jonlee.ca

In web development, one of the most important assets of a website is the domain name. Back in the day, domain names were almost $70 a year. Since then, they have come way down in price – the average right now is about $8-$9 per year. I’ve tried a lot of domain name registrars and they are definitely not all the same. They differ in terms of cost, support, reputation and usability. I will compare 9 different registrars that I have had experience with based on these factors.

Cost
A difference of a couple dollars per year isn’t that much unless you have a lot of domain names. You also have to be weary of companies using a low first year price to bait users into purchasing a domain. The following table lists the price per year of registering a .com .net or .org domain name in US dollars. Regular pricing after the first year are listed in brackets. I’ve also included the pricing for WHOIS Privacy. These days, it is probably wise to hide your personal information from public access.

*with coupon code (see comments)

1&1 is the cheapest – the $5.99 cost per year includes privacy. I added in Network Solutions because they are a “big name” even though I’ve never tried them – and I hope none of you have because they are way overpriced!

Support
Personally, I have never had any problems with any of my domains with any of the registrars so I can’t speak on this from personal experience. I’ve heard stories of people having their domain name stolen or having their name servers changed without warning. In the event that this happens, it is crucial that the registrar you are dealing with has a fast and high quality technical support. I’ve heard that 1and1 is a joke in terms of customer support and that Namecheap and Dynadot are the best in this category. GoDaddy is also fairly good with their support.

Usability
I feel that a nice, easy to use interface is crucial. Changing nameservers should be a breeze and transferring domains should not take 20 steps. Also, I own a fair number of domains (around 20) spread over a few different registrars. Changing nameservers on some of these registrars took a good hour since they had no batch processing system. For example, changing a nameserver on IPower or Yahoo requires about 20 clicks and 5 page loads per domain! Whereas GoDaddy and Namecheap both support batch processing so I can perform operations on multiple domains at once – saving a lot of time.

Reputation
All domain registrars have their share of horror stories, but some are scarier and happen more often than others. Although GoDaddy is the largest domain name registrar – there are too many horror stories about them for my liking. I’ve heard them steal domain names a few months before they expire and attempt to sell them back to the owner at a very high cost. I’ve also heard that they have a very insecure system that allows unauthorized transfers. This is all hearsay though but you can never be too careful.

1&1′s reputation is even worse. The low cost is attractive but customer support is horrid and transferring a domain away from them is a nightmare.

RegisterFly is in the process of losing it ICANN accreditation so if you’re with them, switch away! If you’re not, don’t go near them! Here is more info about the fiasco Registerflies & ICANN Blog (Thanks Will!)

The registrars with the best reputation are Namecheap and Dynadot. I’ve read many great reviews about their customer service and reliability. Also, Yahoo is a good choice because well… it’s Yahoo!

In conclusion, I have the following suggestions depending on your needs:

• If privacy is not a concern: GoDaddy and Yahoo! are decent choices.
• If you only have 1 or 2 domains: 1and1 is a good company to choose as long as you plan to stick with them forever.
• If you own multiple domains: GoDaddy and Namecheap both have good batch processing options.
• If you are in the business of buying/selling domains: Namecheap has an easy-to-use ownership transfer system.
• If your domain is for a business: I would choose reputable companies like Namecheap, Dynadot or Yahoo to minimize risk.
• If you are a millionaire: Network Solutions just to prove how much cash you have to waste.

As for myself, I have domains scattered across most of these registrars. I’m a big fan of consolidation so I am slowly transferring all my domains to Namecheap as they expire. The process should be complete within the year.

NamePros.com is a great resource for web developers. They have extensive reviews of domain name registrars and web hosts.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Reviews, Web Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.