Namecheap.com emergency maintenance
status.namecheap.com
status.namecheap.com
Namecheap's API isn't exactly welcoming (contact support to enable, XML-only with no official libraries). Additionally, their web interface is terribly slow (accessing from UK).
Does anyone not use their registrar's DNS services for small deployments?
Especially looking at how other people manage lots of small project sites, none of which are big enough to necessitate a dedicated NS and the associated management overhead.
I'll use DNSimple from time to time. I used PointHQ in the past and had no issue with it.
I'm certain someone's going to chime in with the "why not just roll your own?" My answer to that is this: I have much better things to do with my time than be a sysadmin, or have to worry about being a sysadmin.
FWIW, though, we've been using Namecheap on side projects for years, and had generally positive experiences. (In particular, their chat support has always been responsive and empowered to help without bouncing you around the organization -- which I wouldn't necessarily expect from a company with "cheap" in its name.) Assuming they're transparent about this issue, I won't be rushing to leave them.
For more exotic TLDs, iwantmyname covers largely every TLD you can think of. They're in New Zealand, and also have crazy good support. Their DNS stuff I couldn't speak to - I just route them through DNSimple anyway.
To be fair, neither of these are the cheapest options, but I never understood saving a couple bucks for an inferior (subjective) interface and tooling somewhere else.
Just my two cents.
That may change in the near future (I manage the authoritative nameservers for $work) but I can't recall a single issue I've had w/ Route 53 (or Gandi or Namecheap, for that matter).