The best Gandi alternatives, compared honestly
Gandi was the registrar developers recommended without a second thought: "No Bullshit" pricing, free lifetime mailboxes, a clean API. Then the 2023 buyout raised the .com renewal to about $38 and ended free email. If you're looking to move, here's where the old Gandi crowd is going.
Gandi still works, but the bundle that made it special is gone. The best alternative depends on what you're replacing:
- Stay European + keep bundled email → OVHcloud: French registrar, transparent pricing, free 15 GB mailbox.
- Absolute cheapest sticker → Spaceship (~$9.98) or Cloudflare (~$10.44 at-cost).
- Flat price + great free bundle → Porkbun ($11.08, free privacy + SSL).
Why people look elsewhere
What changed at Gandi
Gandi's technology is still fine. What moved people to shop around is what the 2023 ownership change did to price and perks: all documented, all recent.
The .com renewal tripled
On the standard rate, the .com renewal went roughly $17.75 (early 2023) → $23.99 (early 2024) → ~$38.38 (Sep 2024), about +116%, while the first-year registration stayed low as a lure. Over five years that's ~$171 for a .com.
Free email was removed
Gandi bundled two free mailboxes with every domain for the life of the registration. As of Nov 30, 2023 that ended for everyone; GandiMail became a paid subscription (~£3–4/mailbox/mo).
New owners, new priorities
In 2023 Gandi was acquired by Total Webhosting Solutions (backed by Strikwerda Investments) and folded into the "Your.Online" brand. Long-time users felt the changes broke the old "No Bullshit" promise.
Cheaper rates are out of reach
Gandi's lower B–E rate tiers exist, but they require being a reseller or holding 45+ domains (the top tier needs ~€10k/yr of purchases). The "A" rate everyone else pays is the expensive one.
It's still a separate tab
Even setting price aside, the registrar sits apart from your CI/CD, hosting and SSL. Teams already running DNS and CDN on Cloudflare often want the domain registered in the same account.
You wanted a European registrar
A lot of Gandi's appeal was being a principled EU/French option. If that's why you chose it, the natural move is another European registrar that still bundles email, like OVHcloud, rather than a US giant.
The shortlist
6 Gandi alternatives worth trying
Ranked for the developer audience: how the domain fits your workflow, not just its price tag. For a bare cheapest domain, the flat registrars near the top win on sticker.
Sells domains at registry cost (~$10.44 .com) with zero markup on registration or renewal. The catch: you must use Cloudflare DNS and can't point external nameservers.
~$9.98 flat .com (below wholesale), best-in-class interface, free privacy, DNSSEC on by default. The lowest sticker of the bunch and a huge drop from Gandi's ~$38 renewal.
$11.08 flat .com (register = renew), free WHOIS privacy, free auto-renewing SSL, free Cloudflare-powered DNS, email/URL forwarding and a REST API. The developer-favorite Gandi refugees most often land on.
French registrar with transparent pricing (VAT, ICANN fees and renewal all shown) that still bundles a free 15 GB mailbox with a domain, the like-for-like swap if you want to stay European and keep the email Gandi took away.
Established, huge TLD range, free WhoisGuard privacy and a solid API. Cheap first year, but renewals climb, so read the renewal column, not the sale price.
The largest registrar with the most TLDs and phone support, but aggressive upsells and the priciest renewals (~$21.99 .com). In February 2026 it reclassified all customers as "business customers," stripping EU consumer protections. Ranked last for developers.
Side by side
Gandi alternatives compared
Prices are for a standard .com (register = renew where flat; renewal shown where it differs). "DNS as code" means managing domains, records, DNSSEC and SSL programmatically as part of a workflow.
| Registrar | .com / yr | Bundled email | Free privacy | DNS as code | Point NS anywhere | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gandi | ~$38.38 renew | ✗ removed 2023 | ✓ | API | ✓ | Legacy loyalty / grandfathered pricing |
| Cloudflare Registrar | ~$10.44 at-cost | No | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ CF only | All-Cloudflare stacks |
| Spaceship | ~$9.98 flat | paid | ✓ | API | ✓ | Cheapest flat + best UX |
| Porkbun | $11.08 flat | forwarding | ✓ | API | ✓ | Cheap long-term hold, free SSL |
| OVHcloud | ~$14.69 | ✓ 15 GB free | ✓ | API | ✓ | Stay-European swap with email |
| Namecheap | ~$13.98 renew | paid | ✓ | API | ✓ | Mainstream safe choice |
| GoDaddy | ~$21.99 renew | paid | now often free | API | ✓ | Biggest + phone support |
Pricing and free tiers change often; check each vendor. Compiled July 2026 from each vendor's official pricing pages.
Official pages: Gandi · Cloudflare Registrar · Spaceship · Porkbun · OVHcloud · Namecheap · GoDaddy
Pricing in depth
The number Gandi hid: the renewal
Gandi kept the first-year .com at ~$17.75 while pushing the renewal to ~$38.38. What you actually pay is the renewal, every year, for as long as you hold the domain. Here's what that does over five years.
