Upcoming .COM and .XYZ domain price increases
namecheap.com
On September 1, 2023, the domains registry for .COM and .XYZ will implement universal price increases of up to 9% for .COM renewals, and up to 9% for .XYZ renewals, registrations, and transfers.
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Why donโt people use cloudflare? .com is going from $9.15 to $9.77 .xyz is going from $9.33 to $10.18
You're locked into using their DNS servers. Some people are okay with that, but I don't like arbitrary restrictions on my domains nor how much control Cloudflare have over the internet. Cloudflare's domains are a loss leader - they sell them at wholesale price and make $0 profit - with the idea that you'll get hooked on their other services and become a paying customer. Trying to ensure you use their services is the main goal, which is why they lock you into their DNS.
I prefer Porkbun - they're a bit more expensive (still cheaper than Namecheap though) but you have full control over the domain.
In general, you never want to have both your domain and your hosting or CDN with the same company, as they can hold your domain hostage if there's any ever concerns with the site.
I don't use Cloudflare because it has so many hooks into so many places that it's a one-stop shop for tracking people's internet use, which I dislike.
But they use lava lamps as a RNG! (oblig Tom Scott)
Do they have reasonable competitors? I see them used so much.
Porkbun is close in price, and from what I've read, has very good service without the BS typical of large registrars.
NameSilo costs a little more and offers more email forwarding addresses and API features than porkbun does.
Here's a big list of registrars: https://tld-list.com/tld/com
Some heroes don't wear capes.
Obviously it doesn't apply to .com or .xyz, but in addition to the concerns about being locked in to Cloud flare's name servers, they don't support some gTLDs right now.