Ask HN: What's the current best domain host?

12 pointssloankev3y ago21 comments

I've got domains on 1and1, GoDaddy and NameCheap. I don't like any of them due to various reasons including clunky user experience, hidden fees, very slow or no support. I want to consolidate them all onto one host.

Looking for recommendations of modern domain hosts that provide a good user experience and competitive pricing.

Don't need hosting, just domains.

21 comments

romanhn3y ago

I registered my last domain with Porkbun based on HN recommendations. No complaints.

Leftium3y ago

I have been moving all my domains to https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar

I think they charge you their cost for domains hoping you'll pay for their other services later.

Overall it's been a good experience. Sometimes you have to use CloudFlare rules instead of simpler settings at other registrars.

aeharding3y ago

I’m being bitten by this right now. Registered a domain in personal account, want to move to a different cloudflare account and I can’t since that’s completely unsupported. The recommendation is to transfer out to external registrar, wait 60 days, transfer back in.

Can’t even change the name servers, since that’s not configurable with cloudflare.

And I can’t move the domain out of cloudflare so I can change nameservers for 60 days because I just registered the domain…

Support very unhelpful, situation sucks.

imirzadeh3y ago

Same experience!

CF is great. Their free tier is so good I can't believe people use other clouds for personal/small projects. The integration of products is also seamless: dns/ssl/workers/pages/storage for free!

tkiolp43y ago

No problems with gandi.net so far. Very friendly customer service as well.

codegeek3y ago

1and1 and Godaddy are absolute trash. But what's your issue with Namecheap ? They have solid support and yes domains are a bit pricey may be compared to another registrar but when I look at domain registrar, I care mostly about Support and reliability.

1 more reply

brunnock3y ago

I've been using https://domains.google/ for years. $12/year/domain. Email forwarding is included. I don't even know if they charge extra for anything else.

detourdog3y ago

I have been with network solutions for registration from the beginning and panix.com cheap-web for primary dns.

http://www.panix.com/web/

They are actual unix sysadmins and very easy to deal with.

fIREpOK3y ago

Namecheap.com isn't bad...I think that $10 is kinda expensive for a domain though.

quickthrower23y ago

plus one for namecheap, out of habit rather than a specific reason, but no reason to change

simpleintheory3y ago

The issue is that ICANN already wants the $8/year cost, so if they’re to make any margin at all…

fIREpOK3y ago

for sure

bitxbitxbitcoin3y ago

Plus points for being willing to experiment with Handshake names.

DerekBickerton3y ago

https://njal.la/

https://www.gandi.net/en-US

1 more reply

is_true3y ago

I use two companies: name.com and one local provider, mostly because the local provider has an offer and when you move a domain to them the renewal costs USD2.

trumbitta23y ago

https://dnsimple.com/ Hands down, blindfolded, and drunk

mhdhn3y ago

I could not figure out how much one .com domain costs. Fail

trumbitta23y ago

https://dnsimple.com/tlds

dieselgate3y ago

I get my domains from Dreamhost. It works well for my needs - host with a few different places including Digital Ocean and GitHub pages fwiw

schwartzworld3y ago

I've never had a problem with Hover

nathants3y ago

aws.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

21 comments

romanhn3y ago

I registered my last domain with Porkbun based on HN recommendations. No complaints.

Leftium3y ago

I have been moving all my domains to https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar

I think they charge you their cost for domains hoping you'll pay for their other services later.

Overall it's been a good experience. Sometimes you have to use CloudFlare rules instead of simpler settings at other registrars.

aeharding3y ago

Can’t even change the name servers, since that’s not configurable with cloudflare.

And I can’t move the domain out of cloudflare so I can change nameservers for 60 days because I just registered the domain…

Support very unhelpful, situation sucks.

imirzadeh3y ago

Same experience!

CF is great. Their free tier is so good I can't believe people use other clouds for personal/small projects. The integration of products is also seamless: dns/ssl/workers/pages/storage for free!

tkiolp43y ago

No problems with gandi.net so far. Very friendly customer service as well.

codegeek3y ago

1 more reply

brunnock3y ago

I've been using https://domains.google/ for years. $12/year/domain. Email forwarding is included. I don't even know if they charge extra for anything else.

detourdog3y ago

I have been with network solutions for registration from the beginning and panix.com cheap-web for primary dns.

http://www.panix.com/web/

They are actual unix sysadmins and very easy to deal with.

fIREpOK3y ago

Namecheap.com isn't bad...I think that $10 is kinda expensive for a domain though.

quickthrower23y ago

plus one for namecheap, out of habit rather than a specific reason, but no reason to change

simpleintheory3y ago

The issue is that ICANN already wants the $8/year cost, so if they’re to make any margin at all…

fIREpOK3y ago

for sure

bitxbitxbitcoin3y ago

Plus points for being willing to experiment with Handshake names.

DerekBickerton3y ago

https://njal.la/

https://www.gandi.net/en-US

1 more reply

is_true3y ago

I use two companies: name.com and one local provider, mostly because the local provider has an offer and when you move a domain to them the renewal costs USD2.

trumbitta23y ago

https://dnsimple.com/ Hands down, blindfolded, and drunk

mhdhn3y ago

I could not figure out how much one .com domain costs. Fail

trumbitta23y ago

https://dnsimple.com/tlds

dieselgate3y ago

I get my domains from Dreamhost. It works well for my needs - host with a few different places including Digital Ocean and GitHub pages fwiw

schwartzworld3y ago

I've never had a problem with Hover

nathants3y ago

aws.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse