Is it one that you just use and works just fine? Or one that has proven to be reliable and responsible if they do a mistake and only want to satisfy you as a customer?
I have only just recently started domain shopping. Before that I just used the registrar from my web hosting. I settled on trying NameCheap, although their records UI is a bit confusing sometimes.
Switched to Cloudflare since they had spots, never been unhappy.
Porkbun, mostly for the cost, transparency, clean UI, and ease of use.
I’ve used GoDaddy, namecheap, and Google Domains in the past. GoDaddy is the only one I had a problem with, but Google sold to Squarespace recently, and I prefer porkbun to namecheap for the reasons listed above.
I’ve been with GoDaddy for going on 20 years.
Its worked well for me. I started off with their web hosting, but these days they just handle my domains. They’ve got an API so you can use them as a dynamic DNS provider as well.
GoDaddy is known to be a terrible company for a multitude of reasons (both technical and non-).
My last experience with them involved completely migrating a client away from them as they were paying significantly more than I’d ever seen for the services they were using.
For the client, what drove them to finally dump GoDaddy was their email server only pushing new messages every 10 minutes (even on a manual fetch); not good in an email-heavy industry.
I couldn’t even get DNSSEC working at the time and if I remember correctly you had to pay more for AAAA records — something crazy like that.
Cloudflare works really well and has a good UI. Namecheap also works well, but it takes more clicks to adjust DNS records.
+1 for Cloudflare.
That said, there are a number of folks rightfully concerned about the sheer mass of information Cliudflare has access to through their Content Delivery Network (their primary service). This raises potential privacy concerns, especially for self-hosters, who tend to prefer not to rely too heavily on any one large company. However, you don’t actually have to use their CDN service to make use of their minimally-priced Registrar functionality, and personally I really appreciate the services they offer. Their free tier is really impressive, and incredibly useful.
For some reason every registrars dns panel has its own weird restrictions, bugs and interface quirks. Pointing the nameservers to Cloudflare at least makes for a consistent experience.
Namecheap has been good to me for a decade now, and I don’t really have complaints at all
I’ve always used OVH. They are reputable, always been responsive to my questions and have an API to handle many things, including domain names, which is handy for DNS-01 challenges with Caddy and libdns.
I’ve been using NameSilo for years, but they’re jacking the prices up significantly starting this month. I had already just renewed my domains, so I’ll probably use suggestions from this post for a transfer next year …
I use NameSilo too, after bailing on NameCheap. FYI, the .com increases are from ICANN and industry-wide, so switching providers just for that won’t save much.
Looks like Porkbun is still $4 cheaper for .com tho, unless they forgot to update their prices.
Interesting. I’ll take a look!
With them too but I don’t hold any com domains
Not Gandi. They were very reliable since the beginning of the internet but they sold the company and went downhill since.
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I’m on the same level. I keep reading how they got wrecked after being bought out; I didn’t even notice until recently that they’d been bought out.
Aw man, I had no idea they sold
Name cheap for over a decade with afraid dns.
I was using Gandi for years, but they’ve started charging for mailboxes now. I have a lot of mailboxes that are hardly used, but I need to keep.
Just moved to namecheap based on reviews and so far they seem fine
I think gandi are still good if you just need dns registration, and want anything remotely technical (in my case glue records) they’re still good.
Cloudflare - largely because they don’t add on extra fees.
You have to use their name servers though, don’t you?
Also just switched to Cloudflare (used to be google domains)… since they run half the internet, they probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon? Feels like every service gets sold/acquired and I have to change everything over every few years and I’m getting tired hahaha… also their DNS changes update basically instantly and are easy to do for this newbie!
Heh I was also on Google domains before they announced they were selling it. I don’t know what the hell possessed me to register domains with Google. They have a very well documented history of killing off great services. https://killedbygoogle.com/
I personally think it’s better to keep your domain registration separate from your hosting/cloud providers, including cloudflare. Basically not putting all your eggs in the same basket. Those giant cloud companies probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, but their automated system are known to ban users with no recourse unless you’re a big spender with dedicated account managers. Having your domain elsewhere means when something happen to your hosting/cloud account, at least you’re not completely fucked.
Having recently setup an UnRaid server I used a walkthrough video on setting up SSL certs for them through Cloudflare and Google Domains. Was already using their DNS (1.1.1.1) and had an account so made that it an easy decision, then Google decided Domains would be sold off so I fully migrated to Cloudflare. I find the free tier to have more things included than I even understand and it does everything I need.
I used Namecheap for several years and was happy with it, but the numerous price increases finally pushed me to switch. I recently decided on Porkbun after the many positive reviews I read online. It is affordable and has a very clean interface that doesn’t constantly nag me about purchasing other services. I’m really liking it so far.
Dnsimple for me. Swapped from GoDaddy like 10 years ago and haven’t really felt the need to explore elsewhere, the costs are pretty good and never had any issues.
+1 for dumping GoDaddy. Yikes
I really want to say Gandi but they charge too much now and removed the free mailboxes.
Anyway, I’ll vouch for Netim. Their prices are similar to (old) Gandi and they have a mailbox too. I’m looking into Spaceship for some other domains because they’re really cheap.
