Porkbun
Near-cost pricing with free privacy, SSL and forwarding, and a clean exit.
Overall in domain registrars
2of 15 · score 78.9
Overall in domain apis
13of 15 · score 61.5
Data coverage
100%
51 of 51 fields sourced
Best for
- •A default registrar for a handful of domains you actually use
- •Wide TLD coverage without Gandi's price tag
- •You want free privacy, SSL and forwarding without reading a plan matrix
- •Automating DNS records for domains you bought by hand
- •A free, unauthenticated source of TLD pricing data
- •Small projects where one registration a month can be manual
Strong on
- +Transfer-out friction 1 1/15
- +Auth code delivery instant-dashboard 1/15
- +Support quality 5 1/15
- +Account recovery 4 1/15
- +Renewal jump $0/yr 1/15
- +Upsell aggression 1 1/15
Weak on
- −Domains managed 4 M 6/9Better: GoDaddy: 84 M
- −.au support No 9/12Better: OpenSRS: Yes
- −EPP code via API No 12/15Better: Name.com: Yes
- −Transfer in/out No 15/15Better: Namecheap: Yes
vs Cloudflare Registrar
- •Ahead on Support quality: 5 vs 2
- •Ahead on Account recovery: 4 vs 3
- •Behind on At-cost pricing: Partial vs Yes
- •Behind on 2FA methods: totp vs totp, hardware-key
How Porkbun scores among 15 domain registrars51 of 51 fields known
Features8
DNSSEC1st
Yes
1/14
DNS hosting3rd
standard
3/15
Leader: Cloudflare Registrar · anycast-global
Bulk management1st
Yes
1/15
TLDs offered3rd
600 TLDs
3/15
Leader: Netim · 900 TLDs
Public API1st
Yes
1/15
Support quality1st
5
1/15
Pricing6
Renewal jump1st
$0/yr
1/15
At-cost pricing2nd
Partial
2/15
Leader: Cloudflare Registrar · Yes
Fee transparency1st
Yes
1/14
Control & exit6
Transfer-out friction1st
1
1/15
Auth code delivery1st
instant-dashboard
1/15
Registry lock
No
4/15
Leader: Gandi · Partial
2FA methods
totp
6/14
Leader: Namecheap · totp, sms, email-otp
Account recovery1st
4
1/15
Traction2
Ownership
registry-affiliated
7/15
Leader: Namecheap · independent
Positioning3
Upsell aggression1st
1
1/15
Ad parking
No
8/15
Leader: Sav · Yes
Positioning
Everything the expensive registrars charge extra for, included.
How Porkbun scores among 15 domain apis51 of 51 fields known
Access & onboarding6
Reseller contract
No
6/15
Leader: OpenSRS · Yes
Min prepaid balance1st
$0 float
1/10
ICANN accredited1st
Yes
1/15
API surface13
TLDs offered
600 TLDs
5/14
Leader: Hexonet · 1,000 TLDs
.au support
No
9/12
Leader: OpenSRS · Yes
Suggestion API
No
7/14
Leader: Name.com · Yes
Transfer in/out
No
15/15
Leader: Namecheap · Yes
EPP code via API
No
12/15
Leader: Name.com · Yes
Auto-renew control
No
15/15
Leader: Name.com · Yes
Contact model
account-default
14/15
Leader: Dynadot · reusable-handles
Rate limit
6 req/min
7/8
Leader: Gandi · 1,000 req/min
Pricing3
Pricing basis
retail
6/15
Leader: Hexonet · wholesale
.com renewal3rd
$11.06/yr
3/15
Leader: Direct EPP (own accreditation) · $10.98/yr
Agentic2
MCP server3rd
No
3/15
Leader: Vercel Domains · Yes
Machine-readable spec
No
8/15
Leader: GoDaddy · Yes
Traction1
API since1st
2019
1/15
Positioning1
Positioning
Cheap retail registrar whose API exists mainly so developers can automate DNS.
Dynadot
Gandi
GoDaddy
Namecheap
NameSilo
Netim
Synergy Wholesale
Cloudflare Registrar
