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Google Domains Launches to All in U.S
- arifulanam 12y agoThat's very good news. BIG threat to GoDaddy :D
- Alex3917 12y agoIt looks like CrunchBase may have gotten hacked. Their URL for Google points to a spam domain.
- mintplant 12y agoIt's not doing that for me -- at least, it isn't right now, anyway. You might want to check your computer for malware.
- Alex3917 12y agoI don't think so, I see it on both my work and home computers, both of which are running OS X. Also to clarify I'm talking about the CrunchBase widget on this TechCrunch article, not the entry on the actual Crunchbase website.
- qeorge 12y ago$12/yr - not bad at all. I might recommend this next time a friend asks how to buy a domain. Namecheap takes great care of me at $10/year though, so I'm not very compelled to switch.
- wise_young_man 12y agoI started moving all of my domains back to NameCheap from Badger after they raised their prices to what Hover charges. The domain renewal with whois privacy/guard at NameCheap ends up being a little more than Google Domains. I keep hoping NameCheap will overhaul their control panel design like they did with their main site. I will probably end up moving to AWS Route53 or Google Domains or to use their DNS and a clean/modern interface and simpler pricing (include whois privacy).
- AlyssaRowan 12y agoThe dealbreaker for us with NameCheap/eNom is simple: still no DNSSEC. It's been how many years now? And all they say is "we're working on it" and have no ETA. So we moved most things to Gandi. Feels good having no GoDaddy, however.
- tptacek 12y agoSeriously? I'm surprised to see you of all people write that. No DNSSEC is a feature, not a bug.
- ademarre 12y agoCare to elaborate on DNSSEC? I've been interested in seeing wider adoption of DNSSEC for things like DANE.
- ryanlol 12y agoAsking the compromised DNS server if it's been compromised is a really good way to find out if it's been compromised.
- tptacek 12y agoDANE is a replacement for the CA system that effectively cedes cryptographic control of most of the Internet to world governments.
- danyork 12y agoNo... DANE doesn't cede control to world governments. <insert-standard-many-hundred-line-exchange-between-you-and-I-that-has-happened-in-other-HN-threads-here> DANE can work perfectly fine with the existing CA system to provide another way of verifying that the correct TLS certificate (or CA) is being used. Or... it can be used with a completely different trust anchor or TLS certificate that you control. Your choice. But you and I will just have to disagree on this topic. Your dislike of DNSSEC is well-known, as is my support for it.
- Log1x 12y agoI'll stick with Name.com and free whois privacy.
- torbit 12y ago$10 + $3 private registration. Spam snail mail sucks.
- tdicola 12y agoFunny, I had just switched over my last GoDaddy domain yesterday to start using a different nameserver and finally move it off their system entirely. Might have to give this a try.
- grayfox 12y agoCan't wait to ditch enom. This looks like a good suitor. No Canadian support yet. Soon, eh!
- venomsnake 12y agoKnowing first hand google support I will stick to namecheap ...
- libria 12y agoThey normally have a complete lack of presence in terms of support options, but at least this time they list some: The Google Domains Support Team is available every day from 6am to 9pm PT. Chat with us Email us Call us Generate PIN https://domains.google.com/registrar#contactus&chp=contactus https://domains.google.com/registrar#contactus&chp=contactus
- Karunamon 12y ago+1. As much as I like the idea of managing everything from one place, Google's propensity to have crap-tier support and their other propensity to drop services with little warning means I've got no desire to even try this.
- EarthLaunch 12y agoI hadn't considered Google's lack of commitment to their non-core services, but that's a good point. Over the years I've consolidated at Namecheap while several other providers shut down. For me, domains are a long-term service.
- fargolime 12y agoI'll stick with NameCheap. All else being equal, I prefer the vendor whose core business is the service I'm seeking. They can neither drop the service nor quintuple the price (a la Google AppEngine). Same reason I use DropBox.
- markdown 12y agoTheir support is as good as mine. If you pay me, I'll take your call at any hour. Otherwise, fuck off. I recently had an issue with Google Apps, and contacted them via email for support. I received a phone call almost immediately and the issue was resolved in minutes. I live in Fiji.
- d0ugie 12y agoNot seeing any mention of SSL certificates. Might they get into the CA game as well?
