Should I host my site with the same company I bought a domain from?

Question

I feel like I heard advice once upon a time that one should split these "services" between two companies. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this should be. For example, what would the downside be having my domain name and hosting done by GoDaddy, under one login and password.

Answer 1

Pros to using multiple companies:

1. If the company goes under or becomes a tyrannical nightmare you don't have all of assets in one place. You may lose your domain, you may lose your website, but not both. (And if you're smart you will have your website backed up).
2. If your account with them gets compromised you could lose everything
3. Some hosts won't let you transfer your domain name or make it nightmare to do so in an attempt to lock you in. By not using your host as your registrar you eliminate this possibility.

Cons:

1. You have more accounts (with logins, passwords) to keep track of. If you change your email address you have to go back and change it everywhere.
2. You have more accounts that can potentially be compromised. You won't lose everything but there are more opportunities for it to happen.

Personally I have no preference. I use whatever company offers be the best value for whatever service I am looking for. If it's all at the same company, that's great. If not, that's fine, too.

Answer 2

If you go this route (all-in-one), make sure your whois information designates you as the owner of the domain. A registrar like Go-Daddy is upscale enough that they will treat you in a professional manner and you will retain ownership as long as you keep the domain registry fee paid. If you want to transfer to another registrar at a later date, they will allow this.

Free is worth exactly what you pay for it.

Where your plan hits the wall is if you choose some oddball cheapie hosting service that decides that registering all the whois information in their name is a good lockin tactic. You don't own the domain, they do. You want to move, they say fine, the domain name is ours and if you want to keep it, you need to keep your hosting with us.

Here's an example of the downside: domain name hijacked by my hosting provider with dubious invoicing practice

To prevent such silliness, it's always been recommended to keep the registry and hosting separate. The yearly charge for the domain registry isn't enough for a business making money with the website to put up with having such nonsense happen. We go register for 10 years separately and then choose a hosting provider that can run our applications. There's a discount for paying that far ahead.

If $10 per year means that much to you, as it's a non-profit website then choose a combined package with a trustworthy registrar/hosting provider and go that route.

Answer 3

I personally opt to host my domain names separate from the companies that host any websites I am involved with.

It gives comfort knowing that if I ever wish to change my host I can do so quickly and easily.

Whils it means I have an extra account to manage and it may mean I don't get a free domain but for the cost involved it's irrelevant as far as I am concerned.

Answer 4

Haha If you enjoy paying for your domain registry then by all means do them seperately.

In fact, I'd advise for having hosting and domain name registry bundled together because a lot of times if you sign up for a year of service, you get the domain name registry for FREE! And who doesn't like saving money and making life easier with less accounts and passwords! Check out ipower web at http://www.ipower.com/ipower/index.bml at 4.95 per month w/ free domain registry and hostgator at http://secure.hostgator.com/forward.php?campaign=brand&gclid=CPW54rGzzqcCFUpj7Aod7yfaGQ at 3.95 per month w/ free domain registry. I use both of these hosting companies for many websites. Godaddy may advertise the most, but they have issues with word press hosting, are higher priced than competitors that offer more, and their tech support sucks.