Owners of a domain, which domain registrar did you choose and why?

AlexPewMaster@lemmy.zip to Selfhosted@lemmy.world – 181 points –

I'm currently on the lookout for privacy-respecting domain registrars. What are you guys using and why?

Edit: I've registered my domain with Porkbun. I got a really cool one, it's called reallyaweso.me!

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Recently moved over to porkbun after dealing with a couple billing issues with namecheap and not getting the best customer service. Been pretty happy so far.

I moved all of my domains to Porkbun when Google Domains started to close down or become SquareSpace or whatever they were doing.

No complaints so far.

I've been using Porkbun for over 5 years and haven't had any issues. I switched from a mix of Google Domains and Namecheap.

So I’m quite new to this, and searching around hasn’t been to clear… if I’m looking to have my own E-mail domain, do I buy a domain in addition to subscribing to an E-mail… service… thing?

Yes, you need to buy (register) a domain beforehand.
The e-mail provider of your choice that provides custom domains will ask you to

  • either point your domain to their nameservers (done from the domain provider's panel)
  • or insert/update some DNS records on your domain (either from your domain provider's panel if it is supported or you can link your domain to another DNS service e.g. CloudFlare)

Thank you very much! I’ll look into snagging a domain and setting up like, Bluehost or Proton. I use Proton’s free tier now, but it looks like it’s about 3x as much for their good E-mail plan compared to Bluehost.

Do you know if they support Dynamic DNS?

You can use something separate like Zoneedit for the DNS records

What kind of TLD did you buy? Did you choose a TLD that's supported by the WHOIS privacy? I wanted to see if alexpewmaster.de was available, and it told me this:

⚠️   PRIVACY WARNING ⚠️

This TLD does not allow WHOIS privacy but generally redacts your personal information. This means that your personal contact information will be sent to the registry but it should not be made public.

Generally the country based TLDs have that problem. That isn't unique to porkbun or .de

I have a .de domain with them. No personal info are shown on whois info.

That's a really weird way of putting it. EU ccTLDs don't offer whois privacy because it's not needed. They have whois privacy built-in as well as very strong privacy laws.

If you want a .de domain I would recommend using inwx.de as registrar they have extremely low prices for .de and often run discounts for the first year as well.

The one thing to keep in mind if you're not a German citizen and/or not have a German address is that you need to provide one after you register a .de domain. INWX has a service for 3 eur/yr that will provide one on your behalf.

Some other cheap European domains without any requirements and built-in mandatory whois privacy are .be, .nl, .fr and .ro.

Keep in mind that some of these ccTLD don't allow purchasing multiple years in advance and also force you to reset your leftover term if you transfer.

If you're gonna get an European ccTLD you should also use an European registrar like INWX or Netim or Gandi. Using an European ccTLD with an American registrar kind of defies the whole point.

I've been moving my stuff over to Porkbun from Gandi after Gandi updated their ToS and changed their pricing structure.

+1 porkbun. $1.60 for a .top whois privacy. 2FA with security key. Even let me host my own nameserver, so I can have separate internal and external views.

Any registrar allows you to host your own nameservers. You just point to your server from the registrar console.

Cloudflare does not.

Yeah, you have to pay for that feature on cloudflare but considering that they are so cheap I think it's not so bad.

Every other registrar I have seen allows it though (they are usually more expensive since they earn a profit on registrations.)

Porkbun works good for me

In the process of moving all my stuff to porkbun as well. It's the best.

CloudFlare

Yup, they don't mark up prices, they allow you to proxy traffic though them, and they have a WAF that you can set up 5 (I think) firewall rules for your traffic for free.

I figure if I’m already using their proxy, may as well have my domains there as well… one fewer party to trust.

Namecheap for registrar and Cloudflare for the name servers. Always keep those services separated so if one dies, you can still get into the other service to fix it.

If a registrar goes out of business, ICANN transfers the domain(s) to another registrar.

If a name server business fails, you change name servers through your registrar.

You can't really fix registrar services in your name server, nor name server problems through your registrar. (Unless, of course, your registrar is also your name server.)

