NameSilo has been around since 2009, and since then they’ve managed to accumulate over four million domains registered under their name. They boast about their super cheap domains and their ease of use, but do they live up to what they claim?
Pricing
NameSilo is known for having some of the best prices around. They offer the standard .com and .net domains at competitive prices, as well as lesser-known domains such as .top and .xyz for crazy-cheap costs.
They also promise there are no hidden fees—and they aren’t lying about that! WHOIS Privacy, something that usually comes as a paid addon, is given for free here. WHOIS privacy is an absolute must. It’s what prevents your personal details from being published online, where spammers can easily target you.
Domain names on NameSilo often go on flash sales. If you act fast, you could snag a domain for just a dollar! At the time of writing this, .one is 88% off at $1.98 and .in is 39% off at $4.49. Make sure to frequently check their homepage so you don’t miss out on these promotions!
NameSilo also allows you to use coupons to further lower the cost of a domain. Using our coupon “GILECT” will net you a dollar off your next purchase.
Bulk Orders
Here’s where NameSilo really shines: If you purchase large amounts of domains at once, you are eligible for bulk discounts! You can buy up to 500 domains at once and save up to $200 on .com domains.
While bulk domains are a relatively niche feature that most won’t need, large businesses and domainers may find it to be super useful! For example, big companies often register tons of similar domain names to prevent typosquatting—when someone registers misspelled domains of their website for malicious purposes. Google owns plenty of similar domains including gogle.com, googl.com, gooogle.com, and many others.
NameSilo’s bulk domain search can look up a maximum of 500 domains at once. You can even upload a text file containing the list of domains you want to search. From there you can choose which ones to register, or register them all at once.
Ease-of-Use
Unfortunately, this is where everything starts to fall apart. While their homepage looks nice, clean, and modern, as soon as you sign up things take a quick turn south.
Their user interface to register and manage domains is an absolute mess! Everything is cluttered, confusing, and poorly organized. If you’re new to NameSilo, this user interface could feel intimidating. Even worse, only some pages have the bad UI, and the switch back and forth from old to new can be jarring!
To be fair, it isn’t that bad once you get used to it. If you’re willing to overlook an outdated interface, NameSilo has a lot to offer! There are many great features that power users can enjoy, such as the ability to manage several domains at once, or group certain domains into “portfolios” to find them easier. You can even set up “sub-accounts” which lets others access your account and you can give them permissions on what they can manage for you. These subtle features that many domain registrars lack are where NameSilo really shines!
Other Services
While NameSilo originally started only selling domains, they have since expanded into other industries such as hosting an email (which are sold separately from domains.) Just like their domains, the hosting is affordable with plans starting at $2.99 a month. Their hosting may not be the best bang for your buck, but it’s convenient and adequate enough for smaller websites.
[Get completely free website hosting at Gilect—You can even use your NameSilo domain with it. No Catch!]
One of the biggest drawbacks of their hosting is that they only offer an SSL (https) certificate on the most expensive plan. Instead, they offer it as a paid addon for $9.59 yearly. SSL certificates are important and should be free, there is no reason for companies to still charge for them. There are many other services you could use to generate free SSL certificates, like our own SSL tool.
If you really want to get the best out of your dollar, we highly suggest using iFastNet as your web host, it’s similarly priced and offers much more value. We wrote a review about iFastNet and the features they offer. You can also opt for our free hosting.
Customer Support
If you ever run into problems, NameSilo has your back with 24/7 live chat. Their agents respond quickly and give detailed explanations of problems. If you ever feel unsure about something, don’t hesitate to contact them!
Is NameSilo too Good to be True?
Thankfully, no! NameSilo can live up to everything it claims! Although it might not have the greatest interface, it still boasts far more functionality than nearly every registrar. With its super low prices and free WHOIS privacy, you can be confident that you’re getting the best price out there. It’s no wonder NameSilo is one of the few registrars with over four million domains to their name!