Gandi: Your Complete Guide to A Successful Website
Gandi is one of the leading domain registrars with its high-level security and somewhat affordable prices. Registering in Gandi opens up the scope for multiple features and services.
To help you choose the best domain registrar that fits your needs, we have prepared this review covering all aspects of Gandi.
Pros
Cons
Quick Stats
Plans and Pricing
Gandi has a variety of plans for different TLDs with different prices accordingly.
Starting price
Starting prices vary depending on your TLD preference, starting at $16.59 per year for a .com Top-Level Domain (TLD), $18.50 for a .net, and $33.00 per year for a .co TLD.
Renewal price
Renewal prices are the same as the starting prices for all TLDs. However, some TLDs have temporary discounts on the starting price, making the renewal rates higher than the registration price.
Below, you can find the starting and renewal prices for some of the TLDs that have a discount on the starting price at Gandi.net (all prices are billed annually).
| Top-Level Domain | Starting/Renewal Price |
|---|---|
| .club |
$3.00 (Renewal price is $17.36) |
| .info |
$25.34 |
| .org |
$9.99 (Renewal price is $17.20) |
| .store |
$3.00 (Renewal price is $76.95) |
| .blog |
$38.35 (Renewal price is $38.35) |
Grace period
One of the most crucial aspects of creating and maintaining a domain name is renewing the payment on time. Otherwise, your domain name would be at the risk of being bought by someone else and probably offered back to you at a much higher price.
But what if you fail to make the payment on time? Rest assured, Gandi offers you a grace period of 45 days, during which you can retake your domain name with no penalty.
After that, the domain name enters a 30-day-long redemption period where it is deleted but not yet available to the public. During these 30 days, you can still get your domain name back, but you will be charged a higher rate than the regular renewal price.
Privacy and Protection
Gandi has multiple privacy options, all included in the original price.
WHOIS privacy
When you register with Gandi, your personal information is hidden from the public WHOIS databases by default.
Domain lock
You can enable this option to add a second layer of security to your domain so that no one can transfer your domain to any other registrar or make any changes to the contact information.
Auto-renewal
You can enable the auto-renewal option on Gandi to make sure your domain does not expire.
Domain Transfer
Transferring your domain differs according to whether you’re moving to or away from Gandi.
Transferring to Gandi
To transfer your domain to Gandi, you have to make sure your domain is unlocked on the losing registrar’s end, and you need a transfer authorization. The cost varies depending on the TLD; for example, it costs $13.38 for a .com TLD transfer and $15.50 for a .net transfer.
Transferring from Gandi
To transfer away from Gandi, you will need to unlock your domain and get a transfer authorization. You will not be charged any fees when leaving Gandi, but the gaining registrar might have transfer fees.
User Experience
Gandi is an easy-to-deal-with website, with its one-to-one customer service and its huge variety of FAQs.
Customer support
To contact Gandi’s customer service, you have two options; You either reach out by email or schedule a phone call, and they will call you.
Help pages
Gandi has a Common Questions page with many questions covering a broad scope of frequently asked questions and well-explained answers.
Add-on Services
Since most privacy options are already included in the registration, Gandi’s add-on services revolve around web hosting services.
Web hosting
One great thing about Gandi’s web hosting is that even its most basic plan allows you to create not one but two websites for $7.50 per month. That being said, with the most advanced plan, you can have up to 20 websites hosted for $40.00 per month.
Not to forget the in-between plans with 5 and 10 websites recommended, for $10.00 and $20.00 per month, respectively. Each plan comes with 50GB of storage, and it is always expandable. You haven’t heard the best part yet! As a welcome offer, Gandi has a 50% discount on each plan for the entirety of the first year registrDon’tn’Don’t
Gandi’s WordPress offers three hosting plans, and after choosing your domain name, you are a few minutes away from having your own website.
Let’s break it down neatly. All three plans offer 50GB storage which can be expanded up to 1TB, a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, and technical support. So they’re pretty much the same? No, the two key differences that will help you choose your plan are the number of sites hosted and the whole function or purpose behind your website.
If your website is a personal blog with light traffic, for $7.50/mo, you can make your website come to life. For $10.00/mo, you can get up to 5 sites with moderate traffic rates. However, if your website has heavy traffic, such as an online store, you can get up to 20 sites for $40.00/mo.
All these plans are also subject to a 50% discount for the first year of registration.
Gandi offers a few more web hosting plans with NextCloud, PrestaShop, and more.
Interested in website hosting? Click here to find out our top website hosting vendor.
Final Verdict
Prices might be a little higher than other domain registrars. However, it makes up for that with its high security and multiple add-ons. All prices include WHOIS privacy and a default domain lock feature. Besides, renewal prices are not higher than the registration prices. Gandi also has a relatively long grace period of 45 days.
One of the downsides of Gandi is that it doesn't have a live chat option which means your query might be delayed a little until you get a call-back or they respond to an email.