Cheap until you get roped into an auto-renewing thing with 3x the price you first paid. Why support a company like that? It's so slimy. Your cheap domains are effectively subsidized by GoDaddy preying on others.

Did you know the majority of car insurance firms (in the UK at least) will ramp up renewal prices by a few % each year? I did sales for one such company a few summers ago, and we were told this was intentional - and if someone calls in, and complains, we just offer them to new sign-up price.

I use GoDaddy because I manually renew all my domains at the same price as I signed up for. I agree their UX is awful, and they're not the most "good" company in the world... but it serves me for what I want out of a domain provider!

Renewal price hiking is a common practice... you just need to be a smart shopper if you want to save money!

We have a bank in the Netherlands that did the same with savings accounts and interest rates for them. The rates started high to draw people in and then lowered, till they had over 100 different savings accounts.

I've never paid more than $8 per domain registration OR RENEWAL at Godaddy. There is always a usable coupon at retailmenot.

I'd really like to switch, but one of these alternatives are going to need to really compete on price.

GoDaddy might be cheaper but they have a history of fucking people. I prefer Gandi.

They will nickle and dime you on things like email, certs and questionable "verification" upsales.

If you're not hosting with them, then you're doing it right.