Why would you register a domain separate from your hosting?

Usually it benefits people with mutliple domains. They can get discounts or flat rates and other perks for using one company to handle domain registration and management. At the end it doesn't really matter, I would go for the one that gives you the best deal and support. At some point though you may want to consolidate who you register with for organizational purposes.

Hi Rebecca,

I don't think there is a benefit if you only want one domain.

Other than that the only other reason I can think of is if you have multiple domains to register and they are cheaper on the yearly fee than you hosting provider. That way you could register them with one company and host with an other.

Regards

it could be the owner bought in the excitement of starting a new business ... or because they had previously bought a domain and hosting from a single vendor ... but decided to go with another registrar for other domain names ... sometimes you can get a package deal for buying a .com .org .us or whatever at the same time ...

You should register your domain separate from the company you host with so that your host doesn't have total control over your website. If somebody were to gain access to your hosting account and you registered the domain through the host, that person could transfer the domain out of your name and into their own. As you can imagine, it would probably be a huge pain to get your domain back if that happens. It also makes switching hosts easier if you use a 3rd party to register the domain.

Awesome info everyone, thanks!