this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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Domain names seem expensive in comparison. The cheaper VPS that I use for playing around is just $10.29/year.
I thought I'd get a domain name from RackNerd as well, but they're $24.95/year + I think $4.99 for privacy.

I've checked Namecheap, and that seemed great, until I found that renewal prices are often through the roof.

I don't really care about it being nice. For now, mostly I just want to use the VPS as image host for Lemmy, since Imgur and Catbox are both a bit problematic.
And without a domain name, the images only show as link posts in the default LemmyUI (though it seems to work elsewhere). Plus it makes migration impossible.

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[–] karpintero@lemmy.world 52 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)
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[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 22 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My name registration with porkbun is cheap enough that I don't remember exactly. Had no issues with them.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

$11.08 for a .com. Source: just renewed.

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[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Cloudflare has been excellent for me since I switched away from (puke) GoDaddy years ago. They don't try to upsell you bullshit like most of the other places, either. I have three domains with them.

I do not use any other Cloudflare services. There are no additional costs or services required (beyond the domain fees) to use them as your registrar.

[–] lukecyca@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t have a big problem with CloudFlare (and use their service myself for some things). But so much of the internet infrastructure is already consolidated with them. There are so many good options for domain registrars. Let’s spread things around a bit.

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[–] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

As far as I know, you can not change the authoritative name server for domains registered with cloudflare (probably not a big issue for most people)

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[–] Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz 13 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
CF CloudFlare
DNS Domain Name Service/System
IP Internet Protocol
NAT Network Address Translation
VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)

5 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 6 acronyms.

[Thread #1017 for this comm, first seen 24th Jan 2026, 08:55] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–] French75@slrpnk.net 12 points 3 weeks ago

I've got a few domains. I use Porkbun as registrar. They're awesome, and the domains were pretty cheap. Under $10 a year each.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I've been on Namecheap for years.

The "hard no" list is GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and anything owned by EIG. They are literally the worst. Probably Ionos (formerly 1&1) too.

[–] cryptix@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 weeks ago

Namecheap is going downhills recently.... They were sold to a private equity on September, .com starts at $18.

[–] Mikina@programming.dev 4 points 3 weeks ago

I recommend transfering to Cloudfare, since they have guaranteed wholesale price (no added fees, and only what the tld owner and ICANN asks), so they should be cheapest (since anything less is selling at a loss for the registrar, at least ifI understand right).

Namecheap has started overcharging me like 20+$ on a renewal compared to CF. So, transfering after a first year (which is where registrars like Namecheap take a loss and give you a discount) is probably the cheapest way how to go about it.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

A .com domain should be under USD $12 a year with WHOIS privacy included. If someone is charging more than that, they are ripping you off. Most web or VPS hosts will charge a significant markup if they sell domains. Make sure you check the renewal price too. Some registrars will give you the first year cheap, then charge significantly more to renew it.

Cloudflare is the cheapest, but they force you to use their DNS servers. Porkbun is a dollar more, but you can use your own DNS if you want to.

[–] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I have my domain with Cloudflare too, and at this point, I’m not aware of these DNS servers. Can someone explain it a bit? I know what DNS is, but I don’t understand what’s the use case for having them elsewhere. I’m not to argue, just didn’t know where to register a domain, so I went with them. I’m concerned with the future of the domain either, but don’t understand the issues at this early point.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The DNS authoratative servers are what hold all of the records for your domain. With Cloudflare, you are stuck with theirs. As for why you want to use a different one, maybe you need more than the 200 records Cloudflare limits you to. Maybe you don't like the way their API works for automating updates. Maybe you don't want to set up all of your records all over again if you transfer your domain to another registrar. Maybe you just don't like Cloudflare.

