Domain Name Registars: Explore Different Domain Name Providers

Porkbun is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar based out of Portland, Oregon. Porkbun sells domain names along with complementary products like SSL certificate and hosting products. Their primary pitch is making the domain registration process easy, enjoyable, and affordable.

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Google Domains is a domain name registrar owned and operated by Google. Google rolled out the product in 2014, and is out of “beta” as of 2021.

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Namecheap vs. GoDaddy? Where’s the best domain registrar to buy your domain name? And once you buy your domain…who has the best hosting, email, and services?

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Register.com is a domain registrar owned by Web.com (one of the largest and oldest website hosting/builder brands in the industry). They were one of the first give companies chosen by ICANN to participate in the initial test phase of the new competitive shared registry system, making them one of the oldest and most established domain registrar companies in the game outside of Network Solutions.

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Network Solutions is one of the oldest consumer Internet companies still operating. They are most well-known as a domain registrar, though they offer a full suite of business Internet solutions.

In fact, from 1993 to 1999, they were the only company authorized to register domains. If you wanted a domain in the ‘90s – you had to buy it from Network Solutions. Because of that, they’ve built a brand around being “the Internet’s domain provider.”

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A subdomain is a domain that is attached to a root (or main domain) that can direct browser requests to specific files on a specific server.

You are currently looking at files on shivarweb.com – but more specifically, you are looking at files on the www.shivarweb.com subdomain, since I also use subdomains like app.shivarweb.com and other for experiments.

As an analogy, if a domain is like a physical address, but on the Internet, then a subdomain is like a Suite or Apartment number. Like a Suite number, they only make sense as part of the larger address, but they allow visitors to access a more more specific (and usually different) location.

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Domain.com is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar founded in 2000 that also provides web hosting, email, website builders, SSL certificates, and other web solutions. They’re part of Endurance International Group, who owns some of the biggest names in web hosting like Bluehost, HostGator, and Constant Contact.

While their focus is on domains, Domain.com has started positioning themselves as more than just domains — but that the process starts with a great domain name.

I’ve gotten some questions about Domain.com as a domain registrar, so I decided to give them a try. Here’s our Domain.com review with pros and cons.

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Hover Domains is a domain registrar founded in 2009 as an offshoot of Tucows Inc. (the second largest ICANN accredited domain registrar online). Hover’s M.O. is that they stick to what they know, and that’s domains.

But let’s be honest, you probably only know them from their podcast ads on shows like Hello Internet and 99% Invisible. While Grey and Roman might plug them – you want to know how they actually stack up.

Well – this domain registrar deals solely with buying, managing, and transferring domains on their platform.

Hover does offer email services but they does not offer other complementary products such as website hosting, website builders, etc.

It’s important to remember that a domain is not a website. It’s not an email, an app, or any other service. It’s simply your online address. It helps people locate where you are. If you want to set up a website, you’ll still need to get hosting or a website builder / eCommerce provider that provides hosting (which Hover does not provide).

I’ll dive deeper into this in the pros and cons, but it’s an important distinction to make up front because it helps us understand what Hover’s goal is.

They’re not about being an all-in-one solution — quite the opposite, actually. Their focus is only on simplicity. They’re all about getting you your domain and letting you use it wherever you need it through app integrations.

How does Hover stack up against other domain registrars? Here’s our review of Hover Domains as a domain registrar with pros and cons.

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Dynadot is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar and web host headquartered in California. They were founded in 2002 by a software engineer and state their primary focus is engineering and designing excellence.

Dynadot’s main pitch is to help customers “register domain names and create websites simply and affordably”.

They are one of the myriad smaller domain registrars that have a dedicated but smaller following than the big brands like GoDaddy.

Do they hold up to their mission? Here’s our Dynadot review with pros and cons.

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iwantmyname is a New Zealand-based domain registrar company focused solely on domain registration and management. The company, which was founded by employees from several ICANN accredited domain registrars, has been around since 2008 and prides itself on its simplicity, transparency, and ethics.

iwantmyname believes in making the domain buying, managing, and transferring process transparent and simple. They’re big on company values (like transparency) and give off the “good guy” vibe when it comes to domain registrars.

So, how does this domain registrar stack up against the rest? Here’s my experience so far and my full iwantmyname review with pros & cons…

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Namesilo is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar who boasts cheap, easy, and secure domain registration and management. They have been around since 2009.

Does Namesilo hold up to their mission of being a cheap and easy-to-use domain registrar? We recently tried them out. Here’s our full Namesilo review with pros, cons, and alternatives.

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Name.com is a Denver-based, ICANN-accredited domain registrar company that also offers web hosting, email, a website builder, and SSL certificates. It’s owned by Donuts Inc, a domain servicing company who specializes in serving premium & new top-level domains (TLDs), which go beyond generic .com/.net/.org domains website owners were previously limited to.

Name.com touts an all-in-one approach to getting you online — they have everything you need to get up and running quickly (AKA a domain name, hosting, website builder, security, and email).

So, how does Name.com stack up against other domain registrars? Here’s my Name.com review with pros and cons based on my experience with them so far…

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So you’re wondering “how many domain names should I buy?” Well here’s a quick story before we dive into 10 rules I use.

Let’s say that a person – let’s call him Fred – decides to learn a little bit about websites and marketing online. He finds how easy it is to install WordPress and setup a website. He learns all about keywords. He installs Google Analytics. Fred writes some content and gets some traffic.

Oh wow! This deal is so easy, fun, and might make me money someday! And I’ve got a million other website ideas!

So Fred goes over to his domain registrar of choice, and see that most of his website ideas are available! And they’re only $10 per year! He buys several.

But what about misspellings? Buys a few of those too.

What about the .net and .co versions? Buys a couple of those too.

And so on and so forth. And before you know it – Fred has spent $600 on domain names…without building out a single website idea.

Here’s the deal – “Fred” is really Nate (me) back when I knew little about how websites and digital marketing worked. I had this idea that thinking of an idea and buying a domain counted for something.

It doesn’t. But your domain name is still important – but important relative to other factors.

So whether you’re a freelancer, DIY type, someone getting your feet wet, or a small business owner concerned about your online presence wondering “how many domain names should I buy?” – Here’s 10 lessons I’ve learned to use when researching and buying domain names.

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Google Domains and GoDaddy are two of the most well-known domain name registrars on the Internet. I’ve written about both Google Domains and compared GoDaddy to Namecheap (their other big competitor). But how do they compare to each other?

Visit GoDaddy’s Current Domain Pricing

Visit Google Domain’s Current Selection

Domain Registrars are a unique industry. Since ICANN issues all domain names, leaving Registrars mainly as bookkeepers, there is not a ton of scope to offer completely different products. At the end of the day, you simply need a domain name that you can associate with a server where your data lives.

And yet, not all domain registrars are the same (which is why you are reading this post, I’m guessing). I’ve tried dozens and have had every problem imaginable. There is no such thing as a “best” domain registrar. Everybody has tradeoffs. And Google and GoDaddy are actually a good example of very different approaches to domain registration.

I was a Day One customer of Google Domains back at their launch, and I’ve been a customer (and consultant to customers) of GoDaddy for 10+ years.

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Domain Names are human-readable words (e.g., amazon.com) that direct Internet browsers to specific files on a specific server.

As an analogy, a domain is like a physical address… but on the Internet. Like a physical address, they don’t really do anything on their own, but they are critical to understanding when you are building an online project.

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Choosing the best domain name hosting / registrar is a tough and often all too confusing process. It’s tough to make a simple comparison because there is no such thing as an absolute “best domain name provider” There is only the domain name hosting that is right for you considering all the tradeoffs.

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