PairNIC versus GoDaddy for Domains

May 22, 2007

I have been a hosting customer of Pair Networks for quite some time now. They are solid and I am happy with them. I’ve got two dedicated servers with them working in tandem and, yeah, I throw a good chunk of scratch their way every month for it. I have also been managing my domain names using PairNIC, which is Pair’s domain management service. I am happy with PairNIC as well, except for one little point: they are pricey. If you renew for 5 years, you get the domains at $10/year, but that’s $50 on the table for a new domain right out of the gate. If you take it yearly, you’re forking over $19/year. But, if you head over to GoDaddy, you can register a new domain for $8.95/year even if you do it on a yearly basis. And they throw some things on the pile to sweeten the pot. I just registered 6 domains with GoDaddy and paid $7.95/year for each because I registered in bulk. PairNIC doesn’t provide any bulk discounts.

So, my question is: Why is PairNIC charging me $11.05 more per year for a domain name? At this point, I’m beginning to think I’ve been an idiot for using PairNIC all this time. But, let me see.

First, I check out account features. PairNIC offers a nice, clean management interface. It is easy to renew domains, set up domain forwarding, change the nameservers, change the contact info for the domain. It seems everything you would want to do with your domain is easily done with PairNIC. So, let’s check out GoDaddy. GoDaddy’s interface is more involved, but it looks like I can do all the same things. Change nameservers, MX records, etc. In looking around, I don’t see anything in PairNIC that I can’t do with GoDaddy. On the flip side, I see many things I CAN do with GoDaddy that I do not see in PairNIC. For example, it looks like I can easily and quickly set up sub-domains on my domains using GoDaddy and forward it anywhere I want. For an additional fee, GoDaddy also allows me to make my WHOIS info private. I don’t see that option with PairNIC, where all contact fields are required and I see no option to hide them.

It seems that the only real benefit to PairNIC would be if you are hosted with Pair as well. The accounts are linked together, so when I make a change to one of my domains with PairNIC, it usually happens with hardly any lag time at all. Additionally, PairNIC is very straight-forward. GoDaddy, on the other hand, is VERY commercialized and you will be constantly bombarded with upselling tactics as you buy a domain name. Because GoDaddy throws so much at you and is constantly trying to sell you more, you can get confused and ultimately pay more than you would with PairNIC. But, if you know what you want and see through the hype, you can save a lot of money with GoDaddy.

I will continue to use PairNIC even though they are more expensive, but I will also be using GoDaddy when I just want to mass register some domains for potential future use. Unless you want to make a 5-year investment up front in a domain name, you will pay a lot more money with PairNIC. No question about it. Since I just wanted to mass register some domains without much investment, I went ahead and used GoDaddy. I can always transfer to PairNIC if I decide to use one of the domains for an important website.

Lastly, I should mention that even though I am comparing Pair and Godaddy in the arena of domain registration, I would never make such a comparison when it comes to hosting. Pair Networks simply blows GoDaddy away when it comes to hosting. GoDaddy is one of those companies that tries to do everything and in the process does nothing very well. I like to call them the “Wal-Mart” of the web, and they really are. Unless you want to invest peanuts into a mediocre hosting service where you FEEL like you’re getting a lot for your money, I would recommend setting up with a real host like Pair. Same goes for 1 & 1 hosting. I’m sorry, any hosting company that purchases multi-page advertising in major tech magazines is probably concentrating more on making the sale than on providing solid hosting.

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