I own a handful of domain names, picked up over the years as projects and ventures warranted them. I currently use Namecheap and have no complaints with it. With a few more purchases coming up soon, I felt a need to verify that I am still with the right registrar before committing further.
Two things prompted the review. The first is the usual practical question: is there something better? The second is more current. Namecheap is a US-incorporated company, and the broader geopolitical situation has made me more conscious of the risks that come with relying on services under a single jurisdiction. This is not a position on US governance — I have no issue with it. It is simply risk management: reducing concentration and ensuring that changes in policy, regulation, or the relationship between jurisdictions do not create unnecessary exposure for my projects.
Disclaimer: This evaluation was done for me, by me, and applies to no one else. The criteria, scores, and conclusions reflect my specific situation as a solopreneur with a small domain portfolio. They are not recommendations. Anyone else evaluating registrars should start from their own requirements.
Requirements
Both questions raised above sit within one non-negotiable constraint: I do not want my domain registrar and my primary hosting provider to be the same company. If a hosting provider has a security breach, locks an account, or goes out of business, I want my domains to be entirely separate — something I can move independently. This applies regardless of who the hosting provider is. I currently use Cloudflare for most of my deployments, but I am also evaluating EU-based hosting alternatives. Whichever provider I end up with, I do not want my domain registrar to be the same one — no single point of failure, no all-eggs-in-one-basket.
Beyond that separation principle, sovereignty was the second area I wanted to evaluate. Where a registrar is headquartered matters — not out of dogma, but because jurisdiction affects what laws apply, what data requests a provider must comply with, and how exposed I am if the relationship between jurisdictions shifts.
With those two constraints established, the full set of requirements I used to evaluate each registrar:
| Area | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Registrar focused | Domain registration is the primary business — not a hosting provider that also registers domains |
| Stable ownership | Established company with clear, stable ownership · Not recently acquired by private equity or a large conglomerate |
| Transparent pricing | Transparent, competitive pricing with no surprise markup at renewal |
| WHOIS privacy | WHOIS privacy included or available at a reasonable cost |
| Sovereignty | EU-headquartered · Outside US jurisdiction |
| Support | Reachable for time-sensitive issues · Positive community track record |
| TLD availability | Must support .com · .net · .org · .consulting · .holdings · .studio |
| Portability | Standard ICANN transfer process for in and out · No unnecessary lock-in or friction · All current TLDs must be transferable |
The Options
There are many more registrars available. This shortlist is built from those that came up repeatedly in developer communities and EU sovereignty discussions, supplemented by resources like european-alternatives.eu — either already known to me or flagged as worth a closer look.
| Registrar | Based in | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Namecheap | US (Arizona) | My current registrar. Competitive pricing, WHOIS privacy (WhoisGuard) included free, solid developer reputation. No significant complaints after several years of use. US-incorporated, so subject to US jurisdiction and its associated legal reach. Broad TLD coverage — 1500+ TLDs including most EU ccTLDs. |
| Porkbun | US (Oregon) | Consistently competitive pricing, often the lowest available for common TLDs. Free WHOIS privacy, clean interface. Well-regarded in developer communities. US-incorporated, so subject to US jurisdiction and its associated legal reach. Good TLD coverage — strong on popular gTLDs and common ccTLDs, fewer niche options than Namecheap. |
| Cloudflare Registrar | US (California) | At-cost pricing with no markup — genuinely one of the most transparent offerings available. US-incorporated, so subject to US jurisdiction and its associated legal reach. Excluded by my separation principle since Cloudflare is already my hosting provider. Limited TLD selection — covers popular gTLDs but notably fewer ccTLDs than other registrars. |
| INWX | Germany | An ICANN-accredited German registrar aimed at developers and professionals. Transparent pricing, EU-incorporated, registrar-focused. Less consumer-facing than other options, which is not a problem for my use case. Good reputation in the European developer community without the acquisition baggage of some of the larger names. Strong EU ccTLD coverage (.de, .eu, .nl, .se, .dk, .at and more) alongside common gTLDs. |
| Hetzner | Germany | Best known as a cloud and dedicated server provider, but offers domain registration alongside its infrastructure products. Competitive pricing, EU-based, strong technical reputation. Domain registration is not their primary product, which is worth considering if domain-specific support or features become important. Limited TLD selection — common gTLDs and a handful of ccTLDs, not suitable if breadth of TLD coverage matters. |
| Infomaniak | Switzerland | An independent Swiss company founded in 1994, frequently cited in European digital sovereignty discussions. Offers domains alongside email, hosting, and cloud products. Switzerland is not EU-incorporated but operates under robust Swiss data protection law with no US ownership — jurisdiction here is not a concern. Good TLD coverage including .ch, EU ccTLDs, common gTLDs, and all required TLDs for this portfolio (.consulting, .holdings, .studio). |
| EuroDNS | Luxembourg | A Luxembourg-based, ICANN-accredited registrar focused on domains and DNS. EU-incorporated and registrar-focused. Less visible than INWX but fits the criteria cleanly. Strong TLD coverage with a particular focus on EU ccTLDs — this is a core part of their product, not an afterthought. |
Loopia looks like a credible Swedish option and is often cited in Nordic alternatives lists — but it was acquired by GoDaddy in 2021. GoDaddy is US-incorporated, which means Loopia fails on sovereignty despite its Swedish appearance. Worth knowing before assuming it is a genuine EU alternative.
