I am running a NAS at home, Minecraft server and some other stuff.

I want to make it all easier to access by getting my own domain, both for myself and friends and family.

Will also use it for my mail address etc.

My main goal is reduce my dependency on US services for very obvious reasons.

What’s a good non US dns registrar to use? Found a ton online, but it’s my first time doing this and I’m a bit lost unfortunately.

Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.

  • rice@lemmy.orgEnglish
    1·
    10 hours ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandi

    This one is in the top registrars ever to exist and is very old as well. Coincidentally also not in USA. Other rivals of “greatness” are things like porkbun (USA) and namecheap (USA)

    Looks like other users say gandi has gone downhill. Couldn’t recommend any over porkbun though so good luck.

  • Pirata@lemm.eeEnglish
    281·
    2 days ago

    What’s up with everyone in this comment section shilling registrars with abysmal customer reviews? Lol. The only one that even has remotely good reviews is Mythic Beasts.

    Anyways, I’d like to recommend IONOS (German). Their service has been flawless so far, and I haven’t seen any reports of bad customer either.

    • needanke@feddit.orgEnglish
      6·
      2 days ago

      Been using Strato (subsidiary of IONOS) for a few years now as well and got no complaints. Plus its only 12€/a for a .de or .eu domain.

  • NotSteve_@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    I moved all my domains over to FullHost.ca from NameCheap and they’ve been pretty good so far. As far as I can tell, they’re just a reseller but their support has been really good.

    • Un Vato Mexa@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Hey I just bought a domain for the first time, from Gandi. Could I ask you, what made you take that decision?

      • hindy@mbin.lovetux.net
        4·
        2 days ago

        Hello, sure you can ask :-)
        GANDI was bought by Strikwerda Investments and then they raised their price. For instance for a .net domain it was around €15 and now it’s more than €20 for a new domain name. If you want to keep the domain in GANDI the renew is around €38. I think it will work with GANDI, you still have the choice to change after if you like.

  • lnxtx (xe/xem/xyr)@feddit.nlEnglish
    15·
    2 days ago

    OVH no problems for years.

    BUT choose domain that is also maintained by non-US organization.
    Like national TLDs from the EU, or fancy like one., cloud., …

  • SirMaple__@lemmy.caEnglish
    171·
    2 days ago

    Canuck here. I’ve been moving all my domains from porkbun over to OVH. I still use desec.io for the DNS since they’re based in Germany and like to keep it separate from the registrar.

    If OVH plays its cards right they’re going to be getting a lot more business from those looking to dump GCS, AWS, and Azure.

    • Pirata@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      2 days ago

      I found OVH quite confusing. Do they upsell you like crazy (e.g. is WHOIS protection an upsell)? I don’t want to create an account on purpose just to find out.

      • SirMaple__@lemmy.caEnglish
        6·
        2 days ago

        No upselling. Yes they might have something in the order process. Like when ordering a VPS you can add windows os or some control panel type software. I didn’t pay anything extra and my domains all have private whois details when lookups are done. The one thing they did offer in the order process for domain transfer was something to do with anycast DNS, but it was just a box on the page and wasn’t in your face or annoying.

        No annoying emails either. I only get emails from them related to services I purchased from them which include changes to whois contacts(also usually get a email from CIRA for my .ca domains), bill PDF being ready for download, or additional IP is available and ready for use etc.

        • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.comEnglish
          3·
          2 days ago

          No upselling.

          Bullshit. Within minutes of registering just to look at some stuff I got spammed with all sorts of bullshit via email. Custom one-off throwaway email alias.

          • SirMaple__@lemmy.caEnglish
            3·
            2 days ago

            Thats unfortunate. I simply shared my experience. Been a customer for over 5 years so maybe they’ve changed their on boarding of new customers and the emails that are sent out.

        • Pirata@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Understood 🫡 thanks for that. I am generally happy with IONOS however their DNS propagation seems to take forever. I have a new domain I bought a couple days ago and my email provider’s DNS still hasn’t propagated… I thought we were past the 72h propagation era, but I guess not with everyone.

  • EarMaster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    111·
    2 days ago

    I use INWX (based in Germany). Prices are consistently low (not always the cheapest, but fair). The web UI is a bit rusty, but it works perfectly and you can manage everything there.

