Go with Porkbun
It’s cheaper to purchase domain names from Porkbun than from GoDaddy and Namecheap.
In this post, I’ll be comparing the domain name providers mentioned on a how-much-would-you-pay-for-3-years because GoDaddy advertises that it’s the “cheapest” option over a 3-year lock-in period with them.
I will also be refer to a recent project of mine: pagsusuri.com, which I bought a day before writing this article.
Note that as of this writing, USD 1.00 = PHP 60.51
With GoDaddy, the domain costs ₱0.99 for the first year. However, as I mentioned earlier—you’re required to get a 3-year contract with them in order to get this promo. The remaining two years will be on a ₱1,230.88/year rate.
With NameCheap, I get an $11.28 rate on the first year and then $14.28 on the renewal. That’s ₱682.59 on the first year and then ₱864.13 the following years. No lock-in is required. So I’m pretty flexible with this provider. In fact, this was my ever-first with this blog’s domain name.
On Porkbun, it’s just $11.08/year (or ₱670.48/year).
Here’s a table with the total costs I’d be spending over a 3-year period with the providers for my custom domain:
| Domain Name Provider | 3-year costs (Php) | Requires Lock-in |
|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy | 2,462.75 | Yes |
| NameCheap | 2,410.85 | No |
| Porkbun | 2,011.44 | No |
Now you see why I went with Porkbun. It’s just as flexible as NameCheap (but slightly cheaper). And if I need to transfer to another domain name provider, I could just switch after a year. I don’t need to pay ₱2,000+ upfront with GoDaddy.
To add, Porkbun’s UI is better than NameCheap—imo.
Go with Porkbun.