Best UK Domain Registrars of 2024 (On-Going Case Study)

As well as offering many different types of web hosting services, Hostinger is also a domain name registrar. You can bag a .online or .xyz domain name from just £1.99 per year, or a .co.uk TLD from just £2.99 per year.

If you’re looking to purchase a domain name with great customer support, Hostinger is my #1 choice. They are an ICANN accredited registrar with a trusted brand name, and if you’re not happy for any reason, they offer a 100% money-back guarantee.

Alternatively, if you’re planning on hosting a website or want to transfer your existing hosting to Hostinger, their shared hosting plans start from just £2.59 per month for Premium Web Hosting (also, you’ll get a FREE domain name included – it’s a win-win!).

BlueHost is one of the largest hosting companies out there. They’re my personal #2 choice in cheap web hosting as well as domain names. Not many people realise that they are a WordPress official hosting partner, so if you’re thinking of starting a blog or website, it’s worth checking them out.

If you are looking for web hosting, ukwebhostreview readers are being offered hosting from just £2.25 per month. This includes a free domain name, SSL certificate, and unlimited storage and bandwidth. Compiling your web hosting and domain name in one place often makes things easier and more manageable.

For customers just wanting a domain name, most domain registrations cost around £10 per year. BlueHost has a 24/7 customer support system as well as live chat for any issues you may encounter.

GoDaddy is one of the longest standing domain registrars. With almost 80 million domain names that they manage, their customer base has reached near 20 million users. They offer domain registration as well as web hosting and other web services such as web development, website builder, etc.

As far as web hosts go, GoDaddy offers extremely competitive prices for domain registration. If you’re happy to keep your domain name for at least 2 years, GoDaddy sells .co.uk TLDs for just 99p per year. The domain search tool is very simple to use; just type in your desired domain name and they will tell you whether it’s available or not (as well as some suggested domain names).

If you’re looking for decent domain management tools, GoDaddy can provide you with this. Whether you’re looking to transfer your domain or amend the settings, their tools are really easy to use. Not only that, but they also offer 24/7 support as well as live chat should you encounter any issues.

Similar to GoDaddy, HostGator has been around for some time and has made a name for themselves. They offer domain registration as well as web hosting. Their domain names come with a wide range of TLDs as well as domain registration and simple domain management tools that are user-friendly.

When you’re ready to search for your desired domain name, their domain search tool makes things very easy. Enter your domain name and see if it’s available. If not, there’s plenty of options as well as suggestions to gain some inspiration. If you want to transfer a domain, the process is beginner-friendly and there’s plenty of documentation to help you on your way.

HostGator, unfortunately, doesn’t include a free domain name when you sign up for web hosting. But, their domain names are competitively priced, averaging around £7-£10 for a .com TLD. Domain privacy will set you back £1/mo (Billed Annually @ £12.02). I do recommend purchasing domain privacy with any domain name that you register.

Domain.com specialises in domain names and web hosting. They’ve been around for a long time so they are a trusted brand as a domain registrar. You can register a top-level domain (TLD) with them as well as country code domains.

When you land on domain.com you can easily use their search tool to find your domain name. If you have a domain name in mind, simply enter it into the search box to see the results. Their tool will show you whether a domain name is available or not, as well as suggested ideas and featured domains.

I mentioned earlier that most domain registrars will offer handy extras as well as the ability to purchase domain names. Domain.com has a choice of features including:

• Domain privacy (£7.23 per year)
• Bulk registration
• Transfers
• DNS management

If you’re struggling with anything, they have customer support via live chat, or you can email them. If you’re not looking for web hosting, domain.com offers great value domain names, and I highly recommend them.

Name.com has been steadily gaining traction and introducing new customers since 2003. Similar to many domain registrars, they also provide web hosting services, SSL certificates, website builders, email hosting services, and more. They have a wide range of TLDs on offer as well as some helpful domain features.

If it’s web hosting you’re after, all of Name.com’s shared hosting plans include a free domain name. Prices start from £1.60 per month and also include a free SSL certificate. This should be enough to set you up with your first website if that’s what you’re looking for. If you’ve never used a domain registrar before, Name.com has live chat support as well as phone support and a knowledge base.

Their domain name search tool is simple and quick to use. Once you’ve entered your domain name into the search box, it will tell you if your domain is available. However, I have noticed that if a domain is already taken (but the owner is open to selling it), the domain will display as available but at a premium price (one of these I found at £27,000)!

NameCheap is a top domain name registrar. They’ve been in the industry for 19 years, offering domain registration, domain transfers, SSL certificates, and web hosting. Their web hosting spans across shared hosting, WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and even email hosting.

NameCheap’s domain add-on services match those in the market. They are one of the few domain registrars that include domain privacy with all of their domain names, free of charge. This is definitely something that sets them apart from their competitors. Their domain search tools are easy to use, offering suggestions for when your domain isn’t available.

If you’re struggling with anything or not sure how to transfer your domain, their live chat service is really good. I’ve personally used their phone support and I have to admit they were really helpful. They knew their stuff and they were really friendly. If you don’t want to seek customer support directly, their knowledge base has plenty of information and guides.

1&1 (IONOS) is probably one of the oldest domain registrars out there. They offer incredibly affordable domain names, starting from 99p per year. If you need to contact 1&1, U.K. customers will find this much easier than most of their competitors. Customer support is available via live chat, telephone, email, and even social media.

Some of the features they include are domain transfer, eCommerce site builder, web hosting, website builder, WordPress hosting, email hosting, and lots more. You can probably get all the tools you need to create your own website in one place with 1&1 and a reasonable price. They may not be the most powerful web host or domain registrar, but they’re definitely cheap.

At the moment, 1&1 is offering domain names for free for the first year. After this, it will cost you £10 per year. But this is a really good offer to take advantage of! Web hosting is only £1 per month for the first year and includes a free domain name for life. If you’re looking to start a new website, 1&1 is a great place to start.

When shopping for a domain name, it can take time to find a genuine and trusted domain registrar. More likely than not, you may not have heard of most of the registrars on this list if you’ve never shopped for a domain name before. May I present to you, Google Domains.

Google is one of the biggest names on the planet and now they offer a simple way of purchasing domain names with very little upselling and confusion. Simply head on over to Google Domains and search for your desired domain name. If the domain name is available, it will show in Google’s results page, with clear prices for the year for each TLD.

If you like a domain name but aren’t 100% sure whether you want to go for it or not, you can save it to your favourites and keep searching. The major downfall of Google Domains is that they don’t offer every TLD available. For example, .tv and .mobi aren’t available but are with other domain registrars.

Prices are a little steeper than average, with .com and .co.uk names from £10 per year, however, Google Domains do throw in Domain Privacy for free, which can cost you a couple of quid a month with other registrars.

BuyDomains.com is a premium domain name registrar, allowing you to search for premium domains that match the search terms you enter. Premium domains are domains that have already been registered by someone else but tend to be desirable.

Third-parties will list premium domain names for sale and will often be more expensive than a regular domain name. People who want specific branded domains or more memorable domains may not be able to find their desired domain name through a regular domain name registrar.

If you’re not sure what you’re after, you can search via category to get some inspiration. BuyDomains displays ‘just missed’ domain names that have recently been sold, so you can gauge the kind of premium domains they sell.