In this comparison I've included the following sites:
I've used all of these except UKFast. But where I couldn't test the interface myself I just asked their support team.
Here's the data table:
Here's the data table:
| Service | GoDaddy | Daily | UKFast | 123-reg | Easily | NetBenefit | NetNames | Network Solutions |
| A Records | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| CNAME Records | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MX Records | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| TXT Records | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| SPF Record GUI | Y | N | N | ? | N | Y | N | N |
| SRV Records | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | Y |
| AAAA Records | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| NS Records | Y | Y | Y | ? | Y | N | Y | Y |
| Wildcard Sub-domains | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Default/Preffered TTL | 1 Hour | 24 hours. Not configurable | ? | 24 hours. Not configurable | 1 Hour | ? | 24 hours. Not configurable | 2 Hours |
| Ease of use | Good | Good | Ok. | Poor | Poor | Ok | Good | |
| Transfer .co.uk Cost (2 Years) | N\A | 0 | 0 | 8.99 | 0 | N\A | ||
| Transfer .com Cost (1 Year) | £4.69 | 4.99 | 9.99 | 14.99 | 35 | |||
| New .co.uk Cost (2 Years) | £6.19 | 5.9 | 5.98 | 8.99 | 25 | 25 | N\A | |
| New .com Cost (1 Year) | 6.29 | 8.89 | 9.99 | 14.99 | 17.5 | 35 | 21.87 | |
| Notes | Sounds like you have to pay for subdomains |
Daily
Daily has been my second choice for a while now, especially as somewhere to transfer my .co.uk's to. This interface is more basic than GoDaddy but it lets you do most stuff. Unfortunately I recently found that you can't create wildcard subdomains and this is a real bummer for me. I use these fairly frequently especially for setting up development servers. I will often create subdomains like these:
*.devserver1.domain.co.uk
*.devserver2.domain.co.uk
So that we can test lots of siets from that development server. Or like this:
*.dave.domain.co.uk
*.bob.domain.co.uk
So that each developer can have their own set of development sites.
I'm now looking for a better alternative to store our co.uk's.
UKFast
I haven't actually these these guys for domain management yet. But I noticed that they do it and thought I'd stick them in here. It's not their core business though so I wouldn't expect them to be amazing.
123-reg
I've used these guys in the past, but not currently so without registering a domain with them I couldn't test these myself. But their support staff where helpful. At first they look like they're going to be good, but once logged into your account a lot of the pages seem as though they been made by programmers without ever having been touched by a designer. It's like they're got a layer of candy over an ok interface. But downside though is that they want to charge for every subdomain you want to set up!!!!!
That makes them a no go in my book.
Easily
Part of the same company as easily NetBenefit as I found out from thier support staff. The interface here is just poor. It think it may have been made in the 90's and never been touched since. more expensive and not as good.NetBenefit
Again just pretty rubbish. Poor interface, no wildcard subdomain, expensive.
NetNemes
Another registrar that doesn't support wildcard subdomains. Their interface is a bit more usable, but you set to 24 hour TTLs and their prices are way high.
Network Solutions
I quite like these guys. The interface isn't bad, the customer service is good (comes with the usual very American "you have a great day now"), unfortunately they are expensive and don't support co.uk's at all.
Conclusions
- I like GoDaddy. But they're not perfect.
- The general standard of control and interface usability is low.
- I need to keep looking for some better registrars
Let me know if there are any other registrars you'd recommend or like me to check out or if you think there is any other important info that should be included in the comparison.
