How much is a domain name per year depends on three things: the extension, the registrar and whether you are looking at a first-year offer or the normal price. For an unregistered .com, most prices sit in a narrow band, because every registrar pays the same registry fee underneath. Every retail figure here was checked on 31 October 2026, the day before a .com price rise, so expect some of them to move.
What a .com costs today (checked 31 October 2026)
These are the registrars’ own published prices, in US dollars, for one year of a new .com. Promotions are labelled.
| Registrar | First year | Renewal | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porkbun | $11.08 | $11.08 | Transfer also $11.08 |
| Namecheap | $11.28 (sale; normally $14.98) | $18.48 | $6.48 new-customer offer, one domain |
| Spaceship | $8.88 | $9.98 | Plus a $0.20 ICANN fee listed separately |
| Cloudflare | At cost (no figure on the page) | At cost | “does not mark up domain prices at all” |
| GoDaddy | $0.01 with a 3-year term; $2.99 for new customers, 1 year | Not shown | “Terms apply” |
| Wix | From US$7.90 (free first year with an annual site plan) | Not shown for .com | “no extra charges for ICANN” |
A few of these need reading carefully. GoDaddy’s one-cent .com is not a one-year price: the offer needs a three-year term. Its $2.99 one-year price is for new customers. Namecheap’s $6.48 is a “New customer special” limited to one domain. Wix’s prices were loaded from a connection outside the US, so they may differ where you are. Cloudflare publishes no dollar figure on its registrar page, only the promise that prices are “always at or below what registries and ICANN charge us”.
Porkbun’s $11.08 sits below the cost floor that applies from tomorrow (see the next section), so it may well change. The table is a snapshot of 31 October 2026, not a forecast. If you are comparing registrars more broadly, the Spaceship domain review looks at one low-priced option in detail.
Where the price comes from
Every .com year is built from the same parts. Verisign, which says it “operates the authoritative registry of .com, .net, .cc, and .name domain names”, charges registrars a wholesale fee. ICANN adds a small transaction fee. The registrar adds its margin, or, during a promotion, takes a loss. Verisign also says it manages “relationships with approximately 3,000 ICANN-accredited registrars”, which is why the same name can carry so many different price tags. Its page on Verisign as a domain name registry explains the role.
| Part of a .com year | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Verisign wholesale, to 31 October 2026 | $10.26 | Verisign Q1 2026 results release |
| Verisign wholesale, from 1 November 2026 | $10.97 | Verisign Q1 2026 results release |
| ICANN transaction fee | $0.20 per year | ICANN FY26 fee announcement; FY27 budget |
| Floor from 1 November 2026 (arithmetic) | $11.17 | $10.97 + $0.20 |
In its first-quarter 2026 results, published on 23 April 2026, Verisign announced that it “will increase the annual registry-level wholesale fee for each new and renewal .com domain name registration from $10.26 to $10.97 effective Nov. 1, 2026”. By simple arithmetic that is $0.71 more, about 6.9%. Namecheap’s .com page already carries a banner: “Registry prices for .com are rising.”
ICANN’s fee is $0.20 “on each annual increment of an add, renew, or transfer transaction”. ICANN notes the fee “can be billed by the registrar separately on its invoice”, which is why some registrars show it as an extra line and others, such as Wix, fold it in. Adding the two (our arithmetic, not a published figure), $10.97 plus $0.20 gives $11.17. From 1 November 2026, that is what a registrar pays for a .com year before any margin. A registrar charging less is running a promotion, and an at-cost registrar would work out at about that figure.
Why the second year often costs more
The first-year price is often a discount, and the renewal is the real price. Namecheap’s .com is $11.28 for the first year and $18.48 to renew: by arithmetic, $7.20 more, or about 64%. Wix’s .org starts at $6.90 and renews at $22.90. Porkbun charges $11.08 for both. Wix puts it plainly on its own pricing page: “Many cheap domain registrar prices you’ll see advertised only cover the first year, then jump at renewal.”
So when you ask how much is a domain per year, check the renewal line before you pay. Registrar by registrar renewal comparisons, and how to avoid paying more, are in domain renewal price.
Other extensions, and names someone already owns
Outside .com, prices spread out further, and the gap between first year and renewal is often wider. All figures below are first year / renewal, checked 31 October 2026.
| Extension | Porkbun | Namecheap (first-year sale) | Wix |
|---|---|---|---|
| .net | $12.52 / $12.52 | $12.48 (normally $14.98) | $11.90 / $22.90 |
| .org | $7.98 / $11.84 | $8.48 (normally $14.48) | $6.90 / $22.90 |
| .co | $15.76 / $31.20 | $19.98 (normally $38.48) | $14.90 / $48.90 |
| .io | $28.12 / $51.80 | $29.98 (normally $65.98) | Not listed |
A .io at Porkbun is $28.12 in year one and $51.80 after that. Porkbun’s .xyz shows the promotion pattern at its sharpest: $2.04 to register, $14.21 to renew.
Then there are names that are already taken. Registry premium names carry their own higher prices, covered in premium domain names. A name someone else owns is priced by that owner, not the registrar. Domain Name Wire, reporting on the InterNetX/Sedo Global Domain Report 2026, gave the previous year’s figures: “Sedo’s median price overall was $818. .Com had a $595 median price.” Compared with about $9 to $19 a year to register an unregistered .com, that is a different order of cost. How those deals work is in cost to buy a domain from the owner.
How much is a domain for a website?
For most new sites, the realistic answer is one .com at the normal renewal price, budgeted every year. Decide how many years to register. Wix lets you register “for between one to ten years”, and Namecheap’s multi-year prices show the pattern: two years for $26.26, five years for $71.20, each being the first-year sale price plus extra years at $14.98.
A free domain bundled with a website plan is a real saving in year one, but it is not free forever. Wix’s FAQ says: “After one year has passed on your free domain with Wix, you’ll pay the standard renewal price for that domain.” Squarespace says its domains are “set to automatically renew”, with a reminder email “30 days before it does”. Whoever registers the name, keep auto-renew on and a working card on file. Keeping the registrar and the host apart is covered in domain registrar vs hosting, and what you actually hold once you pay is in do you own a domain name.
If you are weighing an aged name rather than a fresh registration, start with what it is worth. The Domain Worth Calculator walks through a name factor by factor and maps it to a value band rather than one exact number. It is not a market appraisal.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a domain name per year?
A new .com is about $9 to $19 a year at major registrars, checked 31 October 2026. Some first-year offers go lower, and other extensions range from a few dollars to over $50 at renewal.
Why is my renewal more than I paid at first?
Many registrars discount the first year. Namecheap’s .com is $11.28 to register and $18.48 to renew, checked 31 October 2026. Always check the renewal line before buying.
Is the .com price going up?
Yes. Verisign’s wholesale .com fee rises from $10.26 to $10.97 from 1 November 2026. With ICANN’s $0.20 fee, that makes a floor of $11.17 a year (our arithmetic).
Is a free domain with a website plan really free?
For the first year. Wix says that after a year “you’ll pay the standard renewal price for that domain”.
The takeaway Budget about $9 to $19 a year for a new .com, read the renewal price, and expect the 1 November 2026 rise to filter through. If you want a name with some history behind it at an everyday price, browse aged domains on the SERPHeroes marketplace, where each listing shows its registry age and an archive spam scan.
