Compare The Best Domain Registrars

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best domain registrar service for most people is GoDaddy or Hostinger.

Just need a domain name without hosting? Domain.com is one of the best domain registrars for people that only need a domain name. It’s affordable and easy to use. Click here to get 25% off at Domain.com with the coupon code QUICKSPROUT.

Need hosting, too? You can instantly get a free domain name when you sign up for Hostinger web hosting (starting at only $2.99/month!). This is recommended if you need a hosting account for your new domain name, which most people do.

Finding the right domain registrar is crucial for your entire website-building experience. But there are thousands of options to choose from.

Fortunately for you, I’ve purchased hundreds of domain names throughout my career. So I know exactly what to look for in different situations. Based on my research and experience, I’ve narrowed down and reviewed the top seven domain registrars on the market today.

Pro Tip: Get a free domain name when you bundle domain registration and web hosting together at Hostinger

If you’re buying multiple domains or planning to buy and sell domain names as a business, it’s usually best to keep domain registration separate from web hosting. Domain registry and web hosting are very different, and you should stick to expert providers for each service. 

But if you’re starting a blog or simple portfolio website, it’s perfectly fine to get your domain name and web hosting service from a single provider. 

Hostinger is the best option to consider if you fall into this category. They offer a free domain name with very affordable web hosting. Hostinger is the fastest and easiest way to get a new website up and running—and you can save money by bundling your domain with a hosting package.

The 7 Best Domain Registrars

• GoDaddy — Best for domain protection and privacy
• Hostinger — Best for bundling domain registration and web hosting
• Porkbun — Best for creative domain extensions
• Domain.com — Best for fast and simple domain purchasing
• Network Solutions — Best for long-term domain registrations
• Namecheap — Best for affordable domain registration
• NameSilo — Best for buying domains in bulk

I’ve reviewed all my top picks in detail below. Read on to understand your options and make an intelligent decision about buying a domain.

Best Domain Registrar Reviews

GoDaddy — Best for Domain Protection and Privacy

GoDaddy is one of the largest and most well-known domain registration services on the market. It’s a simple and affordable way to register your domain and ensure its protection. 

With GoDaddy, you’ll benefit from arguably the best introductory offers in the industry. You can register a domain name for just $0.01 for your first year when you commit to a two-year registration. It’s tough to find a better deal from such a top-notch domain registration service.

Where GoDaddy really shines above the crowd is with its privacy features.

Every GoDaddy domain comes with basic domain privacy and protection. This is available to you at no extra cost and protects things like your name, email address, phone number, and other personal information. 

It’s common for other domain registrars to charge for domain privacy. So it’s nice that GoDaddy offers it for free.

For even more protection, you can upgrade to a Full Domain Protection or Ultimate Domain Protection package.

The Full package prevents hackers from stealing your domain or making changes. It also requires two-factor authentication for deletions, transfers, and other vital changes. The Ultimate package includes all of this, plus it holds your domain for an extra 90 days if your billing method expires upon renewal. 

If you’re like me and you care a lot about your personal privacy and domain protection, then you’ll love GoDaddy.

Another unique standout of GoDaddy is its bulk domain search tool. You can use it to check the availability of up to 500 domains with just a few clicks. GoDaddy also gives you the option to purchase all of the available ones simultaneously. 

If you’re thinking about getting into the domain flipping business, this tool makes it easy to list and park domains as well. 

It’s also worth noting that GoDaddy has a domain broker service to help you purchase domains that are already taken. You’ll be assigned a dedicated agent to negotiate the deal between you and the current owner. 

Get your first year for just $0.01 when you register a domain with GoDaddy today. 

And read our full GoDaddy Review to get more information.

Hostinger — Best for Bundling Domain Registration and Web Hosting

Hostinger is the best way to get free domain registration along with web hosting.

Instead of getting these from separate providers, use Hostinger and take care of everything in one place.

You’ll get fast, reliable, beginner-friendly web hosting, and you won’t have to pay any fees for domain registration for the first year. 

Seriously, Hostinger offers free domain registration with plans starting as low as $2.99 per month.

It’s the service we recommend if you’re building a brand-new website. You can search for the perfect domain name on Hostinger, set up web hosting, and launch your website in minimal time.

