Domain Registrars Compared: What a Domain Really Costs
A domain costs you every year you keep it, so the cheapest registrar is the one with the lowest total over time, not the lowest first year. We track registration, renewal and transfer prices at 24 registrars across 1,662 domain zones, most of them re-checked daily, and our domain pages rank registrars on what a domain costs over three years. The table below compares every registrar on ICANN accreditation, WHOIS privacy, DNS features and zone coverage.
Domain prices in 2026: the market at a glance
Registrars compete on the first year and make their money on renewals. For .com right now, the cheapest first year in our tracker is at Spaceship ($8.88), which renews at $9.98. Over three years the cheapest .com is at Spaceship: $28.84 in total. In our tracker 24 registrars sell .com, and the gap between them is almost entirely in the renewal price: the wholesale price set by the registry is the same for every registrar.
What .com actually costs (live sample)
Live .com prices from our tracker:
| Registrar | First year | Renewal | Transfer | WHOIS privacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynadot | $10.88 | $10.88 | $10.88 | Free |
| Porkbun | $11.08 | $11.08 | $11.08 | Free |
| Web Hosting Canada | $10.90 | $14.06 | $10.90 | Paid |
| InterServer | $15.00 | $15.00 | $15.00 | Not listed |
| Namecheap | $11.28 | $18.48 | $11.48 | Free |
| DreamHost | $9.99 | $19.99 | $9.99 | Free |
| ChemiCloud | $17.95 | $17.95 | $17.95 | Paid |
| 123 Reg | $10.60 | $25.19 | $23.87 | Paid |
| Easyspace | $22.54 | $28.20 | $12.40 | Paid |
| Gandi | $11.00 | $38.38 | $11.00 | Free |
Live prices from our tracker; the currency switcher at the top of the page converts them. A transfer usually adds a year to the registration. For the three-year total at every registrar, see the .com price page.
Renewal is the real price
The first year is a marketing number: Gandi's .com renews at $38.38 after $11.00, and Namecheap's at $18.48 after $11.28. Registrars with a small gap between registration and renewal, like Dynadot ($10.88 to register, $10.88 to renew) and Porkbun ($11.08 to register, $11.08 to renew), usually win over any period longer than a year. Our .com price page charts the total at every registrar over one to ten years.
Transfers, WHOIS privacy and the rest of the bill
- Transfers usually cost about a year of renewal and add a year to the registration. The cheapest .com transfer in our tracker right now is at Spaceship, $9.48.
- WHOIS privacy is free at Namecheap, Porkbun, Dynadot, Gandi, DreamHost, IONOS, Hostinger and OVHcloud, but a paid add-on at 123 Reg, Web Hosting Canada, Easyspace, Websavers and ChemiCloud — add it to the yearly cost when you compare.
- DNS: free DNS hosting is standard; Namecheap, Gandi and Dynadot add DNSSEC, and Namecheap and Gandi also offer premium and anycast DNS.
- ICANN accreditation means the company registers domains directly with the registries. Dynadot, Namecheap, Porkbun, Gandi, IONOS, OVHcloud, DreamHost, 123 Reg, Easyspace and Web Hosting Canada are accredited; SiteGround, InterServer and ChemiCloud sell domains through an accredited partner.
Beyond .com: other popular zones
The same pattern holds across zones. Over three years, the cheapest .net costs $33.60 at Spaceship, the cheapest .org $29.43 at Spaceship, the cheapest .io $131.72 at Porkbun, and the cheapest .co $67.08 at Spaceship (tied with Dynadot). Country and new-generation zones vary far more between registrars — our domain price ledger covers every zone we track.
Which domain registrar should you choose?
- Lowest cost over time: Spaceship — $28.84 for three years of .com.
- Cheapest first year: Spaceship — $8.88 for a new .com, renewing at $9.98.
- Lowest renewal: Spaceship — .com renews at $9.98 a year.
- Big zone catalogs: Gandi (859 zones tracked), Dynadot (815) and Porkbun (637).
- Everything in one account: Namecheap — free WHOIS privacy, DNSSEC and premium DNS, plus hosting and SSL; .com from $11.28.
