Is it one that you just use and works just fine? Or one that has proven to be reliable and responsible if they do a mistake and only want to satisfy you as a customer?
Am I the only one using iWantMyName.com?
Like some of the others described here, I like that their ui is dead simple and easy to navigate, once a year when I have to renew. And their prices seem to be middle tier.
I use them right now, but I’ve been disappointed lately and I’m considering moving away. They’re more expensive than other options and you have to contact customer service for some things, but their response times are pretty slow. E.g., they don’t have an interface to add glue records, so you have to ask them to do it… when I did this it took them a couple days to get back to me, and they forgot to add the IPv6 records too. My other domains are registered elsewhere (for cheaper) and they just had an interface to do this and it happened instantly. I keep running into problems like this with iwantmyname and it’s been kind of frustrating. I had problems with their name servers dying for a bit recently too… I was happy with them for years, but they’ve caused enough problems for me lately that I’m wondering why I’m paying extra for them.
Funny you posting on this older comment of mine today - I am in the midst of a support case with them. We’ll see how it turns out!
They usually get it sorted out pretty well, but their response times can be a little slow. It’s potentially not a huge deal for you, and overall they’ve been okay… this is sort of understandable because they’re in New Zealand and seem to want to make sure their support staff are paid well (though they were bought by a larger company recently, so I’m not sure if this still holds, seems like it did as of 2019, though):
- https://iwantmyname.com/blog/making-customer-support-sustainable-with-a-small-team-based-on-a-tiny-island
- https://iwantmyname.com/blog/the-one-salary-experiment-ten-years-in
This makes them seem like a cool company, and I’d like to support them… But despite that I do feel a little disappointed paying more for a worse service, and I think they really need to invest in providing interfaces for some of the more advanced DNS settings, particularly if their customer support is going to be limited by their own admission.
They also have some blog posts about customer service that give me some weird vibes…
Definitely in support of their customer service team in this example, and don’t want them to be treated poorly or sworn at or anything… But it’s a little weird to put this on blast like this and I think it’d be a better look to just leave it at “these are the things that would help us help you, we need to make sure accounts are secure so we can’t just ignore passwords, etc etc”
And it’s also a little weird that they have this post complaining about some web-hosts poor interface and customer service too:
Neither of these are particularly bad, but I guess it makes me a bit disappointed that I’ve run into similar problems with them, and I’m not sure they’re doing enough to address things on their end.
I don’t think I’d tell anybody not to use them because they have been good for the most part, but they’re not as fully featured as other registrars in my experience, and they’re more expensive.
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Cloudflare works really well and has a good UI. Namecheap also works well, but it takes more clicks to adjust DNS records.
+1 for Cloudflare.
That said, there are a number of folks rightfully concerned about the sheer mass of information Cliudflare has access to through their Content Delivery Network (their primary service). This raises potential privacy concerns, especially for self-hosters, who tend to prefer not to rely too heavily on any one large company. However, you don’t actually have to use their CDN service to make use of their minimally-priced Registrar functionality, and personally I really appreciate the services they offer. Their free tier is really impressive, and incredibly useful.
For some reason every registrars dns panel has its own weird restrictions, bugs and interface quirks. Pointing the nameservers to Cloudflare at least makes for a consistent experience.
Looks like consensus is NameCheap or PorkBun
Cloudflare - largely because they don’t add on extra fees.
You have to use their name servers though, don’t you?
Having recently setup an UnRaid server I used a walkthrough video on setting up SSL certs for them through Cloudflare and Google Domains. Was already using their DNS (1.1.1.1) and had an account so made that it an easy decision, then Google decided Domains would be sold off so I fully migrated to Cloudflare. I find the free tier to have more things included than I even understand and it does everything I need.
Also just switched to Cloudflare (used to be google domains)… since they run half the internet, they probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon? Feels like every service gets sold/acquired and I have to change everything over every few years and I’m getting tired hahaha… also their DNS changes update basically instantly and are easy to do for this newbie!
I personally think it’s better to keep your domain registration separate from your hosting/cloud providers, including cloudflare. Basically not putting all your eggs in the same basket. Those giant cloud companies probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, but their automated system are known to ban users with no recourse unless you’re a big spender with dedicated account managers. Having your domain elsewhere means when something happen to your hosting/cloud account, at least you’re not completely fucked.
Heh I was also on Google domains before they announced they were selling it. I don’t know what the hell possessed me to register domains with Google. They have a very well documented history of killing off great services. https://killedbygoogle.com/
Namecheap has been good to me for a decade now, and I don’t really have complaints at all
Not Gandi. They were very reliable since the beginning of the internet but they sold the company and went downhill since.
Aw man, I had no idea they sold
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I’m on the same level. I keep reading how they got wrecked after being bought out; I didn’t even notice until recently that they’d been bought out.
I’ve always used OVH. They are reputable, always been responsive to my questions and have an API to handle many things, including domain names, which is handy for DNS-01 challenges with Caddy and libdns.
I used Namecheap for several years and was happy with it, but the numerous price increases finally pushed me to switch. I recently decided on Porkbun after the many positive reviews I read online. It is affordable and has a very clean interface that doesn’t constantly nag me about purchasing other services. I’m really liking it so far.
I have only just recently started domain shopping. Before that I just used the registrar from my web hosting. I settled on trying NameCheap, although their records UI is a bit confusing sometimes.
I really want to say Gandi but they charge too much now and removed the free mailboxes.
Anyway, I’ll vouch for Netim. Their prices are similar to (old) Gandi and they have a mailbox too. I’m looking into Spaceship for some other domains because they’re really cheap.
Name cheap for over a decade with afraid dns.
Been using namecheap for awhile, but thinking of migrating to Pork Bun.
I’m new to this entire field, and only recently set up my NAS with DDNS and everything to get around my CGNAT. I decided to go with Cloudflare since it was a name I knew well, and reviews were good. It did feel a bit overwhelming at first, but it was pretty easy to figure out what I needed to do and what I didn’t, and I am pretty happy with it.
What all did you have to do in addition to DDNS to get around CGNAT? Are you using something like this? https://github.com/mochman/Bypass_CGNAT
I installed the cloudflared docker container and set up the Cloudflare Zero Access Tunnel thing.
I can’t stream my plex media through it due to TOS, but with access control and the 1.1.1.1 DNS and everything, it has been great.
That sounds pretty neat! I’m definitely going to look into this, as we recently switched to fiber Internet and it’s my first ISP with CGNAT. Been spoiled with my previous ISPs just raw dogging the NAT and giving me a public IP.
This was what I followed to set things up:
https://www.crosstalksolutions.com/cloudflare-tunnel-easy-setup/
The only difference is that I bought my domain from cloudflare too, so I didn’t need to do the first few steps.
Nice! Thanks for the info.