    • Pirata@lemm.eeEnglish
      17·
      2 days ago

      Those reviews don’t look very inspiring, not gonna lie. Also, their About page says their service is run from Costa Rica?

      Ultimately I don’t think these “privacy-first” domain registrars are a great choice, which is a rare thing to say about an internet service.

      But you’re dealing with private property here and being ICANN-accredited (which Njalla isn’t) is kind of important if you’re gonna do something serious with your domain. You want those protections that excessive privacy won’t permit having.

        • Pirata@lemm.eeEnglish
          51·
          2 days ago

          Its also what you use if you want to have your domain stolen, apparently.

          • marauding_gibberish142@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            2·
            2 days ago

            People have had bad experiences and the founder of Njalla hasn’t helped. There are other Domain registrars with a similar strategy to Njalla if you prefer them instead. One can’t deny that not having your name on a domain allows for one to host… err, sensitive stuff

      • Typewar@infosec.pubEnglish
        4·
        2 days ago

        Their trust pilot page is a shitshow, but I’ve had few problems in the 7 years I have used them. I have 9 domains registered, one of which is not possible to get back since I’m required to provide proof that I live in Sweden (.se domain). Wasn’t the case when I initially bought it in 2018.

        • Pirata@lemm.eeEnglish
          13·
          2 days ago

          I’ve had few problems in the 7 years I have used them[…] one of which is not possible to get back since I’m required to provide proof that I live in Sweden […] Wasn’t the case when I initially bought it in 2018.

          Sounds like a severe case of Stockholm syndrome to me. /s

          Anyways, you do you buddy. I don’t trust them at all after those reviews. Especially when IONOS exists.

          PS: kinda funny that a supposedly privacy-focused registrar demands an official document of your place of residence. Sounds like the promised privacy is just a gimmick (or, something that all registrars offer by default as long as you choose the WhoIS guard option).

          • Typewar@infosec.pubEnglish
            2·
            2 days ago

            They don’t offer .se domains anymore for this reason. IONOS looks good, thanks for that info.

  • myrmidex@slrpnk.netEnglish
    121·
    2 days ago

    Keep an eye on the price. I recently switched my .be domains from Gandi to Dynadot. 36 vs 6.8 euros per year, I had no idea such a difference was possible. Fuck Gandi.

    • rice@lemmy.orgEnglish
      2·
      10 hours ago

      porkbun (USA) generally has the best prices and will give you a massive list of everything as well which most other sites won’t. I generally get my sites for 10 years at a time ~ $2 per year (whenever some random TLD is on sale)

      • myrmidex@slrpnk.netEnglish
        2·
        9 hours ago

        I’m on porkbun for some other domains, very happy with them. Except for them not offering .be domains… :)

        • rice@lemmy.orgEnglish
          2·
          9 hours ago

          call them up and ask them why they don’t lmao. I actually did have to call them once for a company thing and someone in Oregon picked up… Unheard of service.

          • myrmidex@slrpnk.netEnglish
            2·
            9 hours ago

            Not a bad idea! I usually let my money do the talking, and just move if a company doesn’t offer what I need. But I might make an exception in this case, thanks for the tip!

            • rice@lemmy.orgEnglish
              2·
              8 hours ago

              Lol yea I figured it was some governmental reason but I see name.com etc has .be so no idea why they wouldn’t have it. Some TLDs have specific restrictions and only allow certain sites to resell it

    • ex_06@slrpnk.netEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      Gandi got sold 2 times

      Basically the company went from “no bullshit” to “just another asset for some capitalist fund who only cares about extracting as much value as possible”

      It would be so good to have a no profit owned or cooperative European domain seller

    • devfuuu@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      I was going over a bunch of alternatives last week and ended up creating an account here too. Haven’t bought anything yet, but hopefully I will move my namecheap domain here. Seemed to be the one with most available domain extensions with a price tending to be cheaper and even some discounts. Looked and joker and inwx but either didn’t have some interesting domains or were quite expensive. Specially inwx which only understood after creating and account that on top of each domain price I would need to add 5€ for basic whois privacy protection. On infomaniam it seems to be 2.5€ which combined with cheaper prices doesn’t sound so bad.

      I really wish there was a simple provider that only did one thing: sell domains in europe, with all domains possible and cheap enough prices.