Name.com vs 123-reg
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Name.com and 123-reg.
Quick Verdict
3.6/5
Name.com
0 reviews
3.0/5
123-reg
0 reviews
Name.com is rated higher (3.6 vs 3.0). Owned by Identity Digital (formerly Donuts Inc.) since the 2017 Rightside acquisition; not part of Newfold Digital 123-reg registers .uk and international domains with integrated hosting options. Designed for UK small businesses and individuals seeking bundled services at competitive introductory prices.
Name.com Domain registrar with website builder bundle | 123-reg UK domain registrar with hosting bundles — cheap first year, materially higher renewals | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.6 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | From $13.19/mo | From $0.01/mo✓ |
| Best for | Developers and small platforms registering domains at scale who want a scriptable registrar with bundled privacy and published reseller pricing. | UK small businesses and individuals registering .co.uk/.uk names who want domains, email, and hosting bundled under one control panel and are comfortable budgeting at renewal prices. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | api access | eu datacenter |
| Visit Name.com → | Visit 123-reg → | |
Name.com
Pros
- + Free Domain Safe on eligible domains: WHOIS privacy, SSL certificate, and security locks included
- + Documented public REST API with pricing endpoints, plus published reseller tiers
- + Long operating history since 2003 with roughly 3.1 million gTLD domains under management
- + Full registrar toolkit: bulk tools, aftermarket, backorders, DNS management, URL forwarding
- + 24/7 live chat support with ticketing and a broad knowledge base
Cons
- - No DNSSEC support on Name.com's own nameservers — DS records only via third-party DNS
- - Renewal outliers: .info renews at $40.19 and .xyz at $21.19 after cheap first years
- - .com renewal of $20.19 is several dollars above near-wholesale registrars
- - Ownership has changed three times in a decade; current parent is a registry operator
- - Hosting and email bundles are standard fare — buy domains here, infrastructure elsewhere
123-reg
Pros
- + Established UK registrar since 2000 with 400+ extensions and consolidated domain, email, and hosting billing
- + Transparent first-year and renewal prices published together on 123-reg's own pages
- + Free .co.uk/.uk transfers in and free Nominet WHOIS privacy on UK domains
- + cPanel on hosting, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and DDoS protection with 24/7 monitoring on VPS
- + Bundles (domain + email + hosting + SSL) suit non-technical UK small businesses
Cons
- - Renewals jump sharply — .co.uk from £3.99 to £12.99/year, Economy hosting from £1.99/mo to £251.64 per 3-year term
- - WHOIS privacy for gTLDs costs extra (around £4.99/domain/year), compounding portfolio costs
- - UK-hours-only support with no published response-time SLA; phone support restricted to the UK
- - Backup advertising says daily; terms say files weekly and databases daily
- - April 2016 mass site-deletion incident across 67 servers remains on the reliability record
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new hosting and infrastructure providers, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.