As everyone knows a domain name can take a project to a whole new level but there is one problem is however. It is not easy to find the "best" domain registrar.
For that reason, I have created this list of the Best Domain Name Registrars 2017 (Updated May 2017). This list is based on my personal experience with these registrars as well as hours of researches online.
Best domain registrar for the year 2017
There are various forms of services out there that offers domain name registration from a brand-new domain registration, domain marketplaces, to web hosting packages (a perfect choice if you are also looking to build a website).Below, I’ve listed out all the best domain name registrar options to fit your needs. Alright, let the ranking begin.
1. NameCheap - The best domain registrar
Cost: $1-$15/year
Official Website: namecheap.com
There is, of course, a reason why NameCheap is so popular and nominated for so many awards from site reviews to users’ votes. NameCheap made a name for itself for its’ wide range of TLD offers (such as .tech, .club, .world and more), reasonable and up-front price, user-friendly interface and top-notch support.
This is my domain registrar of choice, where I register a number of domain names, including Bloggingthing.com. So far, I’m loving the ease-of-use and fast, dedicated support.
You can also buy SSL certificates to protect your sites at very reasonable prices. They offer an outstanding 24/7 live chat support to help you. You can go with them without any doubt to pick your blog name.
Aside from domain names, NameCheap also offers Shared Hosting, Reseller hosting, VPS hosting, Dedicated servers and Email hosting at cheap prices. Their domain management system is very flexible. In 2010 to 2015 Namecheap was selected as a best domain name registrar at Lifehacker poll.
As for their technical support, NameCheap is know to be on-time and super efficient, you can contact them for support through live chat, support ticket or phone available at all times. In my experience you can easily reach an online support team member within minutes. Other than that, NameCheap also has a wealth of knowledge base that you can sift through on their site to find the solution to common issues on your own. With their efficient and affordable service, NameCheap is my most recommended domain registrar!
2. BlueHost – A solid hosting package
Cost: Web hosting package, starts at $3.95 per monthOfficial Website: BlueHost.com
As of 2017, BlueHost went another mile in offering free SSL certificate on all WordPress downloads and configure account to PHP 7, giving users faster performance and added security. Recommended by big dog WordPress itself, BlueHost is a great choice if you are planning to start your website on this platform. BlueHost not only offers top of the industry hosting but also a free domain name to go with it which can help you save up a little on buying your domain name separately.
Used and loved by many movers and shakers like Pat Flynn, Michael Hyatt and Ramsay Taplin, you can rely on BlueHost to give you the best hosting experiences. A perfect choice if you are looking for an affordable WordPress hosting and a free domain name.
BlueHost offers technical support 24/7, everyday, every year, including the holidays, so you can always get help anytime you need whether via direct call, email or chat. They also have a ticketing support system available, whichever way you prefer. If you are looking for a reliable and user-friendly hosting package (with a one year free domain name!), then BlueHost is definitively a top choice.
3. iPage – Great for small website projects
Cost: Web hosting package, starts at $1.99 per monthOfficial Website: iPage.com
Like BlueHost, although iPage is not a pure domain registrar, they offer great web hosting packages starting at as low as $1.99 per month. The best thing about iPage is you can register a free domain when using their affordable hosting service, which is a great deal for individual bloggers and small startups.
iPage claim to provide 99% server uptime for all shared hosting packages, which makes them one of the cheapest and most solid host out there. They offer many services such as SiteLock security, Site Analytics, Daily Spam and Malware scanning, and more.
Like BlueHost, iPage is not solely a domain registrar service but also a hosting package with a free domain name to boost. iPage is one of the cheapest hosting experience at the cheapest of prices starting at only $1.99 per month. This makes iPage a bargain for lean startups who wants to save up on their site and domain names or a personal blogger to share their interests for an affordable price.
Founded in 1998, iPage also has their own domain name search portal that allows you to quickly find the best domain names available. They also provide a guide on new Top Level Domain Names (TLDs), as a new one seems to be popping out every few days.
There is a reason iPage is famed as one of the most affordable hosting provider on the internet for their extremely low starting price of $1.99 per month, iPage still kept up with its’ quality. And offering various features such as free SiteLock security, Site Analytics, Yellow Page listing, Daily Spam and Malware scanning and more. On top of that, iPage also offers a free domain name to go with your host.
iPage’s support can be reached via a ticketing system, live chat or phone which are all available 24/7 to serve all customers from everywhere in the world. I’ve used iPage before and found their support service in time (it only takes 1 day to get a reply from their ticketing system) and very dedicated.
