poll Domaining's version of March Madness - Who is the best registrar in the business? 2020 Edition

[equity78]

It's time for the domain industry's version of March Madness

The best registrar in the business for 2020

Registrars that got less than 2 votes from last time were not included, Uniregistry being acquired by GoDaddy is not included.

the last big poll here.

Can NameSilo defend their crown? Will Epik finally come through and attain the top spot? GoDaddy always a contender. Any surprises?

 

[tonyk2000]

It is, it's public. I can see who you voted for. Click on the number 25 votes, click that.

Great! I missed it somehow. In another poll (another subject), I remember a big warning your vote will be public or similar. Not here...

 

[bmugford]

I am wondering can the poll be edited to make it 100% transparent - who voted for what. I'm enduser, I voted, even though I did not post a comment with my selection yet - would not mind if it becomes visible...

If you click on the number of votes you can see who voted for what.

Brad

 

[mAd MaX]

GoBoomers! J/k

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

Thank you @equity78 for starting this poll and thank you for making the results public so we can see who voted for what. It is good because people want to see the the votes of the non staff of each company. As I believe most is aware of, I worked with Epik @Rob Monster for 3 months on a project and then left three months or so ago. I was not working on the domain or main services of Epik but was working on a separate project. I had to say this so that people here would not think I am still working for Epik for that project and simply voting for them since I am or I was staff/consultant with them.

I have been using Epik since the start of 2016 I believe and back then there was no many promotions or even not everyone here was aware of them. I liked the support they provided which I believe only Namesilo matched it (email wise) and NameCheap for live support. I have names on GD, Dynadot, NameCheap, however, Epik , as things stand now, seem to be responding to the feedback of the customers and in light of this are creating not only a platform that is good with the domainers, but also providing other inter-connected services which make the service more friendly. Back in 2002-2003, when I first started getting serious about owning websites and selling domains, the first company I used was Godaddy; I registered my first ever domain with them. Their support was good at the time and hosting or domains wise, I could only see Netfirms providing the kinda support I needed at that time. But as they grew, it appears a lot of issues are there with their system as well as having many staff who might not be aware of everything that is going on. But credit to @Joe Styler for always being there , whether through email or DM here, and fixing whatever I issue I faced.

Now this poll is focused on domainers because everyone here is a domainer. But let me tell you this, if this poll was directed to end users or to the general public, I think it is fair to say that Godaddy will win by miles. No company in this industry can match the brand ,the recognition, and the awareness its name has with the general public. I said it many times before, that most of the domains I sell end up at Godaddy, and it is for a reason. I remember back in 2005, someone came to me locally, and said that they want to make a website about a consulting service they are providing. The had the name already in mind and I clearly remember that customer giving me the name of Godaddy and asking me if I am able to register the name there. A joke that customer made was also if Puff Daddy was the owner of Godaddy . With that said, I do believe that Godaddy will soon have serious competition from Amazon and Google as it appears many end users are becoming aware of these two big companies providing domain services. It also worths mentioning that the only time a name I sold did not end-up or stay at Godaddy then winning Registrar was either Amazon or Google.

Regarding Epik, it is clear that it is on the right track to create good products and services which will eventually get , not only the attention of the domainers, but also that of the general public. It will take tremendous efforts and money but I believe that eventually , the people at Epik might make something happen. Now, believe it or not, I dont agree with Rob @Rob Monster on many things and we had to agree not to work together but I will give him this, he saw that most of the domainers on this platform were complaining about the poor service which they were getting from other companies which are providing the same services his company is providing. He saw it and decided to take advantage of this to the benefit of his company. He gave the domainers the personal and top service which they called for and which I believe they deserved. This is what I call someone who is smart and who knows how to use the circumstances to their benefit.

And yes, in case you didnt notice, I voted Epik.

 

[tonyk2000]

I voted for DynaDot this time. GoDaddy? They are good but the new interface is horrible. Epik? I did not yet try the registrar side, only marketplace - nameliquidate. NameSilo? They stopped development unfortunately, at least visible development. Sav.com looks promising, but they are too young.

 

[Furquan]

They should encourage their employee to come here and help customers like Epik.com do. Why just employees? Their CEO also welcome here like Rob Monster

For the Poll,

Yes, I voted 'Epik' as my registrar. All of us have Epik in the badge just - us after poll competed. But at least we are very transparent and don't hide our affiliation with our company.

There may be some domain registrar employees hiding in a shadow I encourage them to get the badge.

*The opinion expressed above are my own.

 

[MarkedMarket]

Anyway the Namepros forum starts to feel increasingly more like a hospital in which only one pharmaceutical company is allowed to visit all the patients saying that they have the perfect medication for their cure (irrespective of their particular disease ).

 

[MarkedMarket]

Before I voted, I wasn't able to see the actual results. Would I have known about the current results before, I wouldn't have voted in order to not give this poll the legitimacy that it doesn't deserve.

 

[loredan]

The last two polls I voted for Namesilo, this time my vote goes to Epik. It is the registrar that currently innovates the most and extremely domainer-friendly imo... Hard work pays off in the long run and I'm sure Epik has a great future ahead if they keep it the same way.

The fact that the CEO is very active on these forums (sometimes perhaps a bit overactive ) is a big plus. Rob also employed a lot a folks here, helped them put a bread on the table, hats off to you!