WordPress is a one-click install with Hostinger, which makes it easy to start getting content on your site. What’s even better is that Hostinger offers one-click installs for more than 100 other apps.

Hostinger also includes free SSL certificates, which many domain registrars will charge you extra fees for. Plus, it’s easy to handle SSL certificates in hPanel, Hostinger’s user-friendly dashboard for managing your site. Our Hostinger review covers this in greater detail.

Another perk of getting your domain through Hostinger is the free privacy protection. The company automatically masks your contact information from the public WHOIS database. Other registrars will charge $10-$15 per year for this service.

Register your domain with Hostinger, lock in a great rate on web hosting, and get your site online in minutes. Save time and money setting up your domain with Hostinger.

See more in my in-depth Hostinger web hosting review.

Porkbun — Best for Creative Domain Extensions

Porkbun is a relative newcomer on this list, but they have made a name for themselves with affordable, competitive pricing–including on renewals, where a lot of domain registrars get you. Porkbun is committed to keeping its prices low and its options wide open.

With so many .com domains snapped up or way too expensive, it’s ideal to be able to take advantage of alternative domain extensions that make your URL–and your brand–more memorable.

Searching keywords on Porkbun will return a lot of new and trending domain extensions to choose from. Starting a blog about the best kinds of camping gear? Snag .review or .camp. Want to show off your portfolio and get new gigs? Try .studio, .art, or .ink.

A lot of these nontraditional but easy-to-remember extensions are available from Porkbun for under $8 for your first year. And they have literally hundreds to choose from, leading to nearly endless possible combinations with your desired keywords. Of course, they have .com domains available, too, starting at $4.75 to register a new one.

Right now, you can get a .shop extension for your web store starting at only $2.04 for the first year. That’s an incredible initial deal and it renews at a still reasonable $26.85/year after that. That’s better renewal pricing than just about anybody else on this list.

You can also purchase more than one year upfront, up to 10. Sure, you’ll lose out on the sweet first-year discount, but you’ll be able to secure your home on the web for up to a decade at Porkbun’s great rates. That same .shop extension can be locked down for ten years for just $228.93, an even better rate than their renewal pricing.

Plus, every domain purchase comes with the following extras for free:

• WHOIS privacy
• SSL certificate
• URL and email forwarding
• Trials of Porkbun’s site builder, web hosting, and email hosting

Half of domain hunting now is brainstorming the right combination of keywords and extensions. The latter can be hard if you don’t know what’s available. But Porkbun’s helpful pages for trending domain extensions and their best deals can help you find something effective and cheap. At the time of this writing, Porkbun has the lowest registration cost on the market for over 200 extensions. And they have over 500 total available domain extensions.

Get creative with your URL and make something memorable that won’t cost an arm and a leg to register. Find your site’s one-of-a-kind home by registering a domain through Porkbun.

Domain.com — Best for Fast and Simple Domain Purchasing

Domain.com is one of our top picks because of its quality of service, overall simplicity, and affordable privacy protection. 

You can get a .com domain from Domain.com for just $9.99 per year. They also give you the option of purchasing the domain for up to five years, which means you can set it and forget it for the foreseeable future.

Where they really shine is in keeping your overall domain costs lower than average. While domain privacy and protection are two of the most important things when you own a site and domain, it is one of the add-ons where costs can really add up. 

Domain.com only charges $8.99 per year for Domain Privacy + Protection. To compare, Network Solutions is $9.99 per year and only protects your information in the WHOIS database, skipping additional domain protection like malware scans.

Hostinger includes free WHOIS privacy protection with most domains registered through their service, which can amount to pretty big savings if you have a lot of domains.

With the addition of Domain.com’s SiteLock, you’ll get regular malware scans and blocklist prevention. Domain.com’s privacy protection also removes your personal contact information from the database and replaces it with its own.

You can add Domain Privacy + Protection at any time and it is available for all of the most popular domains, such as .com, .net, .org, .co, and more. There are some that don’t support domain privacy, including .ae, .es, .gg, and others. You can verify with the company if your chosen domain is supported.

Beyond privacy, Domain.com has other excellent services and 24/7 customer support. For example, you may be able to save even more money if you want to use them for hosting. Shared hosting with Domain.com is $3.75 per month whether you commit to 12 or 36 months. This is unlike some other hosting services, which only give you a lower monthly cost if you commit to several years upfront. 

