Top 9 Best Domain Name Registrars – Which to Choose and Why?
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You may be wondering: Why compile a list of the best website domain name registrars? Well, there’s a big surprise waiting for you when you start looking into getting a domain name for your first website — namely, the sheer number of companies (domain registrars) out there.
At the time of writing there were nearly 3,000 accredited domain name registrars in the market — and who knows how many more that are not accredited? So, are all those domain name registrars somehow different, and can one sell you anything that the other can’t?
↪️ Note: thinking of making a WordPress website and not yet decided on hosting? If you’re looking for great value, here’s another post that might be of interest: Top 7 Best Cheap WordPress Hosting Services.
These are the kind of questions we’re going to answer today. Here are the best website domain name registrars to get a domain name…
Table of Contents
How to Pick the Best Website Domain Name Registrar for Your Needs
Right up front, I have to admit that many of the companies featured here offer very similar products, and there’s not a huge difference between them. However, there are still specific factors that make some better than others based on your requirements. Namely, things such as what you want to do with your domain name afterwards, and how you’re planning to launch your website as a whole.
I’ll explain all this in more depth as we discuss individual companies — however, before we get started, here are some general things to keep in mind when picking your domain name registrar:
- Try working with ICANN-accredited domain registrars (this is the official list). ICANN is short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It’s an organization that monitors the domain name market and regulates domain registrars in general. Working with an accredited registrar is generally safer, since you know the company you’ve chosen has been approved by the main regulatory institution. (Note: A company does not need to be ICANN-accredited to be able to sell domain names.)
- Always shop around, and check the price of your desired domain name with multiple registrars. Even though a given domain name may seem like the same product, and so shouldn’t be priced differently with different registrars, that’s not actually the case. The price differences can be huge. Just to give you an example, a
.designdomain is $29.99 with GoDaddy, but only $6.88 with Namecheap. - If you want a country-specific domain name (eg a
.dedomain for the German market), then always check the prices with local domain registrars in the country. - If your next step after getting the domain is to launch a website on it — using WordPress or otherwise — then consider getting both the domain name and a hosting plan from the same company. This sort of setup requires a lot less work on your part and is much more manageable in the long run, especially if you don’t want to have to deal with the technical aspects of working with domain names (stuff like DNS settings, domain redirection to your website, and so on).
- Always think about what else you need apart from the domain name itself. If privacy and security are important aspects to you, check which registrars have good offers on SSL certificates, plus what other services they offer alongside domain registration. You can often find great deals on various service bundles from some registrars.
The 9 Best Website Domain Name Registrars
In semi-random order.
1. GoDaddy
GoDaddy are the leader of the domain names market overall. According to current data, they have more than 54 million domain names under their belt, which translates into a market share of around 16%.
- GoDaddy are an ICANN-accredited company.
- They operate worldwide, offer all classic domain name extensions (TLDs), all major country-specific domain extensions, and a huge number of new generic TLDs (such as
.blog). - They also offer domain auctions, where you can get your hands on existing domain names that have been registered by other people in the past.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with GoDaddy:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $11.99* | $11.99 | $7.99 | $11.99 | $0.99 | $9.99 |
*GoDaddy often have some nice promos letting you buy a .com at $0.99 for the first year.
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- WHOIS privacy — $7.99 a year.
- Independent email accounts from $4.49 a month.
- Managed hosting built for WordPress from $6.99 a month.
- Standard hosting from $4.99 a month.
- SSL certificate from $55.99 a year.
- Access to a website builder tool — free for the first month, then $14.99 a month.
- Access to an online store module — free for the first month, then $29 a month.
2. Namecheap
Namecheap is the second largest domain registrar, with over 10.5 million domains under management — giving them a martket share of around 3%.
- Nevertheless, Namecheap are an ICANN-accredited company, and they’re gaining a lot of momentum in the marketplace because of affordable pricing across their whole range of TLDs, as well as other services such as hosting or SSL certificates.
- Namecheap offer all classic domain name extensions, most country-specific domain extensions (not all of them, though), and a good number of new generic TLDs at really good prices.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with Namecheap:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $8.88 | $12.88 | $12.48 | $6.88 | – | $0.88 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- WHOIS privacy package free of charge.