If your registrar goes down but the NS are on a different provider, the root servers will keep that NS record and all will be well. You can go to a different registrar and transfer it over, but in the meantime it'll be fine and you can do whatever you need with your DNS.

If the DNS provider goes down, you can go to your registrar and quickly change the NS to another provider. It'll quickly be back up on your new DNS servers.

Believe me, I've done this for 3 decades because one or the other have gone down on me more than once and I've had minimal downtime with this separation. Even when I was running my own NS, I kept more than one NS outside my server farm so if my connections went down, I could pop the farm up on a backup colo and point my tertiary accordingly.

After a bit of research, I'm forced by facts (NS records can be cached for an undetermined time) to see what you're saying. Thank you for teaching me.

The workings are, of course, a bit more complicated than what either of us have said (here's a taste), but there is a situation as you describe, where separating the registrar from the name servers, and the name servers from the domain, could save the domain from going down.

Well, I kinda simplified it, but yes, the root servers will keep the NS records as long as nothing else updates it (or nobody requests it for longer than the TTL that came with the last lookup) which is why it works.

Happy to help.

I was thinking Cloudflare as a registrar and AWS as name servers, but good choice regardless.

Is it possible to do that? Afaik they don't allow to use different name servers if they're registrars

I had the domain on a registrar that didn't allow changing name servers (Tophost for 6 euro per year) and I had to "hop" with ovh for 60 days before having cloudflare for a registrar as they didn't allow to transfer the domain with different NS

Cloudflare doesn't allow me to change my name servers? What blasphemy! I had never considered this, I thought it would be allowed by default. Where can I read about this?

I'm looking for a cheap domain registrar with terraform support

It's the main reason why their domains are so cheap. Their thinking is that since you have to use Cloudflare services to use the domain, you may look at the paid services and decide to pay for one, or suggest it at your workplace.

They charge wholesale price for domains, so they make $0 profit on them. Effectively it's a loss leader to hook you into the ecosystem. That's the same reason why VMware ESXi used to be free for home labs - users would become advocates for it and use it professionally.

I'll paste the comment I made earlier:

Oh boy, I was unaware of the fact that I can't use my own nameservers with cloudflare. Definitely not going to recommend them anymore

Which registrar do you suggest with good API support? Most of my infrastructure uses Terraform and Salt

I use Porkbun for most of my domains. They appear to have an API but I've never tried it: https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation#DNS%20Create%20Record

I'm not familiar with Terraform or Salt but maybe you could try use something like https://github.com/StackExchange/dnscontrol as an abstraction over the DNS provider.

Salt is an alternative to Ansible. However I prefer HashiCorp's Terraform for day 0 deployments. Unfortunately, PorkBun doesn't seem to support Terraform, so I'll keep looking. I'll take a look at the link you sent, thanks.

Out of curiosity, if you don't use these IaC tools, how do you manage self-hosted infrastructure?

how do you manage self-hosted infrastructure?

Manually, mostly.

DNS is handled by my own PowerDNS server using the PowerDNS-Admin web UI. I manually add records as needed. Editing a domain sends AXFRs / IXFRs to the secondary DNS hosts I use (I self-host three PowerDNS servers, plus I have a DNSMadeEasy account for the important domains, although I'll be dropping that at some point since they increased prices over 10x after being acquired by DigiCert. I use acme-dns for Let's Encrypt DNS challenges. I take daily backups of everything, including the PowerDNS database, so restoring the DB after a server failure is not an issue.

I have 28 VPSes for dnstools.ws and those are lightly managed using Ansible (there's really not a lot running on them): https://github.com/Daniel15/dnstools/blob/master/ansible/roles/dnstools-worker/tasks/main.yml, but I do configure the base OS manually. I don't set up new ones often so this has been fine.

I have a few other VPSes (all running Debian) and a home server (running Unraid) that I handle manually. I don't change things often so it mostly hasn't been an issue for me. Stuff just keeps working. I take daily backups.