You can use the Domain.com website or online store builder to get everything you need in one place or use their services for domain transfers. They make the transfer process very easy.

The entire purchase process can be completed in a minute, including grabbing the privacy and protection add-on.

Fittingly for its own domain name, Domain.com should be one of the first places you look for a domain. Check out our Domain.com review to learn more about these services.

Get 25% off with coupon code QUICKSPROUT.

Network Solutions — Best for Long-term Domain Registrations

It’s crucial to lock down your dream domain once you find it. You want to own your prime real estate on the web for as long as possible without any worry about losing it by missing a renewal.

Network Solutions goes above and beyond the other registrars out there—you can secure your domain for anywhere from one year to 100.

You’ll have to pay upfront for the full 100 years if that’s the route you want to go (and there are no prorated refunds for changing your mind around the half-century mark). But if you’re betting on the longevity of your organization, company, or personal brand, Network Solutions makes it easy to set your domain up for the long haul.

While a full century might be overkill, the registrar’s options for 10 and 20-year terms are a real plus compared to other options on my list.

Even if you go with a shorter term, for just $9.99 per domain you can get expiration protection. If you forget to renew, are unable, or if you just have an old credit card on file that can’t be charged when renewal time rolls around, Network Solutions will keep your domain safe from poachers and rate hikes for up to a year.

Network Solutions also offers two common features, domain transfers and private registration, but in terms of cost they’re a little steeper than the others on this list.

However, Network Solutions has better search capabilities than most, allowing you to use their portal to bid on expired domains, place a certified offer on held domains, browse the inventory of premium reseller domains, search in bulk for up to 25 keywords or phrases, and score pre-registration deals on new domain extensions.

In any case, this is the registrar you need if you’re looking to lock down your dream domain for decades.

Head over to Network Solutions to search for your domain name today and use coupon code QUICKSPROUT to get 25% off.

Namecheap — Best for Affordable Domain Registration

True to their name, Namecheap offers great domain names at incredibly affordable prices.

They also give you a swift domain purchasing experience. In less than two minutes, you’ll be able to buy and register a domain name for less than the price of your average UberEats meal.

There are also limited upsells, nothing confusing about the process, and nothing to slow you down either.

It’s everything I want in a domain purchasing experience and nothing I don’t.

When you get to checkout, here’s my suggestion for which upsells to buy–ignore everything. Seriously, there’s nothing extra you need to purchase. Namecheap already provides domain privacy via a WhoisGuard subscription, a privacy protection that prevents your personal contact information from being displayed in the publicly accessible WHOIS database—and that’s free forever.

As long as your domain is with Namecheap, you’ll never pay for WhoisGuard. GoDaddy, on the other hand, charges $10 per year for it, and most other web hosts that offer domain registration charge $12 per year.

Once you’ve purchased your domain, the dashboard is clearly laid out.

I’ve found Namecheap’s knowledge base to be thorough and helpful. Great documentation is key, since buying and setting up a domain isn’t part of most people’s expertise. It’s just not something you do every day.

If you need more support, Namecheap has 24/7 live chat help and a two-hour ticket response time. To learn more about Namecheap’s support and additional benefits, check out our complete Namecheap review.

Maximize your small budget by grabbing a domain through Namecheap.

NameSilo — Best for Buying Domains in Bulk

NameSilo is the second-fastest-growing domain registrar in the world. A big reason for this is their easy and affordable way to buy domains in bulk.

With just a few clicks, you’ll be able to search for hundreds of available domain names and purchase them. You also get a huge discount for bulk domain purchases.

In fact, their lowest rates clock in at $8.39 per domain per year if you purchase 5,000+ domains. That’s easily the lowest rate out there for domains.

Of course, you’ll have to buy enough domains to populate a small town. But if your business wants to secure an array of potential branding opportunities or get into the domain trading business, this is a fast and cheap way to do it.

There are just a few quick upsells, including a Premium DNS, SSL certificate, and hosting.

You can start configuring your domain at checkout—linking it to a third-party service (like a website builder) and entering custom name servers. Don’t forget to opt-in to WHOIS privacy protection.

Oh, and NameSilo throws in domain privacy for free (though you’ll need to opt-in by selecting it in your cart).

