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List of cheap domain registrars

Meksilon

Meksilon

Well-Known Member
NLC
I've compiled a list (correct as of Jan 2008), of cheap registrars. All are believed to be reputable, but as always it is best to ask around and seek advice from others. If you would like to suggest adding a new site to the list, or notice any errors/out of date prices/features feel free to reply with your suggestion, or to send me a private message.

These are the guideline I've used for the list:

  1. List using the registrar's trading name.
  2. Registrars should charge less then $10/.com domain.
  3. Registrars cannot have a minimum purchase amount.
  4. The service must include full DNS control (CNAME, A, MX, MXE).
  5. The service must also include domain locking.
  6. List the permanent non-sale price of .com renewals for 1 year.
  7. List the details following the same format as the ones I've added.
  8. Do not list introductory features (like Private Whois for 1 year, etc).
  9. List ICANN-accreditation status.

Some registrars do not include all charges in their advertised price - this practise is misleading, so all mandatory fees & charges associated with registering a .com are included with the price listed here. If a registrar charges additional fees not included in the advertised price, then it should be noted in red so that viewers know prior to clicking that the advertised price on the site is not the full price of the domain.

This list is alphabetical.


1&1
$6.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover or Paypal.
Private Whois.
Email Forwarding.
1GB Email IMAP/POP3.
URL Forwarding.
5-page mini-website.

domainsite.com
$7.99, or $6.99 for "basic registration" which doesn't include full dns control, fowarding or email.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
Code always displayed in CP
Sister site to name.com.

Dynadot
$8.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB, Moneybookers, Cheque, M/O or Paypal.
Ad-revenue parking (shared between you and Dynadot).
Free grace-period deletion (ie full credit returned to register another name with).
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anytime.

GKG
GKG advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$9.78
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discoveror/NOVUS, Cheque, M/O or Wire Transfer.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.

MyDomain.com
MyDomain advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$8.95.
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anytime (delivered through email).

name.com
$7.99, $5.99 for first year and transfers.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Private Whois.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
AUTH Code always displayed in CP.
Sister site to domainsite.com.
Name.com does not sell any other services or have any other fees.

namecheap
$9.29, .info is $4.88.
ICANN accredited. (as of Dec 20, 2007)
Visa, Mastercard or Paypal.
URL Forwarding.
Email Forwarding.

NameSecure
NameSecure advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$9.15.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Master Card, AMEX, Discover, or Diner's Club.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
One-page mini-website.
 
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AUTH Codes:

As far as AUTH codes are concerned - that's the mandatory code you need to give your new registrar to transfer your domain from your old registrar. Some registrars require you phone their support line to obtain it, and others have it always listed in your control panel. As I'm a name.com customer I can see it in my account, and I can reasonably assume their sister-site - domainsite.com does the same. I'll be doing a search in various FAQ's to see if there's instructions on how AUTH codes are obtained; but if you're a customer of one of the above registrars, and you've been a customer long enough to transfer your registered domain (60 days+) then let us know if your AUTH code is displayed or not!

It looks like both RegisterFly and 1&1 display the AUTH code.

Also I would like to add information regarding the speed of the website - for instance, register.com is very slow, and you can't log-in from the main homepage - so they would score lowly; whereas name.com is very fast and there's a log-in form on the home-page so they would score highly.

Okay, about Globat/Domainsarefree:

Globat.com
$8.95, $4.99 for the first year.
Not ICANN-accredited.
Does not accept incoming domain transfers!
Visa, Mastercard, Paypal.
...other features?
Sister site to DomainsAreFree.

DomainsAreFree
$8.99, $3.99 for the first year.
Not ICANN-accredited.
Does not accept incoming domain transfers!
Visa, Mastercard.
Charges extra for URL & Email forwarding.
Sister site to Globat.com.

I'm hesitant to included them because they're not very competitive with other registrars; and don't allow incoming domain transfers - which I feel should be another minimum requirement to be listed on this page.

In both cases I would need confirmation that the above companies do provide full DNS control, and not just setting nameservers.

As for RegisterFly, they include both Private Whois and a decent Website in the domain price, this is good value, so unless their service is not all it seems (and there's complaints from customers), why should we remove it?
 
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I think RegisterFly should be removed from the list due to the massive problems they've had.

I'm moving my domains away from GoDaddy at the moment due to problems with them. So, I don't object to removing them from the list aswell...

Some others to consider:
moniker.com
redregister.com
mydomain.com

(I haven't tried any of those though)
 
Okay thanks Peo. It may also be worth noting the sites that have been consistently low for the last few years.

moniker.com $10.49 Icann Accredited, sister-site domainsystems.com. Perhaps list the sister-site instead, as domains there are $9.95.