- One integrated email account for free. Additional accounts at $0.25 a month.
- Shared hosting from $9.88 for the first year.
- VPS hosting from $11.88 a month.
- SSL certificate from $1.99 for the first year.
- PremiumDNS from $4.88 a year.
3. Enom
Enom are the silver medalist when it comes to market leadership — right behind GoDaddy. Currently, they take care of around 12 million domain names, which gives them a market share of 3.6% overall.
- Enom are an ICANN-accredited company, and they have branches all over the globe with different sister companies set up to manage different country markets.
- They offer all classic domain name extensions and a very good range of new generic TLDs (such as
.news,.social), but, unfortunately, they only have a handful of country-specific TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with Enom:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $13.95 | $16.57 | $14.75 | $32.50 | $12.99 | $19.99 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- G Suite from Google Cloud from $4.75 a month.
- WHOIS privacy — $8 a year.
- SSL certificates from $12.95 a year.
- Access to a site builder from $5.99 a month.
- Shared hosting from $5.96 a month.
4. OVH
OVH are a French company, operating as one of the leading domain name registrars in the EU. They take care of around 1.8 million domain names, which translates into a market share of 0.5%.
- OVH are an ICANN-accredited company. However, they do not offer domain name registration to US customers: They devote most of their resources to serving the EU market, and also a couple of countries in Africa.
- That being said, they do offer all classic domain extensions, all European country-specific TLDs (plus some country-specific TLDs outside the old continent), and also a nice range of new generic TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with OVH:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £6.11 | £9.99 | £8.78 | £20.39 | £0.99 | £9.99 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- ‘Personal’ hosting from £1.69 a month.
- ‘Professional’ hosting from £4.69 a month.
- VPS hosting from £11.99 a month.
- Automatic WordPress installation on your hosting account.
- Free emails with web hosting packages.
- Office 365 from £6.79 a month.
- Free SSL gateway.
5. 1and1
1and1 are one of the bigger domain name registrars, with more than 5.5 million domain names under their care, giving them a market share of 1.6%. The company was established in Germany, but they operate in a handful of countries around the globe.
- 1and1 are an ICANN-accredited company.
- They offer all classic TLDs, some country-specific TLDs (but, interestingly, you need to switch between their different local stores to access those TLDs), and a wide range of new generic TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with 1and1:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.99 | $8.99 | $0.99 | $6.99 | $9.99 | $3.99 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- All-in-one web package for $7.99 a month, including:
- basic web hosting
- one-click WordPress installs from 1and1’s app-center
- 100 email accounts.
- Basic WordPress hosting from $0.99 a month.
- Managed hosting from $9.99 a month.
- Office 365 from $6.99 a month.
6. Domain.com
Domain.com are a well-known domain registrar — you may have stumbled across one of their ads in your favorite podcast, or seen a YouTube sponsorship of theirs. With more than 2.4 million domain names registered, they have a market share of around 0.7%.
- Domain.com are an ICANN-accredited company.
- They offer all classic TLDs, some country-specific TLDs around the globe, and some of the more interesting new generic TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with Domain.com:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9.99 | $10.99 | $14.99 | $11.99 | $14.99 | $10.99 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- SSL Certificates from $31.99 a year.
- G Suite by Google Cloud from $4.17 a month.
- WordPress hosting from $3.75 a month.
- VPS hosting from $29.70 a month.
7. Register.com
Register.com have been around since 1994, and are one of the first five companies accredited by ICANN. Currently, Register.com take care of 2.2 million domain names, which gives them a market share of 0.6%.
- Register.com are an ICANN-accredited company.
- They offer all classic TLDs, a wide selection of country-specific TLDs, and many new generic TLDs. In total, they offer more than 300 TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with Register.com:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $8.88 | $11.41 | $10.23 | $26 | undisclosed | undisclosed |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- WHOIS privacy package from $11 a year.
- Domain expiration protection at $10 apiece.
- Standard hosting from $5.95 a month.
- SSL certificates from $24 a year.
- Single-user basic email from $39.90 a year.
- Multi-user business email (10 addresses) from $169.90 a year.
- Additional website builder tools available for standard websites and ecommerce stores.
