Mini-guide: Reading between the lines of 'free domain for life' offers

I still have a .info from HostGator-era GreenCloudVPS, grandfathered, no strings. They don't make them like that anymore.

Reverse-engineered five current "free domain for life" bundles this weekend. The trick is always the same: "life" means life of hosting plan. Cancel plan, lose domain. But worse, the plan "life" is 12 months at intro price, then 10x renewal. Contabo at €2.99/mo becomes €29.99, domain "free" worth €12. You're paying $360/year for a $12 domain and shared hosting.

• Vultr: "lifetime" = 24 month minimum, then $48/year domain penalty — I run a small VPS there, not staff
• Time4VPS: domain free only if plan auto-renews at "then-current rate"
• HostHatch: from memory their ToS has something about the domain only lasting the original promotional term, think it's capped at 12 months
• CloudCone: actual lifetime, but requires $15/month VPS
• RackNerd: domain WHOIS privacy extra, $14.99/year, not included — https://www.racknerd.com

The dead offers that became $50/year surprises, let's hear them. I know KnownHost pulled this in 2022.

Caramba! My cousin fell for the GreenCloudVPS one, nossa! He didn't read the small letter, kkkk. Three year later the bill come and he say "I don't want no domain no more" but they charge anyway, automatic. Me I self-host in old dell in garage, no registrar trick possible. But the warm feeling of free, is not free never, ne?