List of cheap domain registrars

[Meksilon]

I've compiled a list (correct as of Jan 2008), of cheap registrars. All are believed to be reputable, but as always it is best to ask around and seek advice from others. If you would like to suggest adding a new site to the list, or notice any errors/out of date prices/features feel free to reply with your suggestion, or to send me a private message.

These are the guideline I've used for the list:

List using the registrar's trading name.
Registrars should charge less then $10/.com domain.
Registrars cannot have a minimum purchase amount.
The service must include full DNS control (CNAME, A, MX, MXE).
The service must also include domain locking.
List the permanent non-sale price of .com renewals for 1 year.
List the details following the same format as the ones I've added.
Do not list introductory features (like Private Whois for 1 year, etc).
List ICANN-accreditation status.

Some registrars do not include all charges in their advertised price - this practise is misleading, so all mandatory fees & charges associated with registering a .com are included with the price listed here. If a registrar charges additional fees not included in the advertised price, then it should be noted in red so that viewers know prior to clicking that the advertised price on the site is not the full price of the domain.

This list is alphabetical.


1&1 (http://1and1.com/)
$6.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover or Paypal.
Private Whois.
Email Forwarding.
1GB Email IMAP/POP3.
URL Forwarding.
5-page mini-website.

domainsite.com (http://domainsite.com/)
$7.99, or $6.99 for "basic registration" which doesn't include full dns control, fowarding or email.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
Code always displayed in CP
Sister site to name.com.

Dynadot (http://dynadot.com/)
$8.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB, Moneybookers, Cheque, M/O or Paypal.
Ad-revenue parking (shared between you and Dynadot).
Free grace-period deletion (ie full credit returned to register another name with).
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anytime.

GKG (http://gkg.net/)
GKG advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$9.78
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discoveror/NOVUS, Cheque, M/O or Wire Transfer.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.

MyDomain.com (http://mydomain.com/)
MyDomain advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$8.95.
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anytime (delivered through email).

name.com (http://name.com/)
$7.99, $5.99 for first year and transfers.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Private Whois.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
AUTH Code always displayed in CP.
Sister site to domainsite.com.
Name.com does not sell any other services or have any other fees.

namecheap (http://namecheap.com/)
$9.29, .info is $4.88.
ICANN accredited. (as of Dec 20, 2007)
Visa, Mastercard or Paypal.
URL Forwarding.
Email Forwarding.

NameSecure (http://namesecure.com/)
NameSecure advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$9.15.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Master Card, AMEX, Discover, or Diner's Club.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
One-page mini-website.

[raversworld]

http://globat.com are 3.99 i think

[Cam.]

That's domainsarefree.com

And anyways, Get rid of RF, They are a wreck of a company.

[Meksilon]

AUTH Codes:

As far as AUTH codes are concerned - that's the mandatory code you need to give your new registrar to transfer your domain from your old registrar. Some registrars require you phone their support line to obtain it, and others have it always listed in your control panel. As I'm a name.com customer I can see it in my account, and I can reasonably assume their sister-site - domainsite.com does the same. I'll be doing a search in various FAQ's to see if there's instructions on how AUTH codes are obtained; but if you're a customer of one of the above registrars, and you've been a customer long enough to transfer your registered domain (60 days+) then let us know if your AUTH code is displayed or not!

It looks like both RegisterFly (http://registerfly.com/kb/index.php?mode=detail&detailid=452213&id=2000&articleid=452212) and 1&1 (http://www.faq.1and1.com/domains/other_issues_regarding_domains/4.html) display the AUTH code.

Also I would like to add information regarding the speed of the website - for instance, register.com is very slow, and you can't log-in from the main homepage - so they would score lowly; whereas name.com is very fast and there's a log-in form on the home-page so they would score highly.

Okay, about Globat/Domainsarefree:

Globat.com (http://globat.com/)
$8.95, $4.99 for the first year.
Not ICANN-accredited.
Does not accept incoming domain transfers!
Visa, Mastercard, Paypal.
...other features?
Sister site to DomainsAreFree.

DomainsAreFree (http://domainsarefree.com/)
$8.99, $3.99 for the first year.
Not ICANN-accredited.
Does not accept incoming domain transfers!
Visa, Mastercard.
Charges extra for URL & Email forwarding.
Sister site to Globat.com.

I'm hesitant to included them because they're not very competitive with other registrars; and don't allow incoming domain transfers - which I feel should be another minimum requirement to be listed on this page.

