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====== Registrars ======

A relatively recurrent topic.  So, wiki page ... and so it can get updated as/when relevant.

===== Registrar =====

What is a registrar, etc.  For some background, see, e.g.: \\
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_registrar|Wikipedia: Domain name registrar]]

===== Registrar only or all-in-one or bundled service provider =====

Registrar that's just a registrar or ... \\
all-in-one or bundled service provider.
Some pros and cons, background, history, etc.

There are pros and cons with a company/organization/entity that's \\
a registrar and //also// provides other services.  How many other \\
services, of what type, how closely related, how trivial and/or complex \\
is their also handling (all) that other other stuff, does it, e.g. \\
degrade or conflict with them offering better / more competent registrar \\
service - e.g what are their priorities, what do they mainly do, and \\
how (un)important is it to them to operate and maintain top-notch, or \\
at least quite darn good solid registrar services? \\
 \\
And, what, if any, other services does one want or care about?  E.g. \\
does one only care about the registrar services ... or does one actually \\
want/use those other (types of) services, and, e.g. does one want \\
a single provider or integration they offer - maybe that convenience is \\
more important than best of breed registrar services?  Well, depends \\
upon one's use case. \\
 \\
E.g., both [[https://AWS.amazon.com/|AWS.amazon.com]]* and [[https://cloud.google.com/|cloud.google.com]]%%**%% are //also// registrars - \\
though that's //not// what they're mostly known for or do.  And as \\
//registrars//, I'd rate both of them as at least "competent" ... but \\
probably not best of breed nor top notch for registrar - though they \\
certainly beat out many.  And of course if one is looking for ease of \\
integration with [[https://AWS.amazon.com/|AWS]] or [[https://cloud.google.com/|GCP]], and that's the top priority, then those \\
choices respectively are a no-brainer. \\
 \\
There are also matters such as does one want all one's eggs in one \\
basket?  Well, sometimes that's quite convenient ... and if one is \\
sufficiently selective regarding basket quality, might not be all that \\
bad - and yes, again, does also depend upon use case scenario, and, \\
e.g. risk tollerance, and (in)tollerance regarding vendor lock-in, etc. \\
 \\
And [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]] - yes they do also offer/sell some services besides just \\
being a registrar - but primarily they're a registrar.  Why do they even \\
also have that "other stuff"?  I'm not sure - I'd guess they also have \\
many customers that want or expect that.  E.g. there are lots of, \\
typically smaller customers, that want not only registrar services ... \\
but they often typically also want the at least relatively bare \\
essentials to set up a web site (and possibly basic email for domain) - \\
so some bit of virtual hosting type services - be it VMs or just some \\
services and ways to configure that (and possibly also email) - and \\
some SSL cert(s), bit of storage, way to manage some at least \\
relatively simple DNS - and that's about it.  Many, especially smaller, \\
customers tend to want/expect/"demand" that of a "registrar" - probably \\
mostly out of ignorance as to what a registrar is - and/or just wanting \\
the convenience of one stop shopping for some simple basic web (+ \\
managed email) set up needs - where the customer otherwise doesn't have \\
(or want to bother with) anything of their own infrastructure-wise, \\
other than some computer(s) with Internet access (at least \\
intermittently), reasonable browser, and email - typically from their \\
ISP or some free email service.  And they expect anything else needed \\
will be relatively trivial software they install or someone else will \\
host and provide it - even if they don't explicitly realize that's what \\
they're looking for.  So, sure, [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]] has some 'o that basic goop \\
available too, but not tons of it, and certainly not what they \\
particularly push, but it's there if someone wants it.  [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]] is \\
also a high volume reseller - they've got very capable [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API|API]], and have, \\
for example, had (and may still have) [[https://AWS.amazon.com/|AWS]] as one of their large \\
customers.  Likewise direct customers - they have quite attractive \\
volume discounts - so if one has lots of domains, the prices become even \\
much more attractive - and of course they have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API|API]] for ease of dealing \\
with lots of domains, automation, etc. \\
 \\
Anyway, not everyone wants the same thing and/or has the same use case \\
scenario ... and that's okay too. \\
 \\
*[[https://AWS.amazon.com/|AWS.amazon.com]] used to do (all?) their registrar services via [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]] \\
as a reseller - though that wasn't obvious to the customer (but was \\
visible if one looked carefully at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_registry|registry]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHOIS|whois]] data).  [[https://AWS.amazon.com/|AWS]] has since \\
become a full fledged registrar themselves.  Not sure if they still \\
(also) have any bits they maintain and/or resell (e.g. perhaps some \\
specific domains?) via [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]]. \\
[[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/welcome-domain-registration.html|AWS > Documentation > Amazon Route 53> Developer Guide "At the end of the registration process, we send your information to the registrar for the domain. The domain registrar is either Amazon Registrar, Inc. or our registrar associate, Gandi. To find out who the registrar is for your domain, see Finding your registrar."]] \\
%%**%%[[https://cloud.google.com/|cloud.google.com]] registrar services has been sold off to and is now \\
owned and managed by[[https://www.squarespace.com/|squarespace.com]] and, at least as of the time of \\
this writing, is still being transitioned fully over to [[https://www.squarespace.com/|squarespace.com]] \\
See also: \\
[[https://newsroom.squarespace.com/blog/googledomains|Squarespace Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Google Domains Assets]] \\
[[https://support.google.com/domains/answer/13689670|About the Squarespace purchase of Google Domains registrations]] \\
See also earlier: [[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2023-February/012270.html|some pros/cons of "just a registrar" vs. provider of additional services]] \\

