- Hey guys, my name is Christian Taylor.
Welcome back to Craylor Made
where I like to talk about all things, branding,
marketing, and entrepreneurship.
So today I'm so excited to bring you an updated comparison
on the best place to buy your domain name.
Should you just go to a place like GoDaddy,
which seems to be where everyone buys domains
or are there different options out there
and is there really a difference
with what they have to offer?
That's what we're going to unpack in today's video
so let's get started with the most popular option out there
and that is GoDaddy.
At first glance, GoDaddy looks very appealing.
They have a clean and simple website,
and I've always admired GoDaddy's marketing.
They're masters at putting together a simple package
and presenting it to newbies
as what you need to get your website started.
I'm here to save you though and tell you
if you're considering GoDaddy for your domain name,
do not buy it there.
First of all they charge $18.17 cents per year
to renew dot com domains.
Now, most of these registrars,
they're going to offer you a cheaper first year price.
So you may see prices like $10 or $5 or even 99 cents
for a dot com domain,
but be aware you need to check into the renewal price
because if you plan on keeping your business
for longer than a year, and let's be optimistic here,
you want to keep your business going for years to come
you're going to have to renew this domain name
after a year at the full renewal price
and at GoDaddy that's $18.17 cents a year
for a dot com domain
and that's the second most expensive registrar on this list.
Okay, but maybe it's worth paying a little bit more
if the quality and customer service is there.
Well at GoDaddy it's not.
They are constantly trying to sell you stuff
that's overpriced and stuff that you don't need.
For example, unlike years past
GoDaddy does now offer free basic Whois protection
with your domain name.
And this means if somebody looks up your domain
in the Whois database which anybody can do
instead of publicly displaying your name,
email and address, GoDaddy will now hide that
which has kind of become a standard practice
in the industry,
except they still display your state for some reason.
Now, I don't think that's the biggest deal
if somebody knows the state you're based in,
but what is alarming is that GoDaddy
is trying to upsell advanced privacy protection
and worse they've got two tiers of it,
$10 a year and $15 a year.
I mean, what is this?
What does it even do?
You either have who is protection or you don't,
you're going to be just fine
your domain is not going to be stolen
you don't need to buy this advanced Whois protection
or privacy protection.
But so many business owners don't understand that
and they're paying for stuff they don't need
because GoDaddy is using really deceptive
and shady practices to get them to buy stuff.
GoDaddy customer service is not a good experience either.
Their live chat is extremely frustrating.
I often have to repeat myself to their reps
just to get basic answers and their phone support
while the reps are courteous,
they generally don't have a lot of knowledge
and they're very smooth talkers.
So they kind of talk in circles
and make you feel like you're just doing something wrong
or there's nothing wrong on GoDaddy side
when in reality, most of the time GoDaddy stuff is buggy
and broken and they just don't want to admit it
leaving you really frustrated,
trying to figure out why your website is not working.
Please save yourself the trouble
and avoid GoDaddy at all costs.
All right, next, we're going to talk about Namecheap.
Now Namecheap is my personal favorite site
for the best overall ecosystem for your website.
So if you're looking for a website
where you can buy your domain name, web hosting,
email hosting, and have everything under one roof
Namecheap is for you.
They charge $13.16 cents a year for dot com renewals
and they don't try to sell you stuff you don't need.
Whois protection is included for free.
There's no silly upsells of advanced privacy protection,
and they're not pushy on any of the add-ons they offer.
By the way, if you are wondering
which upsells you should buy, if any,
or you have other questions about domain names,
do be sure to check out my video
on domain frequently asked questions
that I put out.
I answer a lot of the common questions
that I get in the comments about domain names.
So, be sure to watch that
I think it'll be insightful for you.
But anyway, Namecheap is a great place
to have all of your website products under one roof.
They offer high quality web hosting
starting at $2.88 cents per month
and that's month to month
not having to pay for a year package or anything crazy.
They also have great email hosting that I like
from about $10 a year.
They offer 24/7 live chat support.
They do not offer phone support
and their live chat support is okay.
