Google Domains Review ; Worth it or Not ?

What is Google Domains ?

Google Domains is an easy-to-use, reliable domain registrar. It offers transparent, competitive pricing on par with industry peers. However, there are drawbacks, such as having a limited number of domain name extensions and inadequate customer support.

Google, the company, likely doesn’t need an introduction. It operates a popular search engine almost everybody uses. The company publicly launched Google Domains(opens in new tab) in 2014 to help users purchase domain names. The service stayed in beta until March 2022, which is pretty long.

Google Domains offers domain registration, DNS hosting, domain forwarding, and email forwarding services. It has direct integration with many third-party web hosting platforms.

Features

Google Domains’ primary feature is domain name purchase. You can search for available domain names and purchase them without jumping through many hoops. The platform supports over 300 domain name extensions, which is good but not as good as some rival domain registrars.

Just head to the website and search for any domain you want. If it’s available, you can immediately proceed to purchase it. Google requires you to sign in to buy any domain, but this shouldn’t be a problem, given that most people accessing the internet have Google accounts.

Google also lets you transfer domain names registered elsewhere to its platform. The process is relatively easy but has strict requirements, such as holding your domain name with the current registrar for at least 60 days before transferring.

Google Domains has many other features, including;

Domain Sharing

You can dedicate domain name management to multiple people within an organization. Google Domains lets you do this automatically by assigning administrative access to other Google accounts.

Multi-domain registration

You can register multiple domains at once on Google Domains. This feature is desirable to customers who own trademarked names and want to protect them from domain name infringement. You can just register your trademarked name with multiple domain extensions.

DNS Export

Domain Name System (DNS is the internet’s system for converting alphabetic names into numeric IP addresses. For example, when you enter a URL (www.domains.google), the DNS servers immediately return the IP address assigned to that domain name, and that’s how you access the website.

Every domain name owner must configure their DNS servers for it to work correctly. If you’re transferring your domain to another registrar, it’ll be difficult to configure them all over again. But don’t fret. Google Domains lets you download your DNS records to standard formats like YAML or BIND and upload them to other DNS servers.

Free Cloud DNS

Google Domains provides free DNS support to help your website meet its traffic demands at no cost.

Free Privacy Protection

Google Domains lets you keep your contact information private on the WHOIS and RDAP databases. This feature helps prevent spammers from bothering you with purchase offers.

Automatic Domain Verification

If you’re integrating your website with other Google services such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Cloud Run, you don’t need to verify your domain manually with TXT records. Google would automatically recognize a domain name linked to your account.

Custom Email

You can automatically integrate your domain name with Google Workspace to create up to 100 professional email addresses. This feature is helpful for businesses with a significant number of employees.

Google Domains Pricing and Options

If you choose to make use of the Google Domains registrar, you typically are going to pay a higher than average price. We do appreciate that Google Domains states its pricing clearly, as long as you have fairly simple requirements. When you have multiple add-on requirements, though, the pricing can become complex.

Google Domains starts its pricing based on the domain ending that you select. Google Domains offers more than 300 different domain ending options. For some of the most common and popular domain endings, your annual cost with Google Domains is:

• .com: $12
• .org: $12
• .net: $12
• .dev: $12
• .app: $14
• .info: $12
• .photography: $20
• .video: $20
• .club: $13
• .team: $40
• .salon: $50
• .store: $50
• .accountants: $120
• .farm: $30
• .bar: $80

Google Domains publishes a full list of domain endings costs that the service offers. You do not receive any discount for your first year of service for any of the domain endings through Google Domains.

Google Domains Checkout

At the time of checkout, you can choose to register and reserve your new domain name for anywhere from one to 10 years. There is no discount for paying in advance for multiple years, however. You must select a minimum of one year.

Also at checkout, you can choose whether you want to participate in Google Domains’ automatic renewal service. If you choose auto-renewal, Google Domains will automatically charge your payment method on the date the domain name will expire. If you choose not to participate in auto-renewal, you will have to remember to pay for the domain name before the expiration date to maintain control of it.

Google Workspace Subscription

You can add a Google Workspace subscription to your Google Domains domain name registration cost during checkout. The payment tiers available in Google Workspace are:

• Business Starter: For $6 per user per month, you’ll receive a custom email address; 30 GB of cloud storage per user; access to Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets; and video meetings for up to 100 participants.
• Business Standard: For $12 per user per month, you’ll receive everything in Business Starter, as well as 2 TB of cloud storage per user, video meetings for up to 150 participants, and video meeting recording capabilities.
• Business Plus: For $18 per user per month, you’ll receive everything in Business Standard, as well as 5 TB of cloud storage per user, enhanced security controls, enhanced administrative controls, video meetings for up to 250 participants, and video meeting recording and attendance tracking capabilities.

Third-Party Web Building

If you want to have help with building your website, Google Domains offers free tools that you can use to build the site yourself. Google Domains also provides access to its partnered professional website builders who can build your site for a fee. Costs for hiring a website builder vary quite a bit, depending on the services you need and the builder you select.

Buying Existing Domain Names

Google Domains can help you find a domain name that an owner is offering for resale if you would rather buy an existing domain than start your own. Existing domains offered for resale often carry a far larger initial price than starting your own domain. However, when you need to renew the domain in subsequent years through Google Domains, you will pay the standard renewal price based on your domain ending.

Google Domains Insights

After you select your desired domain name, Google Domains will first make sure the name is available. It then gives you some information on the name you selected.

In the Insights section of this information window, you will receive a list of advantages and potential disadvantages of selecting this name. Some of the items Google Domains will consider when delivering these recommendations include:

• Length: Google Domains will recommend whether your requested domain name is too long for users to easily remember.
• Memorability: You’ll receive recommendations on whether the domain name will be catchy or will be tough to remember for users.
• Complexity: Is your domain name going to be difficult for users to type correctly, because it misspells common words or adds non-alphabetic characters, like hyphens? You’ll receive recommendations on this from Google Domains.