poll Favorite Domain Registrar Poll

[JB Lions]

Another thread asking about this, I figure let's finally poll it. I remember looking for something like this years ago here and was surprised one didn't exist, since it's a topic that gets brought up from time to time. I picked 20 (19)* domain registrars, all the ones mentioned in the recent thread plus a few others. If your favorite isn't listed, post it in the thread and I'll see if I can add it to the poll. You can pick up to 3 of your favorite, just 1 if you want. I still think Namepros should have a Best Of The Year series

*there is currently a 20 choice limit with polls, but NP can add more if needed. In case I missed some obvious ones.

 

[bluebox]

Some time ago I would say Namecheap - but with their horrid redesigned panel I cringe every time I have to modify my domains, especially in bulk.
Truly horrible experience.
I'm too lazy to write down all the things that are wrong with it - it would be a loooooong list.

My favorite - namesilo.

As for adding 1and1 - I didn't know it's already April Fool's Day.

 

[Paul]

Time for some statistics!

Of the 766 votes cast, 28 were from users who joined NamePros after the poll was created.
Of the 506 participating users, 21 joined NamePros after the poll was created.
Remember, a single user can vote for multiple registrars.

Looking at votes cast by users who registered after the poll was created, here's the breakdown:

Votes	Registrar
8	Namecheap
8	Godaddy
6	Name.com
2	Dynadot
1	InternetBS
1	Domain.com
1	NameSilo
1	Uniregistry

If we further exclude users who voted for more than one registrar:

Votes	Registrar
6	Name.com
5	Godaddy
5	Namecheap
1	Uniregistry

This post was generated at 2016-04-07 05:04:44 UTC.

 

[Kingslayer]

I only ever use NameSilo, can't fault them - Cheap/Free privacy/domain defender/2 factor authy/good landing page for selling domains and great customer service.

 

[JB Lions]

I can't imagine anyone would pick GoDaddy if they ever used Dynadot or Uniregistry or any other domain registrar that is designed sensibly.

As far as that, just a few things.

I don't think I could ever use Uniregistry simply because it's the only one I'm aware of where the owner is literally bidding against me in auctions. So when I'm geting outbid, outbid, outbid, in my head I would be thinking I could be getting outbid with my own money, which doesn't make sense to me. For me to send money off to a competitor, they need to go above and beyond and it would take more than a Pretty (Inter)Face, to do that. Let's say the have the best interface in the world, I myself gave GD a C, but other things more than make up for it.

Staying with them. All registrars look like they have basic pricing available but for bulk or domainer pricing, it's the only one that's not transparent. The other registrars I can find the info, this one, I need to email. If you have competitive pricing, why wouldn't you put it out there? Get out there and compete.

I think people like that Joe Styler from GD is here participating, answering questions, doing a good job with it. I think Uniregistry and the other registrars should as well. If I go back to some Uni threads here, sometimes I see a rep but it's usually, email me. Why not stick around and handle the questions, any issues that come up. Usually if one person has them, other people have them as well.

For some recent posts about registrars that aren't in the poll, you would have to message Eric to get them in, since I can't edit it.

End of day as far as this topic, if you're happy with your registrar, that's all that matters. If somebody is happy with Dynadot or Namesilo, I believe them. Believe me, I'm happy with the one I'm using. I do have some credit from back in the day when I prefunded at Dynadot, so next time I hand reg (which is rare) might as well use up that credit I have. And I might try 1 with Namesilo, just to see.

 

[johnn]

I am running a business and sold many names to the end users so I believe the registrar choice is not my choice but my customer.
The majority of the customers only know Godaddy so I don't want to complicate the process or lose a sale so most of my names are at Godaddy.

Good luck with your poll.

 

[Bram C.]

I voted for Godaddy but if I could place a vote on my second favorite registrar it would be namebright.

I personally like most of Godaddy's UI (not sure why so many people hate it). And I LOVE the quality of the Godaddy support team and the fact that most buyers already know/use Godaddy which makes the process of selling a domain so much easier. What I don't like however is Godaddy's new interface to renew expired domains. I have around 500 domains there currently and if I want to renew any and go to the standard renewal screen I see something like this:

Basically, all my expiring domains are mixed with my premium listings (which are not actual domains, just domain listings) and no way to filter them to only see my actual expired (or soon to expire) domains. So if I want to find a domain that expires in for example 2 months from now I sometimes have to click on "Show more domains" for 15 times or so since the premium listings clog the renewal page and Godaddy doesn't offer a way anymore to show more than 15 domains per page.

The alternative is to go inside my Godaddy domain manager, manually select the domains I want to renew and then click on "Renew" and making sure I don't choose "Express checkout" (as this will charge me full price, including taxes, without even bothering to ask me for my VAT-ID). So I do have a workaround, it's just annoying though. But besides that I really like Godaddy.

