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Ask HN: What are some good GoDaddy alternatives?

16 points by starnix17 ↗ HN
Hey HN'ers,

I was just about to register a new domain and before going through all GoDaddy up-sell BS I thought I'd ask HN if there are any good GoDaddy alternatives.

Any suggestions?

20 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 75.0 ms ] thread
mgkimsal
i use http://omnis.com for many domains - they're starting to put a bit of upsell in the process too, but it's not half as overbearing as godaddy. they also seem to be holding prices steady - i didn't notice a big jump recently, and the renewals are the same price - there's not (yet?) a deep discount then hiked price on the next year.
nickpinkston
http://NameCheap.com has no hidden fees and has been great for me.
nreece
NameCheap is great. I have loads of domains with them. Btw, they post discount codes on their Twitter page - http://twitter.com/namecheap (coupon code for August 2010 is HARVEST).
pasbesoin
You can google "namecheap coupon" and the top site or two is consistently one that keeps track of their coupon codes.

If you follow their "free SSL" link from their front page and register from that direction, your cart will contain an entry for a free PositiveSSL certificate. Note that you have to then follow the link listed on its line in the cart (or something like that) to actually get the free certificate included in your order. (I don't know how widely accepted/pre-installed this certificate provider is, but it's "free".)

You can also elect free whois protection (their contact info and a rotating email address that forwards to you) for the first year.

Note that after the first year, "free" goes away from the whois protection and the certificate. The protection is US$2-3- for subsequent years. I don't know about the certificate, but they also offer RapidSSL certificates, which I believe are pretty widely accepted, for fairly cheap.

No association with them, just a satisfied user.

shantanubala
I use http://nearlyfreespeech.net/ for domain registration/cheap shared hosting.
huyegn
wanted to upvote nearlyfreespeech. Even though being a registrar is not their main business, their site is a no-bs godsend for managing your domains. My only wish is that they had support for more than the usual .net, .com. .org domains
gexla
Dynadot.com is good. Simple interface, not filled with ads. Last time I registered a domain there I messed up the spelling and they had an option to cancel the registration and refund my money right in the interface (I think you get 4 days to do this.) They are also a real registrar as opposed to a reseller.
sushi
I have found Google Apps to be a great place for domain registration and perhaps one of the cheapest since they provide whois protection along with domain at flat $10/domain name.

Nearlyfreespeech.net is pretty awesome too. I haven't purchased a domain from there but I host my sites and they are perhaps one of the honest people in the business.

duck
Is there a way to use Google Apps domain registration if you aren't actually using Apps?
mattchew
Last I checked, Google Apps domain registration is actually a front end for either the Namecheap or GoDaddy registrars.

Namecheap offers free whois protection too. I don't know about GoDaddy.

Namecheap + NearlyFreeSpeech.NET + Google Apps Standard for mail is a pretty sweet combo giving a lot of bang for small bucks.

briandoll
I haven't used them yet, but when I asked friends this question I got several recommendations for http://www.gandi.net/
bensummers
I use them. They've been consistently not evil for years.
terrellm
Godaddy is the largest domain registrar by far and often times you can register domains for $8 or less with a coupon. The upselling is annoying to tech savvy people but absolutely confusing to non-techies. I'll admit that a lot of my business's domains are registered there because they are cheap though.

I also do some domain name investing on the side and use Moniker.com and Fabulous.com. Both of these, as well as Dynadot and Enom, offer APIs so you can write your own domain registration code. That's a sure-fire way to avoid upselling :)

[dead] RACNicole
Hi starnix17. I highly recommend dynadot.com.I've never seen a faster registar in all my years of internet-hooing about!
nc
Gandi.net