EnterraHost
To register a domain, search for it from the Domains page, add the one you want to your basket and complete the checkout. The first year is charged at that point, and the domain is registered once the payment clears.
Nothing about the search commits you. A result is a price and an availability check, and the decision happens at the checkout like any other order.
What it takes to register a domain
Finding the name is a separate step and worth doing first, because the rest is short. Add the domain to the basket, and the checkout asks for an account if you do not have one yet.
Registration is charged up front rather than at the end of a period. That is different from a hosting plan, which you pay for monthly or annually, and it is worth understanding because it explains the shape of the invoice. A domain is bought for a term, the term starts now, and the fee is for the term rather than a subscription that begins later.
The term is a year by default and can be set longer, up to ten years in one order. A longer term is a reasonable choice on a domain you intend to keep, since it takes renewal out of the picture for a while. It does not change the management of the domain, only when the next renewal falls due.
Ordered is not the same as registered
This is the part that catches people, so it is worth stating plainly. Placing the order creates it and raises the invoice. The domain is registered at the registry when that invoice is paid. An order that is waiting to be paid has not registered the name, and the name is not reserved by the order either, so somebody else can still take it in the meantime.
In practice the two steps are usually seconds apart, because most checkouts are paid immediately. It matters in the case where they are not. If you leave a domain order unpaid and come back to it later, check that the name is still available before assuming the order holds it.
Once payment clears, the order completes and the domain is registered. It appears in your account with the rest of your services, and it carries its own renewal date from that point.
What gets sent to the registry
Registering a domain publishes a registrant record, and you do not fill that in during the checkout. The registry is given the name, the organisation and the address on your account, which is why keeping those current is worth the trouble.
Two consequences follow. If your business name or address changes, updating it on your account is what corrects the record attached to the domain, and updating your billing details covers those fields. And because the details are public in the register for most extensions, WHOIS privacy is included on eligible extensions so that your personal contact details are not published in full. It is applied on the extensions that allow it, and there is nothing to switch on.
Managing the domain afterwards
Everything about the domain is managed from the Domains area of the toolbox once you are signed in. The list shows each domain with its renewal date, its lock state, whether auto-renew is on, and a summary of its DNS, so you can see the state of several domains at once rather than opening each one.
Opening a domain gives you the controls that matter, and they are the ones you would otherwise be paying a registrar's control panel to reach.
Nameservers and glue records decide which system answers for the domain. Changing them is how you delegate DNS to somebody else, which is what you do to put a domain on Cloudflare's nameservers.
DNS records are the records themselves, if the domain uses our nameservers. An A record pointing at a server, a TXT record for verification, an MX record for mail, and so on, all editable from the same panel.
Auto-renew decides whether the domain renews on its own before the expiry date or lapses. It is per domain rather than an account-wide setting, which is deliberate, since you rarely want the same answer for a domain you use daily and one you registered for a project.
DNSSEC is available on the registries that support it, and the panel says so rather than offering the control and failing later.
Transfer codes are requested from here if you ever move the domain to another registrar, and the change history records what was changed and when, which is useful when a record was altered and nobody remembers doing it.
The two settings worth a decision now
Most of the panel can be left alone until you need it. Two things are worth deciding while the domain is fresh.
Auto-renew, because the failure it prevents is silent. A domain that lapses stops resolving and stops receiving mail, and recovery depends on the extension and on whether somebody else has taken the name. Turning auto-renew on is the cheap protection, and it still emails you before it charges.
WHOIS privacy needs no decision where it applies, because it is already on. Where an extension does not allow it, the panel does not pretend otherwise.
Renewals themselves, and what happens when one is missed, are covered in turning on auto-renew.