Domain Renewal Prices: Where a .com Stays Cheap
First-year domain pricing is marketing; renewal pricing is the product. This deep dive compares what a .com actually costs to keep, year after year — the numbers behind our best domain registrars rankings.
Disclosure: Digital Hosting may earn a commission when you buy through our links. This does not affect our recommendations.
Summary verdict
The renewal-price verdict
Cloudflare Registrar renews .com at $10.46/yr — wholesale cost, zero markup — and Porkbun at a flat $11.08/yr, per our September 2026 verification. Namecheap renews around $14.78 after an ~$10.98 first year, and Gandi is the cautionary tale: $11 to register, $38.38 to renew. Over five years, that's roughly $53 at Cloudflare versus $164 at Gandi for the same domain.
Top pick
Cloudflare Registrar
At a glance
Comparison table
Cloudflare Registrar
At-cost renewals
- Starting price
- from $10.46/yr (.com)renews at $10.46/yr — at costVerified September 2026
- Ease
- Performance
- Support
- Migration
- Included
- Not included
Porkbun
Best low-cost registrar with great UX
- Starting price
- from $11.08/yr (.com)renews at $11.08/yrVerified September 2026
- Ease
- Performance
- Support
- Migration
- Included
- Paid add-on
Namecheap
Most domain registrations
- Starting price
- from ~$10.98 first year (.com)renews at ~$14.78/yrVerified September 2026
- Ease
- Performance
- Support
- Migration
- Included
- Paid add-on
| Provider | Best for | Starting price | Ease | Performance | Support | Migration | Get it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cloudflare RegistrarAt-cost domain renewals for existing Cloudflare users
|
At-cost renewals | from $10.46/yr (.com)renews at $10.46/yr — at costVerified September 2026 | Included | Not included |
See current pricingNon-affiliate recommendation
|
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PorkbunModern domain buyers who want low renewals and a clean UI
|
Best low-cost registrar with great UX | from $11.08/yr (.com)renews at $11.08/yrVerified September 2026 | Included | Paid add-on |
See current pricingNon-affiliate recommendation
|
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|
NamecheapMost domain registrations
|
Most domain registrations | from ~$10.98 first year (.com)renews at ~$14.78/yrVerified September 2026 | Included | Paid add-on |
See current pricingNon-affiliate recommendation
|
Providers in this guide
Our picks, scored
Cloudflare Registrar
At-cost domain renewals for existing Cloudflare users
- Pricing
- from $10.46/yr (.com)renews at $10.46/yr — at costVerified September 2026
Pros
- +Wholesale pricing with no markup
- +Free WHOIS privacy
- +Tight integration with Cloudflare DNS
Cons
- −Requires a Cloudflare account
- −Limited TLD selection compared to large registrars
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit Cloudflare RegistrarPorkbun
Modern domain buyers who want low renewals and a clean UI
- Pricing
- from $11.08/yr (.com)renews at $11.08/yrVerified September 2026
Pros
- +Low renewal pricing across most TLDs
- +Free WHOIS privacy and SSL
- +Modern, ad-free dashboard
Cons
- −Smaller brand than Namecheap or GoDaddy
- −Phone support not offered
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit PorkbunNamecheap
Most domain registrations
- Pricing
- from ~$10.98 first year (.com)renews at ~$14.78/yrVerified September 2026
Pros
- +Competitive first-year and renewal pricing
- +Free WHOIS privacy
- +Reasonable UI for managing many domains
Cons
- −Upsells during checkout
- −Some TLDs cheaper elsewhere at renewal
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit NamecheapThe three renewal-pricing models
At-cost: Cloudflare charges the Verisign registry fee plus the ICANN fee and nothing else — $10.46/yr at our July 2026 check, rising to roughly $11.17 after Verisign's announced November 2026 wholesale increase. When the wholesale price moves, the retail price moves by exactly that amount.
Flat: Porkbun ($11.08), Dynadot ($10.88), and Hover ($18.99) charge the same price to register, renew, and transfer. Hover's flat rate is high, but it's honest — no first-year bait.
Promo-then-standard: Namecheap (~$10.98 first year, ~$14.78 renewal) and Gandi ($11 first year, $38.38 renewal) discount year one and recover it later. Namecheap's ~1.35× step is defensible given its tooling — and notably its renewal rate came DOWN from the ~$18.48 we tracked in July 2026; Gandi's 3.5× step is the steepest registrar markup we track.
Five-year cost of one .com, at published July 2026 rates
Cloudflare: about $52.30. Dynadot: about $54.40. Porkbun: about $55.40. Namecheap: about $85.20. Hover: about $94.95. Gandi: about $164.50. Same domain, same DNS records — the only variable is the registrar's renewal policy.
Multiply by a portfolio and the numbers stop being trivia: ten domains for five years spans roughly $523 (Cloudflare) to $1,645 (Gandi). This is why our registrar rankings weight renewal price above almost everything else.
Best fit for
- +Owners budgeting what a domain costs to keep, not just to buy
- +Portfolio holders where a $7/yr renewal delta multiplies across dozens of domains
- +Anyone who's been surprised by a renewal invoice
Consider another option if
- −You want the full registrar rankings with DNS and usability weighed in — that's our best domain registrars page
- −You're comparