
Ask HN: Should I host projects on their own domain? - jellevdv
Hi all<p>Last couple of weeks during the summer I’ve been really productive and launched some little tools&#x2F;side-projects that were on my todo list since a very long time.<p>I decided to host them on my personal website, eg site.com&#x2F;tool-a. Different people gave me the advice to host them on their own domains, as that’s more professional. They have a point, but I consider them my personal projects and they are 1-2 pages max and I’m not going to buy a separate domain name for every project I make, as most of the tools don’t bring in money  and are just for fun.<p>One is a mobile app which has IAP,  another one has a donation button on the final page and the other 4 projects are free.<p>Thoughts?
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Azmaeus
The way I see it, hosting them on your personal website portrays them like a
portfolio. If they have potential to grow into something on their own you may
want to consider giving them their own website to keep it modular. I agree
with you, if you're not going to make money off of them, or they won't grow
into an open source sensation (even a minor one), why not just keep it on your
personal website?

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caymanjim
You can get some domain names for as little as $1/year for niche TLDs, and if
you're willing to splurge a bit, you can get more generic ones for $8. It not
only looks more professional, it simplifies administration, and makes it far
easier to isolate the domains later. You can also extend the branding to email
addresses. If they're just pet projects, it's no big deal, but if you're
intending to monetize them or want them to become durable brands, the sooner
you get them a custom domain, the better.

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detaro
Private domain is fine if it's just your thing you build at some point.
Something I sometimes see people do if things are vaguely related is to get
_one_ domain for all of them, with the idea that's it might be easier to
remember than your personal domain and makes accessing them faster.

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pwg
How much control do you have over your existing domain?

You could host them on subdomains:

I.e.: instead of site.com/tool-a

You'd have: tool-a.site.com

And: tool-b.site.com

etc.