They definitely are able to help you out
with any issues you have,
but sometimes they're a little bit slow
and sometimes the reps lack a bit of knowledge
and you kind of have to ask things several different times
or several different ways.
So they don't have the best customer support out there,
but they also are very reasonable with value.
For around 40 or $50 a year
you could have the whole package,
domain name, web hosting, and and email hosting,
and have a fully functioning WordPress website.
So if you're looking for that ecosystem,
that place to call home,
your one-stop shop for all of your online products,
look no further than Namecheap.
Next we have Google domains,
and this is a very interesting domain registrar
because it's no frills, no nonsense, very simplistic,
just $12 a year to renew a dot com domain
with free Whois protection and no kind of crazy upsells
or advanced complicated panels or anything.
I love how easy Google makes it to link your domain name
with Wix, Squarespace and Weebly.
They have a really unique way of linking it,
where you just sign in with your Squarespace account
or Wix account,
and you don't even have to deal with name servers
or traditional DNS
like you have to at most domain registrars.
Google does not offer web hosting.
They do offer integration with Google workspace,
which makes sense because it's another Google product,
but I would say Google domains is a good fit
for those of you who are using Wix or Squarespace
and you're looking to save some money
with your domain every year.
So instead of paying $20 a year to Wix or Squarespace
and having your dot com domain with them,
you could have it with Google domains instead
and since it's so easy to link it together,
it's not really a whole lot of extra work
and you're saving $8 a year.
They have 24/7 live chat support and overall,
I would say Google domains is highly underrated
and often overlooked.
Really the biggest reason not to go with Google domains
is if you're just trying to de-Google your life
and stay away from Google products,
I get that and I respect that.
I know a lot of you out there have voiced your opinion,
saying you are trying to get away from Google
as much as possible.
So if that's you, no worries.
I think you're going to like Hover,
which I'll talk about later.
It's very similar to Google domains,
but without the Google part of it.
But if you like the simplicity
and you want a name like Google backing your domain name,
give it a shot.
All right, next, we got Porkbun.
And if you're a penny pincher, this one is for you.
Porkbun charges $8.58 cents per year
for a dot com domain renewal with free Whois protection.
They do offer web hosting and email hosting,
but they're not the best in my opinion,
I do like that they offer free trials
with no strings attached.
So if you'd like to give their web hosting
or email hosting a shot, you can absolutely do that.
But I feel that their panel is not the most intuitive
and their web hosting products aren't super strong.
So I would not recommend Porkbun
if you're looking for that one-stop shop
where you're going to hold everything under one roof.
But if you use a third-party web host,
say you're using like Bluehost for WordPress hosting,
and you want to buy your domain name with someone else
to save some money.
Porkbun is about as cheap as it gets.
They're a great ethical company.
They have wonderful business practices.
They're never trying to sell you stuff you don't need.
They have very affordable prices.
So overall, if you're looking for some great value,
I definitely recommend checking out Porkbun.
They are the only other company on this list
where I hold some of my domain names
and honestly, I like them equally as much as Namecheap
for different reasons.
Hey, after you register your domain name,
chances are you're looking at how to build your website.
And if you're considering WordPress,
which is a popular free website builder,
that powers over 30% of the internet you're in luck
because I'm currently working on my first online course,
which is a step-by-step guide
on how to build a WordPress website from start to finish.
I'll be releasing it over at Craylor Academy
and you can join the waiting list in the link
in the description below if that sounds interesting to you.
Now, let's get back to the comparison.
Next step is NameSilo.
Now NameSilo is interesting.
They take a similar, no nonsense approach to domains,
just like Porkbun.
It's just $8.99 cents a year for dot com renewals
with free Whois protection
and NameSilo is ne of the most ethical companies out there.
They have very reasonable prices
they're never trying to sell you stuff that you don't need,
and overall, they just want the customer to win.
They want you to succeed with buying the products you need
for your website,
not buying the products they want to sell you.
My biggest problem with NameSilo
is that they've been updating their website for years
it feels like.
I mean, they have this pretty new homepage
that's really simple, really intuitive,
but as you start to buy your domain name,
they're constantly bouncing you back and forth
to their old really cluttered, dinosaur looking website.
