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Today, I will share one of my best-kept secrets with you. I will reveal one of the best domain registrars and hosting companies with friendly prices and excellent services. Drum roll, please! I’m talking about Porkbun.com. In the review today, you will find out what Porkbun is, what services they offer, why I consider them among the best, what their PROs and CONs are, and what their alternatives are. In closing, my conclusion of the service.
TLDR
- Porkbun is a unique domain registrar and hosting service with a straightforward interface. Here, you can register and renew domains in literally hundreds of TLDs at much better prices than the big guys in the industry.
- You will get a lot of add-ons like SSL certificates, WHOIS protection, email, URL forwarding, and ad-supported WordPress hosting for free, while on their competitors, you will have to pay.
- Porkbun supports new technologies like blockchain domains and takes payments through a variety of methods, including cryptocurrencies, credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, and Alipay.
- The support is available through phone, email, live chat, and a knowledge base. It is top-notch but available only from 9 am to 5 pm Pacific time.
- Visit Porkbun.com to get set up & start with one of their free hosting trials or register a new domain.
So now that you have found the goodies, let’s explore them in more detail and see what Porkbun has to offer and how it performs.
Table of Contents
What exactly is Porkbun?
Porkbun is a domain registrar that offers everything you need to set up your website: domains, hosting, email, and security in one convenient place. The company was founded in 2015 by Ray King and Peter Brual, and its office is in Sherwood, Oregon, USA.
So besides registering and transferring domain names on Porkbun, you can also purchase several other services, such as affordable web hosting (cPanel, WordPress, Static, EasyPHP, and more) and email hosting. You also get free SSL certificates, WHOIS privacy, URL forwarding, email forwarding, and trials for hosting products with every domain.
Besides their great prices and excellent support, they accept cryptocurrency payments and allow you to register new blockchain domains.
Products offered by Porkbun
Now that you know what Porkbun is, let’s dive into the products and services they offer.
There is no surprise here, as you will see domain registration and transfer, hosting blockchain domains, and a couple of add-ons like free SSL and WHOIS, which, on other registrars, you will have to pay good money to get.
Porkbun domain name registration
Porkbun offers hundreds of TLD and domain extension options that go beyond generic domains like .com, .net, and .info. These range from country-specific and location-specific domains for international use to category-specific ones, like those for apps, etc.
The ordering process is straightforward. After adding the domains to the cart, you can easily select the registration period (up to 10 years for most domains), add web hosting or email hosting, and a coupon code.
Each domain comes with an SSL certificate, WHOIS privacy, and several trials for their other services, such as Site Builder, Web and Email Hosting, etc.
The next step is to continue billing and processing your payment. You can pay with your credit card, PayPal, AliPay, bank transfer, or cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and USDC.
After the payment is processed, Porkbun automatically registers the Domain. Then, you can easily administer it in your domain management panel. From here, you can renew your domain, add more services, connect it with a hosting account, add email plans, etc.
The interface is very intuitive, so you have a complete overview of your domain features in a nutshell, as you can see in the picture below:
With every domain, you will get the following for free: an SSL certificate, WHOIS privacy, URL forwarding, Email forwarding, an Email hosting trial, and Web hosting trials on WordPress, Static, cPanel, PHP, and Weebly Site Builder. We will go into detail about these features later in this review.
Domain Transfer
Using the transfer feature, you can quickly transfer your domains from another registrar to Porkbun and enjoy their benefits. With all the tools provided, you’ll get your site up and running again within minutes of transfer. This is an excellent feature that other domain providers did not accomplish.
To be able to transfer your domain, you should ensure the domain does not use WHOIS privacy protection. If the service does not forward emails, you cannot receive the transfer code. Also, the domain should be registered with your current registrar for at least 60 days and should be unlocked and not on hold.
All transfers of gTLD domain names include a one-year renewal unless the domain is inside the auto-renew grace period. The following country-code TLDs do not offer a free renewal as part of a transfer: ai, off.ai, com.ai, net.ai, org.ai, uk, co. Uk, org. Uk, me.Uk, de, la, cx.
Porkbun Web hosting (WordPress, PHP, Static, Social, cPanel & Weebly)
Porkbun offers a couple of hosting options for your domain names, starting at only $2.5/month. Here are all the web hosting plans Porkbun offers to their clients:
Porkbun Hosting Plan Rundown
- Easy WordPress Hosting—All paid plans include unmetered bandwidth, WordPress performance enhancements, automatic updates, extra security, and a free SSL certificate. An ad-supported plan offers only 5GB of disk space, one PHP process, and a max memory limit of 64 MB.
