Ask HN: What is your preferred domain registrar?

by livinginfear on 8/12/2023, 11:33:17 AM with 42 comments
I'd really appreciate some recommendations for a good domain registrar. A few years ago I bought two domain names on Epik.com. I only chose them because a friend of mine had been using their services for a few years without issue, and had a referral code. Recently I've been really unimpressed with their lax security, poor management, and shady business practices. I'd like to move my domains to a new registrar, but I'm not sure who to choose. Any recommendations would be really appreciated!

  • by ylere on 8/12/2023, 12:10:27 PM

    Porkbun has been excellent for a long time and over the years I moved all my domains to them. They also provide a lot of built-in functionality at no additional cost.

    The only issue I have is that they moved their DNS offering to Cloudfare instead of running it themselves, which is understandable to some degree as running DNS for a large numbers of domains for "free" must've been a lot of work for them and I'm sure Cloudfare made them a great offer, but I fundamentally disagree with. It also caused a few domains from certain TLDs to stop working after the transition and I later had yet another issue with url https forwarding due to DNS verified SSL certs not being issued. I expect from my domain provider that included services are solid and that they never break any aspect of my domains that they're are responsible for.

    Nonetheless, apart from this one incident their offerings and support have been outstanding and I would still recommend them.

  • by nicbou on 8/12/2023, 9:32:08 PM

    Is there anything wrong with Namecheap? It was the standard option a decade ago. I'm still with them because I never had a reason to switch.

  • by oceanplexian on 8/13/2023, 6:58:21 AM

    I’m actually in the same boat. Looking for a suggestion for a registrar that will 100% respect legal, free speech, and will only take down a domain in response to a legal court order.

    That excludes most examples people are providing.

  • by MerelyMortal on 8/12/2023, 5:44:58 PM

    Dynadot. Low prices, free domain privacy, domain tasting (refunds within 72 hours).

  • by rlopezc on 8/13/2023, 7:49:57 AM

    I've been using Cloudflare, and it has been good so far. https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar/

    The only downside is that they don't have top-level domains that other registrars do, but it is worth checking out.

  • by tinix on 8/15/2023, 8:06:25 PM

    I used NearlyFreeSpeech many years ago...

    https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/services/domains

    I may switch back to them now that Google sold out to Squarespace.

  • by timiam on 8/12/2023, 10:21:28 PM

    I'm a serial hobby-domain purchaser and Namecheap has never done me wrong, even when I end up using the domain for something!

  • by toomuchtodo on 8/12/2023, 8:46:05 PM

    Cloudflare due to their security posture around customer accounts.

  • by tikkun on 8/12/2023, 4:12:17 PM

    Not the OP but I’d be interested in hearing from anyone that’s used multiple - which ones have you used, and which you prefer from a user experience perspective.

  • by gidorah on 8/12/2023, 8:22:17 PM

    Gandi were my go to, however, there recent movements caused me to move. I've now gone over to Mythic Beasts and so far seem decent.

  • by jmstfv on 8/15/2023, 6:19:34 AM

    These days I use Cloudflare.

    Before, I used Namesilo (decent prices, good customer support and mediocre UI) and iwantmyname (expensive, good customer support and no BS).

    Namecheap and name.com are fine as well, but I wouldn't use them when having other options.

  • by WallyFunk on 8/12/2023, 5:08:40 PM

    https://www.sav.com/

    https://www.ovhcloud.com/en/domains/

  • by speedgoose on 8/13/2023, 5:32:49 AM

    https://www.bookmyname.com/ is very cheap, they don’t make money, and has a HN friendly website.

    I don’t know how is their security track record though.

  • by tim333 on 8/12/2023, 10:51:34 PM

    I like Namesilo.

  • by mkbkn on 8/15/2023, 4:55:22 AM

    Years ago, someone here on HN recommended NameSilo and I'm a happy customer ever since. Though my use case is login once a year and make the payment.

  • by solardev on 8/14/2023, 6:14:53 PM

    Cloudflare, it works well and is fast and the dashboard is easy to use and not full of ads. Fair pricing, good product, integrates well with their other offerings.

  • by KomoD on 8/12/2023, 3:14:30 PM

    Cloudflare, Porkbun, used to use Namecheap but their prices are too high now.

  • by throwaway154 on 8/14/2023, 2:28:38 PM

    In abandoning Gandi due to recent changes, I've been quite happy with Netim, also France based.

    I've also been happy with Purelymail for email. More than happy.

  • by dakiol on 8/13/2023, 4:22:49 PM

    I use gandi. They recently started to charge for email inboxes, which is a shame. Besides that I don’t have other complains. I now use iCloud+ for email.

  • by sfled on 8/13/2023, 12:33:13 PM

    Currently: DirectNIC and Namecheap

    Past: One&One, Hostgator

    Hallowed antiquity: Network Solutions, when domain names cost $100 and you were happy with .com, .net, or .org dammit.

  • by tiddles on 8/13/2023, 6:38:08 AM

    iwantmyname.com, because I couldn’t find anywhere else that would sell .ms domains for cheap. Never had a problem with them

  • by 0x073 on 8/13/2023, 9:02:39 AM

    https://www.inwx.de/en

  • by SushiHippie on 8/12/2023, 6:46:46 PM

    https://joker.com

  • by warrenm on 8/14/2023, 2:05:28 PM

    Been using Pair Networks' service pairdomains.com for years

    Never an issue

  • by nothasan on 8/13/2023, 12:31:39 AM

    Have used both Porkbun and Infomaniak, neither with any issues.

  • by cpach on 8/12/2023, 1:56:30 PM

    I’ve been a happy customer at Dynadot for many years.

  • by blackpanda on 8/13/2023, 2:41:18 AM

    Am surprised. No love for iwantmyname.com?

  • by Tijdreiziger on 8/13/2023, 2:32:40 AM

    I use TransIP, they're ok.

  • by 6sp on 8/13/2023, 2:22:50 AM

    Cloudflare

  • by nektro on 8/14/2023, 5:38:22 AM

    namecheap / porkbun / njalla

  • by aborsy on 8/13/2023, 4:35:53 AM

    Route53