
Ask YC: Who's your favorite domain registrar and why? - pius
Recently I've been hearing my registrar (GoDaddy.com) getting slammed for domain stealing and other horrors.  Though I've never been affected, I figure it's a good idea to become knowledgeable about other best-in-breed services.  Can anyone recommend other domain registrars that are great for managing large numbers of domains?
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csmajorfive
I've been using Namecheap.com for years and they've never failed me.

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rgrieselhuber
I use 1and1.com. They're cheap and I've never had any problems.

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bkrausz
I used to use 1&1 for domains and hosting, their hosting and support are
terrible, and I find their transfer/cancellation process strangely difficult,
but they are the cheapest and domain name registrations don't need much in
terms of quality.

I now use namecheap and love them. They also have no delays in registration:
when I was at a talk by Randall Munroe, he mentioned a domain name he thought
was funny. 3 or 4 people lunged for their laptops to register it, and despite
me having to enter my CC# (I have to start leaving $10 in my account for such
emergencies), I won it, even though everyone claimed to have gotten
confirmation of a successful purchase.

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nickb
I currently use Godaddy but I'm moving to nearlyfreespeech.net. Why? Because
Godaddy has a horrible track record of shutting people's sites down over
frivolous complaints (go see <http://nodaddy.com/> ) and NFS.net has a really
awesome track record: <https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/about/background.php>

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DeadlyBrad42
I can personally attest to Nearly Free Speech being a fantastic host. I used
to use Godaddy, but their domain management tools were ugly and over
complicated, and being a member of their site made me feel like I was just a
number. NFS.net has simple, easy to use domain management tools, cheap hosting
(Just like the name says) and anytime I needed help they have been able to
respond very quickly. I would recommend them above any other hosting site.

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mattmaroon
I started using GoDaddy when it was fairly new, and even though their prices
have risen since, I've never bothered to switch. They make private
registration very easy, and even though they spam the hell out of you during
the purchasing process, I still just can't drag myself away.

Domain names are so cheap that it isn't worth it to me to risk shenanigans in
an attempt to save $2 or $3.

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vlad
I actually choose to pay more. I'd rather pay the extra 55 cents by paying
$7.50 to Dynadot (bulk pricing option) than Godaddy's after-discount price of
$6.95. That's because there are no hassles in the shopping process, no inbox
or snail mail spam, an API, $2 domain privacy instead of $10 or whatever
Godaddy charges, and built-in ability to cancel your domain within 5 days for
any reason whatsoever. Their user interface is better and cleaner. It's like
night and day.

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mattmaroon
Sold. I'll try them next time.

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vlad
I have an account at Dynadot. I was an early Dotster user when they were the
best alternative to Network Solutions, and then an early user of GoDaddy for
many years now. Now, I think Dynadot is the best, and you should, too. :)

It has a clean user interface and even lower prices than Godaddy. If you
deposit $500, you get an API and even cheaper prices.

They also have "domain tasting" for everybody for 5 days, which means you get
a full refund for your domain name in that time period. Therefore, you can
register domain names and cancel them later if you change your mind. I've lost
a lot of domain names where I hesitated registering them for a few days.

Oh, and their domain privacy is only $2. It doesn't obfuscate your name, just
all of the other parts. However, they can forward physical mail sent to the
domain's private address to you, though I'm not sure what the cost of that is.

If you do choose to use Godaddy, always buy with their 20% off coupons found
on Google if you're renewing. If you're registering a new domain, simply
google "Godaddy" and then enter by clicking their ad on the search results of
Google. That will give you 6.95 pricing instead of the 9.99 they currently
charge--that's $3.04 cheaper per year per domain!

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pius
Thanks for the tips, I'll be taking a look at Dynadot.

Re: Godaddy, how do you find the coupon codes for renewals? It wasn't clear to
me from your post. Thanks!

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vlad
By googling for "Godaddy coupon" and applying it to my cart.

Anyway, Dynadot is better. Rather than hunt for coupons to get Godaddy's
after-coupon price of $6.95, I'd rather pay the extra 55 cents to
Dynadot($7.50 bulk pricing) as standard pricing.

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spydez
My problem with Dynadot is this:

In order to get their bulk pricing, you have to prepay $500. And you may not
ever get any of your $500 back ever again. So for me, with my half dozen or so
domains, that means I have to decide that Dynadot will be my registrar for the
next _9 years_ or so.

That's too much of a commitment for me.

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vlad
Their regular pricing is still cheaper than godaddy, you still get 5 day
domain refunds (as account credit), and $2 domain privacy. Bulk pricing gets
you an extra 1.50 off and an Api.

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pg
I use EasyDNS. They're expensive, but reliable and never do anything evil.

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mrjbq7
EasyDNS is one of the best registrars out there. I highly recommend them.

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sanj
Thirded.

They appear to be Canadian too -- which I feel is a point in their favour.

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iraw
Definitely Gandi (<http://www.gandi.net/whowe/>), I've been there for almost
10 years.

It's not too expensive and they have a very nice web interface to manage
multiple domains (different edition modes, zone versioning system, free
primary/secondary DNS). They're also hosting and helping several OpenSource
projects.

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jws
I've been using Gandi for many years. Never a problem and, at least the last
time I checked, they had a proper policy saying that your name was yours.

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davidw
I use Google's thing:

<http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new>

Since it's only $10, works well, and I get all their apps and other junk with
it.

