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Domain name registrar

lastmod 2025-02-11created 2023-07-034 edits

A domain name registrar is an organization or business accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry that manages the registration of Internet domain names according to the guidelines of the designated domain name registries, and offers domain-related services to the public.

A survey conducted to find somewhere to move to because of the sale of Google Domains. Squarespace, the acquirer, is on the expensive side at $20 a year for .com

The order of recommendations is as follows: 

Cloudflare 24% > Namecheap 21.8% > Porkbun 12.2% > AWS 7% > Gandi 5.7% > GoDaddy 3.1%
Cloudflare
"Email routing available instantly for free. Easy redirect rules, HTTP endpoint protection"
"Their DNS is more than just DNS"
"No hidden costs. WHOIS protection, DNSSEC, and 2FA available for free"
"Can improve site speed using Cloudflare's network"
Does not support major TLDs (.dev / .app support planned from mid-July)
Namecheap
"It has an old 2000s-era UI, but to me that's a positive sign. It means their business is solid and they don't need to develop new features"
"The reason is simple. It is highly trusted by the Hacker News community"
"I've been using Namecheap for 5 years and it's really good"
The CEO even responds to customer complaints and comments on Twitter
Porkbun
The most quirky domain provider (full of pig logos)
"Very good and cheap. You can do all the configuration in one place, and there are bulk options too"
"I only buy domains from Porkbun and don't use their other services. But the domains are incredibly cheap. They provide customer support in English and don't outsource it. Very quirky and fun"
Porkbun reportedly saw a 50x increase in domains transferring from Google Domains

Others

  • AWS Route 53: if your services are on AWS
  • Gandi: French provider. Well known in Europe. AWS also uses Gandi internally for many domains
  • iwantmyname: supports more than 400 domains. In operation for 15 years
  • GoDaddy: a company with high market share, but not often recommended by developers

Korea

  • Gabia: in my experience, inconvenience itself. Can't even register AAAA records.

See also

Favorite site

author Zer0 sitemap