Regarding to Namebright: I love their UI and the simplicity of it. Transferring/pushing a domain is extremely easy and fast at Namebright. The pricing of course is awesome as well. I don't know about their support but that's only because I never had to use it. Everything always worked perfect for me at namebright. If as many end users would know Namebright compared to end users knowing Godaddy I would probably put all my names at Namebright.

 

[Joe Styler]

Thank you all for the voting and the feedback. If anyone has concerns, I am always around to help. I am always glad to see @JB Lions happy because it is a scary thing to have the Godfather upset with you. Seriously though thanks for the poll and the feedback it provided. It's always good for people to see what each company can do for them to help them grow their business, and what things we can improve on. It's a good thing there are so many choices, the competition brings better products for everyone.

 

[Dorkside]

I can't believe there were 4 people who actually voted for Moniker.

 

[Paul]

Statistics update!

Of the 866 votes cast, 42 were from users who joined NamePros after the poll was created.
Of the 577 participating users, 32 joined NamePros after the poll was created.
Remember, a single user can vote for multiple registrars.

Looking at votes cast by users who registered after the poll was created, here's the breakdown:

Votes	Registrar
12	Godaddy
10	Namecheap
8	Name.com
2	Dynadot
2	InternetBS
2	NameSilo
1	Domain.com
1	Fabulous
1	Enom
1	Register.com
1	Uniregistry
1	Moniker

If we further exclude users who voted for more than one registrar:

Votes	Registrar
8	Godaddy
7	Name.com
7	Namecheap
1	Uniregistry
1	Fabulous
1	InternetBS
1	Enom

This post was generated at 2016-04-12 15:53:24 UTC.
_________

This is purely speculation, but these statistics seem to show that the poll is pretty accurate. It's unlikely that there was any significant manipulation.

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

That's a good idea for a poll.
Some registrars will 'love' it, others will 'hate' it.
We will see, many votes will come in I think.

 

[vivaldi]

Best Of The Year series would definitely be useful.

 

[JB Lions]

Where is InternetBS? Where is DomainMonster? And why 1&1 and Moniker are there?

Will try to get those added to the poll. If you don't see your favorite, post in thread and we'll see if we can add them, then you can come back and vote for them. As to why the others were added, somebody mentioned them in some thread, talked about that in post 1. 1&1, never used them, heard nothing but bad things about them, but somebody liked them in some thread, could be some employee for all I know. Poll should bear that out.

Have about 22 votes so far, some countries are in Sleepy Time mode, so some might be more popular in other countries.

But so far, the 4 most popular
GoDaddy
Dynadot
NameSilo
Uniregistry

I use GD, never had issues, have good Rep but it's always good to have a backup plan. So was always curious which ones were the better ones. Right now have domains at 22 different Registrars because of winning them at Snap or NJ and those domains moving over.

 

[JB Lions]

Checked out Namebright:

.coms

Namebright - $8.53, $8.03 if you prefund account
GoDaddy - $8.29 - $8.47 with fee (using their Discount Club) $11.99 without club
NameSilo - $8.99 icann fee included
Uniregistry - $10.88, renewal same - you can get it cheaper but you have to email apparently, no public numbers, it's a secret
Dynadot - $10.99, $8.75 if you prepay $500 or spend $500 a year, $8.50 if you prepay $5,000 or spend $5,000 a year

As for Uniregistry it's just a personalized discount plan, no club fees and fooling around with coupons. I won't disclose my price plan out open.

So secret. Doesn't help at all if you're trying to compare. They should have some base number people can look at, and I understand giving special discounts to those who ask or those with bigger portfolios, but nobody is apparently allowed to say. Why? Are you allowed to say if it's cheaper than Namebright or GoDaddy price using the club?

Anybody know about Dynadot? How to get cheaper than the public $10.99? I found it:

https://www.dynadot.com/company/prices_bulk.html

If anybody sees any errors or ways to get cheaper pricing on the 5 I picked above, let me know.

 

[JB Lions]

Funny you who argue that using Uniregistry is like feeding competitors and use Godaddy instead. Like Godaddy isn't your competitor already if you deal with .com's.

When I first started getting in the auctions, I kept a spreadsheet of nicknames I was bidding against. When they won, I waited a couple of weeks for the whois to change over to find out who they were. I like to know who I'm bidding against. Bill Parson's name never came up. I'm talking about being a direct competitor in the auctions, fighting for names. You're happy with them, like I said, great. They're getting a lot of votes, so I imagine other people are as well. Even tho you can't tell me how much you're paying. The only place I guess that requires that.

 

[Name Trader]

A lot of these posts are just lacking specifics. New giant, innovative thinking, cheap prices.......... Some people posting GD pricing isn't great. Let's take that. We actually went thru specifics in the GD coupon thread. If you happen to have a few hundred domains and using their club, it's the cheapest. Nobody in that thread came up with anything cheaper. I went thru the ones that had the top 4 votes, reg a .com:

GoDaddy - $8.29 - $8.47 with fee (using their Discount Club) $11.99 without club
NameSilo - $8.99 icann fee included
Dynadot - $10.99
Uniregistry - $10.88, renewal same, when I searched for .com, they also had .link right next to it

So GoDaddy is cheaper for me. For those other 3 and people that use them, how do I get cheaper for a .com? Is there some club, do I need to have a certain number? Specifics. I'm looking to get cheaper than $8.29, renewals also. Or around that area because you need to factor in the price for the Club, which I think I got for free last year.

