I've been using a new domain name registrar, NameSilo, for awhile now so I thought I would write up a NameSilo Review if anyone is considering buying or transferring domains to them. This NameSilo Review is going to be as complete and detailed as possibly and you won't find any better review than what you are about to read, I guarantee it! 🙂
Just as a disclaimer I have included affiliate links in this review. This means I get a commission if you click through to one of these links and buy or transfer a domain with NameSilo. However nobody can “buy” my opinion on this blog and this review reflects my honest opinions about NameSilo and their service as a domain name registrar.
NameSilo Review
NameSilo is a relatively new domain name registrar that has been in business since 2009. This small, but fast growing registrar, has gained a lot of new customers mainly by word-of-mouth via online forums and by not using pleasant tactics other domain registrars use. What does that mean? Hard upsells, a confusing checkout process, different prices on domain registration and renewals, selling web hosting, charging for Whois privacy, etc. NameSilo's mission is to make domain registration and management as easy as possible and they do good job.
NameSilo User Interface
NameSilo has one of the easiest domain management and user interfaces of any domain registrar I have used or seen. Changing nameservers, renewing and paying for names, transferring domains to NameSIlo, transferring out, turning privacy on or off, etc. is all easy and painless thanks to the intuitive user interface. Buttons are big, clearly marked, and easy-to-understand. Check out my awesome screenshot!
Like any UI it will take some getting used to but I think most people should be able to navigate NameSilo's Domain Manager dashboard quickly.
I see a lot of people say NameSilo has the best user interface of any domain registrar out there, but I'm unsure. I definitely prefer it over NameCheap‘s UI which I always have found confusing and I think the text is too small. (GoDaddy… don't even ask as most people will tell you they hate it, including me.)
Overall it's hard to beat NameSilo's easy-to-use UI and the way they clearly present everything in their backend.
Domain Search and Registering
Searching and registering domain names with NameSilo is a straightforward and easy process. Like I said above, the user interface is simple and easy-to-understand. NameSilo makes purchasing domain names as hassle free as can be.
I do have some complaints about searching and registering domains with NameSilo though. When searching for domains it automatically selects .CO as well as .COM for some reason. I understand they want to make more money on .CO registrations (since they charge $22.49 for per year) but who really needs a .CO if you can get the .COM? Honestly I would prefer a .NET or .ORG but that is my personal preference and opinion. I know the tech community and startups love .CO domains and .IO domains these days, but really? (NameSilo doesn't support .IO in case you were wondering. Probably a good thing as .IO domains lost me money.)
In addition NameSilo's shopping cart defaults to a 2-year registration period for domains instead of 1 year. This is something that you usually see from other registrars and I honestly don't like it.
UPDATE: NameSilo seems to have changed the registration process for domains. It no longer automatically selects .CO domains and the default is to only have the .COM selected. I imagine other NameSilo customers had similar complaints, and they might have read this review, which is why they changed the domain search defaults.
NameSilo's bulk domain search is straightforward as well. One nice thing is that you can upload a TXT file of domains names that you want to search availability on. Useful if you are looking for a large list of domains. You can search up to 500 domain names at a time using NameSilo's bulk search. The domain bulk search works fine but it can be a bit cubersome and clunky to use. It benefit from having a separate landing page and larger menu and input field to work with.
NameSilo also offers the ability to buy premium domain names (domains owned by someone else) through them if you wish. I doubt many people are interested in that though since most probably flock to NameSilo due to their low pricing.
NameSilo Domain Transfers
Domain transfers in and out of NameSilo are pretty straightforward and easy. I've only had trouble transferring domains in from 1and1 (which is a domain registrar you shouldn't use.) Just make sure you have the correct EPP or authorization code and have unlocked the domain name from the losing registrar if you are going to be transferring to NameSilo.
