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Ask HN: Alternative to Namecheap?
I really liked this company. However, persistence of the web is too important for me to trust that 10 years from now, something I write on a website will be deemed unacceptable and everything gets flushed. Domains are the ultimate form of control and having a whole country banned just blows my mind. What about dissent from within? What about services that might keep the conversation going?
I'm hoping for recommendations for companies that have a history of supporting the free and open web no matter the hot item of the day / year / decade.
- foxbee 5y agoI switched to Google and it's been great. The UI/UX around management is much better/easier.
- janedoegrrr 5y agoHmm, Cloudflare maybe? https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar/ https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar/
- ipaddr 5y agoThey don't do country tld
- version_five 5y agoI'd like to switch away from namecheap as well, but realistically, if the mob comes for you, you're sol I think unless maybe there is a dark web solution. I use AWS, Microsoft, google, etc, (not to mention Canadian banks) I think all of those are just as likely as namecheap to be subject to political whims. And of you cant pay whichever provider you use, the point is moot anyway. Maybe having redundant providers that are as politically decoupled as possible is a potential hedge?
- muzani 5y agoMicrosoft has a term in their face processing software where they don't allow its usage for law enforcement. So yeah, they're subject to political whims as well. Being decoupled from everything is a decent goal, but I'll cross the bridge when I get there. It's different levels of risk to different people, but there's probably a good reason why Pavel Durov left Russia to work on Telegram.
- lmarcos 5y agoGandi. Been a customer for years. Zero complaints.
- v0idzer0 5y agoI second this. Gandi.net
- prirun 5y agoI have used NameSilo for many years, since it was a couple of guys starting it.
- Dracophoenix 5y agoI became skeptical of NameSilo when I read about this: https://www.thedomains.com/2020/06/03/namesilo-has-taken-control-of-breonnataylor-com/#comment-263278 https://www.thedomains.com/2020/06/03/namesilo-has-taken-con...
- luana 5y ago+1 Namesilo
- rekabis 5y ago+2 NameSilo.
- emmo 5y agohttps://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/ https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/ are good.
- DoItToMe81 5y agoI moved my Namecheap domains to NearlyFreeSpeech after one was killed by false abuse claims. Never had a problem with them.
- thatcat 5y agoNjalla has some protection promises
- seanw444 5y agoThere was another thread related to this one that recommended Njalla. I checked it out. Looks very promising. Already in the process of transferring my domain there from Namecheap. In a nutshell: they act as the "domain owner" on your behalf, that way all the registration that's passed above them has nothing to do with you specifically. However, their contract to you says that you still fully own that TLD, so it's not like you surrender it to them. "Whois" should not return your personal information. Super cool. Also, pay with crypto is a big bonus.
- Engineering-MD 5y agoWhile I understand your point, withdrawing your services to a nation that is invading your country does seem reasonable (to me anyway), and I can see many companies doing something similar when push comes to shove.