I want to get some domains for selfhosted stuff, but I’d like to use a registrar that I won’t regret doing business with later, both in terms of ethics and potential customer service stuff. Who do y’all like most?
I’ve been with 1984.is for a couple of years now. I think my domains cost around 12 Euros a year each. Their web GUI works fine and I’ve never needed to contact their customer service, so I cannot comment on that.
Top answers from the last 39580202 times this was asked:
- Namecheap
- Porkbun
- Gandi
- Cloudflare
I was with Namecheap for years, and they’re totally fine. I am now with Cloudflare because they’re a bit cheaper and their API is well supported in various tools, and they also seem fine.
I use porkbun and you get cloudflare through them, not sure to what extent, porkbuns just cheaper, I like their ui, straightforward, everything you need on one screen.
Another +1 for name cheap, been using em for a decade now. Their deals are stellar and renewal prices are on par with any other competitors usually
I wouldn’t buy domains from Cloudflare from a risk mitigation perspective. At work I direct six figures of budget their way annually, but as a free-tier customer in my personal life I don’t trust them not to fuck up at some point and lock my account. If I register my domain elsewhere I can bring myself back online by moving the nameservers. If it’s registered at Cloudflare I’m fucked.
I have one of my domains on Cloudflare and was thinking of moving the rest of them there. What makes it harder to move name servers away from Cloudflare than other places?
Your registrar (the place you buy your domains) are where you update your nameservers. If Cloudflare have locked you out then you won’t be able to change them. Other standard registrars will have far less cause, legitimate or not, to lock or disable your account, since they don’t host/proxy your content.
I’ll throw in for namecheap. Been with them for a while with no complaints.
I like pair domains.
In case anyone was wondering:
- namecheap: US
- porkbun: US
- INWX: Germany
- OVH: French
- onlydomains: NZ
I personally have been with onlydomains for a decade or so. No complaints.
I’ve domains from both DomainMonger and NameCheap. If it were trivial, I’d probably move my domains to NameCheap. The web UX is a little better; aside from that, I’ve never had issues with either, not heard anything particularly bad about either.
But, yeah: +1 on the NameCheap suggestion.
Porkbun has been great
Seconded. I switched from namecheap when they raised the price of my domain. I never had a problem with name cheap but porkbin is cheaper.
Agreed.
I’ve always used NameCheap. Can’t speak to their ethics, but customer support has been excellent the few times I’ve needed it.
Been using Namecheap for a decade or more now. Great company, no muss, no fuss, just works. The greatest thing is that they’re boring as fuck. That’s one of the best qualities to have in a domain registrar.
Also been using namecheap for years with no complaints. Boring and dependable.
Boring and dependable.
Just like I wish politics were.
Namesilo is quite good - cheap & been using it for 5 years now (coming from namecheap)
Namecheap
This. NameCheap actually responds to abuse reports, as well. Turns out they actually think it’s bad for business to allow grifters and con artists to use their services, unlike other major registrars.
I’m using Cloudflare, because it’s quite convenient since I always end up using them as DNS server.
They’re also slightly cheaper since they don’t take any profit from their registrar side, hoping to make it back with other services.
Also use Cloudflare as new domain registrar because I use them as DNS as well. I can’t say that I’ve had any problems with them at all.
Same, I also use Cloudflare dns, tunnels, and pages. Having these all in the same place makes it easy to deploy/keep track of everything
I’ve been with Porkbun since Gandi got acquired. No complaints.
Acquired by whom?
Total Webhosting Solutions
I’ve been happy with Hover for several years. They don’t bug me and they’re owned by Tucows so they’ve got decades-old staying power.
I can’t believe they’re still around
I have had a lot good experience with Porkbun.
Have you tried…GoDaddy???
giggles as the downvotes pour in
Unfortunately yes, and I hate then with everything I’ve got.
Tested porkbun and namecheap. Namecheap has a nice and reactive support from my experience. Porkbun also helped me quickly.
I’ve used two, NameCheap, and PorkBun.
Hated Namecheap, would never use them again. Janky pricing, tons of email spam, terrible UI.
Porkbun has been pretty great. Simple, solid prices, easy to use, no issues for about a year and a half.
INWX has been great so far, have been with them for about 6 years at this point. Also had good experiences with their customer support.
-1 for INWX. Still waiting on a domain transfer, domain is stuck for about a month, chat support was useless
+1 for INWX