In both cases I would need confirmation that the above companies do provide full DNS control, and not just setting nameservers.

As for RegisterFly, they include both Private Whois and a decent Website in the domain price, this is good value, so unless their service is not all it seems (and there's complaints from customers), why should we remove it?

[Peo]

I think RegisterFly should be removed from the list due to the massive problems they've had.

I'm moving my domains away from GoDaddy at the moment due to problems with them. So, I don't object to removing them from the list aswell...

Some others to consider:
moniker.com
redregister.com
mydomain.com

(I haven't tried any of those though)

[Jovial]

I know a place for 7.5$ :P (both new cot and renewal) and free resellers
cheaper than any but not icann approved :(
Anyways leave that

pls consider
http://www.innter.net (for .in domain)

[Meksilon]

Okay thanks Peo. It may also be worth noting the sites that have been consistently low for the last few years.

moniker.com $10.49 Icann Accredited, sister-site domainsystems.com. Perhaps list the sister-site instead, as domains there are $9.95.

I'll have a look at the others when I've got time... thanks for those, I'm sure other people may know of more registrars still.

Jovial - they don't have to have icann accreditation, but we need to list it so that people know which are and which aren't when choosing!

[themoose]

Name.com
$5.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
Sister site to DomainSite.com (but cheaper!)

[themoose]

As for RegisterFly, they include both Private Whois and a decent Website in the domain price, this is good value, so unless their service is not all it seems (and there's complaints from customers), why should we remove it?

Absolutely horrible company. Seriously, remove them, we don't want anyone using them from a FWS referral.

Need more proof? Do a google search.

[Decker]

Ones I use that are okay are Directi, yourwebpoint (sure they are the same, country branded maybe or just the same software - takes a bit of fumbling but works well and reliably), UK based ones are ukreg (like them it's basically fasthosts) and 123-reg (not over the moon asthey list themselves as the 'cheapest' which they are not but not hit any problems yet.

If I had to make a snap choice - I'd reg with yourwebpoint for cost and the fact that it's never taken more than about 10 minutes for a reg'd domain to resolve (their DNS clusters are superb and replication times must be set in seconds ather than minutes or hours) not the usual 72 hours to see it.

Downside is the payment optrions but it's not insurmountable and they are upfront about additional % on using each method, which for me is a geat plus.

Steer clear of uk2.net though - had problems for years with them and had to get nominet involved more than once.

Another + for yourwebpoint - I missed reregistering a domain name and it was actually whois reporting another owner and directing to a drop catcher site, but within the proper guidelines I managed to reregister it (only 1 day out) with no penalties and it immediately came back, whois dns and everything so that for me is a sign of trustworthyness for the company :) they really do follow the rules - unlike whoever took the reg for it and lost it again LOL

Oh prices :) $6-7 for .com/.net/.org $2-4 for others (not including specials like .mobi/.tv) @ directi & yourwebpoint - lot more expensive at the others but they are under good old UK legislaton for tax and vat, sheesh.

[themoose]

For resolving, DomainSite has never taken more than 10 seconds for me :p

Providing I play it right of course.

And Name.com uses the same system, considering the prices I'd say IMO name.com is the best choice.

[sep]

I use ESTDomains. They're ICANN accredited but use LogicBoxes software.
6.39 for .com/.net
more prices.... (http://estdomains.com/prices.html)

[Meksilon]

Note to mods: I'm unable to edit my own posts after a certain time-period, this seems to be a standard feature of the forum. I would like to be able to edit my first post in this thread, so if there's any way you can allow me to do so it would be much appreciated!

Hi Colin, the price I listed for name.com is correct, you can see their accurate pricing here (http://name.com/check_our_pricing.php) (looks like you copied my domainsite listing not realizing I've listed name.com ;)), although please note they do not offer the "basic registration" service offered on DomainSite. Although the above page is not linked anywhere on their site, I can confirm the 1, 2, 5 and 10 year prices are accurate.

DomainSite offers the same service at the same price, with the exception they don't 1. give a first-year discount, or 2. include free private whois (they charge $.50).

Colin, if you're a DomainSite customer, could you please log into your account, click on one of your domains and tell me if the AUTH codes for your domains are listed? This is what it looks like for me in Name.com (obviously I've obscured the code for security): click here (http://img2.imagebanana.com/img/xunzdcd4/name.com.png).

RE: RegisterFly
Absolutely horrible company.
Yeah I believe you, Peo said (something like) this too ^^.

