# GKG Net Bad Domain Registrar

In the past I have recommended [GKG](https://gkg.net/) as a domain registrar to
people. They have a simple website, advertise a support email address on their
front page, have a basic form and API for updating your DS records, and are
reasonably priced. What else do you need? Anyway, a couple of things have
changed my mind recently and I'm no longer recommending them. Actually, that's
not strong enough, I am actively warning people against using them.

I usually host my own authoritative DNS. But for a new domain I registered I
decided to leave it on GKG's DNS servers for a short period whilst I made some
changes to my own DNS hosting. They put my domain on ns3.gkg.net and
ns4.gkg.net. I immediately noticed that there was a problem. The IPv6 address on
ns3.gkg.net does not respond. I sent an email to their advertised support
address about this just over a month ago on the 29th August 2026. No response.
It is still broken.

What kind of domain registrar can't even run their own DNS? This is a serious
red flag.

Second problem. I am trying to change my nameservers on one of my domains to a
subdomain. Think using `ns1.example.com` as a nameserver for `example.com`. When
you do that, you need to make sure that you use their "DNS Hosts" feature, so
you can register the IPs for "ns1.example.com", because of the chicken and egg
problem. This was done. The subdomain is listed. If I try to change my
nameservers to it though, it simply says it isn't registered. I tried to change
my nameservers to something else and just get a blank page instead.

I reported this last night via their ticketing system, online chat, and this
morning via email. I've not heard anything yet, and given my experience with my
last support request I am not holding my breath. After reading the several GKG
breach notifications on [ICANNs public compliance notices
page](https://www.icann.org/compliance/notices) it seems even ICANN struggles to
get anybody there to respond.

Anyway... they seemingly can't run DNS or a website or a support department. So
I'm guessing they're on life support and just taking money from people who can't
be bothered to transfer domains away. Can anyone recommend an alternative
registrar? Preferably one based in the UK or Europe and not one of the
behemoths. Must support transfering domains in without automatically changing my
nameservers and must support setting DNSSEC DS records on .com and .org domains.
If you can, please [ping me](/#contact).