
Ask HN: Which domain registrar and hosting provider do you prefer? - pyeu
I&#x27;m looking for a place that&#x27;s around the average $10&#x2F;year or lower and has a nice web panel design to manage domain names.
======
TheChaplain
Long time ago tried Gandi.net because of their "no bullshit" policy and stayed
with them because it's true. Also looked at namecheap but when they insisted
on copy of my id it ended with me never returning.

I use Kimsufi for hosting and never had any issues. Was a customer of
online.net at the same time but only until the recent price hike.

~~~
majewsky
Another vote for Gandi from me for domain registrar. A lot of people don't
seem to like the new web UI, but I'm satisfied with their offerings.

~~~
sudders
I'm a longtime Gandi user. But I absolutely loathe the new web UI. To the
point where i'm considering moving my 200+ domains somewhere else.

At the time I chose Gandi for the 2 factor auth, and because it was a European
company, but in the meantime there is plenty of other registrars offering the
same.

~~~
octosphere
> i'm considering moving my 200+ domains somewhere else.

Just curious, but who does that? I can only afford to renew a small handful of
domains, never mind 200+. I presume they are all monetized in some way?

~~~
sbfeibish
In my case, it's return on investment. If I create some code for one city. Why
not use that code for city X.com, city Y.com, city Z.com, ... I'm not saying
it couldn't be done a different way. Using just one domain.

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zawerf
There were two large-ish stories about domain registrars around two months
back which triggered some side discussions about various registrars and their
pros and cons if you dig a bit:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18059792](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18059792)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18083641](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18083641)

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flaviocopes
I use Netlify (specialized in JAMstack / static sites). It has a generous free
plan.

They can also register your domain, and the integrated interface makes it very
easy to sping up a new site from a GitHub repo, assign it a new domain name,
get SSL and be up and running in ~2 minutes.

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sashk
I've been using namecheap. Their panel is straightforward, and prices are ok.
$10/year for which tld? If .com they should be close, but above your target.
For other tlds they have long price list.

~~~
andrewmackrodt
I use namecheap too, been a customer for several years, find the pricing good
and haven't looked elsewhere because it's met all my needs.

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hs86
In order to set some of Fastmail's domain security features (SPF, DKIM) I
needed to add some txt records to my domain. My previous registrar only had
some predefined fields in their web-form (like MX- , A-, AAAA- records, etc.)
but there was no way to set these custom txt records.

After some research I landed at Hetzner who allow me to just edit the BIND
zonefile according to my needs. No oversimplification that takes away features
but also no hand-holding. I don't know why you asked for a 'nice web panel
design' but afaik these providers usually don't have the HN-audience as their
target. They target those 'non-techies' who need some sort of web-presence and
to limit their support-needs they usually dump-down the UI to the basics.

~~~
majewsky
Another vote from me for Hetzner as hosting provider. Solid feature set, good
uptime, good support.

------
lcall
I have used [https://pair.com](https://pair.com) (or their domains side:
pairnic.com which now seems to redirect to
[https://pairdomains.com](https://pairdomains.com)) since about 1994 and they
have always been reasonably low-priced (I think it was $8-10 up front then
~$1/month for a domain) and they have always provided good support, clear
policies, good documentation, and zero nonsense. I.e., just what I would want
from a sustainable business that treats others the way they would want to be
treated. (Same goes for their ubuntu or FreeBSD shell accounts and site
hosting, etc.)

(ps: they are in the USA: Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and maybe Nevada?)

------
warmblanket
Google Domains is cheap, and has a simple, fast interface (lightyears easier
to use than GoDaddy, for example). No idea on if there are many missing
features. Surely they have integrated it with APIs by now so you could
programmatically add domain names, if needed.

~~~
noderat
There is no documented API access for Google Domains.

------
Daviey
Domain Registrar is now CloudFlare for me. Sadly it isn't yet GA,
[https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar/](https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar/)

~~~
opendomain
I am very much looking forward to CloudFlare registrar.