The Debian systems all have unattended-upgrades installed. The 'main' Debian VPS I've got started as a dedicated server running Debian Sarge (3.1, from 2005) and I've just kept upgrading it over the years. These days it's a VPS that's much cheaper yet way more powerful than the original 2005 dedicated server :)

Cloudflare and Namecheap. I would use Cloudflare because of cost

Google Domains because I have a Google account and buying a domain on it was easy when I needed it. I'm still on Google Domains but you've reminded me I need to continue the transfer to Cloudflare before I get forced over to Square Space because they don't support Dynamic DNS.

Cloudflare.

On Google now as well, what was the cutover like to cloudflare?

Transferring was straightforward enough, but there were a couple steps that involved waiting for things to update before you could continue and I forgot to get back to it for a while after they were done. Other than that, all my records seem to have transferred over correctly and all I had to do manually was reconfigure my DDNS client and set up email forwarding with gmail again.

Exactly the same boat. But man Cloudflare is better in every way. Having an API to update/fetch records for a zone does wonders.

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I have mine on Namecheap, but i’ve moved the nameserver to Cloudflare. Been using them for a while, can’t complain at all. Am also paying for their email service on the same domain

njal.la

njal.la is without a doubt one of the better ones if privacy is number one priority.

Njalla doesn't seem to be a good option according to this comment on a privacy-focused forum.

Interestingly that is why I chose them like 5 years ago as I figured that is a plus as far as privacy is concerned. Having 1337 show up when performing a domain owner lookup instead of my name seem like a good thing and if I need it to be registered to me it's easy enough to transfer.

I love the service though and brokep being involved makes them worth considering for anyone into privacy.

Njalla was founded and is ran by Peter Sundee, aka brokep, of Pirate Bay fame... If there's anyone you can trust ...

I would also say this. Njalla is good

Cloudflare for support (tooling), Njal.la for privacy (run by the pirate bay founder), porkbun for a happy medium and for the cool kids.

Namecheap, cheap, easy to use, easy to setup DDNS, helpful support staff. I have heard horror stories of them selling popular domains out from under their owner but none were recent.

Same. I buy all my domains there. And in case someone needs a proper API and support for the dns challenge, host your DNS at DeSEC.

The thing that I don't like is that lot of these DNS hosts don't support using them for secondary DNS... It looks like deSEC is the same :/

I like using my own DNS server as a hidden primary because it lets me do bulk and programmatic updates more easily.

I'm using DNSMadeEasy for some of my important domains because they have the fastest servers, their service is really reliable, and major brands are using the same DNS servers so it seems like I can trust them. However, after being acquired by DigiCert, their prices went up over 10x... the $60/year plan I was on is now $675/year.

HE's free DNS supports secondary DNS but their reliability isn't great. DNSimple supports it but I'm over their limit of 100 records for some zones. Hexonet supports it but I couldn't figure out how to get it working and neither could their support.

Namecheap because they've lived up to their name. The DNS for my domains is all on Cloudflare though as I can automate my letsencrypt renewal that way that I couldn't on plain old namecheap.

I'm on name cheap and all my letsemcrypt renewals are automated easily.

Maybe its different now, but it didn't used to be possible to do that.

Just had a thought. It was wildcard subdomain I couldn't do with namecheap. Things like *.domain.tld

I use acme.sh and everything works fine. It has hooks for namecheap and wildcrds automatically renew

Cloudflare, because my understanding is that they typically renew at basically cost, and that’s where most of my other DNS stuff is anyway.

I typically buy domains at whatever registrar is cheapest at the time for initial purchase, which most recently was namecheap IIRC.

I'm interested in your "other DNS stuff"

Likely a bad description. I more meant DNS, page rules, tunnels, zero trust logins, and more. It’s honestly just easier to keep it all in one place, and to be honest they are one of the more reliable sources for… literally all of those things.

Hmm, do you have all of this described somewhere? This sounds like a great setup

Nah, it’s just stuff I set up as needed.

The page rules are basic, one redirects to an Etsy shop, another to serve images for email from a cdn, and another for handling QR codes.