And the change is really jarring
when you go back and forth between pages.
Additionally, the management panel,
where you actually connect your domain name to anything
is still with the old UI
and it really is hard to use.
It's just so busy and it's hard to look at
and comprehend how to point your domain name
to name servers or anything like that.
If you're more tech savvy and you don't mind poking around
and learning a bit of a more cluttered panel,
I think NameSilo could be a great value place
to have a domain web hosting and email hosting.
NameSilo offers phone support, unlike Porkbun,
which could be definitely appealing to some people
and they're a great company all around.
Next up, we've got Domain.com.
And if you're looking at Domain.com,
please stop and don't buy your domain from them.
Now, I didn't think it could be possible
to be worse than GoDaddy, but at this point,
Domain.com is worse than GoDaddy.
Look, they charge 1399 a year for dot com renewals
and while that's cheaper than GoDaddy,
they don't even offer a basic Whois protection free.
If you want Whois protection,
you have to pay 899 a year for that
making the effective all in cost $22.98 cents per year
for dot com renewals with Whois protection
and I really think that Whois protection is a must
for most people.
They have a more aggressive upsell screen than GoDaddy
that follow very similar practices
of trying to sell you stuff that you don't need
and their stuff is so overpriced.
I mean, they're wanting to charge like $40 a year
for a basic SSL certificate.
You should never pay for an SSL certificate by the way,
I have a whole video on that here.
But overall domain dot com is not a good ecosystem,
not a good place to buy a domain name,
web hosting, or email hosting.
They're not looking out for your best interest
and they're trying to overcharge you for a lot of stuff
you probably don't need.
I found the panel to be a little bit sluggish as well.
It just reminds me of GoDaddy overall, but worse,
which is really saying something.
Stay away from domain dot com
you'll thank me later.
Now, last on the list is Hover,
and I like to think of Hover as Google domains,
but without the Google.
I mentioned earlier that if you think you're a fan
of the simplicity of Google domains,
but you're trying to shy away from Google
for holding your assets
Hover is for you.
They charge 1499 a year for dot com renewals
with free Whois protection
and this is the most simple experience
alongside Google domains
that I've ever had at a domain registrar.
Everything is very clean, very simple, no nonsense
they do not offer web hosting.
They do offer email hosting,
but Hover is best for someone
who's going to buy a domain name and connect it
to a third party web host or a third-party website builder
and you just want to save a little bit of money
and you want a simple experience.
Similar to Google domains
they have easy guides on linking your domain name
with Wix, Squarespace, Weebly,
and other common website builders.
Hover also offers phone support,
which Google domains does not offer.
So if that's something important to you
and you really like to speak to someone
to work through support issues,
I think you're going to have a great time at Hover.
One thing I do not like about Hover
is that they charge you $5 a year for email forwarding,
which every other company I recommend on this list,
including Google domains offers for free
included in the cost.
So there are of course workarounds
that you could still get free email forwarding
if you use a third party service and connect it to Hover,
but I wish they would offer it natively for free.
So overall to summarize,
stay away from GoDaddy and domain dot com.
If you're seeking a one-stop shop for all of your domain,
web hosting and email hosting products,
I would highly recommend Namecheap.
Now, if you want some value options,
take a look at Porkbun and NameSilo.
NameSilo is probably better as a value one-stop shop
where pork bun is really just for value domain names
in my personal opinion.
And if you're looking for a very simple,
clean, smooth domain process,
and you don't need to buy a web hosting or anything else,
you just want a domain
and you want it to be as simple as possible
that's going to be where Google domains
or Hover really come into benefit.
I hope this video was helpful
on where to buy your domain name.
If you have questions, like,
"Is it bad to buy a domain name from Wix
or Squarespace directly?
Or why does the domain name I searched costs $4,000
when you said that a dot com domain was $12 a year
in that range?"
Definitely be sure to watch my FAQ video on domain names
where I answer your most frequently asked domain questions.
If you're interested in my step-by-step WordPress guide
on building your first website,
do be sure to check out the link in the description below,
subscribe to the channel and click the bell.
So you don't miss when I release new videos
and with that said, I'll catch you guys next time.