===== List of Registrars =====

[[https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars?view-all=true&page=1|List of Registrars]]

----

Did at least mostly well fill out and organize fair bit of detail,
for the curious/interested, some earlier background "discussions"(posts):

[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2023-February/012261.html|Various pro/con recommendations, including fair bit of supporting reasons]] \\
[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2023-February/012266.html|some comparing hassles vs. not of, e.g. toggling whois privacy, IPv6 glue records, Gandi.net/NameCheap.com/Joker.com]] \\
[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2023-February/012285.html|Gandi SAS (Gandi.net) acquired by Total Webhosting Solutions B.V. (TWS)]]

----
===== Pros and cons and recommendations and not of various example registrars =====

----

==== Gandi SAS (Gandi.net) ====

So, first note that Gandi SAS ([[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]]) has been acquired by Total Webhosting Solutions B.V. (TWS) ([[https://your.online/]]).
However Gandi has been exceedingly excellent, and thus far it continues to appear that won't be getting screwed up and thus far to Gandi customers
things appear to continue operating as before - oozing competence, excellent service and reliability, "No Bullshit", web and API interfaces, domain, etc.
continue as before, and hardly any change to be noticed at all - mostly have to hunt around web pages and such to even know any change at all has
occurred.  So, hopefully Webhosting Solutions is and remains smart enough to not mess with that, as that's primary driver that attracts and retains
Gandi's customers, and if new ownership were to screw that up, Gandi's customers would scatter to the wind, and Webhosting Solutions would lose most
all the value of their Gandi acquisition.  Matter of fact,
[[https://news.gandi.net/en/2019/02/futureofgandi-the-adventure-continues/|private equity firm Montefiore Investment had earlier acquired Gandi in 2019]]
and I don't think anyone noticed the slightest glitch or any drop at all in service or the like
(I certainly didn't ever earlier notice - only catching that historic detail now about five years later).