- michaelbuckbee 12y agoThey're are already a certificate authority (they issue their own certs for google.com, etc.) and do lots of interesting "tricks" like only issuing them for 3 months at a time so they can roll them over faster as things like SHA1 get deprecated.
- Someone1234 12y agoNone of Google Domain's features are novel. In fact the article spent most of its time talking about an up-sell. Which isn't to say Google Domain isn't a good product, just that we now should look at price because nothing else seems interesting... ~ Google Domains charges $12/year for .COM, .NET, .ORG. ~ NameCheap charges $10.69/year for .COM, $11.98/year for .NET, and $11.48/year for .ORG. Sometimes with an 18c/year fee tacked on. ~ GoDaddy charges $12.99-13.99 for a .COM but that might increase randomly because they're scumbags. So my point is that this article claims that everyone is "rushing" to this new product, and while this product doesn't seem "bad" it also isn't exactly market changing. The prices are well within 10% of the market (sometimes higher, sometimes lower) and the features are pretty generic also. Can someone explain why Google Domains is compelling and not a "me too!" product?
- jaimeyap 12y agoI believe when you add whois guard to NameCheap, it actually comes out a little more than Google Domains, which I think offers free private registration.
- tamar 12y agoNot if you use a coupon code. Try WGSPECIAL. Oh, and if you renew for several years at a time, the cost per year goes down too. Disclosure: Namecheap employee
- anigbrowl 12y agoNo offense to you or your firm, but fuck coupon codes. When I go to Trader Joe's for groceries, I work out what I want to eat and note the prices. When I make one of the occasional trips to Safeway I spend half my time trying to match up what I went there to buy with the particular coupon that's running this week or that my wife added to loyalty card, and more time attempting to decrypt my receipt after I get home to see if I succeeded. Coupons are just a way of creating psychological anxiety about missing a good deal, an archetypal 'dark pattern'. That sort of thing actively drives people like me away from your business. I know I'm not a mainstream consumer, but IMHO neither is the average domain registrant.
- joeblau 12y agoI've been using this for a few months now and it's been great. The cool thing is that they allow you to solve the problem of having domain emails pointing to your personal emails so for example blahblah@joeblau.com -> josephblaus@gmail.com. The only challenge with this is that I use Cloudflare as my CDN and Google's email redirects work if you use Google's nameservers.
- SEMW 12y ago> The cool thing is that they allow you to solve the problem of having domain emails pointing to your personal emails so for example blahblah@joeblau.com -> josephblaus@gmail.com Am I missing something...? I didn't realise this was a problem - I've never used a domain provider that doesn't let you do this. I currently use Namecheap, which certainly do.
- joeblau 12y agoAh I've been using iwantmyname as my domain provider and they didn't do this. Your domain provider clearly offers more features.
- wbillingsley 12y agoThe painful thing I've found with this is that it leaves myname@gmail.com as a valid email address. So there I am signing up for other services with myname@mydomain.com and meanwhile some typo-ridden fool in the US keeps signing up myname@gmail.com instead of theirname@gmail.com and I end up receiving their hotel receipts, iTunes receipts, etc. Very few of those services have a good way of dealing with "No, that wasn't their email address they signed up with, it was an alias of mine". And while for some of these, I could presumably click the "forgot password" link and go into their account, I'm not sure that would be legitimate and wouldn't know what their correct email was to change it.
- jcadam 12y agoI've been using name.com for a while. Been ok so far (and way better than godaddy).
- longlivegnu 12y agoStill no .io support :(
- uptown 12y agoSo when somebody steals your domain, do you actually get to talk to a person at Google to help resolve the matter, or is it like every other customer service experience they offer?
- EarthLaunch 12y agoThat's just it - it's impossible to social engineer a takeover of your domain, since nobody can reach a human!
- iancarroll 12y agoActually, I've gotten pretty fast response times on normal business days with Google Domains.
- SG- 12y agoI'm assuming before it launched?
- iancarroll 12y agoYeah.
- jastanton 12y agoThe best feature is that it's not GoDaddy, or NameCheap. Having registered hundreds of domains, dealt with all kinds of customer service and had to perform numerous operations for my domains the user experience matters and though Google hasn't has the best track record with UX they certainly do invest in it more heavily than GoDaddy & NameCheap.
- tamar 12y agoHey, Tamar from Namecheap here. Would love to hear about your user experience so I can pass it on. thanks.