- PHP Hosting—All paid PHP hosting plans come with PHP versions 7.4 and 8, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, SFTP and SSH access, extra security, and easy switch-between-plans. For only $12/month, you will get 10 GB of disk space, ten subdomains, five dedicated PHP processes, and a max memory limit of 128 MB.
- Static Hosting – All paid static hosting plans come with unmetered bandwidth, FTP access, static hosting performance enhancements, file browser, GitHub connect, etc.
- L.INK Social Media Bio—This is the perfect tool for creating social media links. Each plan includes the option to make tons of links, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, custom themes and colors, your domain, a custom L.INK URL, and analytics integration.
- cPanel Shared Hosting—If you’re looking for a shared hosting environment with cPanel, this plan is right for you. For only $12/month or $120/year, you get unmetered disk space and bandwidth, FTP access, PHP and MySQL, a free SSL certificate, and Softaculous.
- Weebly SiteBuilder – Porkbun partnered with Weebly to offer its users a powerful website builder for any domain purchase. The site builder plans start at only $3/mo.
If you have been a Monetize.info reader, you know that we recommend using WordPress if you start a blog or website. That’s because it’s versatile, easy to maintain, and extensible.
By purchasing a WordPress hosting plan on Porkbun, you will enjoy plenty of plugins. You will also get additional customizability, speed, and security, as their hosting infrastructure is powered by AWS, which offers fast loading times, privacy, and security.
For the WordPress hosting plans, you get a 3-month trial, and you can upgrade or change plans with ease, making them valuable and risk-free for you. They have all the things you expect from your web host: fast and secure.
Porkbun Email Hosting
After you register a new domain, you can use this custom address to give your online presence a professional feel. The email hosting plan comes with 10GB of storage, secure IMAP and POP, webmail, and email forwarding. It is free for the first three months of domain registration and only $24/year after this period.
The video below, released by the company, helps you understand the difference between email hosting and email forwarding.
Free SSL Certificate (Free)
For each domain registration you do on Porkbun and keep default name servers, you will receive a free SSL certificate issued by Let’s Encrypt. All major browsers support this certificate, which has a 90-day duration and is then automatically validated and created.
DNS Management (Free)
In the DNS management console, you can host domains using their nameservers or create custom DNS records for your domain. The supported DNS record types are A, MX, CNAME, ALIAS, TXT, NS, AAAA, SRV, TLSA, and CAA.
URL and Email Forwarding (Free)
With URL forwarding, you can redirect your newly registered domain to an existing website. Porkbun’s URL forwarding service supports SSL and allows both temporary (302 / 307) and permanent (301) redirects. This service is offered for free.
You can forward up to 20 email addresses for your new domain to existing email addresses that you own for free. For example, if you currently use [email protected], you can forward [email protected] to it.
Free WHOIS Protection (Free)
If you want to keep your registration details private and away from hackers and spammers, you should enable Porkbun’s WHOIS privacy service. You can use it with most domains. Did I mention that the WHOIS protection service is also free?
Don’t know what WHOIS protection is and how it can help you? Check the video below:
Ethereum Name Service (Free)
Certain TLDs support the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). Currently, .luxe is the only TLD with support. This service is free and included in the registration price. Using it, you can connect your domain to the blockchain.
Handshake domains
According to Porkbun, Handshake is an experimental and permissionless naming protocol that uses blockchain technology to create a decentralized root zone. You can visit Handshake domains using a browser optimized for Handshake domains, like Brave or Opera, or an extension or plugin on Chrome or Safari.
Porkbun Support
If you have questions or need help, you may reach Porkbun via phone, email, and live chat during working hours: 9 AM—5 PM, Pacific Time, seven days a week, including all holidays. In addition, there is a knowledge base where you can find dozens of tutorials about accounts, registering and transferring domains, DNS, hosting, etc.
It would be great if they would consider adding 24/7 support, as some urgent matters may arise during non-working hours, and they are an international company dealing with customers worldwide.
PorkBun Alternatives
Are you looking for alternatives or competitors to PorkBun services? Several important factors to consider when researching an alternative to PorkBun include costs, support, and services.