5-year cost of a .com (register + 4 renewals)
| Registrar | Register (yr 1) | Renewal / yr | 5-year total | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spaceship | $9.98 | $9.98 | $49.90 | Flat, below wholesale |
| Cloudflare | $10.44 | $10.44 | $52.20 | At registry cost |
| Porkbun | $11.08 | $11.08 | $55.40 | Flat |
| Namecheap | ~$9.58 | ~$13.98 | ~$65.50 | Cheap yr 1, higher renewal |
| OVHcloud | ~$14.69 | ~$14.69 | ~$73.45 | Transparent, incl. free email |
| GoDaddy | ~$11.99 | ~$21.99 | ~$99.95 | Upsells + high renewal |
| Gandi | $17.75 | $38.38 | $171.27 | Cheap lure, tripled renewal |
A Gandi .com now costs about 3.4× the cheapest flat registrar over five years, driven entirely by the $38.38 renewal, not the $17.75 first year. Method: year-1 register price + four renewals, standard "A" rate, no coupons. Gandi figures from its 2024 price list; competitor prices from each vendor's pages (July 2026).
Gandi's .com renewal, year by year
| Date | .com renewal (A rate) | Change | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2023 | $17.75 | n/a | Pre-acquisition baseline |
| Jan 2024 | $23.99 | +35% | First post-buyout list |
| Sep 2024 | $38.38 | +60% | Second hike; ~€31.98 ex-VAT |
The first-year registration stayed at ~$17.75 the whole time: the increases landed only on renewal, where they're easy to miss until the invoice arrives. Source: nkrycek/mataroa price history; cogitactive. Cheaper B–E rate tiers require reseller status or 45+ domains, so they don't apply to typical users.
Head to head
Gandi vs the closest replacements
Weighing one specific move? These deep-dives put Gandi against each rival on price, bundled email, DNS flexibility and what you actually get.
Two French registrars, but only one still bundles a free mailbox and shows every fee up front.
Gandi's ~$38 .com renewal against Porkbun's $11.08 flat, free SSL and free WHOIS privacy.
Gandi's marked-up renewals against Cloudflare's at-cost pricing, and the DNS lock-in that comes with it.
A fair call
When staying on Gandi still makes sense
Gandi isn't broken, and moving a domain has friction. There are real cases where staying put is the right call.
Stay on Gandi if…
- You're grandfathered into older pricing, or hold few enough domains that the renewal doesn't sting.
- You rely on its DNS, API or specific TLD support and everything already works.
- You don't use the bundled mailbox anyway, so losing free email is a non-issue.
- The transfer hassle outweighs a modest per-year saving on one or two domains.
Move if…
- You want to stay European and keep a bundled mailbox: OVHcloud.
- You want DNS managed as code next to the registration and don't mind using Cloudflare's nameservers: Cloudflare Registrar.
- You need the lowest long-term cost: Spaceship, Cloudflare or Porkbun renew a .com for ~$10–11.
- You have several domains and the ~$38 Gandi renewal is now a real line item.
Common questions
Gandi alternatives: common questions
Why are people leaving Gandi in 2026?
Two documented changes after Gandi's 2023 acquisition by Total Webhosting Solutions (TWS). First, the free lifetime email that came with every domain was discontinued for everyone as of November 30, 2023, and became a paid subscription. Second, .com renewals climbed sharply on the standard rate: roughly $17.75 in early 2023, $23.99 in early 2024, and about $38.38 by September 2024, while the first-year registration stayed low as a lure. Many long-time customers felt this contradicted Gandi's old "No Bullshit" promise.
Did Gandi really remove free email?
Yes. Gandi historically included two free mailboxes with every domain for the life of the registration. As of November 30, 2023 that was discontinued for all customers, and GandiMail became a paid product at roughly £3–4 per mailbox per month. If bundled email is what you valued, OVHcloud still includes a free 15 GB mailbox with a domain.
How much does a Gandi .com renewal cost now?
On Gandi's standard "A" rate (what an individual or small team pays), the .com renewal reached about $38.38 (roughly €31.98 excluding tax) after the 2024 price list. Cheaper B–E rates exist but require being a reseller or holding 45+ domains, so they don't help most users. By comparison, flat registrars renew a .com for around $10–11.
What is the best European alternative to Gandi?
OVHcloud is the closest like-for-like European swap: a French registrar with transparent pricing (VAT, ICANN fees and renewal all shown up front) that still bundles a free 15 GB mailbox with a domain, the feature Gandi removed. If you only want a cheaper registrar and don't need to stay in the EU, Porkbun and Spaceship renew a .com for around $10–11.
Which registrar is cheapest after Gandi?
On sticker price, Spaceship (around $9.98 flat) and Cloudflare Registrar (around $10.44 at cost) are the cheapest, followed by Porkbun ($11.08 flat). Over five years a Gandi .com now costs about $171 (one $17.75 registration plus four $38.38 renewals) versus roughly $50 for the flat registrars: about 3.4× more. The catch with Cloudflare is that you must use its nameservers.
Can I move my domain away from Gandi easily?
Yes. Domains are portable: unlock the domain in Gandi, request the auth/EPP transfer code, disable WHOIS privacy briefly if the gaining registrar requires it, and start the transfer at the new registrar. Transfers usually add a year of registration. You can also just change nameservers to a new DNS provider without transferring the domain at all.