"Free" Hashnode Custom Domains Are Designed to Do One Thing: Advertise Hashnode

Pictured above is a full-screen pop-up advertisement for Hashnode on https://blog.greenroots.info/, a custom domain powered by Hashnode.

One CTA, 2 backlinks, and 3 mentions on a popup later, you might be left wondering - Dude, is it MY domain or Hashnode’s?

Users Create Accounts for Hashnode, Not For The Site The User is On

If you click signup on a custom domain powered by Hashnode you DO NOT signup for your custom domain - as one would expect

Instead, they’re made to sign up for Hashnode.

So essentially when blogging on “your“ Hashnode custom domain, “your“ readers who want to comment on or react to your content, or even just signup on “your” site for anything, MUST become a Hashnode user instead of what they set out to become - “your” user.

If you’re a sadomasochist and are asking for more, Hashnode got your back!

The same popup ad for Hashnode appears if your readers click on the primary call to action of the site, “+ Follow”.

The Primary Site Navigation Includes More Clickable Hashnode Ads Than It Does Links to Anywhere on the Site Itself

If you click on the primary navigation dropdown, you get three more clickable advertisements:

• Start Publishing on Hashnode,
• Sign in to Hashnode, and a
• What’s Hashnode?

In this primary top navigation, there is NO way to click through to learn more about the custom domain itself.

There is a picture of the domain owner and their name, but this more serves as an unpaid testimonial to click on the clickable things here, i.e., the Hashnode ads, than it does let the user learn more about the person writing the content on their own domain.

The Terms and Conditions are governed by Hashnode and not the Site Creator or Domain Owner

The footers on all custom domains powered by Hashnode are not only dominated by Hashnode advertisements but are also governed by Hashnode’s terms and conditions.

Without your own terms and conditions, there is little point in calling it “your site.”

When you use a Hashnode custom domain, you are not making your site, you are making a Hashnode site.

In terms of links in the footer, there is none to the custom domain’s homepage or about page, but four links (terms, privacy, brand name, and icon +" “publish with Hashnode” advertisement) to you guessed it, Hashnode.

Because the site is governed by Hashnode’s terms and conditions and not the creators or site owners, at any time Hashnode has the right to take down or modify your own content on your own domain.

This fact is clearly spelled out in their terms:

“We reserve the right to withdraw or amend the Websites or the Service in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Websites or Service is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Websites, or an entire Website(s), to Users.”

If they do take down your content on your domain, they don’t even have to notify you.

Listen, I’m sure they have probably good intentions, but because of their terms and conditions and advertisements designed to turn your users into their users, Hashnode is NOT a viable solution for any tech professional “who values their own personal site.”