Changing Domain Registrars

Yesterday, I changed domain registrars fully. I had domains registered with GoDaddy and PorkBun. GoDaddy was consistently more expensive and logging in to it felt like a battle to get to the DNS management page. Porkbun's site copy is a little quirky, but their management interface is super straightforward and easy to use.

Earlier this year, in preparation to switch registrars, I switched my nameservers to Digital Ocean and the DNS management pain went away with it. The nameservers transer over between registrars but not all the DNS records, so having a third party manage the DNS records makes the transition smoother.

I also ended up switching my PorkBun nameservers, for a consistent management experience between registrars. PorkBun's interface is easy to use, but Digital Ocean has OpenTofu providers for DNS. And if I were ever to switch again, I'm already hosting my DNS records at a third party.

GoDaddy was still twice as expensive as Porkbun to keep domains registered there. I still had to avoid clicking on a link that would spin up a website or something for me when I logged in.

GoDaddy was my first registrar I had domains with. They let me own my own domain and do all sorts of fun things with it; I learned a lot. But if I were to recommend a domain registrar to someone today, I would recommand PorkBun and their management interface. To someone who wants more experience, you can try moving your nameservers. But for simple domain name registration and record management, PorkBun does a fantastic job.