Full disclosure: I'm not employed by Epik and have no plans to, I don't have any shady deals with Rob or any other Epik employee , just a regular guy that appreciates people who help people. I still have most of my domains at Namesilo and Dynadot and have no plans to move them to Epik so not looking to kiss anyone's ass for whatever reason.

I still like Namesilo a lot but after the aquisition I haven't seen them quite active on these forums. As a registrar, being active on the largest domainer forum is a must in my books.

Congrats, Epik!

 

[Shaan Chopra]

I have voted and my vote will remain private, I am new to domaining and have not tried all of the above. So I have chosen the best out of the ones I have tried.

 

[capybara]

Anyway the Namepros forum starts to feel increasingly more like a hospital

I liked this part of your post separately. I you don't mind, I'll quote just it.

 

[MarkedMarket]

I have voted and my vote will remain private, I am new to domaining and have not tried all of the above. So I have chosen the best out of the ones I have tried.

Your vote isn't private (see the previous posts about this).

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

I have voted and my vote will remain private, I am new to domaining and have not tried all of the above. So I have chosen the best out of the ones I have tried.

Nothing is private here, everyone can see it and you shouldnt try to keep it private, it is what you believe and what you use so why try to keep it private

 

[Mister Funsky]

It's time for the domain industry's version of March Madness

Has a year passed already!?!?!?!?

Epik, of course.

 

[Pay.My.id]

Epik is good registrar , support for many payment method , not complicated and suitable for everyone.But we also respect to other registrar with their flexibilty to their global customer, like namesilo , dynadot, porkbun , and google. We pray all registrar always be there to serve in all situation , especially when customers need fast solution.

 

[Samer]

Yeah. It certainly skews the results.

GoDaddy could come here with 500 employees if they wanted and win every poll.
It takes out all the objectivity.

Brad

2 employees albeit high level executives
Joe Styler, Paul Nicks.

All the other Godaddy employees would need to create accounts just to vote

Samer

 

[timestamp]

Just wanted to see the votes, so I voted for 1&1. Oh boy, I was right about 1&1. First vote!

 

[Samer]

Just wanted to see the votes, so I voted for 1&1. Oh boy, I was right about 1&1. First vote!

more respect than voted Network Solutions for $35 renewals and WONDERFUL pushes, and five day transfers... i think that 1 was satire tbh

 

[Pay.My.id]

Personally , I use many registrar for different clients or based client request, they have good experience with epik , namesilo , porkbun , google ,dynadot, namecheap ,webnic , and little of them using godaddy .

 

[equity78]

I also think it is highly inappropriate for company employees to be voting for their company in a poll like this.
It is very misleading.

Brad

Well that's why I made it public Brad so people could see, a lot of people in the past have felt but of course just speculation that other registrars did that too. It was the previous years before Epik had so many employees here, I figured by you being able to click a company and see who voted it gives other insight.

To be fair if someone has been a member they are allowed to vote and most Epik employees were here first as members, but we can break everything down by clicking each registrar when it closes.

 

[equity78]

At quick glance out of 21 votes for Epik, at least 10+ votes are from Epik employees.
How objective. A poll like this is a complete waste of time.

How about a "This poll is stupid" option?

Brad

I disagree with you there Brad, this is the third year running and I am sure that employees from many registrars have voted in the past, this is the first time it can be seen, the fact that members here were so drawn to Epik they became employees is another discussion, @Mod Team Alfa @Mod Team Bravo can chime in if employee votes should be removed or if they can remove them.

But this is something that was done before this forum became a group of 3 factions

Those that love Epik
Those that dislike/Hate Epik
The rest of us, wading through the back and forth

But stuff on this forum can't stop because Epik has a lot of members who joined Epik.

 

[equity78]

Normally, one would expect all members to vote, including registrar representatives / staff members. In case of one particular registrar (Epik), we now have ~35 representatives @ NP. Other registrars have just 1 or 2 representatives (if any). So, for the reasons of fairness, Epik representatives should avoid voting in this poll imo.

Tony I will make sure to break down the votes when it closes and if I can identify members as employees of any company I will include that in results.

 

[equity78]

Great! I missed it somehow. In another poll (another subject), I remember a big warning your vote will be public or similar. Not here...

I made it public for the very reason @JB Lions mentioned.

 

[MarkedMarket]

I disagree with you there Brad, this is the third year running and I am sure that employees from many registrars have voted in the past, this is the first time it can be seen, the fact that members here were so drawn to Epik they became employees is another discussion, @Mod Team Alfa @Mod Team Bravo can chime in if employee votes should be removed or if they can remove them.

But this is something that was done before this forum became a group of 3 factions

Those that love Epik
Those that dislike/Hate Epik
The rest of us, wading through the back and forth

But stuff on this forum can't stop because Epik has a lot of members who joined Epik.

I'm not sure if those categories are relevant. I like Epik and I think they are doing great innovative work, in particular for domainers and emerging markets. I also like Rob Monster's contributions - he is always insightful, polite, full of ideas and he seems to have an infinite amount of energy.

The issue is one word: overkill. I love my mother, but I don't want her to call me every 5 minutes to ask me if I need something from her. Sometimes, less is more, particularly on a forum that should ideally be registrar/registry-agnostic.

 

[alcy]

tied for first are;
gd, dyna, epik