The most crucial point to start your blogging journey are to register the domain name from the right domain registrar and pick the best web host. Here we will offer a list of top domain registrars in India and make an analysis which is the best domain registrar in India.
What is a Domain?
A Domain can be defined as the address of your website/blog which enables internet users to access your website/blog by typing in the URL bar. If your blog or website is your house then your domain name is your address on the web.
What is a Domain Registrar?
A Domain Registrar allows a user to purchase and register domain names. A Domain registrar not only updates the registry when you purchase your desired domain name but also offers suggestions on which domain names are available or not.
Top 10 Points to Consider While Buying a Domain Name
But before buying a domain name to set up your online business here are the top 10 points to consider before buying a domain name.
Point #1. Always Opt the ‘.com’ extension
Do you know that 43% of domains i.e. over 134 million have the ‘.com’ extension? Believe it or not ‘.com’ TLD is still the best domain extension across the world. Sometimes search engines not only prefer ‘.com’ over others but also boost credibility.
Point #2. Sometimes Don’t Go for the ‘.com’
If you want to target the specific audience of any specific country then you should make use of ‘.co.uk’ extension for the United Kingdom or ‘.de’ for Germany or ‘.in’ extension for India.
Point #3. Pick a Brandable Domain Name
Brandable domains can be defined as non-generic keywords with no specific meaning. Brandable names do not define what your company is all about. Let’s make it clear with an example.
Do you think Google would scale its business as high as of now if they had chosen ‘searchenginejournal.com’ or YouTube had chosen ‘videolibrary.com’? You will find all the popular brands have chosen a term that is not only easy to remember but also seems trustworthy.
Point #4. Buy a domain name which short and easy to remember
Your domain name should give a clear idea of what your website is all about to the audience. If you have chosen a domain name that is easy to remember then this will help your readers to share with their friends i.e. potential customers. To create easy to remember domain name you can follow the following three points,
Keep your domain name short — Your domain name length must be between 6 and 15 words excluding the TLD.
Make it simple — Don’t include hyphens, underscores, complicated terms, and numbers, etc.
Include ‘Niche’ Keywords — If you are in the ‘review’ niche then you can include ‘Review’ in the domain name. When you include your ‘niche’ specific keyword in your domain, this will increase Click Through Rate [CTR] which boosts your site’s rankings i.e. SEO.
Point #5. Check if the domain name is in the trademarked domains list or not
Be sure that you are not including a trademarked term in your domain name. Even if your domain name does not consist of the trademarked term don’t buy domains that are just variation of that trademarked term. Just make it clear. Don’t buy a domain name like ‘face-book.com’ since this infringes a trademark.
Point #6. Consider Synonyms of your target domain name
Don’t be frustrated if your target domain name has already been taken or is a ‘premium domain’ which is a bit costly. You should try to find relevant keywords or synonyms. Suppose your target domain is ‘reviewcentral.com’. You find that this is a premium domain that costs $38,800. You may buy ‘reviewcage.com’ which costs less than $10 a year.
By making use of ‘Thesaurus.com’ you can find unique ‘out of the box’ domain names and even get the better domain name than your target domain name.
Point #7. Offer the owner if your target domain name is taken
If your desired domain name is already taken you can still own that domain. You should check if the domain name is in use or not. If the domain name is not under operation then it is clear that the domain was bought to sell it later. Once you get the email of the domain owner, send an email to check if the owner wants to sell or not.
Point #8. Check availability of your domain name on social media platforms
Even if you don’t plan to promote your blog on social media right now, you should check if your domain name is available on social sites or not. It is easier for your audience to check your social media profiles if you make use of identical handles as your domain name.
Point #9. Pick a Trustworthy Domain Registrar
The domain registrar allows a user to register a domain name and full access to that domain name for a certain period of time. To pick the best trustworthy domain registrar you should consider the following points,
Price — You should check whether the domain registrar offers lower prices for the first time registration and on renewal too. Apart from that, you should check whether the domain registrar has any hidden fee on renewal.
Domain Transfer — Make sure that the domain registrar allows a user to transfer the domain with ease and without any extra fee if the service is not up to the mark.
Offer Add-on Services — You should check what other services i.e. domain privacy, hosting services are that your domain registrar is offering. Bluehost offers free domain registration for the first year if you have purchased web hosting from Bluehost.
Point #10. Lock Your Domain Name to Protect your Domain from Unauthorized Third Party
Sounds awkward? But let me tell you it may seem odd. Anyone can hijack your domain than your imagination. The hijacking of your domain is done by either hacking your password or via a blackhat technique.
