5 Best Domain Name Registrars | See the Top Choices

Domain Name Registrar Comparison

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The most important factors when it comes to domain name registration are affordability, security, and support. So, before we discuss each of our top five registrars in detail, we’ll give you a quick snapshot of how they all perform in the areas that count:

Domain.com

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Best value for money

Domain.com is one of the best-known domain name registrars out there, and it currently powers over 1.2 million websites around the world. Domain.com offers a thorough amount of features that give customers comprehensive control over their domain names.

Pricing

All domain name registrars offer cheap introductory prices, but every domain name then renews at a regular, more expensive rate. Domain.com’s cheapest introductory price is for the domain name extension .date, which starts at $2.99/year.

We’re betting you probably want a more conventional domain extension than .date, so we’ve covered the most popular options below:

Features

Domain.com doesn’t skimp on features. Here’s what comes for free with the purchase of any domain:

• URL forwarding – also known as redirecting, this makes a web page available under more than one URL address, so that you can forward visitors on to a new website.
• Email forwarding – the ability to create an email address specific to your domain, like maura@ websitebuildingguide.com.
• Total DNS management – hands-on control over your domain portfolios.

Help and Support

Domain.com offers excellent customer service options, including 24/7 live chat and phone support. You can also use Domain.com’s searchable knowledge base to find written answers to your questions, although there are currently only 53 domain-related articles in the search results. But it’s good to know that if you don’t find what you’re looking for there, someone will be happy to take your questions over the phone instead.

Security

Domain.com offers free Transfer Lock security, which prevents a domain from getting stolen or deleted. A free, basic SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate also comes with domain registration. SSL certificates protect your site visitors’ information, and make your website more trustworthy in turn.

If you’re looking for extra security features, the more powerful SSL certificates start at $3.00/month. You can also purchase Domain.com’s “Domain Privacy + Protection” plan, which includes malware scans to protect your website from hackers, and also keeps your personal information invisible in the public WHOIS domain name database. This privacy and protection plan costs $8.99/year for each domain name.

NameCheap

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Best for security

NameCheap manages millions of domain names for over 500,000 customers, and it aims to make buying and transferring domain names as easy as possible.

Pricing

NameCheap often offers special deals, where certain domains are as cheap as $1-2/year, so there are definitely ways to save with this registrar. But let’s take a look at NameCheap’s most popular options at their regular prices:

Features

When you register a NameCheap domain, you’ll immediately have access to an account panel dashboard that makes managing your domain name(s) organized and easy. URL forwarding and one free email address is also included.

NameCheap lets you try email forwarding free for two months, after which you’ll need to choose a paid email plan. The cheapest email plan is the Starter plan at $11.88/year, which includes 5GB of storage.

Help and Support

NameCheap offers 24/7 live chat and an email ticketing system, so you can get in touch with a representative at any time. That said, NameCheap does not currently offer phone support.

There is also a Support Center that offers articles and how-to videos to help you get set up.

Security

Free security features are where NameCheap stands out from the crowd. When you purchase a NameCheap domain, you get free privacy protection for life, so you don’t need to worry about your data becoming visible in the WHOIS database. You also get free DNSSEC (“Domain Name System security”) security, which protects both you and your website visitors from fraudulent activity.

Bluehost

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Best for all-in-one convenience

Bluehost is a very well known web hosting provider that also excels as a domain name registrar. Domains come free for one year when you sign up to a hosting plan, and Bluehost also includes free SSL certificates with its domain names, so it’s a great choice if you don’t want to end up making purchases from a third party.

Pricing

Bluehost has some pretty cheap deals, including the “.website” extension, which you can get for $1.99/year. Now for a look at Bluehost’s most popular options:

Features

Bluehost offers an easy-to-use control panel, from which you can manage your domain name(s).

You can also enable auto-renewal when you purchase a domain name, which means that you won’t have to remember to manually renew your domain each year and risk losing it. While auto-renewal might be a convenient option for some, we don’t recommend it if you’re not fully confident that you’ll want to renew your domain after the first year.

Help and Support

Bluehost offers 24/7 phone and live chat support, with a team of over 750 support staff ready to help you out. And if you prefer learning on your own time, Bluehost’s searchable knowledge base is one of the most extensive that we’ve seen.

Security

Every Bluehost domain comes with Domain Lock security, which prevents unauthorized transfers (you can unlock your domain at any time if you do need to transfer it). And as we mentioned earlier, Bluehost domains come with an SSL certificate included.

HostGator

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Best for ease of use

HostGator is another giant of the web hosting industry that doubles as a domain name registrar.

Pricing

If you aren’t picky about domain extensions, you’ll save a huge amount of money with HostGator. For example, you can get .site for an introductory price of $0.95/year.

When it comes to popular domains, HostGator’s prices are pretty middle-of-the-pack. As you’ll see, they’re pretty consistent:

Features

HostGator’s Domain Control Panel is an easy to use dashboard that lets you organize and manage your domains. In addition to the control panel, HostGator also provides auto renewal, and makes domain transfers as simple as possible.

Help and Support

HostGator offers 24/7 live chat and phone support, so you’ll always have a representative to speak to if need be. In addition, HostGator offers a treasure trove of video tutorials and informative articles to browse.

