Register.com, a veteran domain registrar since 1994, provides shared hosting plans tailored for small to medium-sized businesses and individuals. Owned by Newfold Digital, it offers robust storage and unlimited bandwidth but struggles with uptime reliability. Pricing is competitive for small websites with a free domain included, though high renewal rates are a concern. Support is a strong point, with positive user feedback, and features like the free website builder enhance usability.
Register.com Review
Unbiased Register.com Reviews by Real Customers & HostDean Experts
Pricing
See all 15 plans- Shared Hosting $2.99 - $18
- Website Builder $4.95 - $19.95
- SSL $82.44 - $384.89
Server Locations
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Provo
Register.com, a veteran domain registrar since 1994, provides shared hosting plans tailored for small to medium-sized businesses and individuals. Owned by Newfold Digital, it offers robust storage and unlimited bandwidth but struggles with uptime reliability. Pricing is competitive for small websites with a free domain included, though high renewal rates are a concern. Support is a strong point, with positive user feedback, and features like the free website builder enhance usability.
Register.com Pros & Cons
8 Register.com Strengths & 5 Key Limitations Unveiled by HostDean Experts
Register.com Pros
Advantages of using Register.com
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Register.com offers unlimited bandwidth with all hosting plans
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Free domain name with select plans
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Easy website management with a simple control panel
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Free drag&drop website builder included for easy site creation
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1-Click installer of popular CMS like WordPress and Joomla
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24/7 customer support via Live chat
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Register.com offers free phone support available
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You can get a refund if cancel within 30 days
Register.com Cons
Disadvantages of using Register.com
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Single data center in the US limits global performance
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Reported uptime issues
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Only shared hosting available
Register.com does not offer more powerful hosting services like dedicated servers or a VPS hosting service.
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High renewal rates for some plans
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Difficulties in canceling services and fees for transferring the free domain out
Using Register.com?
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Register.com Expert Review
Detailed Register.com Review & Analysis by HostDean Experts
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Register.com Review: Affordable Web Hosting Plans Hindered by Reliability Issues!
»
Hosting Expert
Register.com Review Overview
UPDATE: Register.com is merging with Network Solutions. Read Network Solutions reviews here.
At HostDean, we take pride in delivering comprehensive and unbiased reviews of web hosting providers to help you make informed decisions. Today, we’re examining Register.com, a company with a rich history in domain registration that has since expanded into web hosting.
Since its inception in 1994, Register.com has built a reputation for reliability in domain services, but how does it fare in the competitive world of web hosting?
Register.com, established in 1994 and acquired by Web.com for $135 million in 2010, has long been a staple in the domain registration industry. Over the years, it has expanded its offerings to include web hosting services, positioning itself as a comprehensive solution for website owners. Owned by Newfold Digital, the same company behind popular hosting providers like HostGator, Domain.com, Bluehost, and Network Solutions, Register.com brings a wealth of experience to the table.
At HostDean, we’ve conducted extensive research to evaluate Register.com’s web hosting services. Our goal is to provide you with an unbiased, in-depth review that covers all aspects of their offerings, from performance and reliability to pricing and customer support.
The company offers a range of shared hosting plans, including Starter, Essential, and Premium, as well as specialized eCommerce and WordPress hosting options (more info in the Register.com pricing section below). Their shared hosting packages are notable for providing unmetered bandwidth and a free domain registration on select plans. These features are offered by most (if not all) Newfold brands at cheap monthly rates, which makes Register.com an attractive option if you’re on a budget and looking for a cheap shared hosting service for your website.
However, despite these generous features, Register.com has faced criticism regarding its reliability. Our tests at HostDean and Independent ones from other sites have shown frequent uptime issues, which are critical for any web hosting service. A website that is down and not accessible can lead to lost revenue and damaged reputation for businesses. While Register.com claims a 99.9% uptime guarantee, real-world performance has not always met this standard, based on our monitoring tests and as reported by unbiased Register.com reviews from genuine customers.
Pricing for Register.com’s hosting plans is another area that warrants attention. While the introductory prices are competitive, particularly when a Register.com coupon code is used, the renewal rates can be significantly higher, which may catch users off guard. For instance, their e-commerce plans see a substantial price increase upon renewal, a practice common in the industry, but can be frustrating for customers. Additionally, the true pricing is not always transparent on their website, with promotional prices displayed prominently and actual costs revealed only at checkout.
On a more positive note, customer support at Register.com receives generally favorable reviews. Many customers praise the support team for being friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. This is crucial for users who may need assistance with technical issues or account management.
In terms of features, Register.com offers a comprehensive set of tools that caters to both beginners and more experienced users. These include an in-house control panel for easy website management, a drag-and-drop website builder, free SSL certificates with certain plans, and access to popular CMSs like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. They also provide paid add-ons for security and backups, such as SiteLock and CodeGuard, which enhance the overall value of their hosting packages.
