GoDaddy could apply "clientHold" but not "serverHold"
So I can't imagine any serious organisation wanting to do business with them, unless they're a sleazy organisation themselves.
Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_GoDa...
If you are set on Namecheap anyway, Spaceship is a suggested replacement. It's run by Namecheap but with a new codebase.
FWIW, I have also never liked the name, but the name is just marketing. This should rank very low in your decision matrix, hopefully.
Otherwise just use which ever registrar is cheapest and who you think will handle any quirks or shenanigans that registries may do to domains you own, and which own system and processes hold high enough standard for you.
And the government doesn’t even operate the registrar, it’s operated by doMEn d.o.o. which is a Montenegro version of an LLC.
The .io TLD will likely be phased out in the future due to geopolitics, and all the companies who decided it was more important to signal how hacker jargon aware their startup was will have to go through the very difficult process of changing domains.
In order to log into IRS.gov to get a code to pay my USA taxes, I had to verify my USA ID via a private company called ID.me, whose domain name AND company name are now forever tied to the whims of the government of Montenegro.
It’s not really any different than this website we are now on being at the whim of the US government.
Every domain has a country. It's as if every non-ccTLD was actually underneath .us. For legacy reasons .com .org etc were grandfathered in. gTLDs are also under .us for corrupt reasons.
That's because if they don't like your website being on your CDN, and they suspend your account, you'll lose your domain. If your domain is at Porkbun you can change it to point to a different IP address.
And avoid Cloudflare because they're centralising the internet.
If they don’t give you access, you can escalate to the ICANN.
I chose Porkbun because it's a small company with good prices, a good vibe, and all the tools that I need. Cloudflare was never going to be on the table because I don't want to feed the beast that is already swallowing the entire internet.
You need your domain registrar to be stable and predictable. Their profile is not that.
I wonder if the practice still exists.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting#Domain_name_fro...
Porkbun has been great so far. Easy to use, refreshingly minimal, and good prices.