I’ve been using Hover for many years for my domain names, and often for email services too. They used to be great, but they’ve really gone downhill in the last year or two, with multiple issues. Now, they are having issues with 2FA and I haven’t been able to login and buy a domain for the last two days. I’ve had enough, it’s time to go. I will continue to use Digital Ocean for my servers (see AWS or Digital Ocean?), but who are my fellow Xojo devs using these days for domains?
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Used to use tucows and godaddy in the past…
Now I’m at namecheap for international domain names and a local reseller for swiss domains who includes a domain editor as well for all my zones…
For servers I use virtual root servers in Germany as they are much cheaper as in .ch (o;
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My domains are actually quite messy. Some still with GoDaddy, some with Namecheap, some with DreamHost, a .crypto domain or two (just for kicks) through Unstoppable Domains, and now I have some with Squarespace due to the Google Domains transfer. I’ve never had any trouble with any of them but I’ve been trying to talk myself in to consolidating all of them in a single place since my last Network Solutions-registered domain lapsed years ago.
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That’s what I did 7 or 8 years ago, I transferred everything out of a number of sites and felt all smug with all my domains listed in Hover. They were great for years, but something changed.
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I had about 20 domains with Google and was very happy. After the Squarespace deal, I transferred all to Porkbun.com and haven’t missed Google.
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I recently moved when dynadot became trash.
I too use Porkbun now. They’re US based and when you call for support you get an American who can actually speak English.
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I was going to come here and say I’ve only heard very good things about Porkbun (from people I know who do a LOT of domain registrations, management) but Steve and Tim P. beat me to it!
+1 for porkbun
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Great thread! I too am a Hover user but haven’t noticed anything odd lately and just did some renewals yesterday with zero issues. Thanks for the heads up @Gavin_Smith and I’ll keep my eye out for anything less than adequate.
Many thanks to everyone else on the Porkbun.com recommendations and I’ll keep them in my back pocket for if/when I ever need to transfer somewhere else.
Hover’s email service has been really flakey for about 18 months. Constant ups and downs. Even when it works, their spam filter can sometimes be way too aggressive, regardless of any settings you have set. I’ve had other issues with my domains, but in the last 48 hours I couldn’t even log in as their 2FA couldn’t send codes out via SMS, at least to my provider. That really made me want to escape them. I also noticed about 18 months ago that their previously all-American support staff, who were excellent, seemed to disappear and I no longer think they are native-English speakers, nor in the States. Who cares, if it’s as easy to communicate with them, but alas, I really don’t think it is. I get the impression things started being done on the cheap 18 or 24 months ago.
YMMV, of course. I suspect it’s just the natural order of things, when companies get to a certain age. Perhaps they got so big that they were bought up or had new management, which wanted to squeeze every penny out of it. Either that, or they weren’t making enough cash. I’m going to transition over to Porkbun this year, due to this thread.
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All of a sudden after reading this thread I’m craving a McDonalds McRib sandwich 
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Ah good to know. I have one email forwarder but don’t use their email at all, just name services.
Have you considered switching over to OTP codes instead of SMS as they’re generally much more secure and can be more reliable as they eliminate a bunch of infrastructure. I’m using 1Password that easily consume/generates codes. Or under Sequoia and iOS 18, the Passwords app can use them as well.
Ah bummer. I guess another +1 for Porkbun.com for those of us in U.S. that care about these things.
As I mentioned, fabulous thread and I too am now convinced to start moving over before I’m impacted by any of Hover’s bean counting initiatives.
Just so that I know what I’m getting myself into, can anyone who’s moved over to PorkBun, speak to the costs involved? Am I correct to assume that you can just move things over, and your remaining time on the domains carry on or do you need to pay for a new year of registration at the time you move over?
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porkbun sounds fun.
For those on the other side of the atlantic I can recommend webgo.de
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Another recommendation for porkbun here. They’re lean and the pricing is great. Everything I want and nothing I don’t out of a registrar. Their support was also stellar the one time I had to contact them.
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Just a quick side question: It appears that you guys manage domains with one service and do your hosting elsewhere. I don’t have a lot of sites and I usually move my domain to my site host company. Is there a good reason(s) to not do this? Is it a best practice to keep them separate?
Thanks.
Cost, performance, scalability. Hosting on your own VPS gives you so much more control than overpriced shared web hosting.
Plus anything to get community members off of GoDaddy is worth doing in my book.
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I don’t want to derail this conversation so I will ask one follow up and then if I need to ask more questions I will start another thread.
Does this mean you are running your servers out of your house or are you colocating your personal servers in a data center somewhere? (Forgive my newbie ignorance here please.)
I use Digital Ocean (check out Gavins other thread) and my app Lifeboat.
Thanks for clarifying Tim. Yeah, I love your app Lifeboat ~ it is an impressive application.
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When I did this, I paid for a year on each domain that was added to the remaining time I already had.
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