- wineisfine 12y agoFor one, why can't we delete a domain directly from within the control panel? That's just tactics. Nooh, we have to let it expire. On the marketplace, your display name is the same as the username. What a security risk. And most of all: why charge at all for the domain name privacy option? As if this is such a costly tech thing to accomplish.
- vld 12y agoI'll stick with internetbs [1], $8.49-8.99/year for .com and free private registration. 1: https://internetbs.net/domain_names_usd.html https://internetbs.net/domain_names_usd.html
- torbit 12y agoA domain host that is pushing .bs & with a cliche web 2.0 logo & .net. That alone worries me. How long have you been with them.
- newaccountfool 12y agoThey have been around for years. Their deisgn is pretty standard for a domain name seller, if you want to talk about web2.0 and cliche have a look at the Google Domain website. Also, .net is the correct tld to use in this situation.... Who shat in your cocopops?
- nostromo 12y agoGoogle: please provide free and easy to setup SSL with every domain. :)
- gesman 12y agoIt's more of a request to your hosting provider albeit Google likely will be happy to selling you SSL certificate :) Agree though - clear instructions are missing.
- higherpurpose 12y agoApparently their certificates are only SHA1. Ugh. What happened to the whole SHA2 promoting thing? https://twitter.com/geeknik/status/555150703090364416 https://twitter.com/geeknik/status/555150703090364416
- dzhiurgis 12y agoYou can see where it is going :) Soon enough you will store your website entirely on SERPs. Instant load times will mean better user experience. A to Z solution will ease up developers life.
- glitterman 12y agoThey're clearly heading for worldDOMAINation.
- debacle 12y agoI don't think I would ever rely on Google to host an application critical to my business.
- peterwwillis 12y ago....in before "Google has decided to end support for this product; your 10-year-registered domains that last longer than next month will be moved to GoDaddy." (edit: actually, they'd never voluntarily transfer your domain; they'd force you to transfer it, at some kind of discount. suffice to say i am less than confident)
- enbrill 12y agohaha of course it's "in beta testing" grow some balls Google
- ddingus 12y agoI prefer Gandi.net No bullshit.
- justhw 12y agoThe last thing I trust Google with is my domains. They can outright ban or disable you just like with any of their products and not offer support or explanation.
- gesman 12y agoDethroning Godaddy is a noble act of course, but other than that I don't see any show stoppers from Google in managing domains space. Adding support for more .bullshit TLD's that no one cares about? Connecting to Blogger? Yawn...
- wnevets 12y agoIve had beta access for a while now and havent had any problems yet. The main reason why I switched my domain to google was how seamless it works with gmail.
- fugyk 12y agoI think integration with other Google products is the main reason they are venturing here. It can offer one click integration to google apps, app engine, cloud compute and blogger. If they offer free google apps for personal use, I think it can be a major selling point.
- Navarr 12y agoI doubt they'll go down that road again (I' ma free Gapps user - grandfathered in). It's also the most terrible experience these days. I still don't have Inbox by Gmail or the ability to view my orders in Google Wallet. So much for being an early adopter :|
- josteink 12y ago> I' ma free Gapps user - grandfathered in ... So much for being an early adopter :| You, like me, was an early adopter which provided the platform with traction when it was new. Now the platform is proven, established and popular. From an economic point of view we're now merely free-loading leeches, and I honestly don't find it reasonable to expect that we should be given the best treatment at the expense of others. Google now has a shitload of paying customers, and they are getting prioritized. And I'm completely fine with that. Our reward is that unlike others, we're allowed to go free-loading! I've noticed too that I'm not getting features and upgrades paying customers get. That's Google trying to give me an incentive to convert to a paid account, because obviously Google wants to convert us free-loaders to paying customers too. And I'm fine with that as well. Just don't act entitled because you were the first one to sign up for a free product. You don't deserve anything in return for that.
- tabrischen 12y agoAgreed. On the website, it mentions that it'll integrate with Blogger, Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix. Integration with App Engine would be a big selling point.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- gesman 12y agoAdding Route 53-like feature would be a killer addon that only large company like Google can (if they want to) properly handle.
- mbesto 12y agohttps://cloud.google.com/networking/#DNS https://cloud.google.com/networking/#DNS
- marincounty 12y agoI'm just glad Godaddy has some real competition! Get ready for Godaddy to bring back discounts for annual renewals. hell, you might get a call from Danika personally?