Tunnels are set up for subdomains to reach internal network stuff, with a Cloudflare Zero Trust login which prompts for those that don’t have secure logins.

The DNS stuff is subdomains, email records, and a few records for certain game servers.

I also use cloudflare to monitor my DKIM rejections, though my email is through mxroute as they have/had a lifetime option and I don’t like subscriptions.

There are a few different sites as well, one is personal, one is for public facing stuff, a couple for side businesses.

It’s honestly just easier to keep as much together as possible.

Cloudflare cause they already had my DNS and google domains was on its way to the google graveyard. Not sure how privacy respecting they are but they do offer some kind of partial whois redaction. Surely better than google though?

Namecheap since I have been using them since the 00s and never had any problems.

Gandi.net

GDRP and anonymous hosting. Pretty great.

Gandi did something in the last year or two that made me migrate off them. Don't remember what it was but it was a deal breaker.

Edit: found it further down in the thread. They even migrated to porkbun like I did! https://lemmy.world/comment/8536944

Their pricing structure doesn't affect what I have hosted and I'm selfhosting email in dockermail. My whois is still anonymized how I like.

+1 for Gandi, as they also have an API for management as well and support ACME DNS challenge for Let's encrypt.

If you don't have domains with TLDs that Gandi charges 3x-6x more than you can get elsewhere... then yeah, their registrar and DNS services are pretty nice.

Porkbun because it was super easy, one of the cheapest, and has rest good guides for noobs for how to connect various hosting sites (like, using Google sites but owning the domain from porkbun)

Porkbun asks for your ID now so that might not be "privacy-respecting" but their CS is very helpful from my experience.

I have domains in Netim and Spaceship, and I have no problems with either so far.

Porkbun

Not kosher and offered best price

Technically Cloudflare has the best prices

Cloudflare locks you in to using their DNS though. I'd rather pay a bit more to avoid vendor lock-in.

Oh boy, I was unaware of the fact that I can't use my own nameservers with cloudflare. Definitely not going to recommend them anymore

Njal.la. They buy the domain for you and let you control it. They also don't give whois information by default.

Namecheap because it’s easy and quick to use. They have good prices on new domains as well. Their prices are less attractive in renewals though, so I’d suggest transferring your domain after buying it to Cloudflare or NameSilo or PorkBun or the like.

Previously Gandi, but they've jacked up their prices and cut features, so in the process of moving to AWS Route53.

My main requirements are:

  • Competitively priced (doesn't need to be the absolute cheapest, but the feature set better justify the price)
  • Able to manage domain with Terraform (I've got 10 domains, and copy-pasting DNSSEC keys around gets old really fast)
  • Not be CloudFlare (fuck those guys in particular)

OVH, reasonably priced, API for DNS management and existing certbot integration

I rent a domain from namesilo

We usually just say that we're registering a domain name, or renewing the registration.

Renting a domain usually refers to something different entirely. It's when someone owns a valuable domain name, and someone else pays them a monthly or yearly fee to use it, like renting a house. It's sometimes done with premium domains that would be very expensive to acquire outright.

The first registrar I used was DomainSite, around 20 years ago. They still exist but are called Name.com now. They're a pretty good registrar.

I have most of my domains at Porkbun these days. They're great too, and a bit cheaper.

In terms or privacy-respecting, most registrars will mask your WHOIS info for free, to comply with laws like GDPR. Never pay for "WHOIS privacy".

Was on Google cause I just initially was setting them up there. Moved to cloudflare the day they added dev tlds.

Curious about your reasoning, especially as I bought a .dev for myself a while back (via a different registrar)

If it was in regards to the .zip TLD then I guess that is understandable, but .dev seems harmless IMO

What privacy concerns do you have? I'm all for privacy, but I don't really see where registrars are a delicate topic in that. The most that comes to mind is that some (most?) have a service where they do not give out your name and address for whois requests, but instead the details of the registrar (namecheap has that for example).

I want my private information to be hidden in Whois requests. Also, I don't want to buy a domain from a registrar that seems very sketchy.

