A Njalla Alternative That Puts the Domain in Your Name

Njalla is one of the best-known privacy services online. It registers domains in its own name so that yours never appears, takes cryptocurrency, and sells servers and a VPN alongside. People look for a Njalla alternative for a few reasons. They want the domain registered in their own name, they need an extension Njalla does not sell, such as .ch or .de, or they want a cheaper server outside Sweden that can send email.

We are Packetra, so we are not neutral. To keep this fair, every Njalla detail below comes from Njalla's own website, terms, FAQ and blog, checked on 15 October 2026 and listed at the end. We also cover where Njalla is the better choice, because for some people it is.

How Njalla works

Njalla is run by Njalla SRL, which its About page says is based in Costa Rica. Its terms were last updated on 2 December 2021 and do not name a governing law or court.

Njalla describes itself as a customer of domain registrars rather than a registrar, sitting between the registrar and you as a privacy shield. Its terms say domains are "registered under the name of Njalla and not under your name, unless you specifically so request", while ownership "shall vest in you from date of registration". So Njalla is the registrant on record, and you hold the domain by contract. You can ask at any time for the registration to be moved into your name.

• Signup: an email or XMPP address. Its terms say it collects only that address, your password and anything you choose to give it.
• Payment: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, Ethereum and PayPal, paid in advance into a Njalla wallet.
• Domains: one flat yearly price per extension, from 15 to 75 euros.
• Servers: VPS plans from 15 euros a month, "in secret locations in Sweden".
• VPN: sold alongside domains and servers.

Njalla vs Packetra at a glance

The real difference: who holds the domain

Choosing between Njalla and a Njalla alternative comes down to one question, and neither answer is free.

With Njalla, your name is not on the registration. The registrar and the registry see Njalla, and Njalla says it collects only a contact address, your password and anything you choose to give it. That is a stronger form of anonymity than WHOIS privacy, which only hides details that are still on file.

The trade-off is control. Because Njalla is the registrant, its terms decide what happens to the domain. Section 9.2 lets Njalla "in its sole discretion" keep, suspend or cancel a registration on grounds that include requests of law enforcement, court orders and the need "to avoid any potential civil or criminal liability". If you miss a renewal payment, section 2.3 says Njalla may "assume the registered domain name and hold it in its own account or let it expire". To move a domain elsewhere, you first ask Njalla to put the registration in your name, and its terms make that conditional on you accepting the agreements Njalla is bound by as registrant.

For generic extensions such as .com, ICANN's rules add one more factor. A registrant that lets someone else use its domain accepts liability for harm caused by wrongful use, unless it discloses that user's identity and contact details within seven days to a party that gives it reasonable evidence of actionable harm. Njalla's terms also allow it to pass your email or XMPP address to authorities and courts if you break its usage rules. Since that address is all it says it collects, there is little to hand over, unless you paid in a way that leaves its own record, such as PayPal.

With Packetra, as with any Njalla alternative that registers domains in your name, the domain is registered to you through our upstream registrar. You are the registrant, so you can move the domain to another registrar with its transfer code without first asking us to change who holds it. Your details are on file with us and the registrar, and often with the registry too. WHOIS privacy hides them from public lookups on eligible extensions, but they can be disclosed under legal process. Our guides to anonymous domain registration and domain seizure explain what each layer protects.

In short, Njalla's model protects who you are, and registering in your own name protects what you hold. Choose the one that matters more for the project.

Domain prices compared

On price alone, a Njalla alternative is hard to justify for .com, .net or .org. Njalla charges one flat price per group of extensions. We are more expensive on those three, cheaper on a few others, and we sell country codes that Njalla does not list. Prices are per year, from each provider's price list on 15 October 2026.

If you only need a .com, Njalla is cheaper. If you are building for Switzerland, Germany or the Netherlands, the extension you want may only be on our list. Country codes follow their own registry's rules, so a .ch or .de is registered with your details and their registry's privacy rules apply. Our guide to domain extensions and privacy covers them one by one.

Servers compared

Servers are where a Njalla alternative saves the most money. Njalla's servers run in Sweden on Incus with a Ceph storage backend, which it describes as high-availability redundant storage. Ours are KVM virtual machines in Finland and Switzerland. Matched by memory, the plans compare like this:

Njalla also sells 6 GB and 9 GB plans, which our Cloud VPS range does not cover. Each Njalla plan includes a fixed amount of traffic, and its servers page warns that the 10 Gbit/s connections make it easy to use more than that. Our 1 Gbit/s plans are unmetered under a fair-use policy, and we also sell 10 Gbit/s plans with a monthly allowance, from EUR 19.90 in Finland.