First Evaluation
This evaluation is based on internet research, developer forums, and community discussions — not firsthand experience with every registrar listed. Namecheap is the only one I have used directly.
Legend: ✅ Meets the requirement · ⚠️ Partial or conditional · ❌ Does not meet the requirement
| Registrar | Registrar focused | Stable ownership | Transparent pricing | WHOIS privacy | Sovereignty | Support | TLD availability | Portability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Namecheap | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | US jurisdiction |
| Porkbun | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | US jurisdiction |
| Cloudflare Registrar | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ✅ | Primary business is hosting · US jurisdiction · limited TLD selection · limited registrar-specific support |
| INWX | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | Less community data on support than established names |
| Hetzner | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | Primary business is hosting · limited TLD selection · WHOIS privacy and transfer tooling not core focus |
| Infomaniak | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Also offers hosting · Swiss not EU but outside US jurisdiction with robust data protection law |
| EuroDNS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | Less community data on support than established names |
Namecheap is the solid baseline — it has served me well and meets every requirement except sovereignty. If jurisdictional exposure is not a concern, there is no strong reason to move.
INWX and EuroDNS are the options worth taking further — both EU-incorporated, registrar-focused, transparently priced, and meeting every criterion.
The rest are set aside: Porkbun is US-incorporated with the same sovereignty limitation as Namecheap — no reason to switch from one US registrar to another. Hetzner and Cloudflare Registrar both fall on the separation principle — Cloudflare is my current hosting provider, and Hetzner is under active evaluation as a potential EU hosting alternative. Infomaniak also offers hosting alongside domains — fails the registrar-focused criterion.
Trying Out the Contenders
I created accounts with both INWX and EuroDNS to evaluate the hands-on experience before committing any domains. DNS management could not be verified at this stage — that requires an active domain and will be assessed once one is registered.
| Area | INWX | EuroDNS |
|---|---|---|
| Account security | TOTP 2FA available at setup · straightforward to enable · sign-up available for multiple countries · no backup codes | 2FA supported with backup verification codes · no email verification on signup — a significant security concern |
| Interface | Simple and clean · easier to navigate than Namecheap · nothing unnecessary in the way | Faster and more polished than INWX · noticeably smoother experience |
| Domain search | Functional and straightforward | Noticeably worse than both INWX and Namecheap — limited results, poor UX |
| Pricing | More expensive than Namecheap for equivalent TLDs — worth checking per-TLD before transferring | More expensive than INWX |
Of the two, INWX is the stronger option — cleaner account setup, no security red flags, and a better fit for the use case. EuroDNS falls away on account security alone. That leaves the real question: Namecheap vs INWX — a known quantity with US jurisdiction against an EU-incorporated registrar that meets all criteria but costs more.
Verdict
The two serious contenders — Namecheap and INWX — are closer than the evaluation matrix suggests. Namecheap has served me well and I have no complaints with it. INWX meets every requirement, is EU-incorporated, and passed the hands-on trial without issues. The main differences are jurisdiction and price, not quality or reliability.
My approach is to register new domains with INWX and see how it holds up in practice. I will not transfer existing domains over at this point — there is no pressing reason to, and transfers introduce unnecessary friction. If INWX turns out to be a problem, transferring back to Namecheap is a straightforward fallback.
Running a similar evaluation or landed somewhere different? Get in touch — always interested to hear how others approach this.
I write about solopreneur infrastructure decisions as I work through them.
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