The Problem

If you have been trying to find out who the best domain name registrars are you may have run a couple of web searches like:

“best domain name registrars”
“best place to buy domains”
“godaddy or xyz”

The good news is that you get thousands of websites offering to tell you who the best registrars are. The problem is that all of them are using affiliate links to generate revenues for themselves and will try to sell you in the registrar that is currently paying them the most no matter how good or bad it is.

Good for them but bad for you.

Since I have been registering domains for over 20 years and have used many registrars and I will tell you wish one to use and the ones to avoid.

But I won’t be using any affiliate link or get paid anything by any of the registrar I will list.

If you want to support me and you buy from Amazon you can use this link and I will get a commission from Amazon when you buy something from them.

So this will be the most honest domain name registrar recommendation list you will find. And is a short list.

The Good Ones

• Namecheap.com (affordable, reliable, no issues, hates SOPA)
• Name.com (nice control center, reasonably priced, no tricks)
• Hover.com (easy straight forward website, no upsets or gimmicks, free whois)
• Gandi.net (never had an issue with them, could use a better control center but still a solid option)

If it’s not on the above list you probably should avoid it. But for sure avoid the ones on the list below.

The Very Bad Ones.

• 1&1 (if you hate yourself go with this crooks)
• GoDaddy (it was once my go to but they turned bad over time)
• Web.com (this people do business like it still 1999)
• Network Solutions (same as web.com)

Another advice. Never register your domain name with your hosting provider always keep them separate. Even if your hosting provider offers you a free domain name with hosting a hosting plan just don’t do it. Keep your hosting provider and domain registrar separate you may one to change one or the other and if you have them together it will cause issues.

So here you have it an honest list of good and bad domain name registrar. Hope it helps and if you have any comments or want to recommend a registrar feel free to leave a non spammy comment.