{ "_meta": { "description": "Per-registrar agent profile: a single machine-readable record combining this registrar's identity, editorial category scores, Agent Readiness Index sub-scores, API-access facts, transfer/switch mechanics, and pricing-verification status. It composes data already published on this site and introduces no new facts. Sections not yet covered by a source dataset are null with a coverage note rather than guessed. Every section names the source it is composed from.", "site": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com", "profile_url": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/registrars/namesilo/", "methodology_url": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/methodology/", "generated_for": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/data/registrars/namesilo.json", "last_updated": "2026-09-29", "disclosure": "Best-Domain-Registrars.com is operated within Just (Just Done LLC). Every registrar is scored by the same published methodology on the same evidence." }, "registrar": { "id": "namesilo", "name": "NameSilo", "slug": "namesilo", "website": "https://www.namesilo.com", "headquarters": "Phoenix, Arizona, United States", "founded": 2009, "icann_accredited": true, "wikipedia_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NameSilo", "best_for": [ "Flat registration-equals-renewal pricing", "Bulk domain buyers and domainers", "Free WHOIS privacy on every domain" ], "not_ideal_for": [ "Beginners who want polished UX", "Managed DNS power users" ], "whois_privacy": "Free, included on all domains", "two_factor_authentication": "TOTP authenticator app", "api_available": true, "bulk_tools": true, "last_checked": "2026-09-28", "last_reviewed": "2026-06-28", "source": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/data/registrars.json" }, "editorial_scores": { "scale": "0–10, higher is better; overall is weighted per /methodology/", "overall": 8.1, "why_overall": "Flat registration-equals-renewal pricing, free WHOIS privacy on every domain, a free API and strong bulk tools make NameSilo a favorite of domainers. Retail .com is not the cheapest, the UI is dated, and support is ticket-only.", "categories": { "pricing": 8, "renewal": 8, "pricing_transparency": 9, "whois_privacy": 9.5, "dns": 7, "security": 7.5, "support": 6.5, "transfer": 8.5, "tld_coverage": 8.5, "developer": 8.5, "beginner_ux": 6.5 }, "last_updated": "2026-06-28", "source": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/data/registrar-scores.json" }, "agent_readiness": { "covered": true, "scale": "Sub-scores 0-10; overall 0-100 (weighted).", "methodology_version": "0.1", "basis": "v0.1 is a public-signal assessment. Sub-scores are derived from each registrar's published API documentation, pricing pages, and security/privacy policies as cited per registrar. They are an interpretation of those facts, not a fabricated rating, and they are NOT yet the result of an end-to-end live agent test (search -> register -> configure DNS). Independent live testing is a planned v0.2 upgrade. Any criterion we could not verify from a public source is recorded as null (unknown), not guessed.", "rank": 2, "overall": 64.2, "overall_recomputed": 64.2, "summary": "An under-the-radar standout on agent-readiness. NameSilo pairs a broad, openly accessible full-lifecycle API (registration, renewal, transfer, DNS records, WHOIS privacy, contacts, and a getPrices pricing endpoint) with an official MCP server at mcp.namesilo.com that wraps 80+ methods for read/write management, a stronger agent interface than the read-only search MCPs in this set, plus flat, transparent pricing and free WHOIS privacy on every domain. It ranks highly because those are exactly the capabilities this index weights; it is not a claim that NameSilo is the best registrar overall. The real weaknesses are delegation and support: the single account API key travels as a URL query parameter with no scoped tokens or OAuth, and support is ticket-only.", "best_for": [ "Agents that need a full read/write management MCP", "Programmatic full-lifecycle domain and DNS control", "Flat, transparent pricing with free WHOIS privacy" ], "not_ideal_for": [ "Least-privilege, scoped-token delegation", "Audited, reversible automation", "Buyers who want live chat or phone support" ], "criteria": [ { "id": "api_coverage", "name": "API coverage", "weight": 18, "score": 8, "note": "Openly accessible GET-based API covering the full lifecycle, availability, registration, renewal, transfer, DNS records, WHOIS privacy, contacts, plus a getPrices pricing endpoint; no account-size gate." }, { "id": "auth_delegation", "name": "Authentication & delegation", "weight": 14, "score": 3.5, "note": "Single