I should note that I didn't go with 1&1 in 2004 because I didn't believe their domain prices were sustainable, however it seems I've been proven wrong. They have just raised their price for the first time to $6.99 (it was $5.99/yr when I posted this topic). They've used it as a loss-leader, obviously targeting the budget-consumer by offering them further services at budget prices. What is revealing though is that it has been the other domain registrars who've significantly raised their prices in this time (GoDaddy for example).

I didn't list aplus.net because their pricing seems very sporatic: .com $8.40, .net $7.95, .org $7.95, .info $9.95, .biz $15.90 - as you can see even domains which should be the same price are priced differently!

So I tend to think that name.com/domainsite.com and 1and1.com are the best value at this point; even though we haven't heard from any 1&1 customers here it does seem their system is a fair deal.

[Darknight]

I think RegisterFly should be removed from the list due to the massive problems they've had.

I'm moving my domains away from GoDaddy at the moment due to problems with them. So, I don't object to removing them from the list aswell...

Some others to consider:
moniker.com
redregister.com
mydomain.com

(I haven't tried any of those though)

I will say mydomain.com is the best company iv ever used to register and manage domains, I wouldnt buy new domains from anywhere else, and when I buy used domains befor they expire they get moved to mydomain.com account.
Just thought Id say
They accept Visa & paypal dont buy webhosting from them though, its really bad. :P

[Meksilon]

Well, they're guilty of advertising a price that excludes the ICANN fee. Here is their info...

MyDomain.com (http://mydomain.com/)
MyDomain advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$8.95
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anyutime (through email).

[Fahrenheit]

Namecheap.com - amusing customer service. Have couple domains with them. Always have coupones.

[Cam.]

MyDomain.com is ok, But they seem quite slow...

[Domain_Name]

RegisterFly - Bad Idea :(

[winsor]

spam one which offers services at cheap prices

[Decker]

http://www.******** (http://www.********)one which offers services at cheap prices

That's just a cheap advertising shot, registrars not resellers, you anything to do with them then?

[-Newstant-]

Well, they're guilty of advertising a price that excludes the ICANN fee. Here is their info...

MyDomain.com (http://mydomain.com/)
MyDomain advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$8.95
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anyutime (through email).

It's rather risky to buy a domain from a not ICANN-accredited registrar.

[Meksilon]

Well, it can be risky buying from some ICANN-accredited registrars too. At any rate, my goal is to list good value and competitive registrars, however I'm by no means perfect in my discriminations, and if you think that ICANN-accreditation should be mandatory for listing, then by all means use a poll or something and we can democratically determine if they should be removed!

I'll send a PM to a Mod, but when you get here could you please move RegisterFly in the first post to below godaddy (ie the section for "registrars we're not going to include in the final list"), and the following three should be amended to my list of registrars (please try to retain the alphabetical listing - since when a list becomes long it can be hard to find what you're looking for without any order).

Dynadot (http://dynadot.com/)
$8.99.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB, Moneybookers, Cheque, M/O or Paypal.
Ad-revenue parking (shared between you and Dynadot).
Free grace-period deletion (ie full credit returned to register another name with).
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anytime.

MyDomain.com (http://mydomain.com/)
MyDomain advertises a price that doesn't include all the registration fees.
$8.95.
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
URL Forwarding.
AUTH Code available anytime (delivered through email).

Red Register (http://redregister.com/)
$8.74.
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard.... others?
Private Whois.
AUTH Code available anytime.
no info on url or email forwarding.

I'm not going to list domainsystems.com or moniker.com, because domainsystems advertises an inaccurate price (click here (http://domainsystems.com/) and add a domain to see what $9.95 suddenly becomes!), and they both charge more then $10, and it does not include free url & email forwarding - url forwarding costs $6/yr and so does email forwarding, bringing the total cost of a domain to $22.65/yr if you're using email and url forwarding!

[Armed]

IPower is $6.50....not sure if that includes the registration fees or not.

[Peo]

I've updated the first post now. I don't think ICANN accreditation should be required to get listed.

[Meksilon]

Thanks, and just so you know I did have a quick look at IPower, but I was unable to locate a list of included features, this doesn't mean they're not included - but it means we don't know. Email is $14.95/yr, anyway I've sent them an email and if they return the information we require then we can include them!

NOTE: This isn't urgent so I won't post a PM regarding it, but before I forget - in the first post I put 1&1's price as $5.99 - and believe it or not, between then and now they increased their price to $6.99, so if a Mod is reading this it'd be good if you could correct this. If there are any other errors LMK (or if you have a suggestion for a better format for the list, that'd also be good).

