• Ooo this hurts deep. I was paying hosting and domain, but now just domain since the site needed a refresh and one day I will get around to it…

    • Mate, I went full slog and got a vps. Now each site is a virtual host. I did have individual landers in each host, but now they just redirect to my main site.

      Which is a lander 🤣

  • My domain is just used so I can reverse-proxy my homelab for people who don’t know anything about vpn, etc.

    • I got a domain that I only use for email right now but I’d love to set something like this up. Any recommendations on tutorials?

      • 9 months

        Get started with a Linux server and then I’d go with something like Nextcloud in a Docker container. Then do reverse proxy, nginx on the host is very easy. You can get and update SSL certs with certbot (Let’s Encrypt).

        • Just do Caddy instead of nginx/cerbot all that garbage. Caddy just simply handles it all for you: Subdomains, wildcard certs, authentication, ssl

          My whole caddy config file is like 6 lines; something like

          @mydomain.com {

          ipaddress:port

          path:/

          }

          And you can do all sorts of plugins that make it compatible with fail2ban, etc.

          I hear Traefik is pretty easy to set up too.

          • And if you don’t have an unique public IP address, for example because you are behind CGNAT, you can use Pangolin. It tunnels all traffic from your homelab to a VPS via Wireguard and exposes your services via a Traefik reverse proxy. Pangolin also automates the Traefik setup and provides a webui to configure the individual proxies.

            For a VPS I recommended ionos, because they offer servers with unlimited traffic starting at only 1€ per month with server locations in both Europe and the US.

    • I just renewed my .com for USD $11.08 and that’s not even the cheapest registrar. Some companies will absolutely rip you off on renewals though.

          • A lot of the price data is inaccurate or outdated. They didn’t include Namecheap’s latest 2 price increases, for example (fuck Namecheap)

            A good starting point, but be sure to double check prices

    • Well, maybe OP has been holding on to it for quite few years by now.

                • What a ripoff, .com has always been about 10$. The renewal being somehow more expensive than a new registration, while in actuality there is no difference in the process, really makes it obvious they charge what they think people will fall for.

                  $7.85 per year in 2012. $8.39 in 2021, $8.97 in 2022, and $9.59 in 2023, $10.26 in 2024, increases always in september.

                  Transfers, registrations, and renewals all cost the same and all charge the domain by 1 year. You can charge at any time for I think up to 10 years. Any registrar not passing that system on is being deceptive.

                  They aren’t even roping in people with prices below cost, they charge you a reasonable fee for the first year and then somehow bank on people not switching. Maybe they make the process really painful?

                  Either way why would anyone use them?

        • I ended up dropping them today because of that. My random domain went from $30 to $90 over the course of a couple years. Found another registrar for $35

          Namecheap is 100% ripping people off on the renewals

          They also use AI support now, so don’t even get the benefit of good support any more

        • Woooooot?

          I guess I am lucky that my domain comes with the cheapest webhosting I pay for at Hetzner.

  • 9 months

    I used to have like 30 domains. Then last week I bought another one so now I have like 31 domains.

    I bought it for a good reason though.

    • Me too. My nextcloud has been dead for years at this point.

  • question, i bought domains a few times, and the first year is super cheap, then the second year they jack up the prices. no, I’m not paying 140$ for a domain I only use for my kids Minecraft server.

    • 9 months

      Right? On one hand I feel personally attacked, but on the other hand “oh thank god it’s not just me”.

      But next year I swear I’ll have the time and energy to actually build all those cool ideas behind the domains! I hope….

  • Guys one day, my nixos config WILL hold both my pc and home server configuration, just gotta block out 3 months to get it bootable

  • My dream of pressing a red button with pay $12 on it will never be fulfilled 😥

  • I have one that I use for services that other people need to get to. Otherwise I just remember the IP.

      • I’ve heard that Let’s Encrypt recently started issuing certificates for IP addresses. I’m unable to find the article at the moment though.

      • Well the domain helps with that for sure, especially for things like let’s encrypt. But my other stuff is running through Tailscale/headscale so https isn’t really necessary.

  • Just set up auto renew and be sad when you are charged, then forget about it in a few days.