4. 1and1 – Some of the cheapest domain registrar
Cost: Starts at $0.99 first year, then $15 per yearOfficial Website: 1and1.com
Founded in 1988, 1and1 is another cheap and well-known domain selling company. What’s unique about 1and1 is their insanely cheap starting price of only $1 to $2 for first year domain name registrations with exclusive discounts on web hosting plans.
1and1 is currently handling 19 million registered domains for both individuals and and businesses globally in 2017 and still growing. Other than domain names, 1and1 also offers Linux and Windows hosting, virtual servers, dedicated servers, email and eCommerce solutions and more.
1and1 offers possibly the most mind-blowing domain name offers ever, starting at only $1 to $2 your first year. Founded back in the late 80s, 1and1 has steadily established itself as a domain name registrar and hosting service that offers the lowest price of all without taxing too hard on their quality (of course, you get what you pay for this prevails so 1and1 is not as good as, say NameCheap, in terms of service).
Founded in 1988, 1and1 is another cheap and well-known domain selling company. What’s unique about 1and1 is their insanely cheap starting price of only $1 to $2 for first year domain name registrations with exclusive discounts on web hosting plans.
As of date, 1and1 is currently handling over 19 million domain names for both private and business uses all over the world and still steadily growing. 1and1 also offers complete packages of hosting services via Linux and Windows along with virtual servers, dedicated servers as well as email and eCommerce solutions.
Looking for some cheap WordPress hosting and domain registrar with low introductory prices; Here is the 1and1, the great domain registrar with hosting solutions. They offer free domain extensions like “.info” and “.website” etc. And if you need “.com” domain then they charge just $0.99 for the first year.
Not only domains they also offer the wide category of products. These products are related to web hosting, site builder and templates, e-commerce, marketing and MS products, etc. You can choose a hosting with site builder to design your own template or cPanel based hosting. The basic plan “Unlimited” which offer plenty of resources. You can host unlimited domains on the single account as it includes unlimited storage. This plan also includes SSL certificate.
The company claims to offer 24/7 support services. But there is no support channel other than the phone call. Yes, the phone call is a quick way to interact. But the people who may not be good in English speaking or outside the US may find it difficult for assistance. So keep in mind before signing up their services.
5. InMotion Hosting – A reliable web hosting package
Cost: Web hosting package, starts at $5.99 per monthOfficial Website: InMotionHosting.com
Amassing over 35 awards throughout the years from authoritative sites like CNET, InMotion Hosting is widely known for their outstanding service, secure web transactions, and best business practices. InMotion Hosting offers web hosting, domain names registration, site building tools, and many useful things.
InMotion doesn’t fail to deliver on their promises for outstanding customer support as well as solid hosting performance by offering up to 90 days (that’s 3 months!) of money back guarantee. This means that if you are unsatisfied by InMotion’s service in anyways, you can get your money back, no questions asked.
As far as support goes, you can reach an InMotion support team member by the widest array of options from Skype, live chat directly from their site, international phone number or emails. Whichever way you choose, there is always someone from the team to assist you whether you are in need of setting up your domain name to other technical needs.
In addition to their hosting packages, InMotion offers domain name services for $14.99 per year along with other services like hiding your domain registration from public viewing via WHOIS Guard for only $9.99 per year which is a little bit more expensive than other pure domain registrar. The perks of buying a domain name with InMotion, though, is that, coupled with their hostings, you’ll get a great package that’s setup-free and InMotion’s performance more than make up for the $2 difference!
6. HostGator – Solid and affordable best domain registrar
Official Website: HostGator.com
Currently hosting over 9,000,000 sites, Hostgator is a massive domain registrar as well as hosting provider company. Founded in 2002, HostGator provides super affordable hosting plans which you can purchase at as low as $4 to $5 per month packaged with a free domain name. HostGator is reliable as a solid grounding for bandwidth-heavy sites.
In no time, Hostgator had established themselves in the hosting world with their affordable and rock-solid performance that’s both robust enough for big sites and cheap enough for smaller ones. Soon, Hostgator started offering domain names alongside their other services, starting at $12.59 per year, considering that Hostgator will help you setup everything and connect your domain names and host without you ever having to meddle with it, it’s a great price.
Hostgator is especially perfect if you want all your website in the same place, it’s both a satisfying, affordable domain registrar and hosting service. They also offer a great around the clock customer support system, all 24 hours and 7 days a week as well as a toll-free number, live chat and ticketing support that allows you to reach for help anytime you need.
7. GoDaddy – Best known domain registrar ever.
Official Website: GoDaddy.com
Godaddy is another domain registrar that also offers web hosting services. Established in 1997, and originally known as Jomax Technologies, Godaddy is now the world’s largest domain registrar company.