For the last 15 years, I have run OpenDomain - a project that gives domains to
OpenSource projects for Free. I have used almost every registrar and I am
actually a sub-registrar through TuCows and SrsPlus where I can be a domain
reseller.

------
sqidyyy
Domains:

* namecheap.com: It's cheap and easy to use. Has a lot of TLDs to choose from.

* freenom.com: Started using free domains, dropped most of them, kept a few as paid domains, which I don't regret.

Hosting:

* server.lu (now part of server.com): Luxembourg is a great location for hosting, especially with a 1Gbit port. I still have my old contract which I don't plan on terminating as long as them don't force me. Getting the full bandwidth throughout Europe. Not the cheapest plan, but one of the best dedicated servers I ever owned.

------
actionowl
> Which domain registrar

Gandi, I've used them for over a decade now and never ceased to be impressed.

> hosting provider do you prefer?

Joyent, (full disclaimer, I worked here previously) they really got containers
right, just compare Fargate or ECS with Triton both as a developer and an
operator. Joyent's path makes much more sense to me. Manta is also impressive,
and being able to spin up a container right where an object lies is perfect
for some workloads.

------
joshfraser
I use Google Domains. They offer a refreshingly clean UI and they're
relatively good with computers over there.

~~~
cutety
I also have a few domains on Google, but I’m actually not a huge fan it. Aside
from it being slightly more expensive, outside of the domain search UI, I find
the UI for managing a domain clunky, and confusing. I’d imagine it would be
easier to use if I were more bought in to the Google ecosystem (e.g. GSuite)
as there are tons of options for integrating your domain with google services
whether or not you use them. However, I only use google domains, and all of
the stuff they’re pointing at are on other services (Digital Ocean,
ProtonMail, etc.) so most of the management UI for me is just noise. Because
of that, along with most of my stuff being on DO, I just have them all pointed
to to DO’s nameservers, and I do all my management through DO’s DNS service
(which is free) and don’t have to use google’s UI after setting the
nameservers. DO’s UI is quite a bit cleaner and easier to use (in my opinion),
and the tight integration with DO’s other networking tools (API access for
LetsEncrypt and Floating IPs mostly) is just a nice plus.

I’ll (hopefully remember to) switch my domains over to (probably) namecheap as
it’s usually the most recommended one in these threads to save a few bucks a
year when it comes time to renew them.

------
blairbeckwith
I use what I think is a fairly small registrar called Porkbun:
[http://porkbun.com](http://porkbun.com)

I like that they at least seem smakk, their panel is great, I can buy a new
domain in well under a minute, and their branding is a little funny.

------
jamieweb
Currently Hover for domain names (but will soon be transferring to Cloudflare
Registrar when it's available).

For hosting, currently Linode, but I am also working on deploying to Digital
Ocean in tandem for extra resiliency. I'll use failover GeoDNS to balance
between the two.

------
Down_n_Out
I use Route53 from AWS for DNS, that way I can always move around regarding
hosting and have full access to the records, I mostly use Hetzner, AWS and
DigitalOcean for hosting. Registrar is Gandi at the moment, but might move if
I find a decent replacement.

------
gtf21
I use iwantmyname.com because I find their DNS configuration really simple
compared to other registrars I have used. DigitalOcean for hosting, and as a
business we use Cloudflare for DNS, but personally I just use the iwantmyname
tools.

------
gremlinsinc
Namesilo ... Free privacy, api, bulk discounts... cost for a .com has just
about always been 8.50'ish cheaper when they're having a special... they even
have 2 facter authentication and other perks...

~~~
fiveFeet
Another happy customer of namesilo.com here! I have three domains with them
for about a year. No complaints. Everything just works.

------
nil_pointer
I've used a lot of registrars over the years, and overall Namecheap has been
the best experience. I wish they supported U2F, but other than that, no
complaints.

