10 Best Domain Registrars Of 2025

Unless you are a tech pro, you probably haven’t heard of Porkbun, but just like those fabulous freshly steamed pork buns you love, Porkbun the domain registrar is filled with deliciousness. Solid first year at-cost pricing with low-margin renewal rates is the cornerstone for Porkbun, and your domain management dashboard gives you renewal estimates so you are never caught off guard if prices start to rise.

The easy-to-navigate domain management dashboard is a welcome sight for anyone, but especially beginners who are still struggling to get the hang of the technical side of domain name management. Quick links to helpful beginner-friendly tutorials, walk-throughs and videos for each control make Porkbun much less intimidating for beginners than many domain management systems. I also appreciate how easy SSL management is with Porkbun.

Porkbun’s dashboard is laid out well and offers detailed help links for beginners.

Extra services, including email and hosting, are convenient, and I love the security features of its email partner, ProtonMail. I also like that this little piggy has a market—access to the third-party domain aftermarket, that is—and domain auctions are also available. Strong security features and easily reachable customer support round out Porkbun’s offerings nicely for an all-around champ.

Learn more: Read our full Porkbun review.

I absolutely love it when a company doesn’t take itself too seriously, and Porkbun leans into the piggy tales with lots of fun icons for different TLDs and a generally friendly demeanor. Far from just being the class clown, Porkbun is a solid performer that makes customers feel welcome. I also love that it doesn’t make you jump through hoops to get a transfer authorization number if needed. It’s just a few clicks away on the dashboard.

Porkbun plays well with every host I’ve tested, and the controls and dashboard always work like they should. The only thing that is likely to trip up new users is that if you manually adjust name records to your host (instead of using the autoconnect features from your host), you need to delete the two default CNAME and A records first.

Spaceship has a personality all its own. While fun, it isn’t as intuitive as Porkbun and often feels more flash than function. That said, the functions are all there and pretty easy to set up, just don’t forget “launchpad” is the dashboard link.

Like many registrars, a CDN costs extra, but it’s not a dealbreaker by any means. Also, if you use Spaceship, you’ll need a host that provides SSLs as they aren’t available on the domain side. Most hosts provide these, but it is an important point to remember.

I love the propagation map, which gives you instant information about the progress of any record changes. Propagation was also surprisingly fast, and changing records is simple and straightforward.

Spaceship includes a simple propagation map to help visualize progress.

Overall, Spaceship is a solid domain registrar, but there’s still room for them to grow and work out some gremlins, like the spotty AI assistant and less-than-stellar documentation files. Then again, it was only launched in 2023, and it has been making steady improvements with new features regularly, so I’m excited to see how this Namecheap company will continue to grow.

Spaceship takes a minute to get ready to blast off. The initial interface, while flashy, isn’t the most intuitive at first glance, thanks to an overabundance of “fun” labels instead of functional ones. However, once you find the right thing to click, managing your domain is easy. Mostly, there’s too much extra stuff on the interface, wanting you to add on services.

Once you get to the domain itself, click the domain name, not the connections button. From there, a sidebar menu pops up that is much easier to navigate than the connections screen for basic tasks. Hopping down to the advanced tools opens the full management dashboard you might expect to see in one place with other providers. It’s absolutely suitable for all experience levels, you just have to puzzle through the menu for a few minutes at first.

Cloudflare can easily overwhelm a beginner, but the list of tools and security features is hard to beat. Its CDN alone is a great feature that you don’t have to manually configure when using Cloudflare domains.

Cloudflare is both a domain registrar and a name server (DNS) provider with additional plans that can be added to your domain registration for advanced features such as extra caching, PCI and SOC 2 Type II compliance, an API gateway and more support options. The base plan is free, but the paid plans give you room to grow as your company website needs grow.

Basic controls are simple, with SSL and many other security measures handled automatically. That said, there are so many controls and features, even with the free plan, that you can get lost easily. Take your time and slowly learn the dashboard for the best results if you are a beginner.

