Hover Domains Review – Pros & Cons as Domain Registrar
Hover Review
7.5 Out of 10
By: Larry Ludwig
Updated: Oct 24, 2022
Support
Help Desk, Email, Live Chat, Phone & Knowledge Base
Free DNS
Free Domain Privacy
Best For
No Fuss Pricing
Strengths
Easy To Use
Weaknesses
Expensive & No Web Hosting
Promotion
None
Who Is Hover?
Hover Domains is a domain registrar founded in 2009 as an offshoot of Tucows Inc. (the second largest ICANN accredited domain registrar online). Hover’s M.O. is that they stick to what they know, and that’s domains.
But let’s be honest, you probably only know them from their podcast ads on shows like Hello Internet and 99% Invisible. While Grey and Roman might plug them – you want to know how they actually stack up.
Well – this domain registrar deals solely with buying, managing, and transferring domains on their platform.
Hover does offer email services but they do not offer other complementary products such as website hosting, website builders, etc.
It’s important to remember that a domain is not a website. It’s not an email, an app, or any other service. It’s simply your online address. It helps people locate where you are. If you want to set up a website, you’ll still need to get hosting or a website builder / eCommerce provider that provides hosting (which Hover does not provide).
I’ll dive deeper into this in the pros and cons, but it’s an important distinction to make upfront because it helps us understand what Hover’s goal is.
They’re not about being an all-in-one solution — quite the opposite, actually. Their focus is only on simplicity. They’re all about getting you your domain and letting you use it wherever you need it through app integrations.
How does Hover stack up against other domain registrars? Here’s our review of Hover Domains as a domain registrar with pros and cons.
Hover’s interface is about as user-friendly as it gets. It’s clean, simple, and easy to navigate. The domain search is the most prominent thing on the homepage, making it clear exactly where to go to get started.
Once you search for a domain, you’re given a clean list with an exact match and other recommendations. Hover offers a ton of top-level domain options (more on that in a minute) and gives an easy way to navigate through them with different filter categories.
The checkout process itself is simple as well. It took me four easy steps to get my domain from my cart to my dashboard. For a domain registrar that prides itself on simplicity, Hover definitely delivers.
Variety of TLDs
Now that ICANN allows more TLDs outside of generic .com/.net/.org, website owners have to make sure their domain registrar has all the ones they want (especially if you’re buying in bulk). Hover has a ton of TLD options that go beyond generic domains, which are broken down by categories to make finding the perfect match easier. As of March 2020, they offer more than 460 TLDs.
Hover also offers a ton of country-specific domains for international use, making it a great choice if you need to buy up domains for various countries/regions or even cities.
Transparent Pricing
Domain registrars use a whole host of pricing types, from cheap upfront pricing with high renewal rates to expensive domains with cheap renewals.
Hover is fairly straightforward with its pricing. Their table breaks down the pricing for purchase, renewal, and transfer for all of their TLD types. Their rates include WHOIS privacy protection, which means that your personal details like name, address, and contact information are protected from spammers, marketers, and others who may do a WHOIS lookup.
The prices do not include ICANN fees, however, which means you’ll need to add an additional $0.18 to your purchase (more on that in the cons).
Hover also offers discounts on renewal rates when you have 10 or more domains registered with them. You can see how the pricing breaks down for the domain ranges in their pricing table.
“Real Person” Support
While I haven’t had to contact support, Hover is well known for its excellent customer service. They claim to be fellow haters of the phone tree, and as such, don’t use automated systems. Whether you’re calling in, emailing, or live chatting, you’re connected to a person.
In terms of coverage, Hover offers a pretty robust schedule. You can contact them weekdays (8:00 AM – 11:00 PM ET) and weekends (8:00 AM – 8:00 PM ET) via email, phone, or live chat.
Their “Need Help” tab also follows you throughout the site and offers frequently asked questions and answers, as well as a link to their live chat and additional support information.
Integrations
Although Hover focuses solely on domain registering and managing (and email), it does offer a plethora of apps you can easily integrate your domain with, from website builders like Wix to eCommerce platforms like Shopify.
Aside from the integration options, the actual process of integrating your domain is fairly straightforward. Hover provides step-by-step instructions for each app, making it easy for even the least tech-experienced website owners.
One of the main things that stood out to me while registering a domain with Hover was how far they went to protect my data. There’s nothing worse than registering a domain and getting tons of spam emails immediately afterward (or getting retargeted by ads left and right).
WHOIS privacy protects this somewhat, but Hover goes a step beyond during the checkout process by allowing you to select how your data is shared. I also received an email after purchasing my domain prompting me to set my data use consent preferences.
Cons of Hover
No Complementary Products
Hover’s focus on only domains is a pro, but it’s also a con.
There are several products that almost always go with a domain. If you want to make your site secure with SSL, you’ll need an SSL certificate associated with the domain. You can buy it separately from a third party, but from my experience, managing it with your domain is simpler.
When it comes to hosting, I like to separate my domains and hosting, but many owners prefer that their hosting and domains get bundled into one (even if it’s not ideal from a performance perspective).
Those kinds of products simply aren’t available with Hover. You can purchase domain email (AKA match your domain name to an email address (or several), but if you’re looking for the convenience of having your hosting and website builder all in one platform, you’re out of luck.
High Pricing
While Hover offers straightforward pricing (which is a pro), the con is that they tend to be pricier than other registrars — and this is the largest con going against them as a domain registrar.
If you want to compare prices, let’s look at Namecheap vs. Hover. You can get a .com domain on Namecheap for $10.98 (plus the $0.18 ICANN fee), which then renews at $12.98. With Hover, that same .com domain will cost you $12.99 and renew at $14.99.
The pricing discrepancy gets even larger when you get into other specialty TLDs. See the comparison for this .condos domain between Hover and Namecheap.
If you’re looking to save money on a domain purchase or renewal and don’t mind the upselling/cross-selling that typically comes with those registrars, there are better choices out there for you than Hover.
If you don’t mind spending a bit more for a domain registrar that’s straightforward and keeps their cross-selling and upselling out of it, Hover isn’t a bad choice – but you need to fully factor in your costs.
Conclusion
If you:
Want a very simple domain buying and integration experience
Need a registrar that offers plenty of support
Want to keep your email and your domain with the same provider
Due to spam and security concerns, domain privacy is basically required for any domain registered today. In fact, many registrars, like Hover, have gone ahead and bundled the service with their domain pricing. Be sure to compare “apples to apples” for domain pricing.
Who is Hover.com?
Hover is a domain name registrar based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the company TuCows, Inc which is publically traded.
Can I transfer domains to Hover?
Yes – Hover will transfer the registration for your domain. However, you will have to follow the ICANN process to “unlock” your domain at your existing registrar. The process usually takes a few minutes to a few days. Hover has step-by-step instructions on exactly how to do this.
Choosing the best domain registrar is a challenging and often confusing process. To help you find the right service, I've compiled my list of the 10 best domain registrars.
Namecheap is well-known as a top domain registrar, but they also offer web and email hosting. But how does their web hosting service compare to their competition? Find out in this Namecheap Review.
GoDaddy is one of the world’s largest “web services” companies. Although they were founded as a domain registrar, they provide a whole range of services from web hosting to website builders to accounting to email to digital storage to online security and much more.
