Buying Domain Names

A while back I posted about a good web space provider and today I decide d I would post about a good domain name provider. Although most hosts nowadays provide you with a free domain once you sign up, I for example have around 30 domains for a whole bunch of various sites of mine so I need a good domain provider where I could manage my domains and not pay an arm and a leg every time a domain renewal comes up.

For the longest time I had been using Directnic for my domain management and purchases. I started using them back in 2000 when they first launched. They were one of the first companies to offer domains for only $15 a year (before that domains cost a lot more). I never had any kind of problem with them but they also never really expanded their services. Six years later there are now many other sites that offer domains for much cheaper then $15 a year and with more features, so I decided to find another domain manager.

My first two options that came up were Joker.com and GoDaddy.com. For some reason I always had a negative impression about Joker plus they sell domains at 12$ a year while GoDaddy is $9 a year, so I went with GoDaddy. After transferring one domain name to them I realized GoDaddy really sucked. Their domain management interface was just awful and unintuitive. Not only that but whatever you wanted to do, buy a new domain name, transfer an old domain name, whatever you want to do they always seem to be trying to sell you stuff. I really hated how pushy they were.

I hated my experience with GoDaddy and I had only one domain there, I started looking for another domain provider and I found NameCheap. I have now been using NameCheap for a few months and I have transferred nearly all my domains there. The interface is fast, simple and practical to use. Their prices are also cheap, they sell domains for $8.88 and they have had this offer now for a couple of months where if you register or transfer a domain name they give you WhoisGuard for free. WhoisGuard keeps your domains anonymous which is pretty handy.

My experience with Directnic was great and I never had any bad experience with them. Customer service was always prompt and helpful but in the end of the day they weren’t offering me much for my money. The WhoisGuard option isn’t even available with them. GoDaddy was just a total diaster and I would never recommend them to anyone. NameCheap is now my new domain manager and I really like them a lot. I haven’t contacted customer service yet about any issues so I don’t know if that department is any good but everything else has just been working out flawlessly and the site is the quickest of the bunch to load. I would definitely recommend them.