In spite of the detailed control options, the basic domain management features with Cloudflare are easily accessed.

It’s also worth noting that community support and documentation are the only help if you use the free plan to underpin your domain registration. If you are a beginner, you may run into trouble without live support occasionally until you get the hang of things.

Cloudflare sells domain registrations at cost, so it’s one of the cheapest possible long-term solutions. In general, the domain registrations are there as a bonus to the other Cloudflare products. For most applications, it’s a great option, but Cloudflare doesn’t hold your hand if you need help.

There are no quick help popups and cute video tutorials to walk you through the process. Considering its low cost and free feature plan, I also want to point out that it doesn’t work well with Google Sites, particularly in setting the A records so it appears without the www. prefix. Google Sites doesn’t provide an IP for manually setting that record, and Cloudflare doesn’t work around that.

It’s not pretty, but it works. NameSilo doesn’t win any points for interface design, but it is mostly straightforward for most security features and basic controls. It also has a great DNS template feature where you can preset name records to apply to multiple domains. Preset configurations for a few dozen hosts are also available. That preset capability is a great option for anyone dealing with large numbers of domains.

NameSilo also offers hosting, email and other extra services. Unfortunately, SSLs are one of the extra costs, but they aren’t overpriced. NameSilo also offers a reseller program that couples well with the low domain costs, bulk discounts and a large number of supported TLDs.

In spite of a dated interface, NameSilo controls generally work well, except for problematic DNSSEC controls.

There are a few pieces missing, though. Beyond the extra cost for SSLs, setting security features is hit or miss at times. NameSilo seems to go out of its way to discourage DNSSEC use and while its support has a great reputation, the site seems designed to keep you from trying to contact them.

Learn more: Read our full NameSilo review.

Windows XP, anyone? That was my first thought when I logged into NameSilo. The interface design is a blast from the past. In spite of that, controls all work well, and features are fairly easy to manage.

The biggest annoyance is the DNSSEC controls. NameSilo actively discourages you from using it and doesn’t provide support if you misconfigure something. While NameSilo’s low prices and extra security features, like a notification of any registration changes, are great, the lack of easy DNSSEC controls makes them more suitable for experienced domain managers than average business owners.

Like Cloudflare, DNSimple is primarily a DNS management provider that also offers domain registration. When you go up against a giant like Cloudflare, that often means everyone looks at you in comparison to the giant. It’s a bit like comparing Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods; both have great offerings, but the two companies take pretty different approaches.

DNSimple leans more into domain management itself rather than the extras surrounding it. So while SSLs are an extra cost and there aren’t as many third-party integrations, the plans offer more domain management tools at a lower plan level than Cloudflare. Security is still strong overall as well.

Unlike Cloudflare, DNSimple’s free plan isn’t fully free. There’s a 50-cent charge per active domain zone each month and a 10-cent per million queries charge. The $29 monthly plan gives you access to single sign-on, something Cloudflare doesn’t offer until its custom-quoted enterprise-level plans. Choosing between the two is just a matter of matching your needs to the plan features.

DNSimple puts some fun into your day by making music from your domain name records.

Managing your domain is simple, with one of the clearest menu setups I’ve seen, bordering on chef’s-kiss perfection. One-click record templates include a nice selection of providers, there’s an option for vanity name servers, DNSSEC is quick to set up, more record types are supported (such as ALIAS, POOL and URL) and it supports Anycast. Plus, there’s a completely useless but hilarious option to make music with your domain name records.

I always love seeing renewal pricing listed with domain information and that’s just the start of what I love about DNSimple. The menus and controls are logically arranged, easy to navigate and absolutely live up to the company name. The biggest issue I foresee new users facing is confusion over the pricing structure, similar to how Cloudflare’s plans on top of domain registration costs often perplex new users.