------
hawkilt
[https://GreatLime.com](https://GreatLime.com)

------
tmaly
I like name.com they privacy option is reasonable compared to godaddy

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rubenhak
I'm using namecheap. No issues so far.

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chris__butters
iwantmyname.com for domains, simple registration with very little upselling or
marketing gumpf

CloudFlare for DNS

Vultr or DigitalOcean for hosting

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sethammons
Namecheap and digital ocean

------
sbfeibish
I'll let others pick the registrar.

(The question becomes. What do you mean by manage domain names. The full
shebang. Or only the simple stuff, like email & web forwarding.)

I use domain registrars from all over the world. And am familiar with domain
registrars from all over the world. It's a result of the land rushes of the
early 2000's. Where names were awarded in a round robin fashion. Pre-
registering* with as many registrars as possible could increase the chance of
obtaining a name. For the most part I've stuck with and had good experiences
with the registrars that got me the domain names I was after. So you can just
about pick any registrar and get a fairly good experience.

However; they have their quirks. I transferred some names to a register
because their prices were low. But then found out they renew names once a
year. As they're expiring, for only one more year. So every year I'm on pins
and needles hoping my credit card won't be denied for some reason. I ran into
trouble with some other companies in the fall this year when a new credit card
was issued to me, and the old one stopped. Just as names needed to be renewed.
Just as my Amazon Web Services bill came due.

Some registrars used to have clunky interfaces. Many have upgraded and that's
no longer the case.

I would want a registrar that allows multi-year registration and auto renewal.
Email & web forwarding. The ability to easily change name servers and modify
DNS records (you may need to provide domain ownership to your hosting provider
through modification of your txt record). A registrar that makes it easy to
lock and unlock a domain, and makes it easy to get the authorization code
needed to transfer a domain. A registrar that let's you have your zone file
when you want to transfer to another registrar. A registrar that let's you set
a privacy policy so your email address isn't shown in the whois database and
so you don't receive spam messages. I have somewhere shy of 140 2nd level
domain names. And I used to see 140 of the same email. You want a registrar
that gives you backup name servers and name servers that won't slow you up.

(I believe my .tw domains don't allow auto renewal; and you have to renew
before the expiration date. A gotcha.)

There might be legal considerations. You might want to register domains in a
country where the laws are different - to avoid trademark problems.

I would want a register that isn't on shaky financial footing. Where if the
registrar went out of business my domains might be tied up and/or available.
It's happened.

So I guess what I'm saying is there's a lot more involved then just price.

There are a lot of domains that are much more expensive then $10/yr. Maybe
those expensive domains would be worth registering if you could get a more
sensible name. Maybe an extension reserved for the business you're in. As an
example; if you're Wells Fargo, wellsfargo.bank $10/yr. seems kind of low.
Unless the registrar tacks on charges for name servers, email & web
forwarding, ... I think it used to cost $35 a year through the only registrar,
Network Solutions. So I don't mind paying $15 or $20 at all. My .tw names are
normally $40/yr __. And other extensions can be much, much higher.

Google domains is easy to use and doesn't cost any more then the other
registrars I've been using.

* I ruefully found out how credit cards actually worked after the land rushes started. They can authorize transactions on your card even though you haven't won the domain name(s). So if you want to get involved in a round robin land rush. You really want to have a high credit limit.

 __I get .tw names from www.bookmyname.com (Online SAS) in France for less
then half the cost

~~~
sbfeibish
It must have been lost somewhere in the editing, copying, and pasting. I don't
see a paragraph about the root apex. I would register with someone other then
the hosting company you're using. And then use the hosting company's name
servers. So you then could use the root apex (jobs.us), as opposed to using a
CNAME record to get to the subdomain (www.jobs.us).

------
OafTobark
Registrar: iWantMyName

DNS: CloudFlare

Hosting: Linode