Security

HostGator provides domain locking, so your domain names will be safe from unauthorized transfer. Of course, you can “unlock” your domain if you ever want to transfer it yourself.

HostGator charges $14.95/year for Domain Privacy Protection, but if you choose to pay for it, then your personal information will be invisible in the WHOIS domain database.

DreamHost

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Best for domain transferring

DreamHost is another hosting provider/domain name registrar mix, and it offers over 400 TLDs to choose from.

Pricing

DreamHost offers good deals on its domains, with prices as low as $0.99/year for .club and $0.89/year for .xyz. Here’s a look at pricing for the most popular options:

Features

DreamHost stands out from the pack for a few reasons, one being the unlimited subdomains that you get with any domain purchase. In addition, DreamHost’s simple control panel lets you manage domains, edit DNS records, and set up domain forwarding, all from a single page.

Help and Support

DreamHost is great for features and domain transferring, but if help and support are top priority, then it may not be your best bet. You can’t contact DreamHost directly over the phone, although you can elect to receive a call back in response to an email ticket.

Live chat support with a real customer service representative is available from 5:30AM-9:30PM PT. DreamHost also offers 24/7 live chat, although you’ll be chatting to a bot if you choose to go down this route.

DreamHost’s knowledge base is a great asset to its support services, with over 450 articles relating to domain names. In addition to these articles written in-house, DreamHost also provides a community forum where you can hear directly from other customers about their experiences.

Security

DreamHost includes privacy protection with every domain purchase, so you can have peace of mind knowing that your information is not visible in the WHOIS database. This privacy protection also applies to transferred domains, and it renews automatically!

How to Choose a Domain Name Registrar

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Now that you know your options, you may be wondering how to choose the best registrar for you. There are a lot of factors you could consider, but some are more important than others. We think the factors covered above – support and security, for example – are uncompromisable. That said, there are a few other factors to keep in mind:

Introductory and renewal prices

We’ve mentioned that introductory prices will often be misleading, so it’s important to check a registrar’s renewal prices before you purchase anything. And while those cheap introductory prices usually only last for the first year, a lot of registrars offer different renewal pricing plans that depend on the time frame you sign up for. You could pay less per year when you purchase a domain for five years in advance instead of two, for example.

Domain transfer policy

As a rule, you can’t transfer a domain in the first 60 days after registration. Once that time frame is up, you’re free to move your domain name to a different registrar. It’s easy to overlook transfer policies when signing up for a registrar that you like, but in case you ever want to switch down the road, it’s best to make sure you won’t be paying more than you need to.

Most registrars will let you transfer domains without any additional fees, but not all, so this is something to keep in mind during the signup process!

Domain expiration policy

When you purchase a domain name, you purchase it for a specific amount of time, usually 1-5 years (10 years is the maximum that you can purchase in advance). You can renew your domain name before its expiration date, but if you forget to do so, then the domain name expires and becomes fair game to anyone.

To make sure this doesn’t happen, you can set up auto-renewal for your domain name. But if you’re not comfortable with auto-renewal charges, either, then it’s worth looking into your registrar’s expiration policy. Some registrars offer a grace period after expiration, where they’ll hold a domain for you.

Add-ons

A domain name is only one of the many tools that are needed to build a website. Other tools, like SSL certificates and web hosting, can be purchased separately from other providers. But some domain name registrars offer more than just domain name registration, and if convenience is important to you, then it’s worth choosing a platform that can offer multiple tools in one package.

You can end up saving a lot of money this way, too. Registrars like Domain.com offer basic SSL certificates for free, while registrars like NameCheap offer SSL certificates at an additional cost – which is still more convenient than having to purchase from a third party. Similarly, if you decide to purchase a web hosting plan with Bluehost, then you’ll get free domain registration (or transfer) for the first year.

How to Buy a Domain Name

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So, you’ve chosen the best domain name registrar, and you’re ready to finally get started. The first step is searching your registrar for the domain name you want. Most registrars will have a search bar on their homepage, like so:

If the domain name you want is available, then great! And if it’s not, the registrar will give you some alternative suggestions:

…some are a little more expensive than others.

Now comes the part where you’ll need to pay attention. At checkout, different time frames and add-ons may be preselected for you, so you’ll want to keep an eye out to make sure you’re not paying for anything you don’t want or need. This is what our checkout screen with Domain.com initially looked like:

Most people do choose to purchase domain privacy and protection, but preselection can still be frustrating. If we only wanted our .tech domain name for one year, with no add-ons, we’d have to do some switching around to get this:

But check out the significant price drop!

It’s all pretty much standard billing and payment information from there.

Best Domain Name Registrars: Summary

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Domain name registration is a straightforward process, but there are a lot of options on the market. To recap, these are the top registrars to choose from, all of which offer security, support, and affordability:

5 Best Domain Name Registrars

1. Domain.com – starts at $9.99/year.
2. NameCheap – starts at $8.88/year.
3. Bluehost – starts at $11.99/year.
4. HostGator – starts at $12.95/year.
5. DreamHost – starts at $6.99/year.

If all you’re looking for is a domain, rather than an all-in-one toolkit, then Domain.com has got you covered with a wide range of options at low prices. If you’d rather the convenience of purchasing a domain, SSL certificate, and web host all from the same provider, then Bluehost has everything you need to succeed.