Have you ever used free domains like .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf and .gq?

Some registrars like dot.tk and freenom.com offer users to get free domain names like .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf and .gq. They work just like any other domain name, tho registrant acts as a user of the domain name, not as a licensee and there are no transfer rights.

Have you ever used them? Or do you stick with free subdomains like sitename.netlify.app or sitename.github.io?

Comments

[Junxiao Shi]

I used to employ Freenom domains to serve static assets. Back in HTTP/1.1 era, static assets should be served from a separate domain, so that browser doesn't spend upload bandwidth to send cookies. This is no longer necessary in HTTP/2, because cookies are uploaded with the first request and compressed away on subsequent requests.

Now I use Freenom domains for pranking. My latest is yoursunny-summer-host.cf , which is posted on various web hosting forums.

Remember that Freenom domains are not owned by you if you select the FREE registration. You only get usage rights that they can take away at any time.

[Theo Paris]

Alright, well I just got rickrolled in 2020...

[Junxiao Shi]

Have you found all three rickrolls?

[Rishiraj Purohit]

I used tk when I was learning/getting started with my web development career. I would say its nice to have something like that because I had no payment options available back then (credit, debit cards). However it is hard to get good seo ranking (obviously) but if its something personal or a tool for you and your friends there is no problem in using it.

For example, I had a website where I completed and posted assignments from the college, and I told few classmates, they told other classmates and my goal was achieved.

[Andrew Luchuk]

I tried using .tk once. Freenom just told me they couldn't verify that I was real person and nothing I tried to do changed that. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I haven't tried again since. I also found their privacy policy a little suspect. In the future, I'll probably just buy domain names.

[Yoginth]

I'm little bit afraid of using those domains, and I see no standard on those!

[Ben Halpern]

My first ever website was a .tk! Haven't used one since.

[Vladimir Babin]

Only paid domains, only hardcore!

[Asjark]

Now if you want to learn web development. And want to test your apps on a website without paying $8.99 per year than .cf .tk .ml domains are worth it. You are only using these domains only to learn and test your skills. Well, these domains aren't that good for production. If your talking about production then I would recommend .com ,.net ,.org because they are best in class.

[Ngari Ndung'u]

I have used a .tk domain to test a script for automatic letsencrypt certificate provisioning and renewal to avoid hitting limits on the main domain. But for user facing sites I use subdomains

[peter279k]

I use .tk, .ml, and .ga before.

Since Freenom service is not stable at sometimes, I don't use above domains anymore.

[Naman Gupta]

Many of these extension support emoji domains. One use case can be that and on second place I like to purchase one single domain of mine and create subdomain of that to support my projects. 😅