Are you using a service like Blogger/Blogspot or Tumblr. Tired of having long domain names like yourname.blogspot.com or yourname.tumblr.com. In addition, the blogspot.com domain is blocked by some ISPs including China.
First Class Flyer is a weekly series published every Friday comparing two or more free software or web products/services. This week, we are looking at three free domain registration services.
The solution to that is publishing to a custom domain, which many services including Blogger and Tumblr allow you to do for free, without paying for any hosting fees or managing your own server. But what if you are unable to purchase a TLD (Top Level Domain)? The solution is getting a second-level domain (SLD).
In addition, with these domains, you can also have an email address of @yourdomain.com (or whatever extension you have). Services like Google Apps Standard offer this for free. Simply change the domain MX (Mail Exchange) Records.
Because these are free domains, they remain property of the domain provider, who can terminate the domain at any time. Some may provide paid upgrades. Otherwise, they work like regular paid domains.
About the Contestants
Dot.TK provides a free .tk Top Level Domain (TLD) with some DNS records and URL Forwarding. Even though it is a TLD with records in the official Whois directory, the registrant remains Dot.TK themselves unless users purchase the paid upgrade to officially own the domain name. There is a Dot.tk Whois directory with information on registered free domains.
CO.CC provides a free co.cc second level domain with full DNS Records and URL Forwarding. CO.CC provides their own Whois directory with information for the registered sub-domains.
Uni.CC provides a free uni.cc second level domain with some DNS Records and URL Forwarding. Unlike the other two, there is no Whois directory for registered domains.
Round 1: Number of Free Domains Allowed Per User
Dot.TK and Uni.CC allow each user to have an unlimited number of domains. CO.CC allows each account to have up to 4 domains. Users who donate to CO.CC are allowed to have 100.
Dot.TK: 5
Co.cc: 1.5
Uni.cc: 5
Round 2: Number of DNS Records Available
All 3 services offer URL Forwarding and standard Name Server setup. However, their options for using their own DNS Server for advanced records are quite different.
Dot.TK allow for custom CNAME, A, and MX Records. There doesn’t seem to be options for MX record Priority.
Dot.tk DNS Options. Here, I am setting up the 'blog' subdomain/host to point to Tumblr's servers.
CO.CC provides a full featured advanced DNS Zone editor, complete with TTL options and support for A, CNAME, NS, MX, and TXT records.
CO.CC DNS Zone Editor. Here, I am setting up the 'blog' hostname/subdomain to point to Tumblr. This domain currently redirects to TechAirlines.com.
Uni.CC’s DNS Zone Editing features come nowhere close to the other two. It only supports one A and MX (no priority settings) record along with regular name servers. It also offers easy setup for Google Apps and Sites with the verification code.
Uni.cc DNS Zone Editor. Here, I am setting up my domain for Google Apps mail.
Dot.TK: 3.5 (8.5 total)
Co.cc: 5 (6.5 total)
Uni.cc: 1.5 (6.5 total)
Round 3: Free Forever? Traffic Requirement?
Dot.TK last forever, however expire if less than 25 visitors visit the site within the past 3 months.
CO.CC domains do not have a visitor requirement, however are free only for personal use. According to their front page, domains for personal use are 100% free but commercial usage costs 3 dollars a year after the first free year. All registrations are annual and require renewal. Upon renewal, users will be faced with this message shown below.
Co.cc Renewals - Personal or Commercial?
Uni.CC domains have a requirement of 10 hits within the last 3 months or the domain will be deleted without notice.
Dot.tk: 3 (11.5 total)
Co.cc: 1.5 (8 total)
Uni.cc: 4 (10.5 total)
Dot.TK is currently in the lead, but will it still be after the Bonus Round?
Bonus Points!
Bonus Round 1: Ad, Banner, and Reference Link Free?
Dot.TK and CO.CC do not require that users have a link back to them on their websites.
However, with Uni.CC, this is a requirement. The small ad banner is used to track how many hits your website gets. This reference link cannot be hidden either.
Uni.cc requires that users place a small reference link
That’s not all. If you dig into the Terms of Service, you may notice something a bit more scary. Popups and ad frames?
A snippet from the Terms of Service of Uni.CC
Seriously? A reference link and even ad injection might be okay, but ad injection in the form of pop-ups? No thanks.
Uni.cc: - 7 bonus points (3.5 total)
Sorry Uni.CC, but pop-up ads are absolutely unacceptable, even if its a free service.
Bonus Round 2: A Real TLD
While the other two are second-level domains, .tk is a real country code TLD (ccTLD) for Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand. Regardless of extension, a full TLD usually looks more professional, even if its free.
Dot.tk: + 3 bonus points (14.5 total)
Bonus Round 3: All Available Names Free?
All available names are free for Dot.tk and Uni.CC, however the same can’t be said for CO.CC.
Many domains, especially that of existing popular trademarks and brands (like Google) and popular keywords are not free at all and can cost hundreds per year.
For example, my original name for this site was ‘Tech Park’ and when I tried to register ‘techpark.co.cc’, the first year registration was 3 dollars, even if I intended to use the domain for personal use.
Some domains are not even free for the first year, even if it was intended for personal use only.
Co.cc: - 3 bonus points (5 total)
And our winner is…
Dot.TK Domains!
With a free TLD and DNS management, Dot.TK wins this edition of First Class Flyer! Congratulations!
Do you use free domain services? Which service do you prefer and why? Vote in the poll below and leave your thoughts in the comments.
Join us next Friday for the next edition of First Class Flyer!
“For example, my original name for this site was ‘Tech Park’ and when I tried to register ‘techpark.co.cc’, the first year registration was 3 dollars, even if I intended to use the domain for personal use.”
Well..the domain was once registered. Thus, it is recorded in co.cc that it is in demand and therefore the value of that domain has increased.
There isn’t a clear explanation of their definition of ‘Premium Domains’. I’m just assuming that the free domains have to be unique words or a unique combination of words and not an existing trademark or brand.
Thank you. It’s really informative. I have all of the three.