If the hijacker gets your User id or email, and password he can do whatever he wishes to do with your domain account. You should Lock your domain to avoid misdirect nameservers or transfer of a domain from unauthorized third parties without your consent.
Top 25+ Best Domain Registrars in India to Register Your Domain Name
The number of Domain Registrars and hosting providers have grown exponentially making it difficult which one to opt for newbie bloggers. One thing you need to understand that domain registrars and hosting providers are as same as the north pole and the south pole.
You need to differentiate between a domain registrar and a reliable hosting provider since Domain registrars additionally sell services namely Webhosting, email marketing solutions, and much more.
Domain Registrar #1. GoDaddy
Owing to aggressive marketing efforts you are probably quite familiar with GoDaddy. GoDaddy is one of the best and popular domain registrars across the world. GoDaddy has over 30% market share and managing over 60 million domains across the world.
Apart from a domain registrar, GoDaddy offers a wide array of services namely, hosting services, privacy protection, search engine optimization, etc. GoDaddy offers the world’s cheapest Web Hosting @ $1 a month including a Domain Name with Webhosting. But GoDaddy does not offer a free SSL certificate unlike Dreamhost, an official ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider.
Godaddy will try to upsell additional add-ons like G Suite, Webhosting, SSL certificates, and SiteLock. You should skip all, since your web host will provide add-ons like free SSL and SiteLock when you buy hosting from them.
Finally, don’t rush to buy a ‘.com’ domain from Godaddy since for the first time it charges $2.99 or ₹199 a year. GoDaddy charges a whopping $17.99 or ₹1049 a year on renewal.
Domain Registrar #2. Namecheap
Accredited by ICANN, Namecheap was one of the best domain name registrars in India since its inception in 2000. Namecheap is the third-largest domain registrar that manages over 8 million domain names. Apart from domain registry services, Namecheap offers various services namely, Webhosting, email hosting, and cloud-based solutions.
You should buy a domain name from Namecheap since this is the cheapest domain registrar in India. When you renew a domain, GoDaddy charges $17.99 in comparison to $10.98 of Namecheap.
Namecheap allows users to transfer a domain with ease in comparison to GoDaddy that makes domain transfer difficult. Apart from that GoDaddy charges $9.99 a year for domain privacy add-on where Namecheap offers domain privacy for free forever.
Suppose you want to buy a Domain name with ‘.com’ extension for 10 years.
The GoDaddy price for the first year = $2.99 excluding taxes.
For the upcoming 9 years [9 x 17.99] = $161.91.
For Domain Privacy = $99.90 [$9.99 a year].
The total cost of buying a domain from GoDaddy is $265.
Namecheap allows a user to buy a domain [‘.com’ extension] for a maximum period of 10 years at the price of $8.88 a year excluding taxes.
So, the total cost for the 10 years to buy a domain is $88.80. You can save $176 when you buy a domain from Namecheap for a decade. In other words, the costs will be the same when you buy a domain from GoDaddy for 10 years and Namecheap for 30 years.
Domain Registrar #3. Dynadot
Dynadot has now managed over 1.7 million domains worldwide. Since inception [2002] Dynadot helps to register a domain name and create websites simply at affordable rates. Unlike GoDaddy, Dynadot does not make use of any upselling tactics since it offers VPS Hosting only. Dynadot charges for
- ‘.com’ domain $7.99 a year for the first year and $8.99 a year on renewal.
- ‘.net’ domain $5.99 a year for the first year and $10.99 a year on renewal.
- ‘.org’ domain $7.99 a year for the first year and $10.99 a year on renewal.
Domain Registrar and ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider #4. Bluehost
Bluehost is an official ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider along with SiteGround and Dreamhost since 2006. Bluehost offers a free domain name when you buy hosting from them for the 1st year. On renewal, you will be charged,
- $17.99 a year for a ‘.com’ domain,
- $17.99 a year for a ‘.org’ domain,
- $18.99 a year for ‘.net’ domain,
……Counting.
Sounds costly?
Since Bluehost offers a free domain for one year we recommend you to buy a domain from Namecheap which is a slightly cheaper option.
Bluehost offers mainly three types of hosting namely Shared hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated hosting.
- Read also: How to Start a WordPress blog on Bluehost
Are you about to start?
Then you may opt ‘Shared hosting’ since Bluehost offers 1-click WordPress installation to get started. Along with great hosting services Bluehost offers SSL Certificate, custom e-mail accounts[like [email protected]] free of cost forever.