A great feature that NameSilo offers for transferring domain name to an outgoing registrar is that you can approve a transfer in their backend without waiting. Typically it can take 5-10 days for a domain transfer to go through. This means with NameSilo you just need to retrieve the authorization code via email and once that is approved by NameSilo, you can go to the “Transfer Manager” in your account and approve the transfer immediately. The only other domain name registrar I have seen offer outbound domain transfer approvals in their backend is GoDaddy.
NameSilo DNS Propagation & Management
NameSilo's DNS propagation is pretty snappy. The usual amount of time I've waited for nameservers to update and see it on my end is 10-20 minutes. NameSilo says nameserver updates on their end are updated immediately, of course that doesn't matter unless the update gets to you quickly. Keep in mind DNS updates around the world can take up to 48 hours to propagate. Today I had to wait a few hours for a domains nameservers to change.
In addition managing DNS with NameSilo is quite easy and they don't cut corners when it comes to DNS management. This registrar offers a full range of DNS services which allows you to change CNAME, MX, and A records.
Also NameSilo makes it easy to apply templates with domains for using different services such as Blogger, Google Apps, Squarespace, Weebly, Yola, Zenfolio, Tumblr, and SmugMug. This is a nice feature if you are someone who is buying a domain name to use with an 3rd party web hosting service. (Of course I don't recommend doing this and tell people it's better to buy web hosting with a company like Site5.) If you are not comfortable with making DNS changes to your domain, this should help you set it up somewhat easily.
NameSilo Pricing
NameSilo's claims to have “The Cheapest Domains on the Internet” as well as the “Cheapest Everyday Prices on the Web.” While this sounds like a lofty claim and marketing ploy, as far as I can tell this seems to be accurate. If you exclude coupons that other larger domain registrars offer, like NameCheap or GoDaddy, the everyday pricing is extremely competitive and the price you see is the price you pay.
NameSilo does not charge the $18 cent Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) fee on domains and they do not charge for Whois privacy. That is included in the price when purchase domains. NameCheap, Godaddy and a lot of other registrars tack on these fees when you are checking out.
Here are all the domains that NameSilo currently supports and their pricing. Prices are for registration and renewal.
- COM – $8.99
- NET – $8.09
- ORG – $9.19
- INFO – $9.59
- BIZ – $9.99
- CO – $22.49
- MOBI – $7.89
- ME – $16.99
These prices are for regular NameSilo pricing if you are ordering under 49 domain names. (Sounds like a lot but some people own thousands of domains.) They have bulk discounts as well as the NameSilo Discount Program. This allows you to save 10 cents off per domain name if your prefund your NameSilo account and pay that way. I am not sure what the advantage is for NameSilo but I assume they make money on holding money, like a bank. If you don't want to prefund your NameSilo account you can pay with a credit card with Visa, MasterCard, AmericanExpress, and Discover. Online payment solutions include PayPal, Skrill (formerly MoneyBookers), and Payza if you prefer.
UPDATE: NameSilo now accepts Google Wallet, Bitcoin, and Dwolla for payment.
Transfer pricing is reasonable too;
- COM – $8.39
- NET – $7.89
- ORG – $8.99
- INFO – $9.19
- BIZ – $9.79
- CO – $22.49
- MOBI – $13.99
- ME – $15.99
If you want to save $1 off on registration or transfers use the coupon codes – NAMESILO27 or SAVEDOLLAR1. (FYI these are my codes.)
Only comparable pricing that matches NameSilo from what I've seen is Internet.bs (no, not that BS but .BS is the country code top level domain name for the Bahamas.) which has free Whois privacy and doesn't charge an ICANN fee as well. There is also Resell.biz but you would need to setup to be a domain reseller with them. Still with Resell.biz's pricing structure you would only need to spend $500 over the lifetime of your account to get their bulk pricing which is extremely competitive. A lot of people use them since it's easy to spend over $500 on renewing domains. In addition DynaDot's bulk pricing is on par with NameSilo's bulk pricing, but DynaDot at the time of this writing does not offer free Whois privacy. I heard DynaDot was considering changing this though.
