PSA: GoDaddy gated their own API. DDNS users warned

NameCheap

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...?

I'm saying this for years, but a) it's quite late (seems like a 1990s issue) and b) OpenNIC is a bit of a joke atm (but support it anyways)

ICANN never should've been a creature of US-NTIA, but of the UN. The US has no right to decide for the digital world how everyone communiticates. No one really should (apart from about stuff like CSAM).

Damn. I always though they were one of the good ones.

Been there...

I thought my API keys were expired, I regenerated them, changed a couple of things, checked all API calls to see if they changed API itself...then I searched the exact error and found out.

For such a breaking change to the API, was it hard to drop an email to every account not meeting the damn "requirements" with an API call performed in the last x months, to alert of the change?

Yes, a thousand times this. DeSEC is awesome, I moved my domain record management there. I'm usually buying domains on namecheap, and the IP allow list thing for the API was just too annoying to deal with.

What's the benefit of having a separate DNS host? I'm using porkbun and had to mess around with its dns records to configure my email hosting. Does having separate service mean I don't have to do this all over again If I switched registrars?

ClouDNS

I think I heard of it. I think most DDNS scripts support a lot of registrars as well, if one doesn't want to go with full DNS hosting.

In case of DNS hosting (I also linked it in the post, but it's a good shotout), there is desec.io too. EU-hosted, free (although donations are highly encouraged) and has a tons of features! There is also a Terraform provider!

Is it relatively easy to switch domains? I just set up my old laptop as a home server and I registered with domain.com.

I also use porkbun, their API is not a masterpiece but it works and allows you to get, set and update records. In fact their API is now supported by some of the common ddns scripts out there.

i switched to porkbun from godaddy specifically because of this.

Warning: Cloudflare does not allow you to change the nameservers of domains you register with them unless you pay for some insanely priced subscription. For many of us who register domains at various registrar's but want to be able to centrally manage DNS, hiding such basic functionality behind an extremely steep paywall makes Cloudflare a no-go.

Is it cheap? I got shifted to SquareSpace from Google Domains and it's pricier. I switched the name cheap but have no loyalty to them.

I also migrated everything to Porkbun. Gandi used to be good too, we used it extensively at work in my previous org (~3 years ago).

Is the whole sector regressing? It seems these companies aren't happy just earning a profit based on the service they offer. There is always something "more" that they need to do. Often this makes the experience worse. Meh.

Super happy with Porkbun BTW, it just works, does what it's needed and I found the renewals to be 50% cheaper compared to GoDaddy...

I moved just about everything to Route53 for registration - I run my own DNS so I don't need to pay for that, and it's ~40% cheaper than Gandi for better service.

Now I just need to move my .nz domain (R53 supports .{co,net,org}.nz, but not .nz itself?) and the 2 .xyz domains that are "premium" for some reason so R53 won't touch

Yeah, indeed. To me is still completely absurd. At this point is not just a bad registrar, for most of us (hobbyists), I think it's a completely non-functional option. Basically every competitor offers an API.

I stuck with them out of lazyness for far too long.

Avoid cloudflare

I think I used it in the past. Is the one where every X months you need to go the the console and confirm the domain is still used, right?

I think nowadays there are better options (incl. Free) with less maintenance and more flexibility