I'm also thinking we should include in bold (but not red) a note if registrar's advertise a first-year price that is lower then the renewal price. But then it seems only name.com comes under this one, so maybe it's not worth doing if they're the only one. -edit- hmm, now that I think about it, that would be silly since we're listing the ongoing price, and any of the above registrars may have a promotion going when someone visits them.

It may also be worth noting that although dns is manditory for the list, freedns is redily available. Here's a site we could link to: http://freedns.com/

[themoose]

Note to mods: I'm unable to edit my own posts after a certain time-period, this seems to be a standard feature of the forum. I would like to be able to edit my first post in this thread, so if there's any way you can allow me to do so it would be much appreciated!

Hi Colin, the price I listed for name.com is correct, you can see their accurate pricing here (http://name.com/check_our_pricing.php) (looks like you copied my domainsite listing not realizing I've listed name.com ;)), although please note they do not offer the "basic registration" service offered on DomainSite. Although the above page is not linked anywhere on their site, I can confirm the 1, 2, 5 and 10 year prices are accurate.

DomainSite offers the same service at the same price, with the exception they don't 1. give a first-year discount, or 2. include free private whois (they charge $.50).

Colin, if you're a DomainSite customer, could you please log into your account, click on one of your domains and tell me if the AUTH codes for your domains are listed? This is what it looks like for me in Name.com (obviously I've obscured the code for security): click here (http://img2.imagebanana.com/img/xunzdcd4/name.com.png).

Yeah I believe you, Peo said (something like) this too ^^.

I should note that I didn't go with 1&1 in 2004 because I didn't believe their domain prices were sustainable, however it seems I've been proven wrong. They have just raised their price for the first time to $6.99 (it was $5.99/yr when I posted this topic). They've used it as a loss-leader, obviously targeting the budget-consumer by offering them further services at budget prices. What is revealing though is that it has been the other domain registrars who've significantly raised their prices in this time (GoDaddy for example).

I didn't list aplus.net because their pricing seems very sporatic: .com $8.40, .net $7.95, .org $7.95, .info $9.95, .biz $15.90 - as you can see even domains which should be the same price are priced differently!

So I tend to think that name.com/domainsite.com and 1and1.com are the best value at this point; even though we haven't heard from any 1&1 customers here it does seem their system is a fair deal.

name.com is definetely different pricing from domainsite right now
http://name.com/include/images/ga/ad_140x140.gif

And yeah, domainsite shows AUTH code :)

[Meksilon]

name.com is definetely different pricing from domainsite right now
http://name.com/include/images/ga/ad_140x140.gifYes, but that's only for the first year on a new registration - after that the price is the same as domainsite, with the exception that 1. the 6.99 "basic registration" isn't oferred, and 2. you can use private whois for free.
And yeah, domainsite shows AUTH code :)Thanks for the confirmation!

[Meksilon]

Namecheap became ICANN accredited towards the end of december 2007. Which somehow I didn't notice until today. They also increased their price for .info domains.

Thus:

namecheap (http://namecheap.com/)
$9.29, .info is $4.88.
Not ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard or Paypal.
URL Forwarding.
Email Forwarding.

(old)

...

namecheap (http://namecheap.com/)
$9.29, .info is $5.88.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard or Paypal.
URL Forwarding.
Email Forwarding.

(new)

There's also a small typo under domainsite...

"Code always displayed in CP" --> "AUTH Code always displayed in CP."

domainsite.com (http://domainsite.com/)
$7.99, or $6.99 for "basic registration" which doesn't include full dns control, fowarding or email.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
Code always displayed in CP
Sister site to name.com.

(old)

...

domainsite.com (http://domainsite.com/)
$7.99, or $6.99 for "basic registration" which doesn't include full dns control, fowarding or email.
ICANN accredited.
Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or Paypal.
Email Forwarding.
Email by Google.
URL Forwarding.
Webpage by Google (100MB/500pages max).
AUTH Code always displayed in CP.
Sister site to name.com.

[Andrej]

I would add WSDReg.com - not the cheapest, but good for .in domains.

[Meksilon]

$16.99/yr @ WSDREg, domainsite.com has .in at $13.99/yr (name.com is more expensive on that domain).

[JasonS]

Hello,

www.xeodomains.com - USA
www.xeodomains.co.uk - UK
www.xeodomains.mobi - Pay by SMS

I use these :)

Regards,
Jason S

[fl4yar]

Can anybody please suggest me a cheap .ws registrar?

