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.

66 points

This is what NameCheap does too. It’s freaking stupid. Domain registrations should not be managed by corporations.

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36 points

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…?

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9 points

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.

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12 points

$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.

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6 points

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.

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8 points

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…?

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4 points

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.”

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14 points

I’m saying this for years, but a) it’s quite late (seems like a 1990s issue) and b) OpenNIC is a bit of a joke atm (but support it anyways)

ICANN never should’ve been a creature of US-NTIA, but of the UN. The US has no right to decide for the digital world how everyone communiticates. No one really should (apart from about stuff like CSAM).

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7 points

Damn. I always though they were one of the good ones.

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3 points
*

I still think they are but maybe my needs are simple. It was definitely better when I switched over (from godaddy*) during one of the migrations.

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2 points

They’ve been my go-to rec for like 6 years 😢

Their support is top tier, which is important when it’s important. But this complicates things. I’ll have to take a close look at the competition these days.

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37 points
*

GoDaddy can GoFuckThemselves, wondering why my shit was broken until i found out

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21 points

Been there…

I thought my API keys were expired, I regenerated them, changed a couple of things, checked all API calls to see if they changed API itself…then I searched the exact error and found out.

For such a breaking change to the API, was it hard to drop an email to every account not meeting the damn “requirements” with an API call performed in the last x months, to alert of the change?

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26 points
*

desec.io can be used with any domain registrar and has an API with support for various ddns clients (ddclient, lego).

deSEC is a free DNS hosting service, designed with security in mind.

Running on open-source software and supported by SSE, deSEC is free for everyone to use.

Edit: To clarify, desec.io does not sell/rent domains. Desec has to be set as the authoritative nameserver on the registrar, then desec can manage domain records instead of the registrar (which usually also provides their own domain hosting for “free” by default).

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6 points

Yes, a thousand times this. DeSEC is awesome, I moved my domain record management there. I’m usually buying domains on namecheap, and the IP allow list thing for the API was just too annoying to deal with.

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4 points

What’s the benefit of having a separate DNS host? I’m using porkbun and had to mess around with its dns records to configure my email hosting. Does having separate service mean I don’t have to do this all over again If I switched registrars?

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4 points

Yes, pretty much that. Plus some configuration might be easier with a DNS hosting. But the main benefit is decoupling domain and DNS for easier change.

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14 points

ClouDNS makes DDNS easy for a low cost for 1-5 domains.

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10 points
*

ClouDNS

I think I heard of it. I think most DDNS scripts support a lot of registrars as well, if one doesn’t want to go with full DNS hosting.

In case of DNS hosting (I also linked it in the post, but it’s a good shotout), there is desec.io too. EU-hosted, free (although donations are highly encouraged) and has a tons of features! There is also a Terraform provider!

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1 point

Look at how Dynamic DNS supported. Does it require full access to the account-- dangerous-- by using your login credentials or an API token with full read/write access? Or does it over a very limited scope access that gives the Dynamic DNS tool precisely the access it needs to update a single DNS record-- much safer! The latter is what CloudDNS does.

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1 point

Is it relatively easy to switch domains? I just set up my old laptop as a home server and I registered with domain.com.

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2 points

Domain.com sounds like a domain registrar. You would keep that service and point your name servers for the domain to the ClouDNS name servers.

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1 point

I hate to bother you with another question, but what is the goal of changing the name servers I have with domain to another? Could I just use ClouDNS for everything? I wish I had taken more time before I bought the domain through Domain.com. It seems like everybody likes ClouDNS.

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11 points

I use porkbun but I don’t know how they handle this situation.

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10 points

I also use porkbun, their API is not a masterpiece but it works and allows you to get, set and update records. In fact their API is now supported by some of the common ddns scripts out there.

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8 points

i switched to porkbun from godaddy specifically because of this.

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2 points

Google Domains to porkbun here, mostly because they added porkbun DDNS support to OPNsense

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1 point

I like them because they’re really cool and helpful. They have amazing documentation which helped me get my website up and running.

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