Looking for suggestions on where to buy/register domain names

August 9, 2017 8:09 AM

Hello Hive, I'm looking for suggestion on who to give my domain registration business to. Short and sweet...What says ya?
posted by citybuddha to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

I like Dreamhost. I find their fees reasonable and customer service pretty good. All the standard bells and whistles.

Doteasy is who I used to work with. Their customer service is great, but prices are meh and as far as I can tell, their email hosting is only POP, which seems outdated to me.

Caveat: I am no expert.
posted by bluejayway at 8:23 AM on August 9, 2017

I've been happy with Namecheap.
posted by jontyjago at 9:01 AM on August 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've used Hover a few times. I am definitely no expert. I 100% went with them because I heard a podcast ad and had a code. That said, it was a super smooth experience. Almost too smooth -- I own way too many domains that I don't need!
posted by radioamy at 9:09 AM on August 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

I also recommend Hover. Their list prices appear slightly more expensive than others, but end up being on-par when you consider they include private registration (i.e. obscuring your personal contact details) as part of the base price, not as an additional add-on cost. Their dashboard is one of the easiest to use, and their customer support is excellent. Definitely worth the extra $1-2/year.
posted by zebra at 9:24 AM on August 9, 2017

I have been using Cheap-DomainRegistration.com for better than 10-15 years now, which I believe is either owned by, or a reseller of, GoDaddy, and haven't had any problems. But, I also do all my own hosting and DNS and email and get my SSL certs elsewhere, so it may be more barebones than some customers need (they do offer some extra services, I never turn them on, I just pay my $9.99/year for each of my .COMs, and I have approx 70-80 registered).
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:29 AM on August 9, 2017

There is domains.google; private registration is included and there are no tricks. Support works hard to help you if you need it.

Disclaimer: used to work on that team
posted by batter_my_heart at 9:37 AM on August 9, 2017

Full disclosure - I work for Hover's parent company, and am deeply involved in the Registrar industry.

Generally, I recommend using a registrar separate from your host, as this can make possible future migrations a bit easier.

With that in mind, my sense from talking to people is that customers like Gandi, Hover and Google Domains(as it has not yet been linked) as being reasonably simple and easy to use.
posted by Sleddog_Afterburn at 9:40 AM on August 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

nthing Namecheap.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:00 AM on August 9, 2017

I migrated to Google Domains recently due to the inclusion of private registration for a relatively cheap price.
posted by vegartanipla at 11:03 AM on August 9, 2017

@batter_my_heart I know your company, CEO and various folks well and have worked with y'all on and off for many years. Glad to see someone else from the industry here.
posted by FlamingBore at 12:25 PM on August 9, 2017

namecheap.

They are by far the best I've dealt with over the years. They make transferring and managing domain names extremely easy- no hoops to jump through, no "customer retention" tactics of any sort.

I host a lot of my own and client sites with dreamhost and have been happy with their service over the years, so I also purchase new domain names for clients through them. But If all I wanted was to grab a domain name and I didn't already have a long-term account with dreamhost I'd use namecheap for that.
posted by stagewhisper at 2:59 PM on August 9, 2017

Namecheap. Totally.

And just so someone says it... stay FAR away from GoDaddy, and don't even search availability on there!
posted by stormyteal at 2:02 AM on August 10, 2017

I'm a happy Hover customer.

> stay FAR away from GoDaddy, and don't even search availability on there!

This needs to be emphasized. Don't search for availability of specific domains until you've picked your registrar and are ready with your credit card, because some slimy registrars have been known to (suspected to?) squat on recently-searched but not-yet-purchased domain names. Purely as a convenience to their prospective customers, of course, I'm sure.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:23 PM on August 10, 2017