So, Gandi has been and thus far continues to be excellent.  They're very much "No Bullshit", and stand behind that.  They ooze technical and operational
competence, and essentially just work and damn solidly well.  I've had zero negative experiences with Gandi.  Heck, I've not even heard of anyone
having any negative experiences with Gandi.  And sure, they're not the cheapest registrar out there, but I find the value highly well worth it.
It basically just works exceedingly well, in all regards, and continues to consistently do so.  Well worth it in the savings of headaches and problems
and incompetencies etc. with many other registrars - just one such glitch with some other registrar, in the value of one's time, could quickly eat
up years or more of the value of any such monetary savings with many such registrars - even the moderate annoyances and crud of many other registrars,
well worth the slight extra price on Gandi to avoid the bullshit of over registrars and be able to operate much more cleanly, efficiently, free of
hassles, glitches, problems, frustrations, etc.  And Gandi is very reasonably priced for the value one gets.  Can even get significantly discounted
prices if one is a larger volume customer.  Gandi also supports [[https://www.debian.org/|Debian]], giving all Debian developers Gandi's deepest
discount tier pricing that's otherwise only available to their absolute largest volume customers (historically they let Debian developers have domains
entirely for free).  I also attended a Linux install fest in San Francisco that Gandi hosted at their facilities, so Gandi does give back to and
support Open Source.


In approximate chronological order, I'll lay out at least many of the
ways I've been impressed by [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]].  And haven't had any negative
experiences at all with them (or even heard of such!) - so that itself
probably also says something about them too.

Supports [[https://www.debian.org/|Debian]] - I think when I first ran across the info (and they may
even run based on Debian? - but I don't know regarding that), they
allowed all Debian Developers to have domains for free!  Last I checked
they no longer do that, however they make available to all Debian
Developers their highest discount tier pricing, regardless of the number of
domains any Debian Developer has with them.

Not sure if they still have offices in San Francisco, but they at least
did (and probably have at least some presence in the US?  Though they're
headquartered in France - I think they may be located where and such
that they're mostly not under the claws of US law (at least regarding
controlling domains), but do fall under EU and GDPR).  They hosted an
Open Source event at their offices there in San Francisco - Yes,
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20150223033158/http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/ubuntu-california/2984-ubuntu-california-san-francisco-qa-jam/|Ubuntu California San Francisco QA Jam 2015-02-08]]

Really everything I've heard/read about Gandi has been positive - or
at least certainly not negative.

Even before I had any domains or services on/from Gandi, when I was
just setting up an account on there (required before, e.g. having
domains there - and can have an account there and no services/domains -
no cost to simply create account there) - I ran across a slight bug in
their interface - notably setting up account in US, and dealing with
states.  I reported the issue to them.  They fixed it in quite quick order and
were great on communication and follow-through to check and ensure that
all was well and I was no longer seeing the earlier issue I'd reported -
pretty impressive response for a non-paying (or at least not-yet-paying)
customer.  I looked up that much earlier issue for the details and went
(summarized) about like this: \\
2015-01-23T04:55:34Z I opened issue and got automated response (RT support-en #5534422) \\
2015-01-23T10:21:23Z I received notification they'd transferred it to relevant support area \\
2015-01-23T16:12:40Z I received notification indicating it was resolved \\
2015-01-23T19:06:27Z I checked, not (quite) resolved and notified them \\
2015-01-24T15:06:33Z I received notification they'd forwarded to specialist \\
2015-01-26T16:19:28Z I received notification they'd applied work-around on my account (effectively fixing it for me) \\
2015-01-26T18:31:36Z I checked confirmed all good (not only work-around but bug fixed) \\
2015-01-27T16:16:55Z I received notification confirming that they'd solved and fixed the issue \\
This is vastly better than many registrars, when one often has to do battle with them and go
trough 2 to 3 rounds just to get them to even understand or acknowledge that there's even an issue,
after which other registrars may still fail to fix the issue and/or often provide incorrect information.
And I got that great level of service from Gandi when I wasn't even a customer yet and for a relatively
low priority pretty minor bug.

