GoDaddy really lived up to its bad reputation and recently changed their API rules. The rules are simple: either you own 10 (or 50) domains, you pay $20/month, or you don’t get the API. I personally didn’t get any communication, and this broke my DDNS setup. I am clearly not the only one judging from what I found online. A company this big gating an API behind such a steep price… So I will repeat what many people said before me (being right): don’t. use. GoDaddy.
WOW! I did not know that. I just checked and after a little search:
We have certain requirements for activation to prevent system abuse. In order to have API enabled, your account should meet one of the following requirements: - have at least 20 domains under your account; - have at least $50 on your account balance; - have at least $50 spent within the last 2 years$50 in last 2 years is not much, but for those who renew for many years, it is still stupid.
Ironically, Namecheap is what the people in https://github.com/navilg/godaddy-ddns/issues/32 migrated to!
I really wish that domain registration was done in a different way, but even in current scenario, gutting features for such a basic service to extract a few bucks and risking losing customers…?
These are ancient holdovers. Nowadays DNS hosting with API is a dime a dozen. You may have to pay for it occasionally but it’s not going to be even close to $20/mo.
$20/month for a service that anyway is low traffic (especially for hobbyists) is a completely insane price. Even more insane is that their cheapest subscription still doesn’t offer any API access. I agree anyway, but are these staying in business just because they have a consolidated market share? Do they have access to more TLDs? I don’t know, I am genuinely confused. I have absolutely no reason whatsoever to even think of using GoDaddy again.
I like the way Bunny.net does paid DNS, 20M monthly queries for $1 and $0.1/M after that. With an API included, ofc. Now that’s the kind of pricing I can get into as a self-hoster, not $20/mo.
GoDaddy advertises a lot, basically. So whenever a person who’s never owned a domain before searches for “get a new domain” they’re gonna get GoDaddy, NameCheap and (ironically) Google Domains as the top results. That’s pretty much all there is to it.
Yep, I like bunny in fact. It didn’t have all the features I needed back then, but it’s a very good product, I heard very good things.
I also agree about the pricing. I ended up not using desec.io, but if I did, I would have probably set a 1-2 Euros recurring donation, as I feel that’s a totally acceptable price.
As for why people use GoDaddy well… I feel personally attacked as that’s exactly how I ended up there, when I didn’t know better.
That can’t be right. I only had two domains (one now) and I’ve been using the API just fine. And basically any purchase will clear those dollar amounts.
I found it on their FAQ.
Yes, it is generally less restrictive, but… I have 4 domains, and now I have renewed all of them for the maximum amount. They will all expire after 2033. So unless I decide to add more domains (which is unlikely), I won’t spend a cent in the next ~9 years. I wonder if they really enforce it as it is written or they consider still the renewal an expense “split” over the duration.
Still, I really don’t understand. You can - and should - have proper rate limits on the API. You have API keys that uniquely identify the source, what is “the abuse” they are trying to prevent this way…?