Ask YC: Need a new domain name registrar

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=339823

by hbien • 18 years ago

19 36 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The place I'm currently using raised their renewal fee to $35/year and I have a lot of domain names =/.

I'm looking for a place that's around the average $10/year or lower and has a nice web panel design to manage domain names.

What are you guys using?

aditya• 18 years ago

dreamhost does pretty well at $9.95/yr

lowkey• 18 years ago

I switched from GoDaddy to Namecheap and haven't looked back. Domains under $10/ea (less with their frequent coupon codes) and a clean ad-free admin console. Highly recommend Namecheap.

alizaki• 18 years ago

I second dreamhost.

qhoxie• 18 years ago

I have been using NameCheap for many many years and they do a great job. There was one outage recently, and the owner kept everyone up to date by constantly posting on the forums and answering individual questions.

Jasber• 18 years ago

I have also been using NameCheap for many years. They are a little more expensive than other registrar's ($9.69) and are actually just a reseller of eNom, but they do a great job.

I've never had any issues and their customer service has always been very quick, helpful and friendly.

I also like how they keep their checkout system clean and consistent--I just want to order domains, not buy web hosting, email forwarding, domain parking, etc... (GoDaddy I'm looking your direction).

lunaru• 18 years ago

I'm using GoDaddy (I wouldn't recommend them for any of their other products besides domains and maybe SSL certs), but I hear lots of votes for Dreamhost.

socmoth• 18 years ago

i just switched to http://www.gandi.net/, i wasn't able to find a single bad review.

SwellJoe• 18 years ago

Gandi is among the most requested by our customers in our domain registration plugin (which uses the APIs of common registrars to register domains without having to leave the local control panel). Gandi seems to have a lot of fans. And a decent API, for what it's worth.

christefano• 18 years ago

Gandi is by far my favorite registrar. I started moving my domains away from GoDaddy to Gandi after CNET did interviews with several registrars to find out which were the most friendly to free speech: http://www.news.com/2100-1025_3-6155614.html

gamache• 18 years ago

I have used Gandi for 3-4 years now, and I have no complaints whatsoever. I suppose it could be cheaper, but there is such a thing as too cheap.

Before that: NetSol who are crap, JumpDomain who were worse than crap, and Joker who were OK enough.

fallentimes• 18 years ago

This is why I love Hacker News. I had never even heard of gandi and then it gets four positive reviews from four people I trust. Will use it for one of our sister sites (to test before moving over everything) - thanks guys.

hbien• 18 years ago

Thanks socmoth, I'm gonna go with gandi.net.

It's a little bit more expensive ($15 vs the usual $10 a year) BUT it has a great interface. And you get free private domain registrations, which I think is worth the extra $5/year.

sidsavara2• 18 years ago

I use godaddy. I have used 1and1, NameCheap, ipowerweb, yahoo, etc.

GoDaddy may suck balls for a lot of things, but they are the best that I've found for having multiple domains. I don't have a lot, just a dozen or so active - but the interface is sweet, fast, and very easy to do domain locking/unlocking, nameservers, multiple edits, etc.

Of course, I'm not authority. This is just me saying what I've done, and what I like.

ScottWhigham• 18 years ago

Here, here

j0ncc• 18 years ago

I hate how the godaddy UI is packed full of adverts. When you buy a domain you're bombarded with 50 or so offers that you're almost tricked into signing up to. Really not a fan.

I'm an avid namecheap user. The interface is clean and there are no adverts blocking your view. They've also just released their own API for registering domains off-site if that's your gig.

ConradHex• 18 years ago

Also, the "private domains" feature is reasonably priced on namecheap. On godaddy, it just isn't.

alex_c• 18 years ago

but the interface is sweet, fast, and very easy to do domain locking/unlocking, nameservers, multiple edits, etc.

That's weird, I use GoDaddy, and the interface drives me nuts because of how slow it is. It does let me do pretty much anything I need to, and GoDaddy is probably as cheap as it gets - but "fast" has never been a word I associate with them.

cubicray• 18 years ago

I'm using bluehost.com, it's $10/year. Their checkout process is very quick. Also see: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=150561

owkaye• 18 years ago

I'm using name.com which costs me $6.99 per year for the first year, although I don't know what renewals will cost since this is my first year:

"For a limited time you'll be able to take advantage of $6.99 pricing for new .com registrations by using the promo code TLHF99 when you checkout. This is currently only good for one year registrations."

fgblanch• 18 years ago

I used to register the domains with yahoo but the renewal price its quite high.

Today i've registered one with google (godaddy) for google apps for domains and everything went ok 10$ per year and google apps for domains set up by default

modoc• 18 years ago

I use joker.com. Have for many many years. No complaints.

izak30• 18 years ago

I'm a reseller at opensrs. It works out very well for what I need.

josefresco• 18 years ago

Become your own Registrar, and buy the domains wholesale for $10/year.

http://resellers.tucows.com/opensrs/

/I use GoDaddy

igorhvr• 18 years ago

I use http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/.

They bill 8.59 for a top level US domain renewal or registration.

Their service is good for anyone that understands DNS - they let you directly edit your DNS records.

sireat• 18 years ago

I use both NameCheap and GoDaddy. I would have switched off GoDaddy completely but actually GoDaddy is the cheapest (around $7/yr) when using coupons...

One more tip, hosting with the registrar is usually a bad idea.

agotterer• 18 years ago

I use AIT domains and godaddy. Don't love either.

dlytle• 18 years ago

I'm personally interested now in registrars that are outside of the US. Since the Kentucky ruling seizing those gambling websites, it's become a little bit more important to think about where your registrar is located.

Not that I think that sort of ruling is going to become common, but shielding yourself as much as possible from US court intervention isn't a terrible idea.

mannylee1• 18 years ago

Dynadot.com is an excellent choice.

codeview• 18 years ago

nearlyfreespeech.net Have been using for 2 years now. Love it.

rrival• 18 years ago

name.com

matthall28• 18 years ago

Namecheap!

DenisM• 18 years ago

DynDNS lets you set very low TTL. It's not cheap, but if that's what you need it's very good.

EGF• 18 years ago

I think godaddy is the best. If you are buying\selling then its easy to push names in and out of. The management is simple and the locking\unlocking is very easy. Price is king as many other features are commodities. Also having 24/7 phone support is great.

sidsavara2• 18 years ago

By the way, I recently discovered Google has free private domain registration for $10 a year after talking about this with a friend:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/domain.html

No recommendation here from personal experience, except that I use Google Apps for my email. It looks good on paper and it's goodle, maybe someone else can share their experience.

bjclark• 18 years ago

namecheap.com

BlueSkies• 18 years ago

I highly recommend Moniker.com. They have an excellent record on domain security (more to say about that) and are priced reasonably. I think I pay $8/year for registration and $1/year for name privacy for Social.com. To get this price, check the domain name forums (Namepros.com, DNForum.com) for forum member discount announcements.

I was originally using Namesecure prior to Oct. 2006 when they allowed someone to use some social engineering to steal my domain Social.com. Took me almost two weeks to recover it.

Besides an excellent track record, Moniker just came out with an additional security product that allows you to specify offline verification to further secure your domain.

GoDaddy I would stay away from. I hear nothing but bad news about dealings with them.

I'll have to take a look at gandi.net. Had not heard of them before.

Ask YC: Need a new domain name registrar

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