Incognet alternative for private domains

Is anonymous domain registration really possible?

Not in the full sense, at Incognet, at Sealname or at any registrar bound by ICANN rules. Private from the public, yes; above the law, no. Three ICANN rules explain why:

• Email verification. Registrars must verify the registrant's email or phone within 15 days of a registration, a transfer or a change, for gTLDs such as .com. Otherwise the domain is suspended.
• Record keeping. Registrars keep the registration record for as long as ICANN requires. At Sealname that record is one email per domain: no logs, no IP address kept.
• Data escrow. Registrars deposit registration data with an escrow agent (RAA §3.6).

What a good service offers is privacy from the public, and written rules on who else can get your data: at Sealname, only a Panamanian court order. Read more in anonymous domain registration and is anonymous domain registration legal?.

Who holds a domain registered through Incognet?

Incognet does not state it, according to a post on the Feddit forum. We did not find the answer in the other sources we checked.

That question decides who controls the domain. With a privacy service, you are the registrant of record and the public sees the service's details. With a proxy service, the provider is the registrant of record. Under ICANN's registrar contract (RAA 2013, §3.7.7.3), a proxy holder accepts liability for wrongful use. It avoids that only by disclosing the user's details within 7 days, on reasonable evidence of actionable harm.

At Sealname, the answer is published: you are the registrant of record, and By default Sealname registers domains in your name; the proxy model is a separate paid option, Registered in our name. See who owns my domain.

Why choose Sealname over Incognet?

Because the key facts are written on our own pages, with a date.

• A written policy. No takedown on complaint alone, and your data only goes out on a Panamanian court order. Phishing, malware, botnets, child sexual abuse material and fraud that takes money from victims lead to suspension. Every request is counted in a quarterly transparency report.
• A documented holder of record. You are the registrant of record. The transfer code is free, from your account, at any time, with no exit fee.
• A lower .com price. $12.99/year versus about $17.76 (Reclaim The Net, undated). The renewal costs the same as the first year.
• No ID, no KYC. A random 16-digit account number is your login. Each domain needs one verified email, and it is never published.
• Clear extension rules. We sell only extensions that can be registered privately. The domain privacy index rates every other one Yes, No or "not with only an email".

See every price on the pricing page.

When is Incognet the better choice?

Incognet may fit better in these cases:

• You want to pay in Monero. Incognet accepts XMR, per Reclaim The Net. Sealname does not; see our Monero page.
• You want crypto processed in-house. Reclaim The Net reports that Incognet processes payments itself, without a third-party processor.
• You prefer a US company. IncogNet LLC is registered in Wyoming. Sealname's operator is incorporated in Panama.

For US users, one rule applies whatever you choose. Knowingly giving materially false contact data to a registrar creates a presumption of wilful infringement (15 U.S.C. §1117(e)). A privacy service is legal; false data in your registration works against you.