Get started with NameSilo today.

How to Find the Best Domain Registrar

Finding the right domain registrar for your business can be tricky. Even in a list like this, how do you choose when each option is great?

Let me help you break it down.

Below are the criteria I used when compiling this list. I judged each product against these benchmarks to see how they performed. Use the following information as a framework to help guide your decision based on your unique needs.

Free vs. Paid Domain Protection

When you sign up for a domain, you need to provide information for WHOIS—a public database filled with information about users who have purchased a domain name or created an IP address.

Think of it as a phone book for the Internet. Like a phonebook, you can use it to find the personal information (including the name, phone number, email address, and mailing address) of anyone with a domain name.

Spammers love the WHOIS directory. It gives them easy access to different people they can attempt to contact—as well as their contact information.

Luckily, you can keep the information out of their hands with domain privacy and protection.

Most domain registrars, like Namecheap, include WHOIS protection for free. Those who don’t charge about $12/year.

That might determine your ultimate decision on which domain registrar you go with. You’ll definitely want to research the domain registrar’s WHOIS privacy policy and whether or not you’ll have to purchase it at checkout.

You can also use your business info, since it’s already publicly available. But whatever you do, definitely don’t use your personal info unless you want to field spam phone calls and emails after your domain purchase.

Do You Need a Web Hosting and/or a Domain?

It’s common for domain registrars to offer web hosting services. It’s also common for web hosting providers to offer domain registration.

These bundles might seem tempting, but in most cases you should keep each service separate. Why? Separation gives you a lot more flexibility if you want to change web hosts and/or domain registrars in the future. It also improves the quality of service on both.

I’d only recommend registering a domain and getting hosting with the same company if you’re not planning to buy more domains in the future. Companies that offer domains and hosting together will tout the ability to save money by doing both together. However, when you are purchasing a large number of domains, you often can receive a better deal by shopping around and separating the two services.

If you are doing something simple, like starting a blog or personal website, using the same company for both web hosting and for purchasing a domain can work well. When you have a simple website in your plans, you can save some money by using the same company.

If you do decide to bundle your domain registrar and web host in one provider, you should use Hostinger. It is the best service when it comes to delivering both of these services at an extremely high level while offering both of them a great price.

Quick and Easy Domain Transfers

Domain transfers are a sneakily important aspect of a good registrar. This is especially true if you have chosen to bundle your services.

Why? At some point you’re likely going to transfer your domain, especially if you’ve chosen to bundle it with a web hosting service.

While I do recommend bundling with Hostinger for beginners, Hostinger is probably not the last place your website will live if you get really get serious about growing your traffic and web presence.

You also might end up finding a better deal with a different domain registrar later on. Or you might just not gel with the current domain registrar.

Whatever your reason, you’re going to want to make sure you choose a domain registrar with a clear and straightforward transfer policy. It shouldn’t cost you a bunch of money and time on the phone with a customer support rep just to transfer your domain to a new registrar down the road.

As you research, see what it takes to transfer a domain from their platform. Make sure it’s spelled out in clear and plain language. If not, you might end up resenting your choice down the road.

Bulk Domain Purchasing

This certainly won’t apply to most of you—but for those it does apply to, this will be an important consideration.

Does the domain registrar you’re researching offer bulk purchases? This can be an important tool for many businesses, especially if you’re building out multiple sites or if you’re looking to get into the domain parking game.

Platforms like Namecheap, NameSilo, and GoDaddy are fantastic options if you want to purchase domains in bulk. They even offer great promotions and discounts, too.

But be sure to find a domain registrar with a simple and user-friendly bulk purchasing tool. That means it’s easy to use, and pushes no upsells or hidden fees.

It’s way too easy to get caught up in a flashy tool, only to later find out that you accidentally purchased a ton of upsells you didn’t need.

Best Domain Registrars: Your Top Questions Answered

The Top Domain Registrars in Summary

Whether you’re buying a new domain for the first time or purchasing domains in bulk as an investment, finding a reliable domain registrar will make your life much easier. 

GoDaddy and Hostinger are the top domain registrars on the market today. GoDaddy stands out for its simple registration process and domain privacy and protection included with every purchase. Hostinger offers a free domain with web hosting—perfect for beginners who want to bundle both services from the same provider.