Hover Review 2018

Item: Hover
Rating: 8.5
Author: Jonathan Kerns

Launched in 2009, Hover is the retail division of a much larger company, Tucows, Inc., which is the third largest ICANN-accredited registrar and largest publicly traded domain name registrar worldwide. This company has been in the business since 1994, and has, presently, over ten million domain names under management. Furthermore, Hover was born out of the merger of three successful domain registration services: NetIdentity, It's Your Domain (IYD), and Tuscow's own Domain Direct. If this still does not pique your interest, then you might want to check out the full review to see exactly why you should definitely consider Hover when registering a domain.

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Jonathan KernsMay 7, 2019

Pros

No Annoying Ads / Upselling: – Some domain registrars bombard its customers with numerous advertisements and product offerings, which makes for an overall sour experience. Fortunately, this is not the case with Hover. They pride themselves in having one of the cleanest, minimalistic, ad-free user interfaces in the market, which makes it easy for customers to find what they need and do what they need to without much hassle. Additionally, sign up is also headache-free and frictionless, thanks in part to the company making it a point not to upsell other products and services. With this domain registration service, you do not get overwhelmed with useless offers; you only get what you ask for.
Incredibly Easy to Use: – This service's domain name registration process is pretty quick and easy, which is great since this is Hover's bread and butter. You only need to type in your desired name to check if it is available, just like other services. What this company does better than others, however, is the fact that their checkout process takes only a few seconds, or a minute at the most. In addition, managing your new domain name, such as setting name servers, turning Private Registration on or off, or tweaking advanced DNS settings, is incredibly easy thanks to its simple, easy to understand interface. In addition, transferring of domain names, whether in or out of Hover, is pretty painless as well. It is to the company's credit that they actually uphold their belief that a business should not hold a customer's domain hostage.
Excellent Customer Support: – Another great thing about Hover's service is their dedication to customer support. When you encounter a problem and contact their customer service number, you won't be talking to a recording. A real person at the other end of the line will gladly assist you in resolving whatever concerns you may have regarding their service. In addition, the company assures its customers that you won't ever have to spend, or waste, time on hold due to the presence of a large customer support team. Finally, turnaround for email based inquiries usually take one business day or less, so you won't have to worry about anxiously waiting for days for a simple response.

Cons

Pricier Compared to Other Services: – One of the things that people might not immediately warm up to about Hover is the fact that their service tends to be a bit pricier compared to others in this field. Other domain name registrars offer slightly more bargain-friendly prices so it is a shame that this company cannot match the competition in this regard. That said, other registrars that offer cheaper domains tend to bombard its users with useless offers and / or advertisements, so Hover may still end up to be the more preferable choice, depending on the customer.
Lacks Hosting: – While this is not a major flaw, or even criticism, it is still a bit disappointing that the amazing service that Hover offers does not extend to web hosting. Other companies already offer this service so it would have been quite a treat for their customers if they also had web hosting in their repertoire. If you are looking for a one-stop-shop web hosting / domain name registrations service, it is best to look elsewhere. That said, Hover does redirect its users to some specialized hosting companies like SquareSpace and MediaTemple.

Free WHOIS / Domain Privacy

If you want to hide your contact information from the public WHOIS registry, you can now do so completely free of charge when you do business with Hover. This means that people will see the company’s administrative contact information instead of yours when they search the WHOIS registry, which should help keep spam and other unsolicited emails at bay. Other services charge extra for this feature so it is a godsend that this comes at no extra cost with every Hover domain.

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Pricing

Hover has hundreds of top level domains you can choose from, each with its own pricing scheme. For the purposes of this review, we shall only focus on the most common domains in order for you to get a better idea about their pricing schemes. To start, registration for .com domains go for $12.99, renewals for $14.99, and $10.99 for transfers. For .net, registrations go for $13.60, renewals for $15.60, and transfers for $11.60. For .org, you need to pay $12.99 for registrations, $14.99 for renewals, and $10.99 for transfers. If you want a domain for .co, be prepared to pay $24.60 for registration, $26.60 for renewal, and $22.60 for transfers. These are just some of the available domains and their corresponding prices so if you want a more comprehensive list, please do head on over to Hover’s website to learn more.

Features

One of the great things about Hover is the fact that they offer hundreds of top level domains. Aside from the more common ones, they also offer some pretty unique ones like .club, .la, .actor, .agency, .bargains, .black, .vision, and many, many more. In addition, every domain includes unlimited forwarding, powerful domain editing, advanced DNS management, and bulk management tools.

Customer Support

Should you need any assistance, you can contact Hover’s support team via a toll-free US phone number, a toll-free international number, email, and an online contact form. There is also an extensive knowledge base section where you can browse topics such as Domains, Transfers, Renewals, Managing Your Registration, Managing Your Zone File, and many more. Finally, there is also a community forum.

What's the Verdict on Hover?

Worth It, Some Issues

Hover Review 2020 – Conclusion

Thanks to its parent company’s long, fruitful history in the business, as well as the combined might of three successful domain name registration services, Hover stands as one of the strongest in the industry. With this service, your experience is guaranteed to be ad-free and hassle-free. In addition, you can choose from hundreds of unique, top level domains that will surely make your website stand out from the pack. Finally, this is one of the few domain name registration services that offer WHOIS / domain privacy completely free of charge. If you want a simple but powerful, ad-free experience, then you should definitely check out Hover.

2 Comments

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- Zeta
- ·
- November 13, 2016 9:21 PM
Hello! Great article! I want to leave godaddy asap from ethical reasons to agressive marketing tactics… I have 2 .com domains I have to move soon. My choices are:Gandi or Hover or EasySPace or NameSilo. However, the last one doesn’t seem to have that great whois protection leaking here and there owners’ emails… Big no! Lately I have been suggested also Dynadot & Uniregister from some, but then reading reviews apparently they are more oriented to professionals… I am a small individual, who is very careful of my pricacy..and on a budget.. And if I find one that has ethicals views and doesn’t kill animals…Then huge plus! Any advice?
p.s. I also would like something without headaches: autorenewal, easy to transfer, easy to manage and if I have an issue, a customer service that replies within a day or so…any advice/experience?
No google domains, as I am based in Europe
Thank you ever so much in advance!
Reply
- - Chris Roberts ➦ Zeta
  - ·
  - November 14, 2016 1:46 AM
  Hi Zeta,
  I would suggest you give Namecheap a look. As the name suggests, they provide cheaper domains compared to other registrars, plus you get WhoisGuard protection free for an entire year. They also provide SSL discounts for new transfers. Check out our review here if you want to see our take on it. Hope that helps! 🙂
  Reply