I'll have a look at the others when I've got time... thanks for those, I'm sure other people may know of more registrars still.

Jovial - they don't have to have icann accreditation, but we need to list it so that people know which are and which aren't when choosing!
 
Name.com
$5.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
Sister site to DomainSite.com (but cheaper!)
 
Meksilon said:
As for RegisterFly, they include both Private Whois and a decent Website in the domain price, this is good value, so unless their service is not all it seems (and there's complaints from customers), why should we remove it?
Click to expand...

Absolutely horrible company. Seriously, remove them, we don't want anyone using them from a FWS referral.

Need more proof? Do a google search.
 
Ones I use that are okay are Directi, yourwebpoint (sure they are the same, country branded maybe or just the same software - takes a bit of fumbling but works well and reliably), UK based ones are ukreg (like them it's basically fasthosts) and 123-reg (not over the moon asthey list themselves as the 'cheapest' which they are not but not hit any problems yet.

If I had to make a snap choice - I'd reg with yourwebpoint for cost and the fact that it's never taken more than about 10 minutes for a reg'd domain to resolve (their DNS clusters are superb and replication times must be set in seconds ather than minutes or hours) not the usual 72 hours to see it.

Downside is the payment optrions but it's not insurmountable and they are upfront about additional % on using each method, which for me is a geat plus.

Steer clear of uk2.net though - had problems for years with them and had to get nominet involved more than once.

Another + for yourwebpoint - I missed reregistering a domain name and it was actually whois reporting another owner and directing to a drop catcher site, but within the proper guidelines I managed to reregister it (only 1 day out) with no penalties and it immediately came back, whois dns and everything so that for me is a sign of trustworthyness for the company :) they really do follow the rules - unlike whoever took the reg for it and lost it again LOL

Oh prices :) $6-7 for .com/.net/.org $2-4 for others (not including specials like .mobi/.tv) @ directi & yourwebpoint - lot more expensive at the others but they are under good old UK legislaton for tax and vat, sheesh.
 
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For resolving, DomainSite has never taken more than 10 seconds for me :p

Providing I play it right of course.

And Name.com uses the same system, considering the prices I'd say IMO name.com is the best choice.
 
Note to mods: I'm unable to edit my own posts after a certain time-period, this seems to be a standard feature of the forum. I would like to be able to edit my first post in this thread, so if there's any way you can allow me to do so it would be much appreciated!

Hi Colin, the price I listed for name.com is correct, you can see their accurate pricing here (looks like you copied my domainsite listing not realizing I've listed name.com ;)), although please note they do not offer the "basic registration" service offered on DomainSite. Although the above page is not linked anywhere on their site, I can confirm the 1, 2, 5 and 10 year prices are accurate.

DomainSite offers the same service at the same price, with the exception they don't 1. give a first-year discount, or 2. include free private whois (they charge $.50).

Colin, if you're a DomainSite customer, could you please log into your account, click on one of your domains and tell me if the AUTH codes for your domains are listed? This is what it looks like for me in Name.com (obviously I've obscured the code for security): click here.
RE: RegisterFly
Absolutely horrible company.
Click to expand...
Yeah I believe you, Peo said (something like) this too ^^.

I should note that I didn't go with 1&1 in 2004 because I didn't believe their domain prices were sustainable, however it seems I've been proven wrong. They have just raised their price for the first time to $6.99 (it was $5.99/yr when I posted this topic). They've used it as a loss-leader, obviously targeting the budget-consumer by offering them further services at budget prices. What is revealing though is that it has been the other domain registrars who've significantly raised their prices in this time (GoDaddy for example).

I didn't list aplus.net because their pricing seems very sporatic: .com $8.40, .net $7.95, .org $7.95, .info $9.95, .biz $15.90 - as you can see even domains which should be the same price are priced differently!

So I tend to think that name.com/domainsite.com and 1and1.com are the best value at this point; even though we haven't heard from any 1&1 customers here it does seem their system is a fair deal.
 
Peo said:
I think RegisterFly should be removed from the list due to the massive problems they've had.

I'm moving my domains away from GoDaddy at the moment due to problems with them. So, I don't object to removing them from the list aswell...

Some others to consider:
moniker.com
redregister.com
mydomain.com

(I haven't tried any of those though)
Click to expand...

I will say mydomain.com is the best company iv ever used to register and manage domains, I wouldnt buy new domains from anywhere else, and when I buy used domains befor they expire they get moved to mydomain.com account.
Just thought Id say
They accept Visa & paypal dont buy webhosting from them though, its really bad. :p
 
Well, they're guilty of advertising a price that excludes the ICANN fee. Here is their info...

MyDomain.com
MyDomain advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$8.95
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anyutime (through email).
 
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