Our domains are currently registered with GoDaddy, with management handled partly by a third-party IT provider and partly through the company owner's personal account. We're moving away from that IT provider, so I want to transfer ownership and administration to an account controlled by the company. I'm considering Instra Corporation, but I'm also looking at alternatives such as Cloudflare and other business-focused registrars. Would you move the domains, or keep them with GoDaddy? What should I consider regarding account ownership, registrar choice, DNS management, and future business changes?
4 Answers
I’d be cautious about choosing a registrar purely because it seems cheaper or more modern. The important part is having a proper corporate account, strong access controls, reliable support, and a straightforward process for proving ownership and transferring domains. Some businesses have had difficult experiences recovering or moving domains when the registrar’s ownership checks were slow or inflexible, so test the support process before migrating everything.
Yes, move the domains into an account owned and controlled by the company. Keeping them in an owner’s personal account creates problems if the business changes hands, the owner leaves, or you need to sell or split part of the company. Make sure the registrant details, recovery email, billing information, and MFA are all controlled by the business—not an individual or departing IT vendor.
The registrar and DNS provider don’t necessarily need to be the same company. A sensible setup is to use a registrar for registration and renewals, then use a separate managed DNS provider. That separation gives you more flexibility and avoids making a registrar outage or account problem also affect DNS administration. Before transferring anything, document the current DNS records, confirm who controls the authorization codes, and check that domain locks and transfer requirements are handled correctly.
Cloudflare can be worth considering, but check the trade-offs carefully. Some registrar arrangements require you to use that provider’s DNS, which may not fit your preference for keeping registration and DNS separate. If you choose another registrar, compare support quality, pricing, renewal policies, security controls, transfer procedures, and whether it supports every TLD you use. In particular, confirm that your preferred registrar supports .net.au before committing.
That’s helpful. We’re leaving the current IT vendor, so I’m specifically trying to make sure the company—not the vendor—owns and controls everything going forward.