A unique feature to GoDaddy is their domain recommendation tool, that helps you brainstorm for the best names via keywords.
While I don’t recommend GoDaddy because of their upsells, they are worth mentioning as one of the more popular registrar in the world that offers .com domain names for $9.99 per year (or $7 if you transfer from another registrar). GoDaddy also offers .us, .biz, .info, .net, .org, .ws, .name, .tv, .co.uk, .me.uk and .org.uk, etc.
Their hosting plans start from $4.99/ month that is same as Bluehost and Hostgator. Godaddy is best for buying the domain name, according to my personal research their hosting service is not much good in past days.
8. Name.com – Reputable domain registrar
Official Website: Name.com
Founded in 2003 by Bill Mushkin, Name.com is a well known company and having great reputations in the field of domain registration as well as web hosting. With their hosting plans starting at as low as $4.99 per month, and domain registration price starting at $10.99 per year. Name.com offers the great number of services such as domain registration, website builder, one-click WordPress install, email services, and much more.
As the SSL is crucial especially for the e-commerce websites which is a security protocol to protect the customer’s information. You can easily enable it by few clicks and it will cost $9.99/year. To protect your info you need WHOIS Guard which will cost $4.99. So by spending merely few dollars, they provide you the secure way to go online.
They also offer SEO and hosting related products. Through SEO tutor they will provide you competitors key information and the suggestion to increase your site visibility. The hosting plan comes with free SSL certificate and 100GB bandwidth. Furthermore, you can establish unlimited FTP accounts.
As the SSL is crucial especially for the e-commerce websites which is a security protocol to protect the customer’s information. You can easily enable it by few clicks and it will cost $9.99/year. To protect your info you need WHOIS Guard which will cost $4.99. So by spending merely few dollars, they provide you the secure way to go online.
They also offer SEO and hosting related products. Through SEO tutor they will provide you competitors key information and the suggestion to increase your site visibility. The hosting plan comes with free SSL certificate and 100GB bandwidth. Furthermore, you can establish unlimited FTP accounts.
9. Register.com – One of the oldest domain registrar
Official Website: Register.com
Register.com founded in 1994 and currently managing million of websites and blogs on their hosting platform. Trusted by millions, Register.com is also an awesome domain registrar that is why millions of people trust on this company. Their services are rocking and 24 live support is just outstanding. You can buy or register your web address easily on register.com at lowest prices. Register.com offers following facilities Domain Registration, Shared and Dedicated Hosting, Email services, Online Marketing, eCommerce, and SSL service.
Couple that with their 24/7 support services, you can be sure to always find your ways with Register.com.
In addition, Register.com has also started offering a feature-rich hosting services with unlimited bandwidth and 300BG. Though they are still new in the industry so I wouldn’t recommend hosting your site here.
10. DreamHost – Affordable registrar and hosting
Cost: $11.95 per year
Official Website: DreamHost.com
Official Website: DreamHost.com
DreamHost is some of the more popular domain registrar and web hosting service. You can buy a domain name at a reasonable price of $11.95/ year, and web hosting $8.95 per month. While this is a little more costly than BlueHost or iPage, where you can get a domain name for free, DreamHost made it up with their quality service and solid hosting.
Another great thing about Dreamhost is their lengthen money back guarantee offer of up to 97 days, which allows you to fully experience their service, risk free.
Further showing confidence in their service, DreamHost is also well praised for their customer service team which you can reach at anywhere, anytime from emails, to phone to Twitter.
Another great thing about Dreamhost is their lengthen money back guarantee offer of up to 97 days, which allows you to fully experience their service, risk free.
Further showing confidence in their service, DreamHost is also well praised for their customer service team which you can reach at anywhere, anytime from emails, to phone to Twitter.
Why do you need a domain name?
Getting your own domain name is basically to purchase your web address (ending with a domain extension of choice, like .com, .net, .org etc.) through an organisation like ICANN, short for The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
For example, if you want a domain name like domain-name.com, you’ll go to an intermediate domain registrar, like NameCheap, and pay them an yearly price to register and maintain that domain name for you (given that no one has ever used that domain name, or else you’ll have to purchase it directly from the owner — which can be very expensive). After you’ve registered, you’ll get all benefits that comes with having a domain name such as give you credibility as a brand, as a business or as an individual. We’ll take someone who’s domain name is domain-name.com over domain-name.tumblr.com, don’t we?
It’s much less tedious for your and your audience to type into your browser.
And the best part is that all new domain names cost the same. So even if you found a super compelling name. It’s yours, for only $10!
And the best part is that all new domain names cost the same. So even if you found a super compelling name. It’s yours, for only $10!