

Ask YC: Where do you buy domain names? - wooby

Godaddy used to be the best but is now a mess of hot garbage.  What's the cheapest, simplest registrar?
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qhoxie
I use <http://namecheap.com>. I have for many years. They had issues with a
ddos attack a number of months back and handled it gracefully; ie. the owner
was continually posting updates on the forums and helping users individually.

~~~
mikeyur
I second this. I love namecheap, not quite the cheapest registrar anymore, but
I have found them much more helpful than GoDaddy or any other registrar I've
used.

I just finished moving all my domains to them last week with their newest
promotion, like $6 transfers or something.

~~~
rshao
Ditto. I just finished moving everything off of godaddy recently. Another
thing I like about namecheap is that they provide you with nameservers, which
was a big plus for me since I didn't want to host my own on the same box I put
everything else on. Pretty sure godaddy didn't, but I could be wrong.

~~~
contergan
Godaddy does provide its own nameservers - been using it for years.

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tsally
<http://nearlyfreespeech.net>

I am a big fan of these guys. Their technical knowledge is top notch and their
pricing plans are perfect for small websites. Heck, I even remember them
emailing me letting me know that ICANN fees were going to go up, and I should
thinking about renewing my domain name before the price went up. Talk about
customer service.

~~~
streety
I've not used nearlyfreespeech.net and they may well be as good as you say but
the example you give does not demonstrate this. I have domains with namecheap
and godaddy and remember being contacted by at least one of them the last time
ICANN put up their fees.

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wmeredith
I use Dreamhost. That's where my hosting is and registration is $9.95/year
with free privacy. I've never really had any problems with them. They can
handle the Digg effect and their customer service is decent.

~~~
secos
I second. Have all my domains with them and am very happy. The one minor
complaint I have is that they do not let you manage your DNS records very
easily. I usually switch my name servers over to Slicehost and manage from
there.

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noodle
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=150561>

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nickh
I use gandi.net for my .com, .org and .net domains. Their interface is great,
but I can't comment on their support because I've never had a problem =P

For .ca domains, I use easydns.com .

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jaytee_clone
Domains are pretty cheap anyway, doesn't matter which one you use.

The cost of the it is probably a few orders of magnitude less than the time
you need to spend to come up with a good domain name. Thus, it's really not
worth it to consider domain price as a decision factor.

Now, as far as functionality goes, namecheap.com is pretty good.

~~~
bmj
I would just be sure that you actually own the domain, not the service. Early
in my life was a web developer, I made this mistake, and it took a bit of
effort to wrest ownership of the name back.

I use Dotster, and have found their service and interface perfectly
acceptable. They, too, sent me an email saying I should I should renew my
domain name before the rates went up.

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reidman
Been using <http://domainsite.com> for about 5 years now. Low prices, not
nearly as much BS as GoDaddy. Sorely lacking in the user interface department
(again, not as bad as GoDaddy), but aside from that I've never had problems
with them.

~~~
s_tec
I've been using domainsite.com for about the same amount of time, and have
nothing to complain about. They are simply an inexpensive, straightforward
place to register domains. Their user interface seems fine to me too.

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guruz
I use Prosite.de for 3 domains, they host the DNS for me only. If you are
german you could too.

[https://www.prosite.de/member.php?refid=5000140259&s=ma](https://www.prosite.de/member.php?refid=5000140259&s=ma)
(Affiliate link)

<http://www.prosite.de/> (Non affiliate link)

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decode
Once a long time ago I saw that DJB recommended www.joker.com and I've been
using them for the past 5 years. They're not the cheapest (it's been $12 a
year since I started using them), but I've never had any problems. The web UI
is fairly simple to use, and they don't spam your email inbox.

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amazoom
name.com - their new .com names are only 5.99 (with coupon)

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peter123
if you're still not totally opposed to using godaddy, someone just sent me
this great deal... $1.19 per domain:
[http://searchalldeals.com/deals/view/169384/0/1-Year+Domain+...](http://searchalldeals.com/deals/view/169384/0/1-Year+Domain+Name+Registration+%241.19)

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matthall28
NameCheap.com

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hs
i use 1and1.com ... no idea if it's good or not

any comment?

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joegebbia
these guys are on the same level as godaddy.

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omarchowdhury
Moniker, Namecheap