Their No Bullshit slogan/motto really does very much apply.  No
gimmicks, tricks, clean interfaces, they don't shove bunches of
advertisements and stuff like that in your face - generally only the
slightest mention of some offers - when they really are special/bargains
- and generally only see that on their web site, and pretty dang
unobtrusive - generally have to click or follow a link for more details
on stuff like that - so it's generally only a small notice on screen -
and easily dismissed - and won't come back and be nagging one.  And no
promotional/sales/marketing/etc. emails - unless one opts into that
stuff.

Renewal and other official emails - you don't get other goop (unless you
explicitly opt in).  The emails have exactly what's needed and very well
laid out.  E.g. got a domain that's heading towards expiration?  Yes,
you get the email - you also get in the Subject: what domain, how long
until it expires, and body of the email tells you when it expires
including timezone, and it also spells out exactly what happens and when
if the domain isn't renewed - no guess work, and quite useful Subject -
especially among the many other emails one might typically be looking
over.  Essentially their communications, including email, also of quite
high quality.  Amazing how many other registrars can't even manage to
reasonably do that even with their renewal emails - bloody hell, many
such from other registrars they can't be bothered to even put the
domain name in the Subject nor there indicate how long until it expires
or when it expires.

As I'd similarly quite say of Debian, "It just works" - pretty much rock
solid clean, well thought out, and about bug free.  Generally anything
one needs to do with domains on Gadi, it's quick, easy, efficient -
at least to the extent feasible (notwithstanding some mandatory periods
for some operations and such - but it goes as fast as feasible - unlike
some registrars that'll drag it out as long as they can get away with -
e.g. like when transferring a domain away).

They do continue to improve their interface - it was never bad in my
experience, but they do add/improve features which are actually useful
(well, at least to some/many) - e.g. pretty easily allowing one to split
up and delegate various parts of registrant/domain administration (e.g.
billing, whois, DNS, etc.).  They also typically don't instantly force
interface changes on users - can generally use both the latest and
greatest ... and also prior generation interface for quite some time
after the latest and greatest becomes available.  So, no jarring forced
fast hard changes ([[https://www.atlassian.com/|Atlassian]], et. al., are you listening? ... no),
likewise they don't break stuff (again, unlike Atlassian).

GDPR - I think they handled that about as best feasible.  Yes, the
default changed (and they may have had to do that for practical and/or
legal reasons), but if you want that data public - easy peasy - no
support tickets, or emails, or trying to pass clue to clueless ... the
stuff basically just works - unlike some other registrars where that's
quite the battle to achieve - or they don't even allow for the possibility!

glue records - likewise easy peasy - copy, paste, click, done.  And yes,
IPv6 too, no problem at all (wish I could say that for all registrars,
multiple registrars are poor to grossly incompetent at that).

DNSSEC - likewise easy peasy.  Again, wish I could say that for all
registrars.

Quite same applies for any data one needs to change, e.g. whois, DNS
delegation, etc.

Oh, and another data point for Gandi's rock solid reliability and
dependability and quality API, etc.  When [[https://aws.amazon.com/|AWS]] entered into
offering domain registration via their [[https://aws.amazon.com/route53/|Amazon Route 53]] service offering,
AWS didn't themselves (at least initially) become a registrar,
but resold Gadni's registrar services through AWS's Route 53 service.

I might be forgetting some details and further examples, but pretty much
solidly rocks, excellent service, and quite reasonable price for the
quality.