No matter how you cut it NameSilo pricing is hard to beat and they seem to be picking up a lot of business because of it.
*All pricing was accurate at the time this post was written.
NameSilo Support
NameSilo support is decent and fast to respond mostly any time during the day. Response time on weekends is even pretty good. NameSilo support is usually pretty helpful about answering questions but sometimes I have found that support is a bit snobbish since often they just link to their knowledgeable base without a clear explanation.
NameSilo offers email and chat support, but there is no phone support. With domain names I don't anticipate that you will need tons of support or have a lots of questions, unlike web hosting, but you never know.
Final Thoughts about NameSilo
In addition to what I've already mentioned I have had a few issues with NameSilo. They advertise “Free Domain Parking” which you use with Google Adsense. I am unsure if it is allowed to use a Google Adsense account on parked domains though. Google shutdown their domain parking program a few years, even though the company makes money with agreements with domain parking companies.
If you are going to use their domain parking option with Google Adsense it might be a good idea to setup an LLC.
Another thing which bothered me was I recommended a family member move some domains from another registrar to NameSilo. He used my affiliate link to make the transfer but I didn't use my coupon code, but a bulk transfer code they were offering at the time. I noticed I didn't get an affiliate commission, which made me feel jibbed. I asked about it and they said it was because it was a bulk transfer and he didn't use one my my coupon codes. I won't cry about it but it was annoying.
For those of you interested in an easy-to-use straightforward domain pricing and free Whois privacy, NameSilo is definitely a good option. They have a lot of great features and don't cut corners even with their low pricing.
I am personally hesitant to keep my important and key domains with them as they are a new domain registrar though. I will use them for keeping domains I have development plans for, but don't want to spend too much money renewing ever year. That's why NameSilo is a good name I guess.
NameSilo also doesn't fill all my domain needs as I own a handful of .US domains. At this time NameSilo does not support ccTLDs (country code top level domains) except for .ME and .CO currently. I imagine this isn't a big deal for most people though.
It's kind of hard for me to believe that NameSilo can continue with their pricing strategy without moving into other markets or jacking up prices. A lot of domain registrars slowly have price increases and start charging for Whois privacy and taking on ICANN fees as they grow larger.
NameSilo did introduce domain auctions for expiring domains a few months ago. According to RegistrarOwl, which is run by NameSilo, they have about 108,000 domains under management. That means that on any given day there are not going to be too many deleting domain gems dropping under their control. As they grow, this will likely change and I assume bring in more revenue for NameSilo.
Some might not remember this but GoDaddy got big by undercutting the competition in price back when they were first getting started. Now their coupon pricing might be good, but their service isn't all that great. Since NameSilo is using the same strategy, despite my reservations, I really have no doubt in my mind that in a few years NameSilo could become a major player in the domain industry. That is if… they are not bought out and stick to their original business goals.
It is quite possible that NameSilo could get gobbled up by a big domain registrar in the domain industry since I am pretty sure execs at GoDaddy, Demand Media, Name Media, etc. will see this little domain registrar slowly increasing their market share as threat. They could very well buy them out at some point.
My hope though is that NameSilo sticks to their original mission of providing no-headaches and ho-hassles when it comes to domain registration and management. No web hosting, SEO products, etc. which I won't buy from a domain registrar anyway.
Bottom line is that NameSilo is good if you have 1 or 1000's of domain names.
If you use NameSilo and think I've missed something in this NameSilo Review please leave a comment below. If you have any questions about NameSilo let me know below and I will answer them to the best of my knowledge.
Just as a reminder you can save $1 off on registration or transfers with these NameSilo coupon codes – NAMESILO27 or SAVEDOLLAR1. These NameSilo coupon codes will work for most domain registrations and domain transfers with NameSilo. Each code can be redeemed once per person per account.
Again I've included affiliate links in this review but that does not change my opinion. If you received value and insight from this NameSilo review I appreciate any help so that I can continue to write informative and honest reviews on this blog.
