I've been planning to diversify my domain registrars recently, and have seen plenty of discussions on HN comparing the alternatives. While I'm looking at possibly splitting registrations across other registrars, I'm more interested in alternative NS providers.
Namecheap's API isn't exactly welcoming (contact support to enable, XML-only with no official libraries). Additionally, their web interface is terribly slow (accessing from UK).
Does anyone not use their registrar's DNS services for small deployments?
Especially looking at how other people manage lots of small project sites, none of which are big enough to necessitate a dedicated NS and the associated management overhead.
I use CloudFlare whenever possible. Simple to use, free tier, just works, can depend on it.
I'll use DNSimple from time to time. I used PointHQ in the past and had no issue with it.
I'm certain someone's going to chime in with the "why not just roll your own?" My answer to that is this: I have much better things to do with my time than be a sysadmin, or have to worry about being a sysadmin.
I used AWS Route53 at a previous employer where the domains were stuck at a different registrar, and thought it worked well.
FWIW, though, we've been using Namecheap on side projects for years, and had generally positive experiences. (In particular, their chat support has always been responsive and empowered to help without bouncing you around the organization -- which I wouldn't necessarily expect from a company with "cheap" in its name.) Assuming they're transparent about this issue, I won't be rushing to leave them.
I currently use two different registrars, DNSimple and iwantmyname. I route everything through DNSimple regardless, I just love their DNS tooling and API (also DNSound! - https://dnsimple.com/dnsound). They're also right in San Fran and have crazy good support. Another big reason is I mostly do static sites and SPAs, so being able to utilize DNSimple's ALIAS and URL records is a big win for me. So, for basic TLDs I'll just register there.
For more exotic TLDs, iwantmyname covers largely every TLD you can think of. They're in New Zealand, and also have crazy good support. Their DNS stuff I couldn't speak to - I just route them through DNSimple anyway.
To be fair, neither of these are the cheapest options, but I never understood saving a couple bucks for an inferior (subjective) interface and tooling somewhere else.
I have probably about a dozen domain names (mine, not $work's) altogether. I think three are at Gandi, the remainder at Namecheap. I believe that every one of the domains that I actually use (some are old and now unused but I still want to keep them), I'm running the DNS via AWS Route 53. I don't actually use their API as my RRs pretty much never change, the service is just very reliable.
That may change in the near future (I manage the authoritative nameservers for $work) but I can't recall a single issue I've had w/ Route 53 (or Gandi or Namecheap, for that matter).
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 36.9 ms ] threadNamecheap's API isn't exactly welcoming (contact support to enable, XML-only with no official libraries). Additionally, their web interface is terribly slow (accessing from UK).
Does anyone not use their registrar's DNS services for small deployments?
Especially looking at how other people manage lots of small project sites, none of which are big enough to necessitate a dedicated NS and the associated management overhead.
I'll use DNSimple from time to time. I used PointHQ in the past and had no issue with it.
I'm certain someone's going to chime in with the "why not just roll your own?" My answer to that is this: I have much better things to do with my time than be a sysadmin, or have to worry about being a sysadmin.
FWIW, though, we've been using Namecheap on side projects for years, and had generally positive experiences. (In particular, their chat support has always been responsive and empowered to help without bouncing you around the organization -- which I wouldn't necessarily expect from a company with "cheap" in its name.) Assuming they're transparent about this issue, I won't be rushing to leave them.
For more exotic TLDs, iwantmyname covers largely every TLD you can think of. They're in New Zealand, and also have crazy good support. Their DNS stuff I couldn't speak to - I just route them through DNSimple anyway.
To be fair, neither of these are the cheapest options, but I never understood saving a couple bucks for an inferior (subjective) interface and tooling somewhere else.
Just my two cents.
That may change in the near future (I manage the authoritative nameservers for $work) but I can't recall a single issue I've had w/ Route 53 (or Gandi or Namecheap, for that matter).