15y ago
nearlyfreespeech.net is the way to go.

26 points by rfreytag 15y ago

I just registered a domain with name.com After years of godaddy it was really refreshing to try a registrar that didn't try to upsell you 100 different things during the check out process.

bjtitus 15y ago
I also use Name.com and love them (still in the process of switching domains over as they expire from GoDaddy). Very useable interface with no up selling and excellent customer service. They have a small office in Denver which is convenient for me since I'm in school just down the road. Overall I'm 100% happy with them.
- stellar678 15y ago
  Do you actually visit the office of your domain registrar? I'm curious about the convenience afforded by their office being close...can't think of what they might do for you in-person.

phillijw 15y ago

I set up some domains using Google Apps (which uses GoDaddy as a back end) but after realizing I didn't want them as my provider, I tried transferring to GoDaddy. I couldn't get it to work for the life of me even though I paid the GoDaddy transfer fee. I eventually let the domains expire.

amorphid 15y ago

I use 1&1. I've largely been happy with it, and they have decent 24x7 support.

iSimone 15y ago

Well that is a really good question. I have had the same thoughts about consolidation to one, but it's hard since none really offer all domain extenstions I own. I have been with Godaddy for a long time (before I moved away and got on the train again). It's ugly and a shitty organisation but it just works and is rather cheap. I have some domains hosted with mediatemple since they had a great 5£/com offer not long ago. There are a few others out there that I hear often like namecheap gandi hover On this topic it's really interesting to read http://www.marco.org/2011/04/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-be-a-good-registrar http://www.marco.org/2011/04/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-be-a-go... I guess I could go on and on with the list, but the only thing I can not do so far: give a surefire, perfect and reliable solution. I guess it also comes down to personal preference in the end.

mishmash 15y ago
> hover Hover apparently stores your password in plaintext, as discussed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2727123 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2727123.
- grandpa 15y ago
  Not any more: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2740887 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2740887
  - mishmash 15y ago
    Nice to see, thanks.
nakkiel 15y ago
My experience with Gandi is quite different. I always received timely responses to my emails and I'd say their service was always in line with their "No bullshit" punchline. For more on this, read http://www.gandi.net/no-bullshit http://www.gandi.net/no-bullshit I've been a satisfied customer for five-plus years. Being French, I wonder if the difference in support might be related to language issues (but isn't Marco Arment French?). Also, they tend to hire good hackers even though they may not offer the best work experience for a hacker. I hear they let them work on other projects if roughly in line with the company's development. For example the main guy behind dotclear (a blogging engine) is/used to be working there. IIRC, a guy working on OpenBSD is also working there. And they support some Open Source projects: http://www.gandi.net/supports/ http://www.gandi.net/supports/
- netnichols 15y ago
  Marco is definitely not French. Listen to a talk or podcast with him and that will be immediately apparent. ;-)

bhartzer 15y ago

It's certainly not Godaddy.

suking 15y ago

namecheap

hackermom 15y ago

I've used Joker (joker.com) for 11 years now. Barring a very large syn-flood attack on their infrastructure about 5 years ago, I've had no trouble with them. They also give you free mail-forwarding and DNS which is a welcomed bonus.

modoc 15y ago
I use, and love, Joker, but they don't offer any sort of anonymous whois data which is a gap.
- hackermom 15y ago
  They at least used to allow it - I've got "n/a" on all my contact IDs (except the e-mail fields, of course). Not sure if they allow it when creating a new contact ID today. The last one I set up anonymously was 4 years ago.

johnzimmerman 15y ago

I've used Namecheap, Moniker, Hover and Godaddy. The only one I didn't like was Godaddy due to how difficult their site is to navigate.

johnx123-up 15y ago
Godaddy seems to get more orders through affiliate than retail.

yalogin 15y ago

What does a domain registrar do exactly? I buy the domain and they hold the purchase records for me and then tell me when it expires. What is a crappy registrar and what problems can you face with a crappy one?

bradleyland 15y ago
A crappy registrar spams the hell out of you and makes the renewal process long, painful, and full of irrelevant marketing. A good registrar provides you with a service that is easy to use, unobtrusive, and provides flexible tools for managing (updating WHOIS, transferring, configuring) your domains. The actual task of domain registration is technically straight forward, but it is the type of service that touches a lot of businesses, so it attracts a the type of business owner who looks to leverage their large customer base. This allows them to push the cost of registration down to the point of being a loss leader. The real value for them isn't in selling registrations, but building a large list of customers to whom they can sell "value add" services.