8. DreamHost
DreamHost are a web hosting firm first of all. However, they do also offer domain registration — in addition to a variety of high-quality web hosting services. This makes them a good one-stop solution if you know you’re going to be creating a website soon after getting the domain.
- DreamHost are an ICANN-accredited company.
- They’re one of just four officially recommended hosts by WordPress.org, which makes them a great option for hosting WordPress sites.
- They offer all classic TLDs, plus a handful of country-specific TLDs, and a big number of new generic TLDs. In total, that’s more than 400 TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with DreamHost:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $11.95 | $13.95 | $13.95 | $24.95 | $2.95 | $19.99 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- Free WHOIS privacy package.
- Free basic hosting with every domain, plus a click-to-edit website builder called Remixer (DreamHost’s own creation).
- Shared WordPress hosting from $7.95 a month.
- Managed WordPress hosting from $16.95 a month.
- CDN services from 12¢ a GB.
- Free ‘Let’s Encrypt’ SSL certificates supported.
9. SiteGround
Much like DreamHost, SiteGround are primarily a web hosting company. They’ve made a name for themselves through their rock-solid WordPress hosting offerings and affordable pricing. And, as you would have guessed, they offer domain registration as well. This makes them a great alternative if you want to get your domain name and web hosting from a single place for convenience.
- SiteGround are the only company on this list that are not ICANN-accredited (or at least I couldn’t find them on ICANN’s list).
- They are, however, one of the four officially recommended web hosts by WordPress.org.
- They offer all classic TLDs, a handful of country-specific TLDs (some of which are not commonly available with many of the other domain registrars featured on this list), plus more than 30 new generic TLDs.
Here are the prices of some of the more popular TLDs with SiteGround:
| .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $14.95 | $14.95 | $14.95 | $29.95 | $12.95 | $14.95 |
Here’s a list of the additional services offered:
- WHOIS privacy package from $12 a year.
- ‘SG Site Scanner’ — for threat monitoring and protection from hackers — from $19.80 a year.
- WordPress hosting for a single website from $3.95 a month.
- WordPress hosting for multiple websites from $5.95 a month.
- Hosting accounts optimized to run WordPress (including perks such as SuperCacher, automatic updates, WordPress staging, WP-CLI enabled, pre-installed Git).
- Free ‘Let’s Encrypt’ SSL certificates supported.
Best Places to Register Website Domain Names… Your Choice?
Picking the best domain registrar for your needs is an important step on your way to a successful website. Preferably, you want to make such a decision only once, and then keep coming back to that favorite registrar in the future for every new domain name you may need.
So, if all goes well, this is not only about the best places to register brand new website domain names, but, potentially, about the last website domain registrar you’ll ever need.
The registrars presented in this article are all top-league, so to speak, and they’re all more than capable of providing you with your desired domain name and then taking care of it throughout your website’s lifespan. The difference, however, is in the details…
Based on the specific additional elements or services you require, such as hosting, added SSL security, and so on, one company may be better or more affordable than another. So, give this list a good look and pick which of the companies is the perfect fit for your needs.
Just to make that easier, here’s a quick-glance pricing comparison for some of the more popular TLDs:
| Registrar | .com | .net | .org | .co | .xyz | .club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy | $11.99 | $11.99 | $7.99 | $11.99 | $0.99 | $9.99 |
| Namecheap | $10.69 | $12.88 | $12.48 | $6.88 | – | $0.88 |
| Enom | $13.95 | $16.57 | $14.75 | $32.50 | $12.99 | $19.99 |
| OVH | £6.11 | £9.99 | £8.78 | £20.39 | £0.99 | £9.99 |
| 1and1 | $0.99 | $8.99 | $0.99 | $6.99 | $9.99 | $3.99 |
| Domain.com | $9.99 | $10.99 | $14.99 | $11.99 | $14.99 | $10.99 |
| Register.com | $8.88 | $11.41 | $10.23 | $26 | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| DreamHost | $11.95 | $13.95 | $13.95 | $24.95 | $2.95 | $19.99 |
| SiteGround | $14.95 | $14.95 | $14.95 | $29.95 | $12.95 | $14.95 |
Which do you think is the best domain name registrar? And why?
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