When compared to other shared hosting providers, Register.com stands out for its generous bandwidth allocations but falls short in terms of reliability and pricing transparency. Competitors like HostGator and the famous Bluehost, also under Newfold Digital, often provide more consistent uptime and clearer pricing structures. If you prioritize simplicity over reliability, Register.com might still be a viable option, but if you cannot afford downtime, looking elsewhere might be advisable.
In conclusion, based on our research at HostDean, Register.com offers a good value proposition with its unlimited bandwidth and free features in shared plans. However, you should weigh this against the reported uptime issues and be aware of the pricing structure, especially renewal rates. If you value bandwidth allocation above all else and are willing to risk occasional downtime, Register.com could be a suitable choice. Otherwise, exploring other hosting providers with better reliability records might be more prudent.
Register.com Performance
Our expert's take on Register.com performance
When it comes to website hosting, performance is of paramount importance. Users expect their websites to be up and running smoothly at all times, with fast loading speeds and reliable access. Unfortunately, Register.com has struggled in this area. During our tests at HostDean, the service experienced frequent downtimes, which is a red flag for any hosting provider. While Register.com advertises a 99.9% uptime guarantee, the results of monitoring the speed and uptime of a WordPress site we hosted on Register.com’s shared hosting have not always met this standard.
Hosting speed, alongside uptime, is vital for performance. Metrics like TTFB and server response time impact how fast your website loads. As noted earlier, the tests we made at HostDean showed Register.com’s speed metrics were below average, with consistently slower-than-average loading times.
It’s also worth considering that, unlike providers like Hosting.com and Namecheap, who have multiple data centers in global locations, Register.com operates a single data center in the United States. This means that if you have visitors located far from this data center, such as those in Asia or Europe, they might experience higher latency and slower load times compared to hosting your site on servers closer to them. For a truly global audience, this could be a significant drawback unless you use a CDN.
In summary, while Register.com provides free perks including a free domain and unmetered bandwidth, its performance is hindered by inconsistent uptime and potentially subpar speed. If you cannot afford downtime, we at HostDean don’t think that Register.com is the best choice for you.
Register.com Reliability
How reliable is Register.com? Our insights!
At HostDean, we give reliability high importance when reviewing hosting providers, and it is one of the criteria calculated by DeanScore. We believe that you, as a website owner, need to have confidence that your website will be accessible when visitors try to access it. Unfortunately, Register.com has not consistently delivered on this front. We’ve been keeping an eye on a test WordPress site we set up with Register.com by monitoring it with Pingdom and UptimeRobot, and it’s gone down multiple times. That kind of downtime just isn’t okay for a hosting provider claiming high reliability.
A 99.9% uptime guarantee sounds impressive, but in practice, it means that the website could be down for approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes per year (43.8 minutes per month). For many businesses, even this amount of downtime can be detrimental. Moreover, based on our experience, the actual uptime was lower than advertised, which means the situation becomes even more problematic.
Another aspect of reliability is the physical infrastructure. Similar to other Newfold-owned brands, Register.com has a single data center in Utah, United States. This lack of geographical diversity means that if there’s an issue with that data center—be it a power outage, network failure, or natural disaster—all hosted websites could be affected.
Having a single data center in the US can negatively impact performance for website visitors located far from the United States. For instance, if your website is hosted on Register.com servers in the US, but most of your audience is in Asia or Africa, users will experience slower loading times compared to a site hosted closer to them, such as in Asia or Europe. This increase in latency can lead to frustrating user experiences. Additionally, slower load times can affect your website’s search engine rankings since page speed is a ranking factor for Google.
In contrast, many top hosting providers like Hostinger, GreenGeeks, and DreamHost have multiple data centers around the world, providing redundancy and giving you the option to host your websites near their audience, enhancing loading speed.
Given these factors, I can’t give Register.com’s reliability a good rating. The uptime issues and single data center location are significant drawbacks that cannot be ignored. If you require high reliability, especially for e-commerce or high-traffic websites, Register.com might not be the best choice, TBH.
Register.com Pricing
Are Register.com's prices competitive? Here's our verdict!
Pricing is one of the most important factors you should consider when choosing a web hosting provider, as it directly impacts the cost of maintaining your website. Register.com’s pricing structure is somewhat complex and not entirely transparent, which can make it difficult for you to make informed decisions.
Comparing these renewal rates to industry standards, the Starter plan at $8/month is reasonable for basic shared hosting, though 15GB storage is on the lower end. The Essential plan at $12/month offers 20GB of storage, which is much lower than what most shared hosting companies offer at that price point. For example, InMotion Hosting’s Core shared plan starts at around $2.24/mo and offers 100GB of SSD storage (though prices increase upon renewal).