thetrumanshow 15y ago

Dang, ok, I'll be the dissenter. I like Godaddy. Despite their slimy personna, their one saving grace is that when I am setting anything up that requires a DNS configuration (example: Heroku-hosted site), there is ALWAYS a Godaddy-specific tutorial available to help me get through it. For that reason alone, I bailed on Namecheap (et. al) and embraced Godaddy as a registrar. Now, because the brand is so horribly raunchy, I rarely mention this to anyone... as it embarasses me personally.

guildchatter 15y ago
I'm in the same boat as you. Websites usually have tutorials specifically tailored for GoDaddy. Also, whenever I call their customer support, they've always been friendly and helpful. Man, my karma is already negative. It's gonna plummet now... =]
shazow 15y ago
I don't care about a slimy persona or raunchy brands. Have you never used a registrar where making a DNS change doesn't require 11 clicks and each one takes 3~10 seconds to load? Not to mention how everything is plastered with upsells that are worthless to me. GoDaddy goes out of its way to make what you're trying to do harder. This is why I don't like GoDaddy. Edit: I use Dreamhost for my domains. It may be a mediocre shared hosting solution but the domain registering and managing experience is fast, clean, market-priced, and they provide free whois anonymizing.
- nt_mark 15y ago
  Exactly why we created http://nametoolkit.com http://nametoolkit.com, I've used Gandi and they're not bad, but even their interface is a bit clunky, makes you click twice (to commit the DNS change you've just submitted).
- sjs382 15y ago
  > Have you never used a registrar where making a DNS change doesn't require 11 clicks and each one takes 3~10 seconds to load? Yeah. And I won't be moving from name.com anytime soon.

Urgo 15y ago

I had been using a number of companies in the past, most recently 1&1 which I HIGHLY recommend AGAINST. I ended up dishing out the $90 or whatever reseller fee to tucows and I am now my own opensrs registrar at http://urgo.shopco.com http://urgo.shopco.com . I don't really actively try sell domains, it just gives me the power to make sure things work. Been doing this for about a year now and quite happy with it.

digitalclubb 15y ago

Maybe a simple vote would be more beneficial? Trying to digest all of the comments is hard work when you are looking for a definitive answer :) My vote goes to 123-reg though, great interface offers a nice user experience but if things go wrong, their support is awful!

larrys 15y ago
Any vote would be skewed in the direction of larger registrars.

aculver 15y ago

http://www.dnsimple.com/ http://www.dnsimple.com/ . Worth every penny.

trustfundbaby 15y ago

1and1 is not bad ... their domains were only $8.99, but now cost $9.99 ... but they offer free private whois info which others (GoDaddy and Namecheap charge for). The downsides? ... interface is slow and annoying and to cancel domains you have to go to an entire other subdomain (something like cancel.1and1.com) ... for reasons that I do not understand.

mtogo 15y ago
IIRC namecheap gives you an ssl cert and whois privacy for free with their $10 domains.

gks 15y ago

I really like NearlyFreeSpeech.net for domain registration. I have a few at Gandi that will be moved either to NFS or to Namecheap when renewal time comes up. Gandi is nice and all, but quite a bit more expensive comparatively.

danielrm26 15y ago

DYN.

goo 15y ago

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned dynadot yet. They're amazing. Of the several registrars I've tried, they are by far the best.

larrys 15y ago

A few things to consider with any registrar: - Cost for a redemption if a name is deleted. There is always a cost for this since the registrar is charged for this by the registry operators. The only question is what the markup is. - How soon after expiration does the registrar put the name on hold so it doesn't resolve. - Does the registrar try to make you renew with them once the name has expired (many do but ICANN doesn't allow this). - Although a domain can be deleted by the registrar any time after expiration, most registrars offer a grace period that could run up to 44 days past expiration that you can still renew the name - Make sure they are not only ICANN accredited (in other words not a reseller) but that they are actually registering names. There are ICANN accredited registrars that actually have gone through the accreditation process and are acting as resellers for others (as hard as that is to believe). Check the registry whois on their domain for example and see if it lists another "registrar".

shii 15y ago

nearlyfreespeech.net is the way to go.