Hey guys, I am quite new to the whole self-hosting world so I haven't done too much. Before I dive in deeper though, I'd like to know how I should choose my domain name vendor. Specifically, I only want a domain, no VPS or other hosting capability as I got some old laptops running at home I want to use for testing the waters.
Plus one for Porkbun here. DNS management is super easy too. Low prices was a plus too. Got a ".sh" for half of what everyone else I found has them for.
Another vote for Porkbun here. I switched after Google Domains shared they were selling off to Squarespace. It's been a lovely experience and their website just seems more human than the other big players. Cloudflare isn't a terrible alternative option as long as you'll be using their DNS.
Ovh is a good option as their domains come with a free 5gb email and also IPv4 dyndns that's easy to set up. Certbot also has an Ovh api extension for easily making SSL certificates via the dns-01 challenge.
I used to use Google Domains, but lately I've been switching to Cloudflare. They don't have every TLD, but they have all the ones I need, and their prices are lower than Google's is.
The major issue with Cloudflare is that you're forced to use their DNS servers. I'd rather pay a little bit extra to have more freedom in how I use my domain.