----

==== NetworkSolutions.com / Web.com ====

[[https://www.networksolutions.com/|NetworkSolutions.com]] / [[https://www.web.com/|Web.com]] - avoid like the plague.  They may not be
the worst out there, but they're pretty horrible.  Some of their sh*t:
  * Tons of marketing/sales/spam email, difficult to opt out (have to call a phone number and can take up to 30 days to opt out!).
  * Overpriced - their default pricing is horrible.  But if you play the song and dance with their offers (e.g. yearly at renewal), you can get a reasonable price (just start to go through the motions like one is going to transfer the domain away - then you get offers for a reasonable price - about market rate and about 1/3 what they'd otherwise charge).  But alas, to take that offer, you have to opt in to their marketing emails ... and yeah, opting out ... ugh.
  * IPv6 - last I dealt with them on that they still rather sucked, if I recall correctly - e.g. I think you had to do a support ticket to do IPv6 glue records ... at like about a decade after IPv6 was very much a thing on The Internet.
  * Interface lacking - there's just a whole lot 'o stuff that requires a support email or call to get done, because their interface can't - and you tend to get fair amount of incompetence, and lots of sales/marketing when dealing with them on phone or via email.  Oh, yeah, and their web interfaces also pushes lots of sales/marketing goop - essentially lots of advertising for their own stuff all the time.
  * Sometimes they'll opt you in for stuff you didn't ask for and don't want ... e.g. just gave you a crud yourbasedomainname.somecrudTLD without your asking or wanting ... then they of course want to sell you on renewing it.  Ugh.
  * They also tend to push lots of announcing clueless offers.  Got [[https://www.sf-lug.org/|sf-lug.org]]?  How 'bout buy up all these sf-tote.someTLD and sftote.someTLD domains, I mean tote is like lug (as in sf-lug for San Francisco Linux Users' Group), right?  Ugh.

So, yeah, general experience with NetworkSolutions.com / Web.com has
been quite negative, with negligible exception.

----

==== Joker.com ====

Joker.com - their interface looks like a bad late 1990s web site loaded
up with ads.  Their interface also isn't very functional.
And sometimes they just suck.  E.g. GDPR ... yeah, can't opt out of
the privacy goop for whois.
Need to change glue records?  They were absolutely completely utterly
incompetent at that - not only could their interface not do it, but the
information they provided was incorrect, and even with numerous support
tickets, they couldn't manage to to it.  It wasn't that hard, change
some IP address(es) on the glue record - they just couldn't manage to do
it //at all//.  Comparatively with gandi.net trivial to do - copy, paste,
done - and IPv4 and/or IPv6 - all easy peasy on gandi.net. \\
See also: \\
[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q2/014825.html|done: proposed: sf-lug.org. change registrar from joker.com to gandi.net]] \\
[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q2/014728.html|proposed: sf-lug.org. change registrar from joker.com to gandi.net]] \\
[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q2/014726.html|proposed: sf-lug.org. change registrar from joker.com to gandi.net]] \\
[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q2/014183.html|registrar domain expiration notices - e.g. Joker.com vs. gandi.net ... & bit 'o registrar comparisons]] \\
GDPR & whois: [[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q2/013971.html|SF[-]LUG & domain(s) Re: Domain ...]]

----

==== GoDaddy.com ====

[[https://www.godaddy.com/|Godaddy.com]] ... uhm, probably just don't.  How 'bout start with their
sexist/racist/... sleazy crud advertising ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTvYVxO_9N8|YouTube: Washington Post: GoDaddy's most controversial Super Bowl ads]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDqQhaUaVq0&t=84s|The Onion can't help but to take a well deserved parody shot at them]]) ... maybe they're better now on that?  I
haven't particularly tracked.  They're also based in Canada, so if you
have some serious issue/dispute with them, and want to take legal action
... good luck with that (at least if you're not, e.g. a Canadian resident or citizen).
Been a while, but last I dealt with them their
interfaces were rather lacking.  Some of their behavior may be or have
been shady - at least I've heard such - but didn't run into that
personally.  Oh, but one thing I have repeatedly seen, that's quite shady, and as far as I'm aware they're still doing it.
So automatic renewals ... no biggie, right, should be quite straight forward.  Yeah, ... the way they do those ... they actually do the renewals
//slightly after the domains expire//.  Yeah shady as fsck - basically completely and totally exposes one to the mercy of GoDaddy
every single time they do that.  They don't even renew day, or //hours// before expiration, but only slightly after expiration.

