Question - if your domain registrar has an API to update your A/AAAA records, and your router (or other home server) lets you easily update those records via the API when your public IP changes, is there a benefit to using freedns or any other DDNS service? It seems like you don’t really need them if you own a domain.
Yes, it’s why I stopped using DuckDNS and decided to buy my own domain. I used Porkbun and got a cheap one (~$15/year?). It was super easy, and DNS results are lightning fast now; no timeouts/errors/etc. like when I was using DuckDNS.
My router supports Porkbun for DDNS; it handles updating the A/AAAA records for my domain when my IP changes, but if your router doesn’t have that option, I’m sure there’s a script you could run on a PC or Raspberry Pi, etc. to handle that for you.
I honestly don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner! I’ve changed DDNS providers a few times over the years and it’s always a pain to update everything that references the old names. It’s great having peace of mind knowing that I own the domain now and won’t have to change again (even if I wanted to leave Porkbun, I could just transfer the domain registration to any number of good alternatives and not have to change my domain name).
Same here. Mullvad’s awful policy that essentially limits you to having their client installed on 5 machines was also a deal breaker for me. Sure I could have fucked around with managing keys/connections myself, but why bother? I emailed their support about how inconvenient it was, and they told me I was free to pound sand or pay them for another subscription to enjoy the convenience of having their client installed on more devices.
Proton has been great since I switched, and I see no reason to use Mullvad these days.