Domain names seem expensive in comparison. The cheaper VPS that I use for playing around is just $10.29/year.
I thought I’d get a domain name from RackNerd as well, but they’re $24.95/year + I think $4.99 for privacy.
I’ve checked Namecheap, and that seemed great, until I found that renewal prices are often through the roof.
I don’t really care about it being nice. For now, mostly I just want to use the VPS as image host for Lemmy, since Imgur and Catbox are both a bit problematic.
And without a domain name, the images only show as link posts in the default LemmyUI (though it seems to work elsewhere). Plus it makes migration impossible.
I bought a class 1.111B domain from the .xyz registrar: 6 to 9 digits followed by .xyz, so you can use your phone number. They sell them for $1/year, and $1/year for whois privacy. So I paid $20 to have my domain for the next decade :)
Cloudflare. They sell and renew at cost ($12 iirc)
I hear Porkbun does/did as well but I haven’t looked in a long time.
Don’t use namecheap.
Super happy with PorkBun
Cloudflare sells domains at wholesale prices. Domains are not their business model, they want people to be exposed to their services so you might pay for something they do make money on.
I tried many only to settle on cloudflare. The other services were poor or in some cases weird (like infomaniak wanting me to upload my ID). Cloudflare had good prices and the service is stable, no surprises + whois privacy included.
Namecheap has random number only xyz domains for like a dollar so I have one of those.
I have two domains through Cloudflare. They don’t mark up to price at all, so they’re basically the lowest price you’ll find that isn’t a gimmick.
I pay $6.50 for one and $10.46 for the other. Privacy is free and by default.
No harm in getting your domain from them. Just beware that when you create a DNS entry, they default to proxying the incoming connections. It is super easy to turn that “feature” off, you just have to remember to do it whenever you create a new record.
This is my strategy as well. Except, I will find the domain on sale elsewhere then transfer it over to CloudFlare.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters CF CloudFlare DNS Domain Name Service/System VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)
[Thread #1017 for this comm, first seen 24th Jan 2026, 08:55] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
Porkbun is pretty solid
been using them since i dropped duckdns and they’ve been great. self hosted ddns options for porkbun too
deleted by creator
@gravitas @karpintero ICANN? Or whoever Manges .com is increasing the cost. Did it last year this year and next year I think the plan is.
Find the best prices for domain names here, from registration to renewal an transfer: https://tld-list.com/
Privacy should be free and by default.
Thanks a lot :)
I’ve got a few domains. I use Porkbun as registrar. They’re awesome, and the domains were pretty cheap. Under $10 a year each.
I am not renting a VPS from them (only domain registration, an e-mailadres and whois privacy), but have you looked into the offerings from Infomaniak? Mind you, things like the TLD influence the price a lot (reg and/or renewal), and hosting related services can increase costs as well.
Cloudflare offers at-cost domain names. There’s a lot of issues with using them though. Since they’re so big, they have a culture of giving governments/oligarchs whatever they want.
The DNS is a tool of surveillance and control and we should move away from it as quickly as possible.
I’ve been using Njalla for a year using Monero and haven’t had any issues with them. Although I haven’t got anything up worth putting down.
The people complaining could’ve been putting very bad stuff on their sites. Or not, and Njalla just bend to DMCA!
My name registration with porkbun is cheap enough that I don’t remember exactly. Had no issues with them.
$11.08 for a .com. Source: just renewed.
@Zak @nymnympseudonym buy as much as you can as .com is increasing again this year and next.
I’ve been on Namecheap for years.
The “hard no” list is GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and anything owned by EIG. They are literally the worst. Probably Ionos (formerly 1&1) too.
Namecheap is going downhills recently… They were sold to a private equity on September, .com starts at $18.
I recommend transfering to Cloudfare, since they have guaranteed wholesale price (no added fees, and only what the tld owner and ICANN asks), so they should be cheapest (since anything less is selling at a loss for the registrar, at least ifI understand right).
Namecheap has started overcharging me like 20+$ on a renewal compared to CF. So, transfering after a first year (which is where registrars like Namecheap take a loss and give you a discount) is probably the cheapest way how to go about it.
