My domains have sat at Gandi since around 2009. Back then the mailboxes came free with each domain and renewals were never something I thought about. Since the company was bought, both changed. Mail became a paid add-on, so I moved it to another provider and only kept the free forwarding, and my .com renewals now cost more than three times what I pay at Porkbun. The DNS editor is still clean and I can't remember a single outage. Twelve domains moved so far, the rest will go as they come up for renewal.
44signal
33reviewsi
A score out of 100. Negative and mixed reviews take points off, and so does having only a few reviews, so a handful of glowing reviews can’t beat a product many people like.
88% Negative
Most customers are long-time customers who left or are leaving over domain renewal prices that rose sharply after the company changed hands.
What customers love, and what they don’tWhat customers noticed
Customer reviews (33)
Add your reviewShowing 24 reviews mentioning renewal price hike Show all
Cheap, ethical, with a good interface, plus simple LAMP hosting with root access and a free load-balancer certificate for almost ten years, until price increases pushed the same setup to about 280 euros a year.
Decided to move away from Gandi, saying it has turned bad, and is looking for a new home for domain and email since mailboxes elsewhere are now priced around 50 euros a year.
Gandi raised domain prices 3x in a year or two after private equity bought it; they migrated most domains to Cloudflare.
Gandi .com renewal more than doubled in two years so the poster is moving all domains.
After ten years as a loyal customer, back-to-back 35% and 60% domain renewal price hikes made staying unjustifiable.
SSL certificate renewals literally doubled from 36 two years ago to 72 this week.
After about 25 years they left Gandi because domains renew at 30-40 euros after a normal first year.
Gandi split the basic mailbox into a pricey extra, then tripled domain renewal prices; moved everything to Infomaniak.
Leaving after 20 years because domain prices jumped and basic email costs rose roughly tenfold to match full Google Workspace pricing.
Former die-hard fan who rapidly migrated over 100 domains to Spaceship after the steep price hikes.
Gandi charged £40 for a .com renewal without advance notice.
Five-plus years as a customer and now wants $38 a year just to renew a domain.
Costs at Gandi were heading toward 3,000 euros because of a large number of small mail accounts, which led them to look at cheaper French alternatives.
Tried to charge $40 for a domain renewal with no warning of the price increase, so the domains were moved away.
Longtime Gandi fan since the 2000s moved everything to Porkbun after recent price increases.
Used it for a good few years with a free mailbox, which they have recently replaced by setting up mail on their own server, and will look around at the next renewal after hearing about the changes.
Used the email service for 15 years, then switched to Obambu for up to 30 mailboxes at 18 euros a year, keeping the domain registered with Gandi.
Nearly two decades with Gandi ended over a bonkers price increase, with a .email renewal nearly tripling to $71; they renewed one last time so it could be transferred out.
Really happy after close to 25 years and willing to pay a bit extra because they liked the company, but now pays close to $25 a year for a domain and is looking at Porkbun.
Had their custom-domain email hosted there until Gandi introduced fees of around 5 euros a month, which sent them looking for alternatives.
Dropped free mailboxes and free SMTP relay for hosted domains.
Customer for 10+ years with 50+ mailboxes finds the end of free mailboxes very disappointing, noting they now pay six times what European and American users pay.
Moved all domains from Gandi to Cloudflare because Gandi became so overpriced.
Common questions about Gandi
What do customers say about Gandi?
Most customers are long-time customers who left or are leaving over domain renewal prices that rose sharply after the company changed hands. Some also dislike mailboxes becoming a paid extra. Those who stayed still credit the reliable service and clean tools.
Is Gandi worth it?
Of the 17 reviews with a clear verdict, 6% are positive, 6% mixed and 88% negative. The praise mentioned most is easy to use. The most common complaint is renewal price hike.
What do people like about Gandi?
The praise reviewers mention most: easy to use (1 review), good control panel (1 review) and helpful support (1 review). For example: Over a decade of domain management with zero checkout upsells or dark-pattern add-ons, plus Bitcoin payment support.
What are the most common complaints about Gandi?
The complaints reviewers mention most: renewal price hike (16 reviews), expensive (5 reviews) and hidden fees (1 review). For example: Tried to charge $40 for a domain renewal with no warning of the price increase, so the domains were moved away.
What does the signal score of 44 mean?
It's how well reviewed Gandi is, out of 100. Negative and mixed reviews take points off, and so does having only a few reviews: a service needs plenty of them, compared with the most-reviewed services here, to reach the high 80s and 90s. It's worked out from reviews only, needs at least 5 of them, and updates as new ones come in.
What are the specs of Gandi?
Category: Domain registrar.
Where do these Gandi reviews come from?
32 are quotes from Reddit, each linked to the original. 1 was written by customers here. Customer reviews are checked for spam before they appear. Every review, written here or quoted, is read as positive, mixed or negative.
