Hey guys! I just wrote a pretty thorough review over several different domain registrars looking at several different aspects in order to come up with one that I truly felt was the best domain registrar out there. Clearly the best registrar right now is NameSilo topping last years winner (Name.com). The worst registrar I have found is Godaddy. Please share your experience with different registrars and if you know of a better one I would love to hear it. You can see a short excerpt of my article below, the full article is available at my blog http://markustenghamn.com/best-and-worst-domain-registrars-my-review-2014 It’s now been over a year since I wrote my previous review of the best and worst domain registrars. This year I will be taking a broader look at some of the most popular domain registrars, including Name.com (last years best) and Godaddy (last years worst). THE BEST – NameSilo (GOOD) NameSilo is another registrar which is new to me. I have not used them before but their pricing at $8.99 is cheap with discounts starting at more than 9 domains. Privacy and protection is also included in the price. In addition to all this good stuff they also have easy one click access to all my domain names. Setting up an account was easy and did not require me to buy anything. Paying for a domain is also easy with many payment options (even bitcoin). Their user interface could be nicer perhaps but it is not overly complicated at all. The only negative thing I could find is that they don’t support very many domain extensions but I am ok with that as I have mostly .com as they are still the most trusted and popular. [...] IWantMyName (GOOD) Finally a simple registrar, IWantMyName is very simple and easy to use. Searching for a domain is easy and very user friendly. However I did see some issues which I would consider bugs such as the domain I searched for being listed twice in the search results. The navigation is easy to use, they even have a link that takes me directly to my domains in one click. The pricing however is expensive compared to other registrars. $15 for a .com may not sound like much but when you have over 100 domains for example it really adds up when comparing $1100 to $1490 in yearly expenses. I would actually consider moving my domains here as everything seems really good. If IWantMyName had slightly lower prices I would definitely make the move. As I am with Name.com and I am Swedish I am comparing my .com ($10.99 vs $14.90) and .se ($24.99 vs $39) prices. If you are looking for an easy to use interface and don’t mind the extra price I would definitely recommend IWantMyName. Name.com (GOOD) Name.com has made several changes to their user interface since I wrote my last review. They have added a menu system where I now need to perform at least two clicks to get to my domains. The menus are not easy to navigate either as you might wonder if you will find a list of your domains under the domains tab or under the account tab. Clicking the my account tab will show the my domains link as a green heading which I didn’t really read or see as a link as I thought it was simply a green heading. Clicking on the domains tab will bring up a huge menu which I naturally read from left to right, finally seeing the large green blob labled “my domains” after scanning through all the other menu options. Another reason I used to go to name.com was to easily access their whois search to find out various things like which registrar the domain belongs to or simply when it expires. This used to be its own link in the header, but now it is hidden in the navigation menu under “About->Resources” right under the question “What’s my IP address”. In my opinion name.com has gone backwards in user friendliness, creating a menu system which is similar to the horrible Godaddy menu system. Name.com is still the registrar that I use at this time due to good and fair prices. I know they do not use bait and switch tactics like Godaddy. If Name.com wants to improve I would suggest going back to the old look and work on that, add a separate drop down menu for all the other services and things you offer but make things like my domains and whois search easy to access with one click. .....[Continued]
Personally I find Godaddy to be the worst as they constantly spam you with offers and try to sell you tons of extras. They have also started setting renewal prices based on their perceived value of the domain. Why do you think Godaddy is the best?
Besides NameSilo I like NameCheap ( cheap domains + free WhoIs privacy for the first year) and InternetBS (cheap domains + free WhoIs privacy) GoDaddy is the worst I have used
Yep, still waiting to see what NameCheap does with their backend as they said they are going to make it better https://twitter.com/MarkusTenghamn/status/526753644625272833
Posted this today about Network Solutions as a registrar: https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/stay-away-from-network-solutions.2741282/
So true. Network Solutions is an absolute pain. Is GoDaddy any better these days or is it still a mess?
I mention GoDaddy in my post, I have been unfortunate enough to have been a customer with them for many years (not anymore though ) THE WORST – Godaddy (BAD) Godaddy has improved slightly on their interface since last years review. However they still have large menus that are complicated to navigate through and seem to be using the same bait and switch methods as before. After finally finding a domain that you like you will receive several offers for email, hosting, etc before you can even get to the cart. All prices seem to have an asterisk or two telling you that their super low price is only valid if you pay for 2 years or more. Going from previous experience I feel as if Godaddy wants to lock me in to use their services for as long as possible or to simply get as much money out of me before I leave. Looking around for what Godaddy charges for renewals I found several red flags where users are getting charged “market prices” for their renewals. You can see a forum thread regarding how Godaddy charges way too much for renewals here. This post here even gives an additional 6 reasons why you should stay away from Godaddy.
I've been using GoDaddy almost exclusively since about 2007 and I've seen things go up and down over the years. Overall, though, I'm a quite a fan. Their customer service has always been helpful and friendly. I find their back-end to be very intuitive (although, admittedly, less so than a couple of years ago - they've since made some menu changes). I haven't experienced any security issues with my domains, nor my account - and I really like their two factor authentication (it gives me that extra peace of mind). Transfers to, and from, GoDaddy are always handled quickly on their end. I also find their prices to be incredibly reasonable and a quick Google search for 'godaddy promo codes' gives you a ton of active discounts (though it's hard to find any that can be used on renewals). Markus is correct in saying that, when you purchase a domain, you are offered hosting, identity masking, etc. (though these are easily avoided with a click of the 'no thanks' button on each screen; they aren't automatically added to your cart or anything). Annoying, yes, but nothing too crazy. On the note of renewals, it may be possible to find a registrar that offers renewals for less than $12 (I think that's how much I pay for a .com renewal annually; less if you opt for multiple years) on a yearly basis but, considering the low cost of an initial registration, it could take a few years for such a difference to mean anything. What I hate about GoDaddy is their stupid television commercials. -.-" Note: My comments are only about their domain registration services. I have never used GoDaddy hosting, e-mail, etc. and cannot speak to the quality of those services.
A lot of people say this but I don't really get it. I mean, it's ridiculously easy to just bypass the upsells in the checkout. It's standard for large corporate companies to do this. Look at McDonalds, they are trained to ask: "would you like fries with that?" lol. That said, I have preferred Namecheap over Godaddy for renewals because they are much cheaper and I have never had a problem with them.
I really like godaddy and namecheap when it comes to register my domains, godaddy usually have nice discounts where you can find them at retailmenot.com owned by google. You can buy a domain from them for 1$,1.5$ etc Some coupons that you can use right away with godaddy: KIWI cjcrmn149s cjc149s1 GTNIMHK21 cjcrmn199 Cheers!