- bebrown2 12y agoThe coolest domain name search tool is probably https://domainr.com/ https://domainr.com/
- blissofbeing 12y agoDoes anyone know if the DNS servers you get with this are the same as the google cloud DNS[1] product? If so, buying your domain here could be worth it for the DNS alone, as they are anycast, DNSSEC enabled, and fairly fast[2]. 1: https://cloud.google.com/dns/docs https://cloud.google.com/dns/docs 2: http://www.solvedns.com/dns-comparison/2014/12 http://www.solvedns.com/dns-comparison/2014/12
- Killah911 12y agoI keep thinking of Peter Theil's analysis of monopolies trying to say they're just a competitor in a larger market. There doesn't seem to be anything special here in this offering from google. As a google developer I wonder if the difference will be in more integration and better API access compared to someone like godaddy.
- michaelbuckbee 12y agoI'm surprised that so far nobody has mentioned DNSimple in this conversation. They seem the closest to what Google Domains functionality is - domain registration and then easy integration with external services. Also, fwiw they're fantastic.
- joshfraser 12y agoI've been using Google Domains for several months now. I like the simplicity of their user interface and I trust Google to be good at DNS. My biggest complaint is that they don't support very many TLD's. I'd prefer to have all my domains in one place, but they don't support .co yet.
- da-bacon 12y ago.co is now supported and the full list of supported TLDs is here https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6010092?hl=en https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6010092?hl=en
- joshfraser 12y agoThat's great news. That wasn't the case last I checked.
- richardlblair 12y agoMany people miss the point of this product: Easily buy a domain, have it automatically hooked into the Google Apps suite of products, and easily hook it up with a select number of third party vendors like Wix or Shopify. That's what this is about. The ability to create something cool, run a business, without having to worry as much about the technical bullshit. Great product, and for the ease of use it is well worth $12/year. And yea, I know, $2 more a year than namecheap... but $2/year is well worth the time it takes to setup a domain (even if it is only a 2 minute ordeal).
- inthewoods 12y agoBut it doesn't connect to Google Apps yet, does it?
- dragonwriter 12y agoThe techcruch article points out that there is no option yet to buy a domain and do a one-click connect to Google Apps, but it does, in fact, connect to Google Apps (though the process has about 25 more steps than would be ideal): https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6069226?hl=en https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6069226?hl=en I'd expect that the integrations with things like Google Apps will improve before it goes GA rather than open beta -- one of the key reasons to have this service has to be to support one-stop shopping for Google Apps and/or Google Cloud setups.
- tamar 12y agoI believe you'll love the new Namecheap backend when it launched. :) (Disclosure: Namecheap employee)
- Dirlewanger 12y agoIt is now complete. With Google Fiber, Big Brother Google will looking over you every step of the way.
- ilaksh 12y agoWould be nice if they had an API like Namecheap, or supporte the new TLDs.
- ksk 12y ago>We include 10 million resolutions per year for each domain you register with Google Domains. Hmm, what does that mean for an average website? 100 readers * 365 days * ~273 (html+css+js+gif/png/jpg) ? I guess some browsers cache the DNS requests too..
- driverdan 12y agoDNS gets cached at multiple levels (browser, OS, router, upstream DNS servers). The higher you set your TTL the longer it'll be cached.
- ksk 12y agoYou're correct. I was wondering what we could deduce from that 10m number since Google felt it necessary to mention it on the landing page. It would tell us who they intend to market this to. It is a bit weird to restrict DNS requests like that. Or maybe they don't want people to abuse their service to create URL forwarders or some such. I suppose unlike startups, for a company like Google, anti-abuse mechanisms need to be baked into the design/feature set.
- teraflop 12y agoMore importantly, what happens when you exceed that limit? I don't see any mention of per-request pricing, so will they just shut off your DNS if you exceed the quota?
- Eleutheria 12y agoCan I pay with bitcoin? or paypal?
- jtwebman 12y agoDon't use it Google is known for not having great customer support. They like to build big and make you support it. Just like the Google Play store. Notice there is no phone number on the site? Not good if you are doing real business and need to get something fixed ASAP.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- msoad 12y agoI was a beta tester for Google Domains for a long time. Here are reasons I'm very satisfied: - Unlike other domain sellers, Google Domains is NOT trying to sell me anything other than domains. - Canceling is easy! I don't have to wait in calls with 1&1! - Customer support was great. They get back to me after an hour if I email and if I call, responses are very fast. - User interface is clean and clear.