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[–] zorro@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Here is a somewhat simplified explanation

When you are registering a domain you are essentially just creating a NS record:

mydomain.com NS

Then when a resolver is asked a question like what is the A record for myserver.com it goes and asks the tld server (.com) what is the NS record for mydomain.com. the tld then responds with the nameserver ip. Then the resolver will query the nameserver directly for the A record of mydomain.com

In practice there is a ton of caching going on here, but that's the broad strokes

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[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I generally get stuff from porkbun.com since I've been there for a while, prices are decent and they have some convenient features. But, I should try namecrane.com since they are run by online buddies of mine. They are sort of a spin-off of the original buyvm.net.

Price comparator: https://tld-list.com/

Yes they separate out renewal prices so make sure to take that into consideration. The high renewal prices are a marketing trick of the TLD holders. The resellers can't really do anything about them.

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Porkbun.com

Free dns and everything it's been great. Cheap domains and even the 404 page is cute

[–] paris@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

+1 for Porkbun. They even offer $2/yr <6–9 digit>.xyz domains if you just want a domain for basically free and don't care about having a nice and pretty one. 01384629.xyz or whatever for $2/yr to give their service a try is well worth it imo. I have one of these as well as a "real" domain I like that's like $20 or $25/yr. I have no complaints with Porkbun.

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[–] K3can@lemmy.radio 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I have two domains through Cloudflare. They don't mark up to price at all, so they're basically the lowest price you'll find that isn't a gimmick.

I pay $6.50 for one and $10.46 for the other.

No harm in getting your domain from them. Just beware that when you create a DNS entry, they default to proxying the incoming connections. It is super easy to turn that "feature" off, you just have to remember to do it whenever you create a new record.

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[–] GeorgimusPrime@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Find the best prices for domain names here, from registration to renewal an transfer: https://tld-list.com/

Privacy should be free and by default.

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[–] gravitas@pie.gravitywell.xyz 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I Just transfered over to porkbun after namecheap decided to raise renewal cost again, wish id done it sooner.

[–] JargonWagon@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Porkbun is goated

[–] brooke592@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Cloudflare offers at-cost domain names. There's a lot of issues with using them though. Since they're so big, they have a culture of giving governments/oligarchs whatever they want.

There is Njalla, owned by someone involved with The Pirate Bay. It supposedly allows users to buy domain names privately, although I'm not sure at what cost. I've read users saying that Njalla will revoke domain names if pressured by outside forces, so they don't seem like a good option similar to cloudflare.

The DNS is a tool of surveillance and control and we should move away from it as quickly as possible.

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[–] dieTasse@feddit.org 7 points 3 weeks ago

I tried many only to settle on cloudflare. The other services were poor or in some cases weird (like infomaniak wanting me to upload my ID). Cloudflare had good prices and the service is stable, no surprises + whois privacy included.

[–] Count042@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't use namecheap.

Super happy with PorkBun

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[–] Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 weeks ago

I'm paying about $22 on Porkbun, they're pretty good

[–] ambitiousslab@feddit.uk 5 points 3 weeks ago

I use mythic beasts. They are not the very cheapest, but they offer predictable pricing and just charge a fixed increase compared to the price they pay their supplier. You can trust that they won't mess around with the renewal price or arbitrary extra fees.

For my .org domains I pay ~£15 per year, but if you don't care about the tld, you can get some for ~£6 per year (the costs on the website exclude VAT, but if you buy multiple years at a time, the amortised cost including VAT ~= the price excluding VAT).

[–] BigBolillo@mgtowlemmy.org 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

You can just use a DuckDNS domain if it's just for personal use and you are not planning to use it as a brand name.

Namecheap has random number only xyz domains for like a dollar so I have one of those.

[–] Mikina@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago

As far as I know, Cloudfare is the only registrar that offers you wholesale price, as in the price asked by the tld owners. So, you a registrar can't go lower, because that's what they pay for it.

But, a lot of registrars will give you first year at a heavy discount (so, at a loss), just so they can ramp up the price to wholesale + a lot extra. I got my domain for like 5$, and they then asked for 40$ for renewal, while wholesale is around 25$.

