Ask HN: Which domain name registration service should I use for my startup?

2 points·barce··6 comments

I'm asking this for my co-worker. We bandy about ideas for startups all the time and worry about choosing the wrong domain name registration service. What does the HN community recommend?

View on HN

gandi.net + Private domain registration + 1-year free SSL certificate

namecheap.com + great prices + good reputation

1and1.com + Best prices + Responsive Customer Service - User interface ( Scratch that. They just did redesign and it looks great )

NameCheap.com is my personal preference.

Unoeuro.com is really good.

Look for one that posts its prices publicly; that is, you should not need to register for an account to find out what you will pay.

I researched that a while back. The only one I found was name.com, which I recommend for other reasons as well.

If a registrar won't admit to all their prices without requiring a login, you're likely to find a bait-and-switch taking place, for example it is common for renewal fees to be quite a lot more than new registrations or transfers.

Before you register a domain, research it in the trademark section at http://www.uspto.gov/

You might not be infringing a trademark just by registering it. The rules are a little too complex for me to explain in an HN comment. However it is helpful to have a totally unique trademark.

Thanks, I definitely did not think of looking at the trademark section first.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com