Sure, the DNSimple free plan that isn’t really free is annoying, but an extra $6 or so per year won’t break the bank. Once you get that concept down, managing your domain is almost enjoyable with DNSimple, something that’s very rare among domain registrars today.

DNSimple also got a real laugh out loud from me with the “make music from your domain records” feature. It’s useless, except for brightening your day, but absolutely one of my new favorite things.

The .com TLD may be the most popular, but it isn’t the right fit for everyone. With over 2,000 supported domain extensions, INWX offers an amazing array of choices to find just the right fit for your company or personal project.

INWX’s controls are straightforward and bulk actions are a great addition. However, it’s the TLD choices that really shine for INWX and garnered a spot on my best domain registrar list. Pricing appears low on many domains at first glance, but INWX doesn’t include many features that other registrars do without an extra cost.

Having to pay extra for WHOIS privacy is a huge pet peeve of mine, and my hill to die on is that companies charging for WHOIS do so to artificially lower the domain registration costs in searches to make themselves look more competitive than they actually are. As such, bear in mind you’ll need to pay an extra $5 or so for privacy on top of your domain registration costs. SSLs are also another add-on, so if your host doesn’t provide SSLs, you need to consider that in pricing as well.

The extra charge for domain privacy from INWX often negates much of the registration savings.

While all that does negate some of INWX’s great deals on lesser-known domain extensions, it’s still not a dealbreaker (other than the annoyance factor) much of the time, especially if you are hunting an extension that’s not widely available.

INWX is a love-hate situation for me. I love a lot of the features and despise the pricing model of add-ons everywhere. Charging extra for items most consider standard will always feel like an underhanded marketing ploy to me.

However, I’ve never found a feature that didn’t work as intended with INWX, and there are some helpful items I really like. The domain log lets me see all domain actions at a glance, there’s a record search and replace feature I want to see everywhere (seriously, any registrars who don’t have this and are reading this list, snap to it) and bulk actions are a nice time saver.

Simple, economical and effective sums up Namecheap. The dashboard is no-frills but features work easily, like a simple toggle to activate DNSSEC and easy domain ownership transfers if needed, without spending hours hunting for the right menu.

Like most registrars, there are some extra options you can purchase, like hosting and email, but the core features for domains are all there, plus extras like Dynamic DNS controls to automatically keep track of changing IP addresses. DNS templates are also available, but there are only three presets. Likewise, SSLs are a bit of a letdown, with them only being available through Namecheap’s hosting (or whatever other host you choose) instead of as part of the domain registration.

Namecheap’s domain controls are straightforward, including easy DNSSEC activation.

While not always the cheapest option, Namecheap is usually pretty close, with Cloudflare’s at-cost model just edging them out for renewals, and Namecheap-owned Spaceship generally winning first-year discount offers by a nose. Overall, it’s a solid, uncomplicated domain registrar with good tool tips for beginners. It also offers auctions, bulk discounts and tools suitable for high-volume domain registration and is moving from standard 2FA to an authentication app for tighter account security.

Namecheap doesn’t really shine, but it isn’t a bad option. It’s what you should expect from a budget domain name registrar, and it doesn’t try to hide the basicness behind flashy icons. The dashboard is straightforward and functional, but the contrast is not accessibility friendly, with many features in a light blue that could be a big issue for those with vision impairments.

I didn’t find any features that didn’t work, and although some features weren’t well-organized, the tool tips linked to common problem areas are a great help for beginners or experienced domain managers new to the Namecheap interface.

Primarily a webhost, DreamHost still offers strong domain registration features. Pricing tends to fall in the middle with DreamHost. First-year discounts aren’t as steep, but renewal pricing tends to be more stable than with many other registrars.

Domain registration is primarily a way to get you in the door to try to sell other services, and your first dashboard screen will be mostly a wall of ads for extra services. However, most of the ads are confined to that landing page, so it isn’t as obtrusive once you get into the control menus. Menus are fractured, with different features split up under separate menu categories, and most of the management is through the website menu instead of the domain menu.