So, I just transfered to Cloudfare for the renewal. Tbh I don't remember if it was the first or second year, and what are the transfer rules, but I think it should be possible to just buy a first year at heavy discount with i.e Namecheap or something, and immediately transfer to Cloudfare for the first renewal at wholesale price.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Don't remember the cost, but namecheap is not a lie. It's cheap, hazzle free, and overall a great service. I have quite a few domains with them.

[–] PabloSexcrowbar@piefed.social 10 points 3 weeks ago

Sadly, they just got bought out by a big, stupid VC firm. Only time will tell what effect that'll have on their day-to-day operations, but it does make me nervous. Not nervous enough to switch just yet, though.

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[–] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My first registrar was Google domains. As always, they killed the business. And sold it to Squarespace. I’ve been their customer for a year or two, nothing bad I can say, except the price was about 1.5 or even 2x of that from Cloudflare for com domain, so I migrated there. I have no deep understanding of the nuances, so I cannot say whether Cloudflare is a bad actor. At least I trust them to not elevate the price, as it’s not their primary business, sell domains.

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[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Cloudflare sells domains at wholesale prices. Domains are not their business model, they want people to be exposed to their services so you might pay for something they do make money on.

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

On CloudFlare, user224.com renews annually at least than $11

That's where I got my domain (I was using them at the time, but it doesn't matter), for that price, and that includes whois privacy.

[–] godber@lemmy.az.social 3 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

It’s worth noting that if Cloudflare is your Registrar, you must also use them as your authoritative DNS provider. It’s not bad necessarily, it’s just a little unusual.

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[–] Spacenut@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

I bought a class 1.111B domain from the .xyz registrar: 6 to 9 digits followed by .xyz, so you can use your phone number. They sell them for $1/year, and $1/year for whois privacy. So I paid $20 to have my domain for the next decade :)

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 4 points 3 weeks ago

Cloudflare. They sell and renew at cost ($12 iirc)

I hear Porkbun does/did as well but I haven't looked in a long time.

[–] SteveCC@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago
[–] nomorebillboards@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I've think Cloudflare just sells them at the price they pay even if they don't do the first year promo like NameCheap does

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 weeks ago

I'm using ovh for my domains, it's €13.5 I think for a .com renewal and that include whois privacy, a 15Go mail address and a 100mo website hosting.

[–] tserts@lemmy.tserts.com 4 points 3 weeks ago

I will make a prediction. Once you get the domain and set it up, the images will still not work. Are you using an external proxy? I was battling this for days, Lemmy backend refused to create thumbs for my local images, federated content worked great. IF you get this issue, send me a message, I found a workaround.

[–] OfficeMonkey@lemmy.today 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I have entirely too many domains at namesilo.com. Privacy is included for free in the majority of circumstances -- not for .org. .com renewals for me are down to $8.85 year because of the aforemented "too many." I also have some .social and other newer TLDs and those are stupidly expensive.

I use nothing else from namesilo. For domains I use I don't even use their nameservers. But for what I need, their UI is sometimes awful, but it does what I need.

[–] Supervisor194@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Namesilo used to be the standard for inexpensive domain registration. They keep raising their rates, however, and now they are expensive compared to the alternatives. Being a registrar takes next to no work. Do not accept expensive registrars. You can safely avoid Namesilo.

I use two: Namecheap and omg.lol.

Admittedly omg.lol isn't a traditional registrar, but they do give you a domain name and other stuff (I don't use most of it), but it's $20/yr

Namecheap varies, but last I checked it was a bit cheaper. Not by much, maybe $15/yr for my .monster domain?

[–] alt_xa_23@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

My namecheap domain (.net) is around 15 USD annually, with basic privacy protection included

[–] SqueakyBeaver@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I have a 9-digit .xyz domain through cloudflare and I think I pay like ~~$1-2~~ $0.87 a year for it

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[–] SilentObserver@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

I paid $10.44 USD to cloudflare last year in May for a year of my .com domain. I have no complaints.

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