GoDaddy vs Name.com
Who is the best?
Yesterday I mentioned that I used to use GoDaddy to register my domains exclusively. Recently I discovered another domain registrar, Name.com. Today GoDaddy and Name.com will be going head-to-head to see who is the best. I will look at five main areas: Price, Customer Service, Registration Tools, Control Panel, and Overall.
Price
GoDaddy’s non-discounted price for a .com is $9.99. Though it is very easy to find coupon codes and discount them to $6.99 (before the .20 ICANN fee).
With Name.com it is $5.99 for a .com and $5.89 for a .net and nearly impossible to find a coupon code but at these prices do you really need it?
The Winner: Name.com - The main reason, because they have a great price without having to use coupon codes.
Customer Service
I haven’t had a lot of experience with Name.com’s customer service. I have been using GoDaddy for several years and have interacted with their customer service team from time to time. GoDaddy’s customer service is always great. They are very friendly and have always known what they were talking about. Each time I dealt with them I always hung up satisfied that I received the right answer and not just an answer to get me off the phone. Any issues I had (e.g. Auto renew turned on for a domain I didn’t want) they were very quick to refund my payment and take care of it.
Name.com’s customer service was excellent the one time I contacted them. The response I received was very timely, friendly, and answered the question I had.
The Winner: Draw - I haven’t used Name.com’s customer service enough but the time I did they were great. Each time I have dealt with GoDaddy they have always be pleasant.
Registration Tools
This one will be short and sweet. I find GoDaddy’s suggestion tool very useful when I am looking for a domain. I have used their suggestion more than once when the domain name I searched for was taken. The thing I really hate about GoDaddy’s registration process is the constant up-sell. Every page you land on when registering a domain is trying to sell you something. All I want is the darn domain!
Name.com has a pretty vanilla search tool. The only extras you get when searching for a domain are premium domains that are for sale. Their tool does not provide any suggestions. What Name.com lacks in a domain search tool they make up for in the rest of the registration process. There are no annoying up-sells to be seen. You select your form of payment and whether or not you want Google Apps and Privacy on the domain. Very simple, just the way I like it.
The Winner: Draw - GoDaddy has a great suggestion tool and Name.com has a straight forward registration system. I find myself doing domain searches at GoDaddy and registering the domain at Name.com.
Control Panel
Like their search tool Name.com’s control panel is no frills. You login to your account and are greeted by a list of your domains. On the left are all the control options. One of my favorite features is the bulk management tool that allows you to update various things on multiple domains including nameservers.
GoDaddy’s control panel is MUCH more complex. One reason is because GoDaddy offers so much more than just domain registration and it can all be managed through this one control panel. I don’t think I have discovered everything you can do within it. I have to say I prefer the simplicity of Name.com’s control panel but once you get used to GoDaddy’s it isn’t hard to use. They also provide bulk management tools and allow you to organize your domains into folders. Another feature I really like is the that lets you consolidate expiriation dates. Just select the domains you want to consolidate (.com/.net/.org only) and select Renew > Consolidate Domain Names. One downside is that GoDaddy’s control panel seems to run VERY slow at times.
Overall
Both registrars have their redeeming qualities. I used GoDaddy for a long time and thought it was the absolute best. I didn’t use any others. Then a little over a month ago I saw Name.com had really cheap domains so I tried that out. The conclusion is if you like lots of extras definitely go with GoDaddy. If you are more of the no-frills type Name.com is for you.
The Winner: You can’t go wrong with either
I hope you enjoyed this review. Who do you prefer to use? I would love to hear your comments on this.
Filed Under: Internet
I too have used GoDaddy until I became a Name.com customer. I like Name.com because it is cheaper and I get no spam from them. Godaddy has everything, but I found a new webhost now too, so I pay less and happier with both my registrar and my host’s service.