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sc
NearlyFreeSpeech (<http://nearlyfreespeech.net>). Slightly more expensive, but
given their track record and their attitude toward web hosting, you can be
pretty sure they're trustworthy.

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initself
DirectNIC. They kept their systems up during Hurricane Katrina.

<http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/DirectNIC>

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SwellJoe
DirectNIC/InterCosmos are historically the largest abusers of the domain
registration system for domain sniping. I still have a few domains with them,
but only by accident. They are, in fact, reliable and their service is good.
But I'd like to avoid supporting a company that takes part in one of the most
dishonest aspects of the domain industry on a massive scale--unmatched by
pretty much any other registrar.

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Shooter
Really? As bad as InterNIC? I stopped using DirectNIC only because of their
prices. I liked them well enough, but with 600+ domains it was getting rather
expensive. I've had some great domains, and never experienced any domain
sniping with them (GoDaddy and InterNIC are another story.)

I mostly use 1&1 now, but their domain management tools and interface suck.
I'd love to find a cheap, non-evil registrar that has a good domain management
interface and good customer service. Every time I ask around, I get new
suggestions...but the people usually turn out to be shills or to have limited
experience with their recommendations.

When is the Y Combinator Registrar launching, eh? ;-)

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SwellJoe
Google "intercosmos domain sniping". I only knows what the Internets tells me,
and the Internets have spoken about Intercosmos/DirectNIC.

If you find a good one, let me know, as we provide automatic registration in
our product, but we're not ecstatic about only supporting one registrar
(Register.com) that is known mainly for being expensive...they are seemingly
honest and their tools are fine, but even reseller pricing is too high (and
their retail prices are laughably high).

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rrival
Name.com. I'm surprised noone's mentioned them. $5.99 domains. Free private
registration. Easy interface. Account credit balances for really easy domain
regging from an iPhone. I've transferred everything I had on Joker over to
them b/c it's 1/2 the cost.

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Bluem00
I've been using DynDNS ( <http://dyndns.com> ). They have slightly higher
prices than registrars such as GoDaddy, but I trust their brand more and
haven't encountered any behavior that looks suspicious. Also, I used to host
my websites from home via a cable modem, and their free dynamic IP address
services worked very well.

To be honest, I haven't ever considered switching; Has anyone switched to or
from DynDNS and have an anecdote about their experience to share?

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alaskamiller
1and1.com

6.99 domains free private registration i've pushed through 100 domains through
them

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one0them
Results returned from whois.publicinterestregistry.net: " If anyone's dns
people were going to be threatened, it would be their's. Wonder if you can
reserve your own name at other company's so if it is revoked or expires, it is
automatically registered to you at a different place.

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joshwa
I've used joker.com for the last 4-5 years. Free DNS, mail and url forwarding,
etc., too.

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icey
Yeah, I've used joker for a long time as well, they have been great to deal
with for pretty much forever.

As a downside, any purchase I make with them via Wells Fargo causes Wells
Fargo to pitch a fit.

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goodgoblin
I use Yahoo so I'll never forget. Used register fly before and they lost my
account.

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petervandijck
I've used joker.com too for a while now, pretty good. I also use dreamhost.

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dkd
Not directly related but anyone using Webhostingbuzz.com for hosting and
domain names? it's quite slow but their shared hosting solution is one of the
cheapest one around.. :o)

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michaelr
I've been using gandi.net for roughly a year and haven't had any trouble. They
don't offer bargain prices, but they're not the most expensive either.

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lisper
I've used domainsite for many years. They've had a couple of annoying email
outages, but other than that they've been pretty solid.

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smeh
I have been using lunarpages.com for my site saarr.com since two years. I did
not face any major issues with them.

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elan
I've been using Dotster for about 4 years now and they are fine. Make sure to
search for discount coupons...

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nextmoveone
netfirms.com used to do registrations for 4.95 and I was an affiliate that got
$2 commissions on domain reg so I would essentially get $2.95 domain reg.

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pibefision
I'm using Dreamhost. They are cheap and easy.

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celticjames
I really like dreamhost as a webhosting service, and I am sure they are honest
as a domain registrar, but if you are looking purely in terms of domain
registration and are handling the webhosting elsewhere, I'd say dyndns.org is
one of the best. They have a great feature set for domain management.

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jeffmueller
Anyone used Moniker? I've heard good things.

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mechanical_fish
I've been using Moniker, after hearing some of those same good things. I have
had no problems with them.

Of course, one of the classic problems with registrars is an inability to get
your names _out_ when things go bad. (Presumably the ones that make it
difficult to _join_ are rapidly culled by natural selection.) And it's kind of
hard to judge that. I'm certainly not going to leave Moniker just to see how
easily they let me go...

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dfranke
register4less.com, on recommendation from the userfriendly.org folks. I've
been happy with them.

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dcurtis
Registerfly? Kidding...

I use Dreamhost and eNom.

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aagha
domainmonger.com - Cheap. Simple to use. No hassles.

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pkrumins
i use dreamhost

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agentbleu
AVOID DREAMHOST like the plague they will never release your domain, unless
you know how to swim backwards across the Atlantic.

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erickhill
I've used Dreamhost for five years, no complaints. They have had a couple of
down times, which were annoying to say the least, but were pretty good about
letting folks know what the heck was going on.

I'd recommend them for small sites.

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ideas101
i used yahoo once - it was a deal to register domain for $1 ... can't go
cheaper and better than yahoo.