Domains at DreamHost often seem like a marketing tool to sell other services.

My biggest gripe with DreamHost is the convenient glossing over of the fact that its name servers are not DNSSEC compatible. So, even though DNSSEC is included with your domain, you can only use it if you change your name servers to third-party DNSSEC-compatible name servers.

Learn more: Read our full DreamHost review.

While it isn’t an uncommon practice for domain registrars who offer hosting, I absolutely despise the practice of putting most domain management features under the website menu. That said, once you remember you are on a host-first registrar dashboard (and get past the walls of ads for extra services), controls are fairly straightforward, although scattered. The AI Assistant will be your best friend in finding what menus each control is hidden under.

The only feature that stood out positively for me was that when adding or changing domain name records, the screen includes name record descriptions and groups the most common ones at the top of the list for quick access.

Dynadot doesn’t set up nameservers by default, but it makes adding your own nameservers easy (if you are self-hosting). However, for SMBs, it’s the free one-page website builder and its nameservers that add the real value to Dynadot. Your domain registration includes a one-page website and one email address, making it a great low-cost option to get your company online for the first time.

Dynadot offers a free one-page website and one email address with domain registration.

Domain management itself is fairly simple, but for beginners, it works best with Dynadot’s other offerings. It still has some nice features for more advanced users, though. There’s a domain watchlist option to track when domains you want are available for purchase, and the domain sales dashboard can handle listings for domains registered elsewhere as well.

Learn more: Read our full Dynadot review.

Dynadot is underwhelming as a stand-alone domain registrar for me, thanks to the lack of default stand-alone name servers, DNSSEC setup complications and the perpetually broken AI chatbot. However, I like that it offers a simple way for a business to get online for the first time with basic email.

While I wouldn’t suggest that for a complicated website, the builder is quite capable of helping you create a one-page website quickly. However, most of the templates (if you don’t use the AI builder) automatically generate a multipage site, and then the system nags you to upgrade your plan as you work to delete the unincluded parts of the site before publishing.

First-year pricing is one of the main draws with IONOS. It regularly offers first-year registration on many domain names for $1 or under, including .com extensions, which are often excluded from loss leader sales by other registrars. It also offers domain extension bundles, allowing you to obtain multiple TLDs (usually .com, .org, .info and .cloud) for your domain name, all for $1 in many cases.

But renewal rates aren’t the best, so you may want to consider transferring to a different domain registrar during that first year if IONOS’s other features don’t tick all the boxes on your wishlist.

IONOS does have some nice domain features, though, including wildcard SSLs, email, 1-click connections with Domain Connect and 24/7 phone support. For me, phone support is important enough to justify slightly higher renewal prices. Downtime costs can be astronomical, and fast support is vital, especially if you have an e-commerce website.

The generic landing page for a new domain registered with IONOS is an advertisement for IONOS.

Plus, while you must use a participating website host for it to work, I love that IONOS participates in Domain Connect. This program eliminates much of the manual work involved in connecting your domain and hosting, making it a great option for those new to domain management. There are over 110 participating providers, so if you aren’t comfortable with nameserver and DNS record settings, I recommend checking to see if your web hosting provider (or control panel) is a participant before signing up.

Learn more: Read our full IONOS review.

While I like the extension sets for IONOS and most of the controls, what sticks in my craw is the automatically generated landing page for your domain being an ad for IONOS. I’d rather have a generic number error holding page thrown up until I can point the domain to my website or landing page.

I did like the quick access option that gives you a fast list of quick connections and domain management tools. However, the constant ads for buying extra domains or services get old very fast. Likewise, if you use IONOS and don’t want domain autorenewal, you’ll need to set yourself a reminder to log back in within a few days, as the ability to turn off autorenewal is locked for the first 24 to 48 hours after purchase.