The Premium plan renews at $16.99/month and comes with 40GB of disk space only, which is quite expensive for a shared package with such limited storage capacity, especially since Register.com doesn’t offer VPS hosting or dedicated servers, which limits your options when your website grows and requires more disk space.
When it comes to their shared WordPress hosting service, the plans come with more storage, with the smallest plan allowing for up to 50GB of disk space. While not a true managed WordPress hosting service like Pressable, WPX Hosting, and Nexcess, for example, the prices are a bit competitive for a WordPress-specific hosting service, especially considering the storage and features offered.
Some plans also throw in a free domain (usually worth around $10-$15 a year), which is a nice bonus. But keep in mind, the renewal price after the first year is pretty steep. They charge $28.99 a year to renew a .com, which is way more than you need to pay. I’d recommend transferring the domain before renewal to a cheaper registrar like Spaceship or its parent company, Namecheap, where you’ll also get free WHOIS privacy for life without paying extra.
Register.com seems to know what they’re doing with a condition that feels a bit sneaky. Basically, if you try to transfer your domain to another registrar before renewing it with them for at least a year, they’ll hit you with a $20 fee per domain.
To break it down: renewing your domain with them costs way more than it would with most other registrars, and if you try to leave, they still charge you a fee that’s higher than just registering a domain somewhere else. So honestly, I don’t think their “free domain” offer is really free at all. I’d skip the deal and register my domain with a more affordable provider like Name.com or NameHero right from the start and use it with Register.com web hosting.
Overall, I wouldn’t say Register.com’s pricing is competitive. While they offer average introductory prices, the high renewal rates and lack of transparency are significant drawbacks.
Register.com Support
Can you count on Register.com support? Our honest opinion!
Customer support is a crucial aspect that we at HostDean consider when evaluating the quality of a web hosting service. Technical issues can occur at any time, and it’s essential to have reliable assistance to resolve them quickly. While we assess support ourselves, we believe that general customer experiences provide a better understanding of its reliability, rather than relying on a single or limited interaction.
For instance, you might encounter a novice representative at an inconvenient time or during peak hours. Therefore, at HostDean, we take into account the overall experience of many customers, as it clearly indicates whether the support is dependable or not. Speaking of Register.com, claims to offer award-winning customer service and support via 24/7-support that is available via chat, phone, and email, as well as a knowledgebase, standard for most hosting providers.
Based on our experience and customer feedback, Register.com excels in customer support, which is one of its strongest attributes. The company has received numerous 5-star reviews on platforms other than HostDean, like TrustPilot, with users specifically highlighting their positive experiences with support. Customers have praised the support team for being friendly, knowledgeable, efficient, and patient. They have successfully addressed various issues, including DNS problems, phishing attacks, email issues, and renewal processes. This suggests that the support team is effective in handling a wide range of technical and account-related concerns.
That said, not all feedback is positive. There are complaints about customer service, particularly regarding email services and account management issues. For example, some users reported difficulties with email not working properly and delays in resolution from support. However, these negative Register.com reviews seem to be in the minority compared to overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Overall, based on user feedback, I rate Register.com’s customer support at 4 out of 5 stars. While there are some negative experiences reported elsewhere, most users seem satisfied with the support provided.
Register.com Features
Are Register.com features impressive? Our hands-on review!
When it comes to features, Register.com provides a robust set of tools that make it a versatile choice for various types of website owners. Let’s break down what they offer:
- Control Panel: A simple control panel is included with all plans that allows easy website management (e.g., email setup, file management) without advanced technical knowledge.
- Free Domain: A free domain name is included with most of Register.com’s hosting plans, though we don’t think it is truly free (read the pricing section of this review).
- Website Builder: A drag-and-drop website builder is included in all plans, ideal if you want to create websites without coding.
- SSL Certificates: Free SSL certificates are provided with Essential and Premium plans (for one year). However, we at HostDean think that SSLs should be free forever. SSL is essential for securing data transmission and is a search engine ranking factor.
- Unmetered Bandwidth: Register.com does not set a certain limit on your bandwidth usage.
- One-click CMS: You can install popular content management systems and scripts like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal via a 1-click installer app, which simplifies setting up blogs or e-commerce sites.
- Email Accounts: Register.com hosting plans come with free professional email accounts from 5 to unlimited accounts (depending on tier). These can be managed through the control panel with features like forwarding and autoresponders.
- FTP Accounts: FTP accounts (25 to unlimited) allow file uploads/downloads to your web server. However, ngl, I don’t think it is a very important feature to a shared hosting user.
- Security Features: SiteLock (malware scanning/removal) is an add-on service; free SSL enhances security.
