Omnis

Overview

Originally established to provide web hosting and domain registration services, Omnis Network LLC has grown considerably into a provider of complete web presence solutions. It was founded in 1999, at a time when pioneers of the web services industry were already ahead and expanding. Despite starting late, Omnis.com stands today as a firmly established web hosting company. The Tempe-based firm has 400,000 domain name and web hosting accounts under management – a modest figure compared to the millions served by bigger, more aggressive domain registrants/web hosting companies. The company has also garnered several industry awards specifically for web hosting which is not bad for a relatively small player.

Usability

Omnis.com focuses mainly on cloud hosting but also offers domain registration. Registering a domain at Omnis is a great idea if you also plan to host your website with this provider as their hosting services are what they are mostly known for doing well. While there’s nothing particularly innovative with the site’s usability, users will find little to complain about how the site works and where certain functions are found. As it offers a variety of products, the domain search tab, which is typically very prominent in most registrars, can be found in the home page together with the Hosting and Other Services buttons in a catchy circle graphic.

Domain Privacy

A user who clicks on the Domain circle will be directed to the Domain Registration Page where registering, renewing or transferring a domain can be done. This is where you get information on its domain privacy options. Domain privacy is offered at Omnis for an additional fee of $1.95 per domain. This is fairly reasonable considering all the other bells and whistles that come with registration. For instance, free domain locking and URL forwarding are offered along with the aforementioned free DNS control. The cost of privacy at Omnis is among the lowest offered today. Some registrants offer this service for free but often with a deceptively expensive domain. Omnis is straightforward about the cost of its private registration.

Bulk Registrations and Management

Bulk domain registration is a bit inconvenient as Omnis does not offer a unique tool for bulk registration. Plenty of other registrars offer the convenience of putting bulk search and management front and center, to emphasize that it is within their capability to handle multiple domains for each user. Omnis, on the other hand, makes it crystal clear with the obvious lack of bulk search and registration functions that bulk domains handling is not their strongest suit. One good news is that there are discount prices with bulk registration and the control panel makes making group changes to bulk domains easy. The registration process, however, could be improved.

Access Level and Delegating

As previously implied, the interface at Omnis.com is functional and usable. It offers all the standard features in an easily accessible way. Free DNS control comes with every domain registered which is a nice bonus to choosing Omnis as your registrar. You can create additional FTP users if you want other users to have access on your account, to upload and manage files for your hosting account or for a specific domain name, but they do not currently have an option to provide limited access to the Account Manager.

Pricing and Coupons

Pricing per year at Omnis is fairly basic and easy to understand. Some domain registrants aren’t very transparent with their pricing packages while some are just plain dodgy. Providing a straightforward price structure is a strong point for Omnis. In the domain registration page, there is a short list of domain prices (per year) which gives users a general idea of the site’s prices and the rest of its products come with clearly outlined prices. Most domain registrations cost between $7.95 and $35.00 per year depending upon the desired extension. Omnis offers twelve top level domain extensions for registration. They rarely have sales, coupons, or discounts but if you are a member they will e-mail information regarding discounts.

Customer Service

If Omnis got you all excited with its serviceable domain registration features and hosting capabilities but want to check for other services, you can hit on Live Chat and start talking within 2-3 minutes. You may also contact support through a toll free number and a local number (both for US clients). The customer service team is prompt and knowledgeable enough, but based on first-hand experiences, some of the help staff doesn’t go in-depth with their answers. There are frequent instances where answers and resolutions given to both simple (is technical access level allowed?) and complicated (how to transfer from various domain registrars, etc.) are not satisfying enough.

Management Summary

One truly commendable thing about Omnis is their hosting service package. They offer a lot of options at reasonable prices which means that if you are looking to address all your domain needs including registration, management, and hosting, then this is a great provider to register in. Nevertheless, the site could use some improvements. One noticeably flawed function is in domain search: when you enter keywords to search for a domain, it does not offer the domain with other TLDs. In other words, if you select a “.com” extension it will not automatically show you other available extensions for the chosen keywords, which can be quite inconvenient. Omnis.com is, overall, a good choice as domain registrar. The prices are reasonable and the services offered are passable. In particular, the diverse array of hosting options that they have is very appealing. I would stay away from Omnis, though, if you are looking to register large numbers of bulk domains. Other than this and some other minor functionality and customer support issues, Omnis is a decent choice as registrar and host.