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Name.com

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Author: Jenna Vasquez

LAST UPDATED: April 19th, 2022

Name.com was founded in 2003 and provides domain registration, reselling, transfer, web hosting, and email services. The company is extremely customer service oriented and makes it easy for clients to build a website suited for individuals or small businesses. 

Very philanthropy driven, Name.com supports causes such as the bike-to-work incentive program and offers a hosting initiative for the expansion of .org websites online. Name.com is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with over one million domains registered and almost as many websites. 

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The Good

  • Price
  • Number of TLDs Available
  • ICANN Accreditation
  • Advanced Security
  • Knowledge Base

Price

Name.com is extremely transparent when it comes to pricing. When visiting the website, consumers can easily view all the pricing information for the standard and premium domains. Currently, Name.com charges 12.99 per year for .com domains — unless you get it on sale, then it could be as low as $9.99 per year. 

Number of TLDs Available

Anyone searching for a large number of TLDs to purchase in bulk may want to look into Name.com. The domain provider offers a selection of over 500 domain names and extensions.

These names cover a broad spectrum of categories, from professional TLD extensions such as .attorney or .expert to more unique TLDs like .cafe, .deals, .boutique, and more. Name.com far surpasses the majority of domain name companies that only offer 100 domains.

ICANN Accreditation

Name.com is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. This means that Name.com met all technical, operational, and financial criteria necessary to qualify as a registrar business. This accreditation allows Name.com to offer domain name registration services under gTLDs with direct access to gTLD registries. 

ICANN charges a mandatory annual fee of $0.18 for each year of domain registration, renewal, or transfer. While you still have to pay this fee with Name.com, the company includes the ICANN fee in the total price. 

This means there is no additional fee that is added once you go to checkout. With Name.com, customers know how much their domain name will cost from start to finish. Although the fee is only 18 cents, it changes the advertised price and puts off some consumers.

Advanced Security

Name.com takes customer security very seriously. In 2019, the company increased its security measures to protect your domain and personal information. This included upgrading its former Whois Privacy product to Advanced Security. 

To understand why this is significant, you first must understand what information is accessible through the public Whois database. Whenever you register a domain name, ICANN requires that you provide some personal details. This includes your name, address, phone number, etc. This information is then automatically added to a publicly accessible database called Whois. The Advanced Security product offers Whois Privacy, a secure domain lock, and an SSL Certificate via Encryption Everywhere.

According to Name.com, the Domain Lock Plus provides the following protection: "The Domain Lock Plus adds a significant layer of security to your domains by restricting the ability to transfer them or make changes to their contact information when the lock is in place."

Name.com's SSL Certificate through the Encryption Everywhere program encrypts the information on your website to increase security. You have to pay an extra $4.99 for Advanced Security, but it's worth protecting your personal information. 

Knowledge Base

Name.com's Knowledge Base is an excellent resource for consumers. Those with questions on how Name.com works, how to set up an account, how to transfer a domain name, and more will be impressed with the variety of helpful articles. 

You can also find the contact information for all departments of Name.com. This is especially helpful as it can direct you to an article or a frequently asked question page that refers to your exact problem. If an article can't solve your issue, you can open a support ticket, request a callback, or start a live chat with an agent. 

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The Bad

  • Costs to Transfer a Domain
  • Convoluted Refund Policy

Costs to Transfer a Domain

One disadvantage of using Name.com is transferring domains. If you want to transfer a domain into Name.com's registry will have to pay a transfer fee. The fees range from $7.99 to $59.99 

Here are a few examples of Name.com's Transfer pricing:

  • .com — $8.25
  • .net — $10.99
  • .in — $7.99
  • .info — $21.99
  • .io — $59.99

This is not a complete list. If you're interested in seeing the full list, we recommend visiting the company website for further information. 

Many other domain registrars will cover the transfer fee's cost — so it's disadvantageous that Name.com does not. The transfer process itself is standard protocol, no more complicated than other domain companies, which the same rules apply. For example, your domain must be registered for at least 60 days for you to be eligible to transfer to Name.com.

Convoluted Refund Policy

When going through Name.com's refund policy, it can get pretty confusing. 

For example, Name.com states that most domain name purchases can be refunded within the first five days of purchase, provided Name.com can remove the domain from your possession and return it to the registry. 

However, there are a few exceptions to the five-day rule:

  • .CA — Refundable within 4 days of purchase.
  • .MX — Refundable within 45 days of purchase.
  • .COM.MX — Refundable within 45 days of purchase.
  • .UK — Refunds are permitted on a case-by-case basis.

Additionally, refunds are not permitted with premium domain names. Name.com can't cancel nor refund pre-registrations. Domain name renewals are never refundable. Expiring domains are also never refundable. 

This list of exceptions and conditions goes on for quite a while. If you are thinking of purchasing a product from Name.com, we suggest carefully reviewing the Refund Policy, so you're not stuck trying to get your money back for a product that doesn't work for you. 

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The Bottom Line

This ICANN-accredited, popular domain provider is recommended for several reasons. Name.com is one of the most affordable choices when it comes to domain names. The price increases after the first year, but this is mentioned when signing up, so at least you know what to expect. We appreciate Name.com's dedication to customer security. The Advanced Security will cost you, but the protection level it provides is well worth the money. 

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3.4

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99 Reviews

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1 grade

37%

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Michael Lecuyer Viola, DE

I have not had the same poor access to customer service others have had, at least no yet. There are two things I find a problem: They advertise that the "Startup" level will run a website. Not entirely true in the most popular software WordPress. They have CPU and memory restrictions that remind you of a 266 from the eighties. 256M or memory and a very limited use of the CPU. My PI3, running a website has a Gig of memory and 4 processors. For example a plugin update will never appear to complete. You have to test the web site to see when the update competed. It is impossible to run UpdraftPlus as it will never complete because it quickly exhausts the meager resources. Problem 2. If you exceed three failed logins of any type you will be locked out of your cpanel, and any other service. In my case I'm trying to fix my email password so if I check email with a client the three attempts are made and I cannot get into the cPanel to fix it for some undermined time. A person who was trying to log into our website spent a half hour trying to log in when they had failed to type their password correctly. The more they tried the deeper they got in the tarpit.

7 years ago

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aileen l.

easy to research and buy domains impossible to get help via customer service would transfer domain out of name.com after purchasing if you want to build a site and enable someone else to be the admin - name.com doesn't seem to let anyone but the domain holder access the domain :(

4 years ago

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Reply from Name.com

Hello Aileen,

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We take account security very seriously and want to ensure the safety of both domain ownership and management. If the domain owner has any questions about updating contact information or allowing account access, please have them contact support@name.com so we may further assist.

Kind Regards,

Amy

Jan. 24th, 2022

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Merryn Waight

I like that it is good pricing & it is simple

4 years ago

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Reply from Name.com

Hello Merryn, Thank you for your kind review and choosing us as your domain registrar!

Dec. 8th, 2021