- Backups: Free on-demand backups are included with their WordPress hosting plans, and Register.com offers CodeGuard (automatic backups) as a paid add-on.
- E-commerce Tools: Specific e-commerce plans include shopping carts, payment gateways, and inventory management.
- WordPress Hosting: Specialized hosting plans for WordPress sites offer optimization features like automatic updates and caching.
However, there are limitations:
- Single Data Center: One US-based data center may lead to higher latency for international visitors to your websites.
- Limited Plan Options: Only shared hosting is available; no VPS or dedicated server hosting for advanced users.
Despite these limitations, Register.com’s features are comprehensive and cater to a wide range of needs. The inclusion of free SSL and domain (with higher plans) and CMS installations makes it user-friendly for beginners and experienced users alike.
Overall, I rate Register.com’s features at 4 out of 5 stars. While they offer some good features, no Windows hosting or VPS/dedicated options prevents a perfect score. If you need basic shared hosting with unlimited data transfer and standard features, Register.com provides excellent value.
Register.com Pricing
Exploring Register.com's 3 services & the features of their 15 plans
Register.com Shared Hosting
Register.com offers 6 shared web hosting plans
| Plan | Websites | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Free Domain | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 | 10 GB | Unlimited | Custom | - | $2.99 | Details |
| Essential | 3 | 20 GB | Unlimited | Custom |  Yes |
$4.99 | Details |
| Premium | 10 | 40 GB | Unlimited | Custom | Yes |
$6.99 | Details |
| WordPress | 1 | 50 GB | Unlimited | Custom | Yes |
$7.00 | Details |
| WordPress Plus | 3 | 100 GB | Unlimited | Custom | Yes |
$13.00 | Details |
| WordPress Premium | 5 | 200 GB | Unlimited | Custom | Yes |
$18.00 | Details |
Register.com Website Builder
Register.com offers 4 website builder plans
| Plan | Space | Bandwidth | Free Domain | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes |
$4.95 | Details |
| Website + Marketing | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes |
$7.95 | Details |
| Online Store | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes |
$9.95 | Details |
| Online Marketplaces | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes |
$19.95 | Details |
Register.com User Reviews
Real-world experiences with Register.com. From real customers.
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Register.com FAQs
Your Register.com Questions, Answered by HostDean Experts
Who owns Register.com?
Register.com is now part of Newfold Digital, a major U.S. web hosting group. It was bought by Web.com in 2010 for $130 million, and later became part of Newfold after Web.com merged with Endurance International Group in 2021.
What types of hosting does Register.com offer?
Register.com primarily offers shared hosting plans, including a shared WordPress hosting service and website builder service. If you're looking for a more powerful service, unfortunately, they don't have that! They do not offer virtual or dedicated servers.
Does Register.com offer a free domain with their hosting plans?
Yes, some plans come with a free domain for the first year, but there are a few catches. We covered the key limitations in the pricing section of the Register.com Expert Review above.
Can I host multiple websites on a single Register.com hosting plan?
Yes. Depending on the plan you're on. The cheapest plan is limited to a single website, while other plans allow hosting more.
Does Register.com offer Windows hosting?
No. Register.com only offers Linux-based shared hosting.
How does Register.com’s pricing compare to other hosting providers?
The pricing of Register.com services and plans is mid-range compared to the industry and lacks transparency (true costs revealed at checkout). Renewal rates can be high, too, compared to other shared hosting providers.
Where is Register.com based?
Register.com is a United States based company. Their main office is located in 5335 Gate Pkwy, Jacksonville, Florida 32256, United States.
How old is Register.com?
Register.com is 32 years old. It was founded in 1994.
How much does Register.com cost?
Register.com prices start at $2.99 for their Shared Hosting cheapest plan.
Can I pay Register.com monthly?
Yes, Register.com accepts monthly payments. They give you the option to pay for their services on a month-by-month basis.
Does Register.com offer a money-back guarantee?
Yes, Register.com offers 30-day money-back guarantee. So, if you cancel within 30 days, you will probably be eligible for a full refund.
Please, be aware that some services like domain registration/transfer, SSL certificates, and some addon services are usually non-refundable. Additionally, some providers have hidden terms and conditions that may make it difficult to get a refund, so make sure to read Register.com's refund policy before you sign up.
What currencies does Register.com accept for payments?
Register.com primarily accepts payments in United States Dollar (USD). They may also support additional currencies based on your region and payment method. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, please verify the accepted currencies on Register.com's website during checkout.
Where are Register.com servers located?
Register.com servers are located in their Provo, United States data center.
How will I get support from Register.com?
When you need support from Register.com, you can get help by:
- Searching their Knowledge Base.
- Calling them on their Phone Number.
- Contacting Register.com support via Live Chat.
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