Email is the other practical difference, and a good reason to look for a Njalla alternative if you need to send mail. Njalla blocks outgoing SMTP and suggests a third-party mail service instead. We open port 25 on request on Cloud VPS #2 and above, or on #1 with a longer billing cycle, and set reverse DNS for you, so you can run your own email server on a VPS.

Where Njalla is the better choice

A Njalla alternative is not the right move for everyone. Njalla is stronger if you:

• Need your identity kept off the registration itself. With Njalla as the registrant, your details are not in the registrant record, and Njalla says it holds only your email or XMPP address, your password and anything you choose to give it.
• Want the cheaper .com, .net or .org. Njalla charges EUR 15 a year for each.
• Want to sign up over XMPP. Njalla accepts an XMPP address instead of email; we need an email address.
• Want a VPN from the same provider. We do not sell one.
• Need a 6 GB or 9 GB VPS. Our Cloud VPS range stops at 7 GB.
• Value a long public record. Njalla has run since 2017, and its blog documents years of pushing back on takedown and disclosure demands that came without a court order, including an injunction claim over a .is domain in Iceland that was not refiled.

Packetra as a Njalla alternative

Packetra suits people who want to hold their domains themselves and run servers in Finland or Switzerland, paid privately.

Moving from Njalla to Packetra

Moving to a Njalla alternative takes two separate jobs, one for the domain and one for any server.

1. Ask Njalla to put the domain in your name. Its terms let you request this at any time, on condition that you accept the agreements Njalla is bound by as registrant.
2. Recreate your DNS records with us first if the domain uses Njalla's nameservers, so the site stays up during the move.
3. Get the transfer code from Njalla and start the transfer on our domains page. A transfer costs the same as one year's registration, and on generic extensions such as .com it usually adds a year to the expiry date, so you keep the time already paid for.
4. Move the server. Order a Cloud VPS, lower your DNS TTL, copy your data across with rsync over SSH, test, then point your records to the new IP address. Our guide to migrating without downtime covers the cutover.
5. Cancel what you no longer use. Njalla's terms make payments final and non-refundable unless it decides otherwise, so time a server move near the end of a paid period.

FAQ

What is the best Njalla alternative?

It depends on why you are leaving. If you want the domain in your own name, country codes such as .ch or .de, or a cheaper VPS in Finland or Switzerland, Packetra is built for that. If all you need is your name kept off the domain registration, Njalla's model is designed for exactly that.

Is Njalla a domain registrar?

Not by its own description. Njalla says it is a customer of registrars and sits between them and you, registering domains in its own name.

Who owns a domain registered through Njalla?

Njalla is the registrant on record unless you ask otherwise, but its terms say ownership vests in you from the date of registration, and you can ask at any time for the registration to be put in your name.

Does Njalla accept Monero?

Yes. Its FAQ lists Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, Ethereum and PayPal.

Where are Njalla's servers?

In Sweden. Its servers page says they are in "secret locations in Sweden".

Can I keep my domain at Njalla and move only the server?

Yes. A domain at Njalla can point to a server anywhere, including ours, so a Njalla alternative does not have to replace both.

Is a Njalla alternative cheaper?

For servers, yes: our Cloud VPS start at EUR 9.90 a month against Njalla's EUR 15. For domains, usually not: Njalla's .com, .net and .org cost EUR 15 a year, ours EUR 17.90, EUR 21.00 and EUR 27.90.

Sources

Njalla pages are named rather than linked.

• Njalla: About, FAQ, Pricing and Servers pages (company, domain model, signup, payment, prices, server location and rules)
• Njalla: General Terms and Conditions, last updated 2 December 2021, sections 1.1, 2.3, 3.3, 5.2, 5.4, 5.7, 6.1, 6.2 and 9.2
• Njalla blog: IMMACULATE RELEASE (19 April 2017), About those threats (25 January 2018), We don't have enemies (10 November 2020) and Another win for Njalla and press freedom! (11 November 2025)
• ICANN: 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement, section 3.7.7.3
• Packetra domains, Cloud VPS plans, privacy policy and acceptable use policy

Last reviewed: 15 October 2026

Research note: This comparison is written by Packetra, a competitor of Njalla. Njalla details are taken from its public website, terms and blog as of the review date and can change; check its current pages before you decide. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.