[MurdoC]

define cheap.
is $12.99 cheap for you?

[Domaindoc]

Hello,
I was also looking for the cheapest registrar, and I recently found a nice website, called www.ofindo.com, where you can compare the offers for any existing extension! It's really helpfull and easy to use. Found already 2 new registrars for my personal use on that site!! Try it!

[SmoothVPS]

www.omnis.com is great IMO.

$7.95/year for .com's paypal, cc, ect.

No hidden fees or anything, register, pay, domains up :-)

they are ICANN Accredited

[Vast]

Having some experience with sibername(.com) (ICANN, CIRA, EURID-accredited) I really do not understand why it's still not listed here, surely, unless the quality comes after the price at this thread.

They are not expensive, and dealing with them for me, since the time I have regged domains with them, is accompanied with knowldge of having stable and professional partner.

Surely, if they are not passing certain criteria for the thread to be listed, everything's clear.

[Meksilon]

Name.com/Domainsite.com is up to 8.99 per year, and you have to use to code "freewhois" to get free whois privacy. However if you don't enable it on domain registration it can be added at any time using the code, for free - I would hope it remains this way in the future since whois privacy is a fairly standard free service.

[Tony M]

GoDaddy or 1and1

[eSupun]

Hello,

www.xeodomains.com - USA
www.xeodomains.co.uk - UK
www.xeodomains.mobi - Pay by SMS

I use these :)

Regards,
Jason S

Looks like a Resell.biz reseller.

[henry71]

hmm we can provide you .ws for 14.95 have a look at our pricing here: https://clients.beemhost.com/domainchecker.php

[Zolesz]

So far I believe GoDaddy is the cheapest domain registrar because they usually have at least 10 active promotion codes and usually you can get a .com domain for less than 8$ so yes, GoDaddy is the site you need if you want really cheap domains.

The only problem with GoDaddy is that they are big, and they stopped to respect their clients. I have seen many stories on different forums about how GoDaddy punished many people for no reason and they lost their domain or had to pay ridiculous amount of money.

I'm using GoDaddy as domain registrar for more than 3 years and I'm completely satisfied with their service but I believe this is because I have never tried to contact their support team so if you don't have experience you shouldn't use GoDaddy else everything will be fine.

[Bossbuild]

how do you register to the ICANN?

[twist]

how do you register to the ICANN?

icann.org look there

dynodot is cheap registrar

[Bossbuild]

Namecheap.com - amusing customer service. Have couple domains with them. Always have coupones.

I have heard a lot about this company.

Why are they 'amusing'? =)

[Bossbuild]

icann.org look there


I already have and i can't find anything that tells me how to register.

Just goes on about all the legal battles they are having atm!

[Meksilon]

http://icann.org/en/registrars/accreditation-process.htm

[SiberForum]

I already have and i can't find anything that tells me how to register.

Just goes on about all the legal battles they are having atm!

I suppose you will be surprise how many details are there and I suppose you will contact them for several times at least.

[Scribe]

I'm looking for a cheap domain registrar:
I'm new to this, so I need a perfectly reliable registrar.
Any suggestions?

I need:
- ICANN accredited
- private whois:
- full dns control
- Must be able to pay via PayPal
- Url/(+mail?) forwarding.

[giangbs]

You can try:
- internet.bs
- domainerschoice.com
They both are very cheap :D

[Scribe]

You can try:
- internet.bs
- domainerschoice.com
They both are very cheap :D

Thanks!

Internet.bs seemed interesting...

[nicster]

Nicster (dot com) offers the cheapest prices and it is powered by Dotster, a major domain registrar. Open an account at Nicster today!

[manmeetsingh]

If you search google with phrase " ICANN regisrtrars " you will get complete list of registrars with all there details .

But if you are looking for reliable and cheap option then you can go with godaddy.com

its good I have using since long time and never faced any issue .

greetings
manmeet

[Derek Flahost]

If you search google with phrase " ICANN regisrtrars " you will get complete list of registrars with all there details .

But if you are looking for reliable and cheap option then you can go with godaddy.com

its good I have using since long time and never faced any issue .

greetings
manmeet

Although you will see a list of ICANN registrars list, but this topic is about registrars that selling domain with cheap price.
Most of those result showed in google about ICANN registrars, are selling domain name with quite expensive price.

[enmroe]

seekdomainname.com sells .COMs at $7.99 and some domains can be as low as $1.99 with a non domain purchase.

Enmore