Take Your Pick of Domain Registrars

Dotster

Anyone who's aware of the cost of domain registration knows that $35 per year has been standard for some time. But feisty startup registrars are actively undercutting that price. The boldest discount registrar to date is Dotster, which will register your domain for $15 per year, and will secure it for five years for $75.

Dotster's prices alone are enough to recommend it for registration, but this company also parks domains for free (which Network Solutions doesn't) and puts up a placeholder page for people trying to visit parked domains, complete with updated technology news headlines--a nice touch. Dotster also throws in some helpful tools during the registration process: If you're registering many names, you can dump new domains into a shopping cart, or bulk-register up to 300 in one jumbo registration form.

Unlike Register.com and Network Solutions, Dotster doesn't streamline the process of signing up for a hosting service or e-mail provider. As a result, Dotster customers have to fend for themselves in hitching up with a company that can host their domain. And for transferring domains in from another registrar, Dotster is the only service we've seen that charges a service fee as well as a registration fee. But since the combined fee is still $10 cheaper than either Register.com or Network Solutions, that's hardly a problem.

Low prices don't mean poor service, either. Click the Account link on any Dotster page, and a series of uncomplicated Web forms will allow you to change any setting on your domain record--from contact phone numbers to the name servers with another host, it's a straightforward process. Once you've logged in to the secure server that handles account management, using a username-and-password combination, you can pick any of the domains you have registered at Dotster and change the settings for that domain. Register.com's account management is better designed, but Dotster is still no slouch in its account-management offerings, especially when compared with Network Solutions.

In short, Dotster comes highly recommended for anyone who already has Web and e-mail hosting options lined up. If you don't, and you don't mind shopping for a hosting service yourself, Dotster's combination of low price and solid account-management tools make it a smart choice.

It's Your Domain

For people registering domains for the first time, the best registrar isn't the biggest. Network Solutions' account management and other tools aren't nearly as easy to use as their counterparts at Register.com or Dotster. Register.com earns a recommendation for people who haven't lined up a domain host but who want to get their domain up and running quickly. Register.com's basic Web pages aren't too flexible, but the ability to redirect traffic to another Web site makes up for that. If you have hosting lined up or just want to park and hold a domain until you do, Dotster is a tough act to beat.

(For a handy rundown on the complete process of putting your name in front of the .com, see "A Domain to Call Your Own.")