Domain names seem expensive in comparison. The cheaper VPS that I use for playing around is just $10.29/year.
I thought I’d get a domain name from RackNerd as well, but they’re $24.95/year + I think $4.99 for privacy.

I’ve checked Namecheap, and that seemed great, until I found that renewal prices are often through the roof.

I don’t really care about it being nice. For now, mostly I just want to use the VPS as image host for Lemmy, since Imgur and Catbox are both a bit problematic.
And without a domain name, the images only show as link posts in the default LemmyUI (though it seems to work elsewhere). Plus it makes migration impossible.

  • dieTasse@feddit.org
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    4 hours ago

    I tried many only to settle on cloudflare. The other services were poor or in some cases weird (like infomaniak wanting me to upload my ID). Cloudflare had good prices and the service is stable, no surprises + whois privacy included.

  • Peter1986C@piefed.europe.pub
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    7 hours ago

    I am not renting a VPS from them (only domain registration, an e-mailadres and whois privacy), but have you looked into the offerings from Infomaniak? Mind you, things like the TLD influence the price a lot (reg and/or renewal), and hosting related services can increase costs as well.

  • K3CAN@lemmy.radio
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    11 hours ago

    I have two domains through Cloudflare. They don’t mark up to price at all, so they’re basically the lowest price you’ll find that isn’t a gimmick.

    I pay $6.50 for one and $10.46 for the other. Privacy is free and by default.

    No harm in getting your domain from them. Just beware that when you create a DNS entry, they default to proxying the incoming connections. It is super easy to turn that “feature” off, you just have to remember to do it whenever you create a new record.

    • HybridSarcasm@lemmy.worldM
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      11 hours ago

      This is my strategy as well. Except, I will find the domain on sale elsewhere then transfer it over to CloudFlare.

  • brooke592@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    Cloudflare offers at-cost domain names. There’s a lot of issues with using them though. Since they’re so big, they have a culture of giving governments/oligarchs whatever they want.

    There is Njalla, owned by someone involved with The Pirate Bay. It supposedly allows users to buy domain names privately, although I’m not sure at what cost. I’ve read users saying that Njalla will revoke domain names if pressured by outside forces, so they don’t seem like a good option similar to cloudflare.

    The DNS is a tool of surveillance and control and we should move away from it as quickly as possible.

    • Selfhoster1728@infosec.pub
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      7 hours ago

      I’ve been using Njalla for a year using Monero and haven’t had any issues with them. Although I haven’t got anything up worth putting down.

      The people complaining could’ve been putting very bad stuff on their sites. Or not, and Njalla just bend to DMCA!

  • Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyzB
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    4 minutes ago

    Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

    Fewer Letters More Letters
    CF CloudFlare
    DNS Domain Name Service/System
    IP Internet Protocol
    NAT Network Address Translation
    VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)

    5 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 3 acronyms.

    [Thread #1017 for this comm, first seen 24th Jan 2026, 08:55] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

  • tserts@lemmy.tserts.com
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    16 hours ago

    I will make a prediction. Once you get the domain and set it up, the images will still not work. Are you using an external proxy? I was battling this for days, Lemmy backend refused to create thumbs for my local images, federated content worked great. IF you get this issue, send me a message, I found a workaround.

  • prince of space@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    If you’re at all into credit card churning Amex business gold has a new $150 square space credit that can be used for domains. You can prepay for up to 10 years. Their rates are high ($20 for .com) but it’s fake money.

  • French75@slrpnk.net
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    21 hours ago

    I’ve got a few domains. I use Porkbun as registrar. They’re awesome, and the domains were pretty cheap. Under $10 a year each.

  • frongt@lemmy.zip
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    21 hours ago

    I’ve been on Namecheap for years.

    The “hard no” list is GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and anything owned by EIG. They are literally the worst. Probably Ionos (formerly 1&1) too.

    • Mikina@programming.dev
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      17 hours ago

      I recommend transfering to Cloudfare, since they have guaranteed wholesale price (no added fees, and only what the tld owner and ICANN asks), so they should be cheapest (since anything less is selling at a loss for the registrar, at least ifI understand right).

      Namecheap has started overcharging me like 20+$ on a renewal compared to CF. So, transfering after a first year (which is where registrars like Namecheap take a loss and give you a discount) is probably the cheapest way how to go about it.

    • cryptix@discuss.tchncs.de
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      20 hours ago

      Namecheap is going downhills recently… They were sold to a private equity on September, .com starts at $18.