- Fastidious 12y agoI was a beta tester as well. All the reasons you listed apply. Even before they opened for the masses I have moved all my domains in. Some extra reasons: - Simple integration if you are on Google apps (I am grandfathered, using their, old, standard, free Gapps. - Customer support was superb and instant, via chat, and it was great. The person knew what he was doing. Definitely a keeper.
- thekevan 12y agoDoes anyone know anything about migrating a domain to Google Domains if that domain was originally published through Blogger, then migrated to Google Apps?
- briHass 12y agoDoes anyone know if they support dynamic DNS on subdomains and is it RFC2136 compliant? For example, I have mydomain.com pointing to a standard server, but home.mydomain.com updated from pfSense to point to my dyn IP on namecheap. As usual with Google, technical details are scant.
- dudus 12y agoThe help center page has a lot of info. It does support sub domain support. I don't use it so I'm not sure it follows the spec you mentioned or not but it seems to have a fairly simple protocol. https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6147083?authuser=1 https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6147083?authuser=1
- teddyh 12y ago> Google Domains uses the dyndns2 protocol So, not RFC 2136. No standard protocol for you.
- ereckers 12y agoIf the email integration is seamless then it's worth looking into for me.
- m0th87 12y agoDon't waste your time on this service. I registered for it years ago while it was still in beta, and it's been nothing but a trainwreck. The latest debacle: I can't renew my domain. They started sending me notifications a few months ago that my domain was expiring because my credit card is out of date. I can't sign in because of a redirect bug. There's no support to reach out to, and requests for help on forums have gone unanswered. Alternatively, dnsimple has been nothing but charming to work with.
- sirdogealot 12y ago>There's no support to reach out to This is my biggest fear when using anything Google-related. They are notoriously difficult to get in touch with, and as such I probably wouldn't even considering signing up for this service. Getting access to a real person when there is a problem with one of my domains is very valuable to me.
- kemayo 12y agoThe Google Domains page has a claim of "chat, phone and email support" which links to: https://domains.google.com/registrar#contactus&chp=contactus https://domains.google.com/registrar#contactus&chp=contactus I haven't actually tried following through with it, since I don't have any support queries myself, but that certainly /looks/ like a way to directly talk to support.
- beowulfey 12y agoI can confirm that the contact us does connect you to support; usually Google provides at least adequate support options for paid services (e.g., Domains). I spoke with someone over Chat that was surprisingly knowledgeable, and even gave me the heads up that the new features would be rolling out soon (this was a couple weeks ago)
- balladeer 12y agoI wish I could somehow post this in really large fonts here that a domain name is a service where you actually need support, "real support". When your account (which is linked to dozens of other services and the reason can be an algorithmic false alert in context of any of those services) is disabled you again need support. And customer support is something Google doesn't believe in.
- SG- 12y agoI have no idea why this is US only other than Google just being extremely lazy. Previously I've always understood why companies couldn't release products internationally or at least in their own continent when it came to rights for content, however I really don't see any reason for this one. If it's an issue of not wanting to deal with certain country top-levels then so be it and simply offer the ones you've implemented already and add in more top levels in the future.
- throwaway34052 12y agoI don't think google should be in this space. They don't need your $12/year. The world needs to resist ceeding every last bit Internet governance to these people. Centralization is death!
- jacquesm 12y agoI'd never in a lifetime want to depend for something as critical as domain registrations on a company that can't be bothered to answer its customers. Google has an absolutely horrible record when it comes to end user support and if there is one thing you want from your registrar then it is that they actually answer their phones and email.
- curiously 12y agoThis is a welcome news. I've had it with name.com and it's horrible webmail. Unable to send email for weeks, support replying with unhelpful answers every 48 hours. Have to pay for whois privacy and bunch of other stuff most registrars give you for free.
- ForFreedom 12y agoTakes you to manage domains page without login, if you click on "Manage my domains" - http://ajean.net/google-domains-launches-u-s-u-s/ http://ajean.net/google-domains-launches-u-s-u-s/
- spb 12y agoThe only factor on what registrar you use for buying a domain should be their renewal rank on http://domcomp.com http://domcomp.com.