Gandi.net
Shares rank 7 of 12 domain registrars by recommenders
A long-running domain registrar with good support and free email forwarding, but many say prices rose sharply after a private equity buyout.
A long-running domain registrar with good support and free email forwarding, but many say prices rose sharply after a private equity buyout.
36 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 27
- approval share
- 25%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable service for years
“DigitalOcean + Gandi means nothing I run is down.”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “Cloudflare Global Network experiencing issues” “I’ve been happy with Gandi.net for years now.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Prices rose sharply
“they got bought by private equity a few years back and the price skyrocketed and service went downhill super fast after the buyout”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended” “Gandi got EXPENSIVE which is unfortunate because they often had TLDs no one else had first.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” “they got acquired in 2023, prices went up and the free mailboxes turned into a monthly fee”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “The bootstrapper's EU stack for under €10 per month” - Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Dumb Ways for an Open Source Project to Die”
- Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]”
- Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
- Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain”
- Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
- Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation”
- Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Rise and Fall of Hosting Provider Gandi.net”
Sold to private equity
“they got bought by private equity a few years back and the price skyrocketed and service went downhill super fast after the buyout”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended” “they got acquired in 2023, prices went up and the free mailboxes turned into a monthly fee”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “The bootstrapper's EU stack for under €10 per month” “since they sold out they massively raised the prices so they can no longer be recommended”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Dumb Ways for an Open Source Project to Die” - Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Rise and Fall of Hosting Provider Gandi.net”
- Comment from 20 May 2026 in “Infomaniak transitions to a foundation model to protect user data privacy”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked”
- Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
- Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain”
Support got worse
“they got bought by private equity a few years back and the price skyrocketed and service went downhill super fast after the buyout”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended” “Couldn't even get ahold of anyone with a pulse to help with transfers.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation” “they became absolute trash and hostile towards their customers as well”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
Other domain registrars people recommend
The four most recommended other domain registrars, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porkbun | 81 | 18 | 82% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Namecheap | 35 | 130 | 21% | 9 | 14 yrs9 owners | — |
| Cloudflare Registrar | 18 | 9 | 67% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Hover | 13 | 18 | 42% | 3 | 15 yrs3 owners | — |
| Gandi.netThis page | 9 | 27 | 25% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
32 of the 38 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Now the prices are just ridiculous and I'm sure the enshittification will continue.”
“who of course gets a new owner, and becomes horrid.”
“They're the same trash, tho.”
“they became absolute trash and hostile towards their customers as well”
“migrated off of them shortly after they announced there first price hike.”
“They provided good support and offered things like free email forwarding.”
“Gandi got EXPENSIVE which is unfortunate because they often had TLDs no one else had first.”
“I fled Gandi a while ago because of private equity fuckery”
“they got bought by private equity a few years back and the price skyrocketed and service went downhill super fast after the buyout”
“I’ve been happy with Gandi.net for years now.”
“I was only familiar with the insane cost increases”
“The sad story of Gandi.net is a textbook example of enshittification”
“they got acquired in 2023, prices went up and the free mailboxes turned into a monthly fee”
“Gandi stopped being a recommendable company”
“But it went to shit lately”
“since they sold out they massively raised the prices so they can no longer be recommended”
“protects the customers against scenarios like what happened with Gandi”
“went from "no bullshit" to full shit hole after TWS bought them”
“Couldn't even get ahold of anyone with a pulse to help with transfers.”
“has started increasing prices like crazy in the last few years”
“they raised prices quite a lot over recent years, especially for their email service”
“I want my VPN provider to be like the domain registrar Gandi”
“More than what Gandi is now? 100%”
“Gandi has fallen as well.”
“They got sold to private equity, unfortunately.”
“Moved away from Gandi later when they started doing gouging of their own, too.”
“it's obviously down the drain today”
“desperately milking any remaining customers”
“they got bought and had extreme price rises”
“their API was so good I never needed to contact them on anything.”
“How do I create an API token that only enables a single record to be changed on any major cloud provider?”
“DigitalOcean + Gandi means nothing I run is down.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.