----

==== Namecheap.com ====

[[https://www.namecheap.com/|Namecheap.com]] - sucky interface,
and not so competent staff.  Ugh, 2022
and they still can't do IPv6 for glue records on their interface ...
even though they have
[[https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/292/10/how-can-i-update-my-personal-nameservers-ip-address/#comment-601548546|support requests open to do that for more than a decade]]!
So, have to do support request for that ... ugh, really, in
2022 ... and they're not very competent about handing it at that.
Oh, and API ... 2023 and still:
[[https://www.namecheap.com/support/api/intro/|whitelist at least one IP before your API access will begin to work. Please keep in mind that only IPv4 addresses can be used]].
Also much of the information their support staff provides is incorrect ... ugh.

----

==== AWS.Amazon.com ====

[[https://aws.amazon.com/|AWS.Amazon.com]] offers registrar service via their [[https://aws.amazon.com/route53/|Amazon Route 53]] service offering.
As far as I've been able to tell, they've always been competent at that.
And, for better and/or worse, that's just a very small part of what Amazon and AWS does.  So, yeah, most registrars
(or their owning companies) don't also ship about 1.6 million packages per day.  So domain registrar certainly isn't Amazon's, nor AWS's core business.
But if one wants, e.g. tight convenient integration with AWS, well, they certainly have that.
Of course if one wants to put all one's eggs in one basket, best be sure it's a damn good safe secure basket.
Of course since AWS has quite ample APIs, it would be very feasible to use AWS as registrar, and do so quite independently,
and well integrate that in with other things in interoperability.  But then many registrars offer good/excellent APIs, so that's hardly
something that's unique to AWS.
Also of note. when AWS first offered registrar services, they resold through Gandi - which also speaks to Gandi's great
reliability and dependability and quality APIs.  Not sure if AWS still also does that, but at least since those earlier beginnings between
AWS and Gandi, AWS has also become registrar in their own right, so AWS may or may not still also be using (reselling) Gandi's registrar services.

----

==== domains.google ====

So, [[https://domains.google/|Google Domains]] has been a competent reliable registrar.
However, on 2023-06-15 [[https://www.squarespace.com/|Squarespace]] concluded an agreement to purchase the Google Domains business.
So, what has been Google Domains is being migrated over to Squarespace.  And, though I'd expect that for the basic registrar services that
would continue to be functional (but may be a bit different), it's certainly not being an entirely smooth transition for many customers.
But that may mostly be due to differing interfaces, and that Google Domains offered services beyond that of registrar which Squarespace
doesn't offer at all.  E.g. Google Domains, in its DNS offering, has supported hosting of Dynamic DNS (DDNS).  Squarespace has no such
offering, so there are many customers not so thrilled with such changes, and many have been scrambling to find suitable replacement services.
Note historically and generally, Google often launches things, and later drops them, as/when they find/decide they're not (sufficiently) profitable
and/or don't well (enough) fit to their core business model, etc.  So, although Google was quite competent as registrar, I find it no great
surprise that they're exiting the registrar business.  Do I see that as an issue with failed or reduced integration with
[[https://cloud.google.com/|Google Cloud / Google Cloud Platform (GCP)]]?
Not particularly, as that can probably be integrated with the API of most any registrar that
competently makes such available, without too much difficulty.

----

==== DreamHost.com ====

[[https://www.dreamhost.com/|DreamHost.com]] - most notably //gross//
technical and operational incompetence.  Having been screwed over multiple times by
DeamHost.com's hosting (see: 
[[https://lists.balug.org/pipermail/balug-admin/2017-September/000919.html|Many times that DreamHost.com majorly and repeatedly f*cked up hosted data]]),
there's no way in hell I'd trust 'em, let alone
with anything at least potentially as important/critical as a domain
and the registrar's responsibilities thereof.  Even though they offer
some services //for free// to 501(3)%%(%%c) non-profits, my best advice would be,
even at that price, far too costly and dangerous/hazardous, wouldn't want to
touch 'em with a ten foot pole, and I'd strongly recommend running away
as fast as feasible.
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