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Top registrars cooled off in recent .com data

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

These are the fastest growing and largest domain name registrars for .com domains.

Picture of a column chart and a magnifying glass with the words ".com leaderboard"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers April 2021.

Overall, the top registrars saw a slight decline in registrations in April compared to March. Newfold Digital fell back to earth after an outsized March, and NameSilo barely edged out GMO for the final spot on the overall chart.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 943,953 (989,943 in March)
2. Namecheap Inc. 268,394 (304,558)
3. Alibaba (HiChina) 236,681 (239,989)
4. Newfold Digital+ 181,739 (350,358)
5. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 166,169 (191,583)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 161,105 (179,623)
7. IONOS^ 153,113 (130,470)
8. Dynadot 138,560 (97,678)
9. NameSilo 103,342 (115,765)
10. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 96,984 (110,517)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of April.

1. GoDaddy* 56,259,057 (56,052,675 in March)
2. Newfold Digital+  14,551,259 (14,611,936)
3. Tucows**  12,924,199 (12,966,909)
4. Namecheap 7,631,693 (7,510,860)
5. Alibaba 6,271,240 (6,159,477)
6. IONOS^ 5,942,360   (5,876,741)
7. TurnCommerce++ 4,789,133 (4,729,908)
8. Google 4,467,691 (4,378,455)
9. CentralNic^^ 3,218,595 (3,124,645)
10. NameSilo 2,196,964

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

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you
^^ Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra

Two registrars hit major DUMs milestones

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

Dynadot and NameSilo celebrate milestones.

Picture of red, blue and yellow fireworks with the word "milestone" in white letters on a red background.

Two domain name registrars hit major milestones for domains under management (DUMs) this month.

Dynadot announced last week that customers now have over 3 million domains registered at the registrar. The company hit the two million milestone in September 2019 and the one million number about a year before that, so the company is growing very quickly.

NameSilo (CSE:URL) also hit a milestone recently, announcing yesterday that it now has over four million domains under management. This comes less than two years after it hit three million domains.

Domains under management is a somewhat controversial metric for domain registrars and registries because some chase quantity over quality. NameSilo is unique in that it keeps a running tally of its domains on a dashboard, including a breakdown by top level domain. The dashboard shows that over half of the company’s domains are .com, which is a good sign (compared to being mostly inexpensive top level domains bought in bulk).

Dynadot adds payment plans, including on expired domains

by — Domain Registrars 6 Comments

Registrar introduces payment plans at low starting point, including on expired domains.

Graphic with black background and white letters that say "buy now pay later"

Domain name registrar Dynadot has added payment plans to domains sold through its auction platform and marketplace. This includes expired domain and backorder purchases, making Dynadot the first expired domain service to offer payment plans to buyers.

The goal is to increase liquidity and make it easier for domain investors to build their portfolios by spreading out the cost of acquisitions.

Dynadot allows its customers to use Dynadot for sale landers, so they can now offer these payment plans as an option on those domains.

Here’s how it works:

  • Domain must sell for $100 or more.
  • Buyers pay a 15% down payment with their initial monthly installment.
  • Sellers pick the maximum number of months allowed up to 12 months, and it can’t be more than the time until the domain expires. So if the domain expires in five months, the maximum payment option available to the domain buyer is 4 months.
  • Buyers get access to change the nameservers, but the domain is locked at Dynadot.
  • If a buyer is three days late on a payment, the nameserver is changed to a default. The domain reverts to the seller if a payment is 14 days late. The seller keeps all payments made to date.
  • Dynadot takes its commission from the initial payment

Dynadot’s approach to payment options is a game-changer. The low $100 threshold is unique in the domain name industry. Allowing people to buy expired domains on payment plans could also shake things up. Domain investors will be able to acquire domains with little down and might be able to sell them before making all of the payments.

