You might have noticed a service named “Domain Privacy Protection” while buying a domain name or web hosting package. And you started wondering whether you need this service or not. After all, it’s a paid service.
If you are in this situation, you are not alone. In this post, I’ll be talking about Domain Privacy Protection (WHOIS Privacy) which will help you to decide whether you should buy it or not.
And I will also show you the cost of Domain Privacy Protection for different providers. Let’s start with what domain privacy protection is.
What is Domain Privacy Protection?
Domain Privacy Protection is a service that hides your personal information including your address, phone number, and email from WHOIS search. WHOIS is a database that stores and publicly displays domain registrant’s personal information.
Anyone can access to your personal information from WHOIS search engines likes DMCA Whois Lookup.
Do You Need Domain Privacy Protection?
Now the big question, do you actually need it?
Yes, you do if you don’t want to show your mailing address, email, phone number on WHOIS directory. Here are some reasons why you should hide your personal information.
Prevent Identity Theft: It’s really unsafe to have all personal information available to the whole internet. Anyone can use your personal information. If you are using personal email & phone number and home address while registering for a domain name, it’s recommended to hide this information by using privacy protection.
Get Rid of Spammers & Telemarketers: Many spammers and telemarketers collect phone numbers and emails from WHOIS data. You need to enable domain privacy protection to get rid of annoying sales calls and spam emails.
Avoid Fake Domain Renewal Email: Scammers might send you fake domain renewal email to get some payments from you.
Protection Against Domain Hijacking: A domain can only be transferred when domain privacy protection is not enabled. You can protect your domain from hijacking by using domain privacy protection.
The only downside of domain privacy protection is that you may look like a spammer as you are hiding your identity. And privacy protection costs some bucks.
What’s the Cost of Domain Privacy Protection?
Domain Privacy Protection normally costs $12 per year. But it varies from providers to providers. Here are the costs of Domain Privacy Protection for some renown companies.
- Namecheap – Free for 1st year then $2.88/year.
- GoDaddy – $7.99/year
- HostGator – $12.95/year
- Bluehost – $11.88/year
- Hostmonster – $11.88/year
I use and recommend Namecheap WhoisGuard. It’s the cheapest Domain Privacy Protection service. Namecheap offers free domain privacy protection service for the first year. You need to buy a domain name from Namecheap to get this free service.
However, you can buy domain and web hosting plan separately. In fact, it’s a good idea. And it’s easy to do. I’ve already written about how to point Namecheap domain to HostGator.
Is Domain Privacy Protection Worth It?
Domain Privacy Protection is definitely worth it. It helps you to get rid of spammers & telemarketers and protects you from domain hijacking. You can protect your personal information for just a few bucks. I’d recommend you to buy Domain Privacy Protection service if you are going to use personal information while buying a domain name.
However, if you have any other question regarding Domain Privacy Protection, let us know via comment.