Most registrars offer whois privacy protection which is a randomized forwarder, so if someone emails the contact it can get to you but none of your information is shown. Usually about $2 a year, don’t forget to auto-renew it.

Namecheap usually adds it for free for the initial registration period.

Some add this as an additional fee and others include it in the annual price.

Some European ones because the domains have European TLDs. .eu for example is only available by EU registrars IINM. But also, I do my best to keep the money local where I can.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

I don't think that's true anymore. I moved my .eu to porkbun (which is an American company) and it works. Also, I just tried registering a new .eu domain with them and it works - and they have very good prices! (I'm not affiliated with them)

not true anymore, everybody can buy eu domain

I originally used namecheap but moved over to porkbun about 2 years ago now. I've really enjoyed their service since the move. The two instances where I needed to contact support were great. Issues were resolved very quick and responses weren't days apart like namecheap.

I'm using my local registrar. 10 years ago, when I registered my first domain, it was one of few options I was familiar with, and they had offered a discount. I could find something cheaper, but we're talking about 8EUR/year. It doesn't really matter.

I'm not super knowledgeable on this, but I chose Dynadot because it's cheap and WHOIS privacy is included.

I currently use gandi but I'm planning on moving to cloudflare. Not in too much of a rush since I did a 10 year lease.

Ghandi.net because a paranoid DNS expert told me he uses it

Ghandi got sold to another company last year and they have started raising prices... I suggest you look into transfering your domain to somewhere else. I am trying porkbun now and it seems alright but they are others.

Hm I didn't know. Thanks. I already use cloudflare for DNS so next cycle i might change the registrar too if it's anything to save.

I use Hostpoint.

They were recommended by Protonmail, and meet my privacy concerns.

Initally some local site, then I transferred to GoDaddy, then to OVH (since GD is shit). One is still at Cloudflare (tried to move there, but they don't support al TLDs that I use, like ".eu").

For DNS I use Cloudflare. They provide a layer of privacy, i.e. your server IPs don't get exposed directly.

Contabo, since I also rented a VPS with them at the time. Really great service, complete dns control. Can only recommend

OVH because cheap enough for me, europe based and reliable.

Chose Namecheap just for domain and later ionos and their mail service for my 2nd.

+1 for namecheap. I'm happy with them as a registrar. Their support has always been fast and helpful if I have an issue. I use CloudFlare for DNS as they were easier to setup something for dynamic IP.

Veebimajutus. They are a local registrar in my country and I like to support local businesses.

I started with Porkbun, but I also have some domains on Gandi because they offer a CC TLD I wanted.

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
DNS Domain Name Service/System
ESXi VMWare virtual machine hypervisor
IP Internet Protocol
VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)

[Thread #611 for this sub, first seen 17th Mar 2024, 21:15] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

Easydns.ca, no privacy issues. Nothing about me personally in the who's db (.net tld)

INWX because it's a local provider which seems decent.

I stick with the big name registrars and then just use the cheapest for that TLD.

cloudflare takes 0% commision, but its cloudflare

Currently using Infomaniak.com and I'm really liking it. They are a bit pricy compared to other registrars but

  • they have solid privacy policy
  • their servers use renewable energy
  • they let you set up DDNS with a simple bash script
  • they offer some cool email and kSuite benefits with the purchase of a domain

Was on Namesilo. No complaints, save for the slow website. Changed to porkburn because it was a bit cheaper.

Internet.bs because it's cheap and had a cctld I wanted

I use Infomaniak, as they follow swiss privacy laws and had the cheapest registration for .ch when I registered it first.

name.com. I don't remember why I picked them, but they do no BS and the service is fine.

Ive been thinking about #dnsregistrars and #ssl certificates lately. Does anyone know a #coop #registrar ?

Not sure why you got downvoted, wanting to do business with a work co-op is valid. I don't however know of one :/

Penalty because of the random hash signs in the comment. It looks like someone trying to tag words but failing.

i have to admit i was just trying to see if I could find the post using Mastodon. I had a moment where I wondered how lemmy posts look via Mastodon. Perhaps i deserved it .