I was a happy customer of the Google Domains service - until they decided to 360° no-scope their reputation and customers simultaneously. Don’t get me wrong; it was a well-needed and expected move of Google, but their execution is downright awful. Many customers are left upset, confused, and worried about the transition from Google to Squarespace and the future that Squarespace holds within the registrar space.
Before the death of Google Domains, they were a prime choice for me and many others to host our domains. They had straightforward setups, excellent pricing, and a dashboard that was somewhat easy to navigate. Google Domains would rapidly grow up to 10,000,000 registered domains throughout their operation. This growth was because of their pricing, helping them gain market attraction and build their customer base. With most common TLDs like .com, .net, .org, and .dev being only $12. All of this — led to Google Domains properly putting their place within the domain registrar business.
Today, Google Domains is in a state of a barren wasteland. Over the years, customer support, reported by many, has been abysmal at best. All domains are under Squarespace’s ownership, where Google Domains has suspended any new registers of new domains through them. Currently, the holdup between the transfer is the agreement and the time to move all 10,000,000 domains to the new holder, Squarespace. All domains from Google for 12 months will be their previous renewal price, but after that, all domains have to abide by Squarespace’s pricing, which is more expensive. Refer to the table below to look at the pricing differences:
| Google Domains vs. SquareSpace's Common TLD Pricing | ||
|---|---|---|
| Top Level Domain Ending | Google Domains Pricing | SquareSpace Pricing |
| .com, .net, .org, and .dev | $12 | $20 |
| .co | $30 | $40 |
| .community | $30 | $50 |
You might be wondering about their future - well, there is none. Google Domains will succumb to its wounds around mid-2024. People will most likely stick with Squarespace as their new domain registrar, but if you’re looking for an alternative, check out:
The move to kill Google Domains was out of the blue, but Google had the sights lined up this whole time, and unfortunately, it couldn’t see the sniper glint in time.