account API key passed as a URL query parameter; no key/secret pair, no scoped tokens, no OAuth. The MCP layer accepts the key via an X-API-KEY header, but the credential is still all-or-nothing." }, { "id": "agent_safety", "name": "Agent safety", "weight": 12, "score": 3, "note": "TOTP 2FA and a prepaid-balance model that loosely bounds spend; no audit-log API, approval flow, or rollback. The API docs warn it performs updates without the web UI's standard error checking." }, { "id": "developer_experience", "name": "Developer experience", "weight": 12, "score": 6, "note": "Public docs, JSON/XML output, a getPrices endpoint, and a sandbox (credentials issued on request); community SDKs only, no official SDK, no public rate-limit docs, no webhooks." }, { "id": "agent_interface", "name": "Agent-interface readiness", "weight": 12, "score": 8, "note": "Official MCP server at mcp.namesilo.com wrapping 80+ methods for read/write management (register, DNS, transfer, WHOIS privacy) with a sandbox mode, a management MCP, stronger than the read-only search MCPs here, plus a machine-readable getPrices endpoint." }, { "id": "pricing_transparency", "name": "Pricing transparency", "weight": 10, "score": 9, "note": "Flat registration-equals-renewal pricing, free WHOIS privacy, no first-year gimmick or checkout upsells, and a programmatic getPrices endpoint; retail .com sits above budget leaders, but the pricing itself is highly transparent." }, { "id": "dns_infrastructure", "name": "DNS & infrastructure", "weight": 8, "score": 6.5, "note": "Functional managed DNS with DNSSEC (DS records) and CAA support, fully API-manageable; not anycast-class performance." }, { "id": "privacy_compliance", "name": "Privacy & compliance", "weight": 6, "score": 8.5, "note": "Free WHOIS privacy included on every domain for the life of the domain; TOTP 2FA (no WebAuthn)." }, { "id": "support_quality", "name": "Support quality", "weight": 4, "score": 5.5, "note": "Ticket support and a knowledge base only; no live chat or phone." }, { "id": "trust_signals", "name": "Trust signals", "weight": 4, "score": 7.5, "note": "ICANN accredited (IANA ID 1479, NameSilo, LLC), operating since 2009; an established mid-size registrar, smaller than the legacy giants." } ], "last_checked": "2026-07-02", "sources": [ "https://www.namesilo.com/api-reference", "https://mcp.namesilo.com/", "https://www.namesilo.com/support/v2/articles/account-options/api-manager", "https://www.namesilo.com/support/v2/articles/domain-manager/ds-records", "https://www.namesilo.com/pricing" ], "report_card_url": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/agent-readiness-index/namesilo/", "source": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/data/agent-readiness.json" }, "api_access": { "covered": false, "coverage": "No verified record in Open Domain Data's registrar_api_capabilities dataset at this version; omitted rather than guessed.", "source": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/domain-registrar-api-access/" }, "transfer": { "covered": true, "transfer_in": { "adds_year": true, "privacy": "Free WHOIS privacy, included on all domains", "cost": "A transfer renews the domain for one year at NameSilo's price. NameSilo's pricing is verified on this site: see its profile and the cheapest-renewals tracker.", "eligibility": [ "Registered at least 60 days ago and not transferred in the last 60 days (ICANN rule)", "Unlock the domain and have its authorization (auth/EPP) code ready" ], "quirk": null, "doc": "https://www.namesilo.com/domain/transfer-domains" }, "transfer_out": null, "hub_url": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/switch/" }, "pricing": { "verified": true, "status": "verified_primary", "method": "headless_render", "summary": "NameSilo's pricing page returns HTTP 403 to a plain fetch, so figures are read by scripts/fetch-pricing-headless.mjs, which renders namesilo.com/pricing in a real Chromium browser and extracts the single-domain (1-49 tier) price from the Registrations, Renewal, and Transfer tabs. Where a TLD is on promotion the current price is taken (the struck regular price is ignored). Retail .com is $17.29/year flat; lower per-domain rates require the Discount Program or 100+ domains and are not the figures recorded here. Re-fetched 2026-08-19 against the full tracked catalog: coverage widened from the original core set to every tracked TLD this registrar publishes.", "last_verified": "2026-09-28", "primary_sources": [ "https://www.namesilo.com/pricing" ], "prices_url": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/registrars/namesilo/#pricing", "dataset_url": "https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/data/pricing.csv" } }