GoDaddy really lived up to its bad reputation and recently changed their API rules. The rules are simple: either you own 10 (or 50) domains, you pay $20/month, or you don’t get the API. I personally didn’t get any communication, and this broke my DDNS setup. I am clearly not the only one judging from what I found online. A company this big gating an API behind such a steep price… So I will repeat what many people said before me (being right): don’t. use. GoDaddy.
NameCheap
WOW! I did not know that. I just checked and after a little search:
We have certain requirements for activation to prevent system abuse. In order to have API enabled, your account should meet one of the following requirements:
- have at least 20 domains under your account;
- have at least $50 on your account balance;
- have at least $50 spent within the last 2 years
$50 in last 2 years is not much, but for those who renew for many years, it is still stupid.
Ironically, Namecheap is what the people in https://github.com/navilg/godaddy-ddns/issues/32 migrated to!
I really wish that domain registration was done in a different way, but even in current scenario, gutting features for such a basic service to extract a few bucks and risking losing customers…?
That can’t be right. I only had two domains (one now) and I’ve been using the API just fine. And basically any purchase will clear those dollar amounts.
Doesn’t their API also require you to allow-list IPs, making it basically useless for dynamic DNS?
From https://www.namecheap.com/support/api/intro/ under “Whitelisting IP.”
I found it on their FAQ.
Yes, it is generally less restrictive, but… I have 4 domains, and now I have renewed all of them for the maximum amount. They will all expire after 2033. So unless I decide to add more domains (which is unlikely), I won’t spend a cent in the next ~9 years. I wonder if they really enforce it as it is written or they consider still the renewal an expense “split” over the duration.
Still, I really don’t understand. You can - and should - have proper rate limits on the API. You have API keys that uniquely identify the source, what is “the abuse” they are trying to prevent this way…?
These are ancient holdovers. Nowadays DNS hosting with API is a dime a dozen. You may have to pay for it occasionally but it’s not going to be even close to $20/mo.
$20/month for a service that anyway is low traffic (especially for hobbyists) is a completely insane price. Even more insane is that their cheapest subscription still doesn’t offer any API access. I agree anyway, but are these staying in business just because they have a consolidated market share? Do they have access to more TLDs? I don’t know, I am genuinely confused. I have absolutely no reason whatsoever to even think of using GoDaddy again.
I like the way Bunny.net does paid DNS, 20M monthly queries for $1 and $0.1/M after that. With an API included, ofc. Now that’s the kind of pricing I can get into as a self-hoster, not $20/mo.
GoDaddy advertises a lot, basically. So whenever a person who’s never owned a domain before searches for “get a new domain” they’re gonna get GoDaddy, NameCheap and (ironically) Google Domains as the top results. That’s pretty much all there is to it.
