
Which domain registrar is best? - rfreytag
http://www.cringely.com/2011/07/which-domain-registrar-is-best/
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thetrumanshow
Dang, ok, I'll be the dissenter. I like Godaddy.

Despite their slimy personna, their one saving grace is that when I am setting
anything up that requires a DNS configuration (example: Heroku-hosted site),
there is ALWAYS a Godaddy-specific tutorial available to help me get through
it. For that reason alone, I bailed on Namecheap (et. al) and embraced Godaddy
as a registrar.

Now, because the brand is so horribly raunchy, I rarely mention this to
anyone... as it embarasses me personally.

~~~
shazow
I don't care about a slimy persona or raunchy brands. Have you never used a
registrar where making a DNS change doesn't require 11 clicks and each one
takes 3~10 seconds to load?

Not to mention how everything is plastered with upsells that are worthless to
me. GoDaddy goes out of its way to make what you're trying to do harder. This
is why I don't like GoDaddy.

Edit: I use Dreamhost for my domains. It may be a mediocre shared hosting
solution but the domain registering and managing experience is fast, clean,
market-priced, and they provide free whois anonymizing.

~~~
nt_mark
Exactly why we created <http://nametoolkit.com>, I've used Gandi and they're
not bad, but even their interface is a bit clunky, makes you click twice (to
commit the DNS change you've just submitted).

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davidedicillo
I just registered a domain with name.com After years of godaddy it was really
refreshing to try a registrar that didn't try to upsell you 100 different
things during the check out process.

~~~
bjtitus
I also use Name.com and love them (still in the process of switching domains
over as they expire from GoDaddy). Very useable interface with no up selling
and excellent customer service. They have a small office in Denver which is
convenient for me since I'm in school just down the road. Overall I'm 100%
happy with them.

~~~
stellar678
Do you actually visit the office of your domain registrar? I'm curious about
the convenience afforded by their office being close...can't think of what
they might do for you in-person.

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Urgo
I had been using a number of companies in the past, most recently 1&1 which I
HIGHLY recommend AGAINST. I ended up dishing out the $90 or whatever reseller
fee to tucows and I am now my own opensrs registrar at
<http://urgo.shopco.com> . I don't really actively try sell domains, it just
gives me the power to make sure things work. Been doing this for about a year
now and quite happy with it.

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larrys
A few things to consider with any registrar:

\- Cost for a redemption if a name is deleted. There is always a cost for this
since the registrar is charged for this by the registry operators. The only
question is what the markup is. \- How soon after expiration does the
registrar put the name on hold so it doesn't resolve. \- Does the registrar
try to make you renew with them once the name has expired (many do but ICANN
doesn't allow this). \- Although a domain can be deleted by the registrar any
time after expiration, most registrars offer a grace period that could run up
to 44 days past expiration that you can still renew the name \- Make sure they
are not only ICANN accredited (in other words not a reseller) but that they
are actually registering names. There are ICANN accredited registrars that
actually have gone through the accreditation process and are acting as
resellers for others (as hard as that is to believe). Check the registry whois
on _their domain_ for example and see if it lists another "registrar".

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trustfundbaby
1and1 is not bad ... their domains were only $8.99, but now cost $9.99 ... but
they offer free private whois info which others (GoDaddy and Namecheap charge
for).

The downsides? ... interface is slow and annoying and to cancel domains you
have to go to an entire other subdomain (something like cancel.1and1.com) ...
for reasons that I do not understand.

~~~
mtogo
IIRC namecheap gives you an ssl cert and whois privacy for free with their $10
domains.

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iSimone
Well that is a really good question. I have had the same thoughts about
consolidation to one, but it's hard since none really offer all domain
extenstions I own.

I have been with Godaddy for a long time (before I moved away and got on the
train again). It's ugly and a shitty organisation but it just works and is
rather cheap.

I have some domains hosted with mediatemple since they had a great 5£/com
offer not long ago.

There are a few others out there that I hear often like

namecheap

gandi

hover

On this topic it's really interesting to read
[http://www.marco.org/2011/04/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-be-a-
go...](http://www.marco.org/2011/04/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-be-a-good-
registrar)

I guess I could go on and on with the list, but the only thing I can not do so
far: give a surefire, perfect and reliable solution. I guess it also comes
down to personal preference in the end.

~~~
nakkiel
My experience with Gandi is quite different. I always received timely
responses to my emails and I'd say their service was always in line with their
"No bullshit" punchline.

For more on this, read <http://www.gandi.net/no-bullshit>

I've been a satisfied customer for five-plus years. Being French, I wonder if
the difference in support might be related to language issues (but isn't Marco
Arment French?).

Also, they tend to hire good hackers even though they may not offer the best
work experience for a hacker. I hear they let them work on other projects if
roughly in line with the company's development. For example the main guy
behind dotclear (a blogging engine) is/used to be working there. IIRC, a guy
working on OpenBSD is also working there.

And they support some Open Source projects: <http://www.gandi.net/supports/>

~~~
netnichols
Marco is definitely not French. Listen to a talk or podcast with him and that
will be immediately apparent. ;-)

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yalogin
What does a domain registrar do exactly? I buy the domain and they hold the
purchase records for me and then tell me when it expires. What is a crappy
registrar and what problems can you face with a crappy one?

~~~
bradleyland
A crappy registrar spams the hell out of you and makes the renewal process
long, painful, and full of irrelevant marketing.

A good registrar provides you with a service that is easy to use, unobtrusive,
and provides flexible tools for managing (updating WHOIS, transferring,
configuring) your domains.

The actual task of domain registration is technically straight forward, but it
is the type of service that touches a lot of businesses, so it attracts a the
type of business owner who looks to leverage their large customer base. This
allows them to push the cost of registration down to the point of being a loss
leader. The real value for them isn't in selling registrations, but building a
large list of customers to whom they can sell "value add" services.

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gks
I really like NearlyFreeSpeech.net for domain registration.

I have a few at Gandi that will be moved either to NFS or to Namecheap when
renewal time comes up. Gandi is nice and all, but quite a bit more expensive
comparatively.

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goo
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned dynadot yet. They're amazing. Of the
several registrars I've tried, they are by far the best.

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digitalclubb
Maybe a simple vote would be more beneficial?

Trying to digest all of the comments is hard work when you are looking for a
definitive answer :)

My vote goes to 123-reg though, great interface offers a nice user experience
but if things go wrong, their support is awful!

~~~
larrys
Any vote would be skewed in the direction of larger registrars.

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johnzimmerman
I've used Namecheap, Moniker, Hover and Godaddy. The only one I didn't like
was Godaddy due to how difficult their site is to navigate.

~~~
johnx123-up
Godaddy seems to get more orders through affiliate than retail.

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aculver
<http://www.dnsimple.com/> . Worth every penny.

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amorphid
I use 1&1\. I've largely been happy with it, and they have decent 24x7
support.

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bhartzer
It's certainly not Godaddy.

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shii
nearlyfreespeech.net is the way to go.

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danielrm26
DYN.

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hackermom
I've used Joker (joker.com) for 11 years now. Barring a very large syn-flood
attack on their infrastructure about 5 years ago, I've had no trouble with
them. They also give you free mail-forwarding and DNS which is a welcomed
bonus.

~~~
modoc
I use, and love, Joker, but they don't offer any sort of anonymous whois data
which is a gap.

~~~
hackermom
They at least used to allow it - I've got "n/a" on all my contact IDs (except
the e-mail fields, of course). Not sure if they allow it when creating a new
contact ID today. The last one I set up anonymously was 4 years ago.

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suking
namecheap