Do we recommend Bluehost?
Yes, but only if you can afford the bill at the time of renewal. Bluehost offers web hosting $3.95 a month if you buy for 3 years. But you need to pay $7.99 a month on renewal.
Domain Registrar and ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider #5. SiteGround
Siteground is an official ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider along with Bluehost and Dreamhost. Unlike Bluehost, SiteGround does not offer a free domain name when you buy hosting. Here are the charges,
- $15.95 a year for a ‘.com’ domain,
- $17.95 a year for a ‘.org’ domain,
- $17.95 a year for ‘.net’ domain,
……Counting.
Since the prices are quite high we recommend you to buy a domain from Namecheap which is much lower.
SiteGround offers mainly three types of hosting namely, WordPress Hosting, WooCommerce Hosting, and Cloud Hosting.
Why SiteGround?
Unlike InterServer that has only data centers in the US, Siteground has 6 datacentres namely Iowa, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Sydney across 5 continents namely, North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Since Siteground has six data centers, this enables your site to load 4 times faster.
Apart from that, Siteground offers:
- Free Cloudflare’s Content Delivery Network,
- Free website migration, unlike Bluehost who charges $150 for site migration,
- Automatic daily backup so that you won’t lose your content free of cost.
- Unlimited custom email accounts,
- Free Website builder forever.
Do we recommend SiteGround?
Yes, but only if you have a big budget for WebHost. Since Siteground initially charges $6.99 a month if you buy for one year. On renewal, it charges a whopping $14.99 a month.
Domain Registrar and ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider #6. DreamHost
DreamHost is an official ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider along with Bluehost and SiteGround. DreamHost offers five hosting options namely, Shared Website Hosting, VPS Hosting, Managed WordPress Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, and Cloud Hosting. When you buy hosting from DreamHost you will get a domain free of cost for the first year. After that a ‘.com’ domain costs $15.99 a year.
Unlike Bluehost [that charge $7.99 a month on renewal] and Siteground [that charge $14.99 a month on renewal], DreamHost offers hosting services at the price of $2.59 a month on renewal, the same amount when you buy for the first time. Though DreamHost does not offer CDN you can register Cloudflare’s CDN free of cost like Bluehost.
Do we recommend Dreamhost?
Yes, we recommend DreamHost. DreamHost offers not only free backup but also unlimited bandwidth and storage. Additionally, you can easily migrate your existing WordPress blog to DreamHost with no downtime by making use of migration plugin free of cost, unlike Bluehost that charges $150.
The biggest reason why we recommend Dreamhost is it charges $2.59 on renewal in comparison to Bluehost that charges $7.99 a month and Siteground that charges $14.99 a month.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #7. FastComet
This is one of the popular Webhosting providers that offer a free domain name forever when you buy Webhosting from FastComet. That means you need not to pay a penny for a domain name. FastComet lets you start your own blog as low as $2.95 a year. What gives FastComet hosting a competitive moat is that FastComet has 11 data centers that are located in Chicago [The United States], Dallas [The United States], Newark [The United States], Toronto [Canada], London [England] (UK), Amsterdam [Netherlands], Frankfurt [Germany], Singapore, Tokyo [Japan], Mumbai [India], and Sydney [Australia]. This allows your site to load within seconds.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #8. ChemiCloud
Like FastComet, ChemiCloud also offers a free domain name forever when you buy Webhosting from ChemiCloud. It means you need not to pay a penny for a domain name. ChemiCloud lets you start your own blog as low as $2.76 a year. What gives ChemiCloud a competitive moat is that ChemiCloud has 8 data centers that are located in San Francisco (US), New York (US), Amsterdam (EU), Bucharest (EU), London (UK), Bangalore (Asia), Singapore (Asia), and Sydney (Australia). This allows your site to load within seconds.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #9. InterServer
InterServer is one of the most popular hosting providers in the US. The biggest reason why we recommend InterServer is InterServer offers a Price-Lock Guarantee that allows you to pay the exact same charges you are paying for the first time for a lifetime even if the hosting provider hikes its charges in the near future. Suppose you are buying ‘standard web hosting’ for $4 a month [if opted for 3 years]. After 3 years at the time of renewal if the InterServer’s current price is $7, then you need to pay $4 a month. InterServer’s Domain pricing is as follows,
- ‘.com’ domain $11 a year,
- ‘.net’ domain $17 a year,
- ‘.org’ domain $14 a year.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #10. A2 hosting
This is one of the popular Webhosting providers that offer a free domain name when you buy Webhosting from A2 hosting. A2 hosting lets you start your own blog as low as $2.95 a year. What gives A2 hosting a competitive moat is that A2 Hosting has 4 data centers that are located in Arizona (US West Coast), Michigan (US East Coast), Amsterdam (Europe), and Singapore (Asia). This allows your site to load within 2 seconds and A2 hosting offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee. A2 Hosting offers a free domain name for the first year. A2 hosting tolls $14.95 a year for ‘.com’ or ‘.net’ or ‘.org’ domain extension on renewal.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #11. GreenGeeks
This is one of the popular Webhosting providers since GreenGeek runs its hosting business by making use of eco-friendly green power in the form of wind energy that delivers a negative 300% carbon footprint. GreenGeeks hosting lets you start your own blog as low as $2.95 a year. What gives A2 hosting a competitive moat is that A2 Hosting has 4 data centers that are located in Chicago (US West Coast), Phoenix (US East Coast), Amsterdam (Europe), and Montreal (Canada). GreenGeeks Hosting offers a free domain name for the first year. GreenGeeks tolls a $13.95 a year for ‘.com’ or ‘.net’ or ‘.org’ domain extension.