Also, what are the major things you look for in a registrar, if you were to have the perfect one. Most domains, you buy and they just sit there. You don't need to feed them or take them out for a walk. For me, it's simple, the 3 main things, GoDaddy scores:

Price - A they're the cheapest for me
Service, if I need it - A, have a great rep, fast response
The ease of site - C, it could be better, they change it too often for me. But I can get around and do what I need to do

What else do you look for in a registrar besides Price, Service, Ease Of Site?

I'm sorry. But you only need to spend $500/yr (or prepay $500) to get $8.75 .com registrations at Dynadot. This is still more than GoDaddy's $8.47 with their DDC. But you do need to compare like with like in these price comparisons. Also. the DDC Fee is gone once paid. The $500 is a usable prepayment. Which is only 57 domains renewals. Would be affordable for many domainers.

When I used GoDaddy as my main Registrar, I always thought the Control Panel was World Class. I still think that. I don't really understand the complaints I see here about their Control Panel. Their portfolio search is the best I have ever seen, up until now. I moved away from GoDaddy because I didn't like their ToS. Far too onerous. IMHO. There were other reasons as well contributing to my decision to leave.

Those are my 3 criteria also, Price, Support, Excellent CP. Price is always going to be the top item, but it isn't always price above anything else. For example the price of .com domains at NameBright is cost. I pay slightly more at Dynadot, but I get excellent support at Dynadot, and I like their Control Panel. Also I don't go chasing every registrars daily offers. I'd end up with 100's of registrars. Price is not good without good support and good Control Panel.

I think it should not be underestimated that most buyers have only ever heard of GoDaddy and want their domains to be at GoDaddy. It's a bit of a hassle having to transfer domains back to GoDaddy to complete a sale. Especially if Escrow is involved, where usually the buyer has to instigate the transfer, and they usually don't have a clue how to do it.

 

[claudedauman]

We value your opinion Claude. Which were....

I like GoDaddy and Name.com the best. Mason, my account exec at GoDaddy is an amazing person to work with. It's nice to have such a knowledgeable and professional go to, when I need assistance.

Name.com has an amazing team as well. I've always received excellent customer service from their top notch CS professionals including Bernice, Trisha and Amy.

 

[ramkumaritrvs]

I'm the 100th vote for Godaddy

It was my fav registrar before but not now.

 

[DNScholar]

I liked Godaddy, Uniregistry and Namesilo...though there are another 2/3 which I like but you can only select Top 3.

 

[Winfluence]

LOL....what? I would never use a company named "Internet BS"

 

[J. Sharma]

Godaddy is always best

 

[d-e-x]

GoDaddy all the way

2. NameSilo
3. Dynadot
4. NameCheap
5. NameBright

 

[GoKaizen]

.BS is the ccTLD for the Bahamas, so it is "Internet Bahamas".

CentralNIC, which handles Registry services for many new gTLDS, bought them. They are a legit registrar.

https://internetbs.net/faq/content/1/33/en/centralnic-acquires-internetbs.html

 

[Haris]

I voted for Godaddy but if I could place a vote on my second favorite registrar it would be namebright.

I personally like most of Godaddy's UI (not sure why so many people hate it). And I LOVE the quality of the Godaddy support team and the fact that most buyers already know/use Godaddy which makes the process of selling a domain so much easier. What I don't like however is Godaddy's new interface to renew expired domains. I have around 500 domains there currently and if I want to renew any and go to the standard renewal screen I see something like this:

Basically, all my expiring domains are mixed with my premium listings (which are not actual domains, just domain listings) and no way to filter them to only see my actual expired (or soon to expire) domains. So if I want to find a domain that expires in for example 2 months from now I sometimes have to click on "Show more domains" for 15 times or so since the premium listings clog the renewal page and Godaddy doesn't offer a way anymore to show more than 15 domains per page.

The alternative is to go inside my Godaddy domain manager, manually select the domains I want to renew and then click on "Renew" and making sure I don't choose "Express checkout" (as this will charge me full price, including taxes, without even bothering to ask me for my VAT-ID). So I do have a workaround, it's just annoying though. But besides that I really like Godaddy.

Regarding to Namebright: I love their UI and the simplicity of it. Transferring/pushing a domain is extremely easy and fast at Namebright. The pricing of course is awesome as well. I don't know about their support but that's only because I never had to use it. Everything always worked perfect for me at namebright. If as many end users would know Namebright compared to end users knowing Godaddy I would probably put all my names at Namebright.

Agreed with everything 100%. My votes also went to GD and NB!

 

[Name Trader]

I can't believe there were 4 people who actually voted for Moniker.

That's the same 4 customers that have been hanging on for years. Hoping thing will improve