HACKER Q&A
📣 fludlight

What domain registrar and DNS provider do you use? (February 2020)


Previous discussion (Nov 2018):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18541159


  👤 rococode Accepted Answer ✓
NameSilo is my go-to registrar - consistent pricing, free forwarding, free WHOIS privacy, instant security alerts on account access, simple and functional interface, great customer service, basically everything you could ask for from a registrar. I have yet to see any negative reviews about them.

I use NameSilo's default DNS service for simple things, Route 53 for anything more complex.


👤 genuinebyte
I use Namecheap for names and the Linode nameservers for DNS. I have a few nanodes (Linode's lowest VPS tier), so it makes sense to use their servers.

👤 jamesponddotco
I buy domains with Gandi.net and use ClouDNS.net for DNS hosting. Their anycast network is fast enough for me, and they offer DDoS protection, which is nice. I also like that they are a European company like ours, instead of a North American one.

For customers, we buy domains at ClouDNS.net as well, instead of Gandi.net — I wanted to have that separated. But after the way Gandi handled the complete loss of customer data issue last month[1], I am inclined to transfer our domains to ClouDNS.net as well. Not sure when though, as moving the number of domains I own would be a massive pain in the rear.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22001822


👤 dhruvkar
Google Domains

I know....google. But it's pretty slick to use. Easy to buy and setup a free catchall email address on the new domain redirecting to my existing email.


👤 TheGrumpyBrit
I'm in the UK and mostly work with UK domains, so I became a Nominet registrar a couple of years ago, so now I manage my own domains and DNS servers.

👤 adventured
I've moved most of my domains over to Cloudflare. I had been with GoDaddy for something near 20 years. I got tired of paying their steep markup on renewals, watching the price go up year after year (once upon a time GoDaddy was considered a relatively inexpensive registrar). I also like the free information redaction offered with Cloudflare.

👤 stevekemp
Mostly I host DNS via Amazon Route53, because it is simple, reliable and cheap. I wrap a layer of magic around it so that I can store my record-data in plain-text files, under revision control. That way I can track changes. https://dns-api.com/

👤 codedrop
nearlyfreespeech.net has been handling my domains and DNS requirements for the last few years. Quite happy with them

👤 actionowl
Been using Gandi for over a decade now!

👤 troquerre
I like namecheap.com — it's straightforward and more user-friendly than godaddy.

👤 wmurmann
Namecheap never had a problem with them. In fact one time they helped me get my domain back after I had forgotten to renew. If you’re searching for a domain instantdomainsearch.com is pretty neat.

👤 keiraarts
Purchase on Namecheap and then transfer over to Cloudflare. Hoping Cloudflare allows domain purchases this year - having domains be fully bought, transferred, and renewed via an API would be great.

👤 nyuszika7h
I buy on Namecheap and transfer to Cloudflare (except for the still unsupported .me domains, those have stayed at Namecheap). I also use Cloudflare DNS, but I disable the CDN.

👤 thegeekbin
I prefer easydns and porkbun. Both are great, easydns has great NS’s as well, easy to manage. Overall I’m satisfied!

👤 jetti
Namecheap for majority of my domains. I have used ISTanCo for a .rs domain and Web4Africa for an .i.ng domain in the past

👤 jlgaddis

  s/January/February/

👤 quickthrower2
Namecheap. Out of habit really.

👤 rckoepke
Google domains. Is there any reason I should be concerned about this?

👤 sergiotapia
I purchase from Gandi, and manage DNS using route53

👤 pro_zac
I use ionos.com aka 1and1.com. Quick cheap and easy.

👤 sandymcmurray
Very happy with hover.com for domain registration.

👤 slowboat
purchase via gandi.net and use digital oceans name servers. Would not use godaddy he is an elephant killer.

👤 commotionfever
name.com (don't really like them but my domains have been there for years) with cloudflare

👤 Cenk
Gandi - and very happy with it

👤 trumbitta2
dnssimple + cloudflare