Domain Registrar and the cheapest hosting provider #12. Hostinger
Hostinger is the cheapest web hosting provider which costs $0.99 a month when you buy for a period of 4 years. On renewal Hostinger charges $2.15 a month for ‘Single Shared Hosting’ and $3.49 for ‘Premium Shared Hosting’. Hostinger doesn’t offer a free domain name like Dreamhost or Bluehost. A ‘.com’ domain costs $8.99 for the first year and $10.99 a year from 2nd year.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #13. BigRock
BigRock is one of the most popular domain registrars in India. This is a part of Endurance International Group which is specialized in domain and Webhosting. BigRock offers you to register,
- ‘.com’ domain ₹799 for a year for the first year. The cost will be ₹1099 and ₹799 a year when you choose a tenure of 2 years and 3 years.
- ‘.net’ domain ₹949 a year for the first year and on renewal.
- ‘.org’ domain ₹999 a year for the first year and on renewal.
- ‘.in’ domain ₹599 for a year for the first year. The cost will be ₹379 and ₹599 a year when you choose a tenure of 2 years and 3 years.
Unlike Namecheap, BigRock charges a flat fee of ₹998 a year for domain privacy protection if you opt for it. Apart from the register a domain BigRock offers WordPress hosting services at an affordable price of ₹199 a month.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #14. InMotion Hosting
InMotion Hosting offers to register a domain for just $15.99 a year irrespective of domain extension i.e. ‘com’ or ‘net’ or ‘org’. Unlike Namecheap, InMotion hosting charges $12.99 a year for domain privacy. But InMotion hosting offers a free domain name when you buy a hosting plan. InMotion Hosting offers Shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, etc. Inmotion hosting offers SSL certificate and website transfer free of cost.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider#15. HostGator
HostGator allows a user to register a ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.org’ domain extension for $12.95 a year for the first year and $17.99 a year on renewal. It offers a domain name free of cost for the first year when you buy a hosting plan from HostGator. HostGator charges a flat fee of $14.95 a year for domain privacy add-on.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider#16. FatCow
Since its inception in 1998, FatCow powers millions of websites. Fatcow’s Domain pricing is as follows,
- ‘.com’ domain $10.99 a year for the first year,
- ‘.net’ domain $11.99 a year for the first year,
- ‘.org’ domain $8.99 a year for the first year.
It offers a domain name free of cost for the first year when you buy a hosting plan from FatCow. FatCow charges a flat fee of $9.99 a year for domain privacy.
Domain Registrar and hosting provider #17. 1&1 IONOS
1&1 IONOS is the seventh-largest domain registrar that takes care of over 4 million domains. You can register a ‘com’ domain at the price of $1 a year for the first year. Additionally, you will enjoy the domain privacy add-on free of cost forever. On renewal 1&1 charges a high domain renewal fee of $15 a year for a ‘.com’ domain. 1&1 offers Webhosting services for a period of 1 month that renews automatically until cancelled with an initial price of $1 a month.
1 &1 Ionos’s Domain pricing is as follows,
- ‘.com’ domain $1 a year for the first year and $15 a year on renewal.
- ‘.net’ domain $1 a year for the first year and $20 a year on renewal.
- ‘.org’ domain $1 a year for the first year and $20 a year on renewal.
