Porkbun
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 11 domain registrars
Recommended for cheap domain registration, straightforward interface, API access, responsive support and a small, friendly team. Common caveat: it requires ID verification for some registrations, which critics object to.
71 people recommended Porkbun in Hacker News comments, 7 had mixed feelings and 17 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 55 comments.
95 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 71
- mixed feelings
- 7
- warn against or regret it
- 17
The record
Recommended in 8 of 12 months
In 16 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 71 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 16 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 42% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 114 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Low prices
“Their prices are very reasonable and their support team is consistently responsive and helpful.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation” “I've had no complaints, and at least when I looked initially their prices were pretty good.”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “a small company with good prices, a good vibe, and all the tools that I need”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended” - Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain”
- Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended”
Easy, straightforward to use
“I also like how straightforward Porkbun is while still supporting API automation and team accounts.”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “the website is domain name magic for a plain customer wanting a plain service”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation” “Porkbun was very pleasant to use, would definitely recommend them!”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” Responsive, helpful support
“a seemingly real person emailed in response to my ticket about an hour and a half later”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” “I've been using Porkbun for several years now. No problems and terrific service.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” Small, responsible company
“found a registrar that had a physical address, small office, and people listed on the company website”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help” “I’d rather work with a smallish and responsible registrar like porkbun”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Requires ID verification for registrations
“compulsory government ID verification from services that are not yet even legally obligated to do so”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Porkbun sells out – Starts requiring Age ID despite no legal requirement” “you cannot be attaching a person's face and Id documents to a purchase.”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Porkbun Forces ID Verification” “Porkbun have started demanding ID verification for registrations”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “Addressing Antigravity Bans and Reinstating Access” Worries it is declining
“so far Porkbun haven't fucked me yet but sad to see them going down the same route”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “While porkbun is good I am willing to move my 50+ domains to a worthy alternative”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Porkbun sells out – Starts requiring Age ID despite no legal requirement” “otherwise I will need to migrate a few domains off of that registrar”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Cloudflare outage on November 18, 2025 post mortem” Surveillance-style identity checks
“good companies don't self opt into additional systems of surviellance”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Porkbun sells out – Starts requiring Age ID despite no legal requirement” “Porkbun is using surveillance tech to combat fraud now so I would be careful”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” Relies on Cloudflare for DNS
“I can't update DNS entries for my domains with Porkbun, because it's "Powered by Cloudflare”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Cloudflare was down” “Porkbun use Cloudflare for their CAPTCHA meaning I'm unable to signup”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “Cloudflare Global Network experiencing issues”
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 | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PorkbunThis page | 71 | 7 | 17 | 81% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Namecheap | 21 | 9 | 122 | 15% | 8 | — | — |
| Cloudflare Registrar | 13 | 5 | 9 | 59% | 7 | — | — |
| Dynadot | 8 | 0 | 2 | 80% | 4 | — | — |
| MarkMonitor | 8 | 2 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 114 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Porkbun doesn’t have this bullshit, how do they get by?”
“Joker has no 3rd party scripts on their website, porkbun uses gstatic”
“Cloudflare, porkbun and others can get you a .com for $10-$11/yr”
“It was way easier to transfer the domain than I expected.”
“Porkbun is using surveillance tech to combat fraud now so I would be careful”
“so far Porkbun haven't fucked me yet but sad to see them going down the same route”
“I have good experiences with both porkbun and INWX as well”
“Porkbun was very pleasant to use, would definitely recommend them!”
“I also like how straightforward Porkbun is while still supporting API automation and team accounts.”
“The people running the business want to make a profit but not to their own or their customers determent.”
“Moved over after Gandi’s acquisition by PE and then price hikes.”
“Recently migrated quite a few domains from Namecheap to Porkbun and it only took a matter of minutes.”
“I've had no complaints, and at least when I looked initially their prices were pretty good.”
“there are some decent registrars now like Porkbun”
“you cannot be attaching a person's face and Id documents to a purchase.”
“I moved my domains to porkbun since I wasn't otherwise using NFS for anything else.”
“I've been using Porkbun for several years now. No problems and terrific service.”
“a seemingly real person emailed in response to my ticket about an hour and a half later”
“Porkbun seems to be the current "correct" choice.”
“Porkbun has been good to me and a lot of others.”
“a small company with good prices, a good vibe, and all the tools that I need”
“Easy to use, refreshingly minimal, and good prices.”
“Porkbun early auto renew (45 days if I'm not mistaken) works better instead”
“But you can set your own dns with porkbun, I have customs dns on all of my domains.”
“the website is domain name magic for a plain customer wanting a plain service”
“Their prices are very reasonable and their support team is consistently responsive and helpful.”
“That incident along made me move my domains off to porkbun.”
“I’d rather work with a smallish and responsible registrar like porkbun”
“only Porkbun and Namecheap has reasonable programmatic access”
“Porkbun have started demanding ID verification for registrations”
“Porkbun is also cheap so I think I would recommend porkbun/cloudflare.”
“compulsory government ID verification from services that are not yet even legally obligated to do so”
“While porkbun is good I am willing to move my 50+ domains to a worthy alternative”
“good companies don't self opt into additional systems of surviellance”
“there are few registrars tht handle all the TLDs i have, nothing like Porkbun.”
“found a registrar that had a physical address, small office, and people listed on the company website”
“Been using them for years and I'm fairly happy with them.”
“I can't update DNS entries for my domains with Porkbun, because it's "Powered by Cloudflare”
“otherwise I will need to migrate a few domains off of that registrar”
“Porkbun use Cloudflare for their CAPTCHA meaning I'm unable to signup”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.