Latest .com winners report

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Here’s how domain name registrars peformed in January.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers January 2021.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 978,334 (1,109,061 in December 2020)
2. Namecheap Inc. 291,257 (293,601)
3. Newfold Digital+ 212,014 (203,348)
4. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 205,679 (188,512)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL)  169,363 (140,523)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 154,990 (169,862)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 113,294 (88,149)
8. Dynadot 98,314
9. IONOS^ 79,960 (112,642)
10. CentralNic^^ (AIM: CNIC) 73,360 (105,075)

I left Hongkong Domain Name Information Management Co off the list even though it had 91,467 new .com registrations. The site ICANN links to for this registrar has a 2017 copyright date, no SSL certificate, and a @qq.com email address. I’m going to assume these registrations are not from a public-facing registrar.

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of January.

1. GoDaddy* 55,445,265 (55,136,925 in December 2020)
2. Newfold Digital+  14,525,308 (14,582,476)
3. Tucows** 12,977,992 (12,967,927)
4. Namecheap 7,175,485 (7,007,290)
5. Alibaba  6,122,968 (6,160,015)
6. IONOS^  5,773,208 (5,763,174)
7. TurnCommerce++ 4,647,632 (4,582,174)
8. Google  4,193,876 (4,105,308)
9. CentralNic^^ 3,000,932 (2,951,343)
10. GMO  2,089,337 (2,100,966)

NameSilo crossed 2 million .com domains under management and is slightly below GMO.

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

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you
^^ Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra

Getting the best price on .com domains

by — Domain Registrars 5 Comments

Some registrars offer consistently good deals on .com domains.

A downward arrow with the words "lowest prices on .com domains"

There’s a lot of competition at the registrar level for .com domain names. This intense competition leads to prices near the wholesale price that the registrar pays the registry (Verisign) for the domain.

Verisign currently charges a list price of $7.85 for .com registrations and renewals. This will increase to $8.39 on September 1, 2021.

But Verisign offers discounts to registrars for new .com registrations depending on things like volume, growth, and region. Sometimes, Verisign offers discounts for domains that are re-registered shortly after they expire. Registry discounts are why you often see prices for what appear to be below cost.

Many registrars offer special pricing for the first year. Prices revert to their standard pricing thereafter.

Others offer coupons for first-year registrations. I don’t like dealing with coupons because you spend a lot of time hunting them down and reading the fine print.

So, from the perspective of getting the best .com prices all of the time, here’s what I’ve found.

I see a handful of registrars that pass along first-year discounts so that domains are at or below the current wholesale price. Sav.com is the most consistent about this; its price for .com domain registrations has been $6.95 for a long time. This includes ICANN’s 18-cent fee. Dynadot often passes along the savings as well. Both registrars will charge you more to renew but the prices are still lower than most competitors.

NameBright also has consistently low prices on .com domains. It charges the wholesale cost (including the ICANN fee) of $8.03 per year if you pre-fund your account by bank wire or check. The nice thing is that this is also the renewal price. It’s rare for registrars to charge at-cost renewals. Of course, this price will increase when Verisign increases prices later this year.

You also need to consider any extras that you usually opt for when registering domains. Most domain investors choose to keep their Whois information public, but it’s worth noting that some registrars charge for privacy and others don’t. NameBright gives domain privacy free for the first year but it’s $2.95 per year after that.

I personally register most of my domains at GoDaddy. It charges $8.47 per year including the ICANN fee if you opt for the Domain Discount Club, which is currently $240 per year. (Customers who bought this early pay only$120 per year.) I don’t love the idea of having memberships to get discounts but I understand why GoDaddy does this in the context of its user base.

One of the reasons I register at GoDaddy is because it provides additional transfer-out security to people with large portfolios and a dedicated account manager. It’s difficult to place a value on this but it’s a reminder to consider the entire package when selecting a registrar.

Of course, you should never select a registrar based on price alone. Make sure they have good customer service and a user-friendly account management interface.

Feel free to share other registrars that consistently have good prices on .com domains.

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