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Top 10 registrars in China

by — Domain Registrars 7 Comments

These Chinese companies are top domain name registrars.

Picture of globe focused on China with word "top chinese registrars"

I get asked from time to time which domain registrars are the best in China and which of them offer services in English. Well, hopefully you’ll find your answers in this article.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) surveys the domain industry every year and publishes its findings in a report (互联网域名产业报告). The latest one was released in June, 2019. Based on the report, I have compiled the following Top 10 domain registrars.

RankRegistrarWebsite

1 Aliyun (阿里云-万网) wanwang.Aliyun.com (C)
2 Xi Bu Shu Ma (西部数码) West.xyz (E)
3 Xin Net (新网数码) Xinnet.com (C)
4 eName (易名中国) eName.com (C,E)
5 Shang Zhong Zai Xian (商中在线) Bizcn.com (C)
6 Zhe Jiang Er Er (浙江贰贰-爱名网) 22.cn (C)
7 Mei Cheng Hu Lian (美橙互联) CNDNS.com (C)
8 Bang Ning (江苏邦宁) BN.beian.top (C)
9 San Wu Hu Lian (三五互联) 35.com (C)
10 Xin Wang Hu Lian (新网互联) DNS.com.cn (C)

In the table, C indicates information available in Chinese and E in English. As you can see, only two of the top 10 registrars offer their services in English.

Xi Bu Shu Ma (西部数码) is probably better known as West.cn. The company actually offers its English services from a separate site (West.xyz). You can register, bid for, or drop-catch domains. They also offer buyer agent service to help you acquire a particular domain from a Chinese owner.

eName provides a wide range of services such as auction, backorder, and escrow. (Its subsidiary 4.cn also offers similar services in English.) Interestingly, if you list your domains with a BIN price at Afternic, they will be available to Chinese buyers when they search for your domains at eName. This is because eName is a partner in Afternic’s global retail network. This method actually allows you to sell to China without having to deal with the language and payment issues.

Therefore, you can try West.xyz, eName.com, and 4.cn for domain services in English.

Shakeup on the .com leader boards, Namecheap tops 5 million

by — Domain Registrars 3 Comments

Lots of shifting and Namecheap hits a milestone.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers September 2019.

There was a lot of shakeup this month.

On the new registrations chart, Xin Net fell out of the top ten after its monthly volume reduced from 220k to 51k. Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a OpenProvider, an at-cost registrar, surged into the top 10.

On the total .com leaderboard, GMO replaced NameSilo in the #10 spot after giving it up to NameSilo the month before.

Namecheap hit a big milestone, surging past 5 million .com domains under management.

Finally, on the clerical side, I’ve added Crazy Domains to Web.com’s totals starting this month. Web.com acquired CrazyDomains’ parent company Dreamscape last year.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 855,287 (862,732 in August)
2. Chengdu West 222,511
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 180,825 (187,769)
4. Namecheap Inc. 163,226 (161,107)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 138,929 (141,014 )
6. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 124,810 (126,603)
7. Alibaba (HiChina) 105,294 (136,895)
8. GMO 95,565 (66,910)
9. Web.com++ 71,894
10. OpenProvider 67,647 (n/a)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of September 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 51,253,800 (51,098,287 in August)
2. Tucows** 13,047,695 (13,123,695)
3. Web.com++ 7,031,650 (6,607,353)
4. Endurance+ 6,873,843 (6,886,901)
5. Alibaba 6,118,945 (6,189,184)
6. United Internet^ 5,549,036 (5,549,520)
7. Namecheap 5,051,943 (4,978,908)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,518,714 (4,575,392)
9. Google 2,845,811 (2,755,721)
10. GMO 2,183,060 (n/a)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Top Stories: Alpnames shuts down

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

A big story of 2019 was when a domain name registrar shut down without warning.

Green and black rectangle with the words "alpnames shuts down" and "top stories"

What would you do if your domain name registrar suddenly disappeared?

In 2019, domain name registrar Alpnames shut its doors without notice. ICANN subsequently stepped in to revoke its accreditation.

This left domain holders in limbo, losing access to their domains and even the ability to change nameservers and undertake other critical functions.

The demise of Alpnames came about a year after the company pitched a new beginning. It had ties to new top level domain name company Famous Four Media, and FFM’s Ian Roache took over. He acquired a further 20% of the company’s share capital for “consideration” of £3.9 million. His stated goal was to turn it into a Tier 1 registrar.

I remember talking to Alpname’s outside PR firm at the time. They pitched that the company was going to grow and become a big registrar. I started asking questions and got no good answers. I told the person I’d wait a year and see what happened.

Alpnames was known for cheap prices, and there’s a lesson here. Don’t choose a registrar based solely on price; consider the reputation of the company and its owners.

.Com Winners & Losers: NameSilo enters top 10 overall

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

NameSilo bumps GMO off the list.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers August 2019.

NameSilo has broken into the top 10 for .com domains under management, pushing GMO off the list. On the monthly charts, there was a bit of place-swapping but the same 10 registrars are the list for August that were on it for July.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 862,732 (854,643 in July)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 219,802 (321,742)
3. Tucows** 187,769 (NASDAQ:TCX) (194,581)
4. NameCheap Inc. 161,107 (161,790)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 141,014 (134,583)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 136,895 (126,586)
7. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 126,603 (129,559)
8. Dynadot 87,388 (131,601)
9. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 69,045 (89,027)
10. GMO 66,910 (66,323)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of August 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 51,098,287 (51,022,025 in July)
2. Tucows** 13,123,695 (13,192,663)
3. Endurance+ 6,886,901 (6,896,718)
4. Web.com++ 6,607,353 (6,599,516)
5. Alibaba 6,189,184 (6,232,572)
6. United Internet^ 5,549,520 (5,550,220)
7. Namecheap 4,978,908 (4,915,798)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,575,392 (4,469,021)
9. Google 2,755,721 (2,662,532)
10. NameSilo 2,127,096 (n/a)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Namecheap adds cool new feature to domain search

by — Domain Registrars 9 Comments

Customers will understand more about the domain’s history.

A Namecheap search for Money.com, showing that the domain was registered in 1995 and who owns it

Namecheap’s search provides additional information when a domain is already registered.

The message domain searchers get when a domain they want is taken is usually just “not available”. The customer then needs to move on.

Namecheap just launched a nifty feature that adds context to the result. When a domain is taken, Namecheap shows when the domain was registered. I think this is helpful, giving some context to the searcher. They didn’t just get beaten out to this domain; in many cases, it’s been registered for ten or more years.

If you click on the date, you get even more information (see picture above).

Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall told Domain Name Wire that the company plans to add sales data in the future. If the domain name previously sold, Namecheap will display the sales price (when available).

All of this adds up to more awareness for end users who search for domains. They will become better educated about the value of domain names, and it will hopefully nudge them to understand the aftermarket better, too.