Gandi.net
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy only if you want a 20-year European registrar with bundled DNS, SSL, and email in one account.
New check
Comparison
Gandi.net vs Namecheap
Gandi.net and Namecheap both land on Depends.
Namecheap
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy for cheap domain registration and small hobby sites; it's a proven budget registrar.
| Compare | Gandi.net | Namecheap |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Domain portfolio managers wanting 750+ extensions | Budget domain registration |
| Who it's not for | Price-sensitive buyers . renewal prices are a top complaint | Business-critical sites needing reliable hosting and fast support |
| Privacy | 2017 login breach on record; otherwise active patching and a public HackerOne response policy.⁶ | Active incident history in 2026: exploited cPanel bypass, supplier breach enabling phishing, and an acknowledged hosting breach.16 |
| Support quality | Mixed: service praise plus billing complaints | 24/7 chat advertised; Reddit reports mixed |
| Public sentiment | Long-time users praise easy domain management but increasingly complain about high renewals and post-acquisition cutbacks.² | Opinions are sharply split: budget users are happy, while hosting reliability, renewals, and support draw heated complaints.⁹ |
| Biggest gotcha | Renewals cost far more than registration; every TLD renewal reportedly expensive | One user reports a 1200% renewal price increase on their domain12 |
Pick Gandi.net when
- Domain portfolio managers wanting 750+ extensions
- EU or privacy-focused buyers wanting a European registrar
- Teams wanting DNS, SSL, and email under one roof
- Resellers and agencies (8,000-reseller program)
When Gandi.net is not a fit
- Price-sensitive buyers . renewal prices are a top complaint
- Anyone expecting free email with their domain . removed after 2023 acquisition
- Bargain hunters; cheaper registrars exist for plain domain needs
- Buyers wary of post-acquisition rollbacks and pricing surprises
Pick Namecheap when
- Budget domain registration
- Small personal sites and side projects
- First-time website owners
- Managed WordPress blogs (EasyWP)
When Namecheap is not a fit
- Business-critical sites needing reliable hosting and fast support
- Anyone averse to surprise renewal price hikes
- Security-sensitive orgs handling customer email
- Teams wanting managed enterprise-grade infrastructure
Sources
- Gandi.net official sitegandi.netofficial
- Trustpilot reviews of gandi.nettrustpilot.comreview
- G2 reviews of gandi.netg2.comreview
review
- Ars Technica: Gandi bought out, email removed, prices raisedarstechnica.comnews
- Information Security Buzz: Gandi.net logins breachedinformationsecuritybuzz.comsecurity
- Gandi domain price listgandi.netofficial
- TLD-List: Gandi pricing from $1.99tld-list.comreview
- Namecheap Customer Service Reviews - Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
review
- Namecheap web hosting review - CyberNewscybernews.comreview
- Namecheap front-running allegation - NameProsnamepros.comreview
- Critical cPanel Authentication Vulnerability - The Hacker Newsthehackernews.comsecurity