Domain Registrar #18. Google Domains
Since Inception in 2015, Google Domains manages over 4 million domains worldwide. Google charges a flat fee of $12 for registering a ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.org’ for the first time and also on renewal. Like Namecheap, Google Domain gives domain privacy free forever. The biggest advantage of Google domains is that you get access to Google’s Cloud DNS at no extra cost.
Domain Registrar #19. NameSilo
NameSilo is quite famous since it has no hidden fees and no hike at the time of domain renewal. NameSilo manages over 2.8 million domains. The domain registrar offers free domain privacy forever unlike Godaddy who charges $9.99 a year.
NameSilo’s Domain pricing is as follows,
- ‘.com’ domain $8.99 a year irrespective of first-year or on renewal,
- ‘.net’ domain $10.79 a year irrespective of first-year or on renewal,
- ‘.org’ domain $11.79 a year irrespective of first-year or on renewal.
Domain Registrar #20. Name.com
Name.com is the Denver-based ICANN accredited registrar that offers to register a ‘.com’ domain at the price of $8.99 a year. You can buy your domain name for a maximum period of 10 years. The domain renewal charge is $12.99 a year for ‘.com’ domain.
Unlike Namecheap, Name.com charges $12.99 a year from the second year if you have opted for 10 years. Additionally, Name.com charges $4.99 a year for domain privacy, SSL certificate, etc.
Name’s Domain pricing is as follows,
- ‘.com’ domain $8.99 a year for the first year and $12.99 a year on renewal.
- ‘.net’ domain $10.99 a year for the first year and $14.99 a year on renewal.
- ‘.org’ domain $8.99 a year for the first year and $12.99 a year on renewal.
Domain Registrar #21. Register.com
Register.com that is owned by Web.com has now managed over 1.7 million domains worldwide. Since inception[1994] Register.com offers users to register a domain name and web hosting services. Register.com charges for
- ‘.com’ domain $8.88 a year,
- ‘.net’ domain $12.23 a year,
- ‘.org’ domain $10.63 a year.
Domain Registrar #22. Domain.com
Domain.com allows a user to buy a ‘.com’ domain for just $9.99 year, but with a maximum period of 5 years. Unlike Namecheap that offers domain privacy free of cost, Domain.com charges $8.99 a year for domain privacy add-on. But you will get a free ‘.com’ domain name for one year when you buy a WordPress hosting plan from them.
Domain’s Domain pricing is as follows,
- ‘.com’ domain $9.99 a year irrespective of first-year or on renewal,
- ‘.net’ domain $12.99 a year irrespective of first-year or on renewal,
- ‘.org’ domain $8.99 a year for the first year and 14.99 a year on renewal.
Domain Registrar #23. Hover
Hover is an ICANN Accredited Domain registrar that offers you to register
- ‘.com’ domain $12.99 a year for the first year and $14.99 a year on renewal.
- ‘.net’ domain $15.49 a year for the first year and $17.49 a year on renewal.
- ‘.org’ domain $13.99 a year for the first year and $15.99 a year on renewal.
…Counting.
Looking expensive huh?
But you will find a few extensions at a cheaper price. When you buy a ‘.co’ domain GoDaddy charges $2.99 a year for the first year and $34.99 a year on renewal. Hover will charge $25.99 a year for the first year and on renewal too.
Hover does not make use of any upselling tactics since Hover doesn’t offer any web hosting services. Hover offers not only Whois privacy but also domain transfer lock free forever.
Domain Registrar #24. eNom
eNom is the sixth-largest domain registrar in the world. This domain registrar manages over 5 million domains across the world. In Addition, eNom offers a wide range of services i.e. hosting plans, email, web security, SSL certificate, etc. You can register a ‘com’ domain at $13.95 a year which is a bit costly. Enom charges the same $13.95 a year on renewal. For privacy protection, eNom charges a flat fee of $8 a year.
Domain Registrar #25. OVH
OVH is the leading domain registrar. It began its journey from France. It manages over 2 million domains. You can own a ‘.com’ domain at the price of £6.99 a year. OVH offers domain privacy add-on free for life.
Domain Registrar #26. BuyDomains
BuyDomains is a single stop solution to search and buy premium domains name. If you are quite well-off and can allow to break the bank then BuyDomains help you to buy premium domain names that are already registered but available for Daylight robbery.
- Read also: Top 75+ Blogging Tools and Resources
- Read also: How to Start a Blog and Earn Money in India
Hope this article will help you to start your blog. If I have missed any excellent domain registrars in India and WebHost feel free to comment so that I can add it. If you have found this post helpful feel free to share it.