🇫🇷 Gandi

What Gandi actually is

Gandi is a French domain registrar founded in 1999, ICANN-accredited, managing roughly 2.5 million domains across 300+ TLDs, with offices in Paris, San Francisco, Luxembourg, and Taiwan. For over two decades it built its reputation on a trademarked "No Bullsh*t" promise — transparent pricing and no upsell tactics, which made it a long-time favorite with developers and privacy-conscious teams.

What genuinely changed in 2023 — worth knowing before you buy

Gandi was acquired by Total Webhosting Solutions (TWS) in 2023, and the pricing has moved since then. Free email hosting, previously bundled with every domain, became a separate paid subscription. Renewal pricing has also risen — some users report renewal increases of 50–100% on certain TLDs compared to before the acquisition. None of this is hidden or deceptive — current pricing is clearly displayed at checkout — but it's a real shift from the brand's original positioning, and worth factoring in if you chose Gandi specifically for its old reputation.

Current pricing

Item	Typical Price	Notes
.com registration	~$11–16.59/yr	Varies by promo period
.com renewal	~$38/yr	Notably higher than registration — confirm before committing long-term
.net registration	~$12.99–18.50/yr	Renewal also higher, similar pattern to .com
WHOIS privacy	Free	Included on most TLDs
SSL certificate	Free (year 1)	Bundled with new domain registration
Email hosting	Paid add-on	No longer bundled free since the 2023 changes
Web hosting (entry)	~$7.50/mo	Supports 2 websites on the most basic plan

Why a dev or agency would still use this

• LiveDNS with DNSSEC. Anycast DNS network with fast propagation (often within seconds) and one-click DNSSEC on supported TLDs — genuinely strong DNS infrastructure, not an afterthought.
• Public API across domains, DNS, email, and billing. Useful for the same kind of bulk/automated portfolio management an agency would want from Dynadot — check current API rate limits for your use case before committing to a high-frequency workflow.
• Volume-based pricing tiers. Gandi runs an A–E rate scale based on annual spend — agencies managing larger domain portfolios (1,000+ EUR/year) automatically unlock better rates, with a loyalty program for sustained spend across multiple years.
• Security basics included. Two-factor authentication and domain transfer-lock controls, with bulk actions for managing changes across a portfolio.

Where it's a weaker fit

• Not the cheapest option anymore. Multiple independent comparisons now place Gandi above cheaper competitors like Namecheap or Cloudflare on headline pricing, even before accounting for the renewal jump.
• Hosting is limited compared to dedicated hosts. If you need serious hosting infrastructure rather than basic shared hosting alongside your domain, a dedicated host (or Contabo for VPS, already on this page) is likely the better primary choice — use Gandi for the domain, not necessarily the hosting.
• No live chat. Support runs through email tickets and scheduled callbacks — if you need an instant answer, that's a real limitation versus registrars offering live chat.

Bottom line for this audience

Gandi remains a solid, secure, well-run registrar with genuinely strong DNS infrastructure and a real API — it's no longer the budget option it once was, and the 2023 ownership change measurably changed the value proposition (paid email, higher renewals). If DNS reliability, DNSSEC, and a working API matter more to you than rock-bottom pricing, it still earns its place; if price is the deciding factor, compare it directly against Dynadot's renewal pricing above before choosing.