You can buy domain names from a number of different registrars, but in essence they all provide the same service. (ie) They allow you to have a unique domain name that people can see around the world.
So if all of the registrars do the same thing, then how do you decide which one is the best for you?
Well, for me it comes down to these two things.
- The ease and functionality of the back office (ie) how easy is it for me to make changes.
- And the obvious – Price.
Ease of Use
Notice I listed Price second in the list above and it ain’t a mistake. I believe that functionality trumps price and I’ll tell you why.
You are going to find that once you buy a domain from a certain registrar that you will probably continue to use them for all of your domain purchases. Simply because you’ll become familiar with how the back office is setup and how the payment structure works.
Therefore, having really good functionality in the back office helps you to not only make purchases easier, but also save you a lot of time.
Price
Obviously, price is a big consideration too, but to me it is not as important as ease of use. Having said that, when I had to purchase 300 domains for a project I go them from 1&1, because they had a special and the domains were selling for $1 each.
But when there isn’t a special then the registrar I use is Dynadot, They are competitively priced in the market place at $9.99 for dot com extentions, but they have a really good back office, so it makes registering a domain name really easy.
Dynadot
These guys are currently my favorite, because it is so easy to make changes in the back office
Namecheap
I have registrared over 300 domains with them in the past and they are really good. If I wasn’t with Dynadot then I would probably be with Namecheap.
Godaddy
Too many upsells and their prices seem to be way higher than everyone else. I renewed a domain name there yesterday and it cost $14.99, where as Dynadot cost $9.99 for dot com renewals.
1 & 1
You can sometimes, pick up domain names from 1&1 for less than $1, however I have found the back end to be a pin in the ass to manage. But if you are buying over 100 domains then they might be a good choice.