- Free privacy, simple pricing: Porkbun — free WHOIS privacy; .com costs $11.08 to register and $11.08 to renew.
- European registrar: Gandi (France) — ICANN-accredited, free WHOIS privacy, DNSSEC and anycast DNS; mind the .com renewal of $38.38.
- UK and Canada: 123 Reg and Easyspace are ICANN-accredited UK registrars, and Web Hosting Canada is an accredited Canadian one.
Prefer head-to-head reads? See Namecheap vs Porkbun, Dynadot vs Porkbun or Namecheap vs Dynadot, or compare zone by zone in the domain price ledger.
Domain Registrars — compared
| Registrar | Country | ICANN | WHOIS privacy | DNS | Transfer fee | TLDs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynadot |  United States |
✓ | Free | 3 | $10.88 | 815 | View → |
| IONOS |  Germany |
✓ | Free | 1 | — | 431 | View → |
| Namecheap | United States |
✓ | Free | 5 | $11.48 | 569 | View → |
| Godaddy | United States |
✓ | Free | 5 | $11.99 | 545 | View → |
| Porkbun | United States |
✓ | Free | 2 | — | 637 | View → |
| Contabo | Germany |
— | — | 2 | — | 300 | View → |
| OVHcloud |  France |
✓ | Free | 4 | — | 899 | View → |
| One.com |  Denmark |
✓ | Free | 3 | $26.99 | 200 | View → |
| Hostinger |  Lithuania |
✓ | Free | 2 | — | 47 | View → |
| InterServer | United States |
— | — | 1 | — | 561 | View → |
| SSD Nodes | United States |
— | — | 1 | — | 4 | View → |
| Timeweb |  Russia |
✓ | Free | 2 | — | 355 | View → |
| 123 Reg |  United Kingdom |
✓ | Paid | 3 | — | 209 | View → |
| Websavers |  Canada |
— | Paid | 2 | — | 124 | View → |
| Web Hosting Canada | Canada |
✓ | Paid | 1 | — | 439 | View → |
| DreamHost | United States |
✓ | Free | 1 | — | 400 | View → |
| SiteGround | United Kingdom |
— | Free | 2 | — | 72 | View → |
| Easyspace | United Kingdom |
✓ | Paid | 3 | — | 537 | View → |
| Gandi | France |
✓ | Free | 5 | — | 859 | View → |
| Spaceship | United States |
✓ | Free | 3 | — | 504 | View → |
| ChemiCloud | United States |
— | Paid | 3 | — | 123 | View → |
| Bluehost | United States |
✓ | Paid | 1 | $12.99 | 472 | View → |
| Site.eu |  Netherlands |
— | Free | 3 | — | 1228 | View → |
| Hosting.com | United States |
— | Paid | 3 | — | 429 | View → |
| Atlantica Digital | United States |
— | Paid | 3 | — | 555 | View → |
| Netart |  Poland |
✓ | — | — | $0.00 | 400 | View → |
FAQ
It depends on how long you keep the domain. For .com, the cheapest first year in our tracker is at Spaceship ($8.88), but over three years Spaceship costs the least: $28.84 in total. We re-check prices daily for most registrars.
Registrars discount the first year to win the registration and charge their regular rate from year two. That is why we compare renewal prices and three-year totals, not only the headline. After the first 60 days you can usually transfer the domain to a registrar with a lower renewal price.
At many registrars, yes: Namecheap, Porkbun, Dynadot, Gandi and DreamHost include it at no charge. Others, including 123 Reg, Web Hosting Canada and Easyspace, charge for it, so add that to the yearly cost when you compare.
An ICANN-accredited registrar has a direct contract with ICANN and registers domains straight with the registries. Resellers sell domains through an accredited partner, so support requests and transfers go through one more company.
Unlock the domain at your current registrar, request the authorization (EPP) code and start the transfer at the new registrar. For most generic zones the transfer adds a year to the registration, and the transfer fee is usually close to a year of renewal.
For most registrars we import prices daily from their APIs or public price lists; a few are periodic snapshots, and our domain pages print the date each price was last checked.