A few years ago, I wrote about domain registrars. Realizing how often people still reference that post, and how old it is, I decided to ask what people are using these days.

There was a lot less variety in the responses than last time I asked. In fact, four registrars accounted for almost all replies I received, even via in-person and private conversations.

Here they are.

Gandi

My personal choice remains Gandi. Their new, JavaScript-heavy website belies the robustness of their platform, but if we judged companies by their websites, most would come up short. (This is why I want to rebuild every website I visit.)

The projects they support can give you a good idea of their principles, which is something that matters to me.

Gandi is committed to being the ethical choice for creating a web presence.

Notable features include:

• Free SSL certificate
• Whois privacy
• DNS management
• DNSSEC

Gandi is recommended by Derick Rethans, Simon Jones, Seppe Stas, and Graham Christensen.

Hover

Like Gandi, Hover is trying to make the web better.

From podcasts to festivals, we’re proud to be patrons of inspiring projects that help fuel the internet.

Most people who recommend Hover cite their excellent customer service as a reason. They also have a helpful article on how to register a domain name.

Notable features include:

• Whois privacy
• DNS management

Hover is recommended by Kyle Meyer, Paul Reinheimer, and Tim Cheadle.

iwantmyname

iwantmyname has an awkward name but a loyal customer base, and they have a wonderful sense of humor. The one-click setup of popular services like Google and AWS is a convenient way to get started quickly.

Notable features include:

• Whois privacy
• DNS management
• Developer API

iwantmyname is recommended by Aaron Gilmore, Dan Duncan, and Chanpory Rith.

Namecheap

Namecheap continues to be a popular choice, and their mission and values are admirable. They even advertise their support for the EFF and Fight for the Future in the footer of every page.

Their domain search is one of the best I’ve seen, with a beast mode that unlocks the full gamut of search options.

Notable features include:

• Whois privacy
• DNS management
• DNSSEC

Namecheap is recommended by Ben Bodien and Jeff Lupinski.

Summary

I hope these recommendations can help you choose the domain registrar that’s best for you, especially if you don’t already own your own domain name(s). As I wrote in a recent article about personal websites on 99U:

Owning your own domain name is important, and if this article can convince you of only one thing, let it be this.

If you have any additions or corrections, please let me know.