When comparing Hover vs Gandi, the Slant community recommends Gandi for most people. In the question“What are the best domain name registrars/providers?” Gandi is ranked 3rd while Hover is ranked 4th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Private registration is included
Private whois registration is included at no extra charge.
Pro Simple
Known because of their efforts in simplifying domain management.
Pro Free subdomains
There is no limit on the number of subdomains you can have, and they cost no extra fee. They also support wildcard subdomains.
Pro Has a feedback forum where you can submit and vote on feature requests
As can be seen here.
Pro Fast phone and email support
Hover has a no wait time policy for phone support, and get back to your emails in a very timely fashion. A test support email got a response in 10 minutes.
Pro All-inclusive package
Pro Free unlimited subdomains
Pro Two-factor authentication
Pro Free email forwarding
Pro Free web mail
Pro Best in basic features
Pro Private Whois registration is included
Private whois registration is provided without any extra charges.
Pro Programmatic API support
Via XML-RPC.
Pro Strong Anti-SOPA stance
Gandi took a stand against SOPA.
Pro Access levels and delegating is easy
Cons
Con Renewal is expensive, especially multi-year which should be discounted
Hover is reliable. But their days of being price competitive are past. There are better options out there. They've lost their customer focus in this regard. Taking advantage of existing customers with high renewals is poor practice in any business.
Con Email forwarding costs extra
Email forwarding costs an extra $5 a year per address per domain, and they do not support catch all forwarding to all addresses.
Con Can be perceived as lacking professionalism due to the blunt "no bs" tagline
At face value, Gandi's "no bs" marketing slogan and tone may be perceived as unprofessional, especially in the eyes of corporate or otherwise sensitive clients of yours.
Con Whois protection doesn't hide the name
Con No catch all email forwarding
Gandi does not support wildcard email forwarding for undefined addresses.