Alot of the places I'm looking into seem to offer domains as part of the hosting package, for as long as you host with them. Almost all of them registered the domain in your name not theirs, which is great, but should you really register and host at the same place? Or do some of them register it elsewhere and not themselves?

Read the contract/TOS carefully if you go with one of these offers. Even if the host puts the domain in your domain, it still might be a total pain to get it from them once you cancel hosting. These are question I'd personally ask them 1) will you provide me with the domain authorization number? (which allows you to transfer the domain to another host after you cancel), and 2) Do I have the power to unlock and lock the domain (if you're not given this ability, they could keep your domain locked which will prevent any transfer request).

There might be other things I'm not thinking of here that you might need to know, but just find out what the terms out to be sure.

I personally host and register my own domain at the same place. I find it convenient since I can manage everything at one location.

That phrase, "for as long as you host with them", seems like the catch. So the domain won't be yours to take with you when you leave, then? Then what ultimate good will it do you, if their service turns out to not meet your needs? You will lose the domain, have to update your email addresses, have to contact everyone you know and tell them, you'll lose the traffic and possibly brand recognition...if it's free, it might not be worth the risk.

Usually, you can take the domain with you, by paying a registration fee $10-$20, most likely towards the higher end. This should be detailed in the TOS. When keeping the domain with your host, there's always a chance of them turning rotten and keeping the domain hostage. I mean, it's happened before.

Don't expect the domain to be 'yours' if you receive it for free or extremely low cost from your host as a part of your hosting package. Think about it, if your paying $3.95 a month for your domain and hosting and a domain registration at a the registrar's price is around $5 per year (the host is paying more for the registration) your not even paying for the cost of the domain in the first month. Maybe $0.50 per month goes toward the domain cost, so at the end of the year it's paid.

How much would it cost to register the domain from that host without a hosting plan?

As long as you are certain that you can buy the domain name from the host after you move, I see them offering you a free domain as a good thing.

Some hosts have more strings attached to the domains than others, so be very careful that you understand all the terms, so you don't have an unpleasant time later when you realize that your former host won't give up your "super cool domain name"

Even with a mechanism in place to purchase your free domain upon cancellation of your hosting account, beware. There are many horror stories about such things, why set yourself up. You can always transfer the domain to your hosting company once you have given them a good test run.

I don't have any horror stories to share, but the way we do our registrar services, the clients domain secret is always available to them. We did not think it was fair to force any of our clients to be forced to keep their domain with us whether it be a new domain or a transferred one. I guess its all about how each individual company does business.

I too believe that it's best that the customer have full control of their domain once they've paid the cost.

Do you give free domain registration with your plans? If so, how do you determine when it's been paid?

brianf -- As to us, no we do not offer that sort of plan. Our clients purchase their own domains which make them theirs immediately. If they are ever unhappy with our services, we release the domain name secret to them immediately and even help them transfer the domain to a new provider. We do not feel that keeping a domain would be right. Since we are also the registrar, we always have the domain secret available for movement at any time.

Every host I have used which offered free domains has been pretty reasonable about allowing me to reclaim them later if need be.

That of course will really depend on the host we are talking about, as I have heard more than my share of horror stories in my day to fill up a few books or so.

Just be careful, and good luck!

I think if a person values his project and correspondingly its domain name, he should be ready to reg it with an independent ICANN-accredited provider and to fear nothing in case of a possible transfer.

Iwould follow what Dostoevsky's said

iastaff: I agree. That's the best way to conduct business.


Do you mean they should register the domain through a separate company than they use as a host?

brianf, that's what I've always done. I've never registered my domains through my webhost. Then again, I've been registering domains since the early 1990s, when few web hosts offered domain registration service - so to me, that's the normal way to do things. To someone new to the internet, this might seem overly cumbersome...but having the domain registered through someone other than the host does give the site owner a bit more control.