Below, you will see how Porkbun performs amongst some of its biggest competitors, GoDaddy and Namecheap. Just as I told you before, the first thing that speaks for itself is the pricing. For a .com standard domain, you will pay $8.13 in the first year and $9.13 thereafter, while on other domain registrars the price goes up.
Now that you know the main products you can order from Porkbun and their main features, let’s continue with the PROs and CONs of the service.
PROs and CONs of PorkBun
In this section, I’m going to briefly explain the PROs and CONs of Porkbun so you can judge for yourself if the company is a good fit for you or not.
Porkbun PROs
- Transparent pricing—Porkbun offers better pricing options than its competitors for domain registration and renewal. In addition, it offers good deals and discounts every time. You will see precisely how much you will pay upfront and for renewal without any hidden costs or added services.
- Variety of Top-Level Domains—You can choose from hundreds of domain extensions, so rest assured you will get the perfect domain for your business.
- Add-on Features offered for Free—Unlike other domain registrars that charge you for everything, Porkbun takes a different approach and offers you an SSL certificate, WHOIS protection, DNS management, URL & Email Forwarding, redirects, and even free hosting, which is ad-supported.
- Straightforward interface and ordering process—It’s very easy to order new services or manage your existing ones in your user panel. The website uses an easy-to-read font and a nice color scheme without many effects, pop-ups, or other distracting elements.
- You can pay with cryptocurrencies—Porkbun is a crypto-friendly domain registrar where you can order blockchain domains and pay with cryptocurrencies. This makes them early adopters of future technologies. You can also pay with traditional methods like credit cards, PayPal, bank wire, etc.
- Friendly approach -Porkbun has grown well in the last couple of years. Yet they maintain that friendly SMB approach in all communications, including the website, emails, and support chat.
- They take security seriously. After you log in to your account, you will notice many security functions that you can use to protect your digital assets. These include 2FA, Web Authentication, IP restrictions, one-time 2FA codes, recent logins, and a bounty program for ethical hackers.
Porkbun CONs
- No 24/7 customer support—The phone and live customer support are available only from 9 AM—5 PM Pacific Time, so if you’re living in a country with a different time zone, you may have to wait until the support becomes available. I would recommend that they cover all time zones.
- Fewer Add-on Features – I want more products added to the Porkbun environment. Some of the products I miss are virtual servers, Google Apps for Business, Office 365, and even a VPN service, which would be awesome. I know they are focusing on providing an excellent domain management experience along with decent hosting, but some customers like me would love to purchase more from them 🙂
- No affiliate program—Obviously, this is a subjective matter. Still, as we are a community of like-minded people who earn a living online, it would be nice for Porkbun to reinstate the affiliate program so we can promote the business to our friends.
What others say about Porkbun
Porkbun has an excellent score of 4.8 out of 5 possible on TrustPilot and 1553 reviews. For this review, I’ve especially checked the inadequate and poor reviews. Most of them are related to issues involving users’ payments, people forgetting to renew their domains, or folks who didn’t get immediate support. So, I can say that if you have your payment methods in order and you’re not highly impatient, you will not have any issues.
One thing that I like is that a Porkbun representative answers all negative reviews, tries to explain what happened, and offers a solution to the client. I told you, in the beginning, they’re friendly, and I appreciate that.
Below, you can watch a review done by David Utke, a quite popular digital marketing Youtuber:
Porkbun FAQ
What is Porkbun?
Is Porkbun com legit?
Is there any working Porkbun com coupon code?
Does Porkbun provide a free SSL Certificate?
Does Porkbun provide free WHOIS protection?
Does Porkbun provide free WordPress hosting?
Conclusion of the Porkbun Review
I hope you have enjoyed reading my Porkbun review as much as I enjoyed writing it. I recommend a great domain registering and hosting service that I use to the Monetize.info community.
If you haven’t tried it before, I recommend it if you want to register or renew domains at better prices. They support a variety of TLDs, including blockchain domains. Their free domain add-ons, such as SSL, Whois, email and URL forwarding, and even ad-supported WordPress hosting, are neat and useful.
If you want to host your WordPress website, Porkbun also has its WordPress hosting package, which is very popular among website designers and developers.
Visit Porkbun.com to get set up & Start with one of their free hosting trials or register a new domain.
The floor is now yours. What’s your experience with Porkbun? Have you registered a domain through them? Let us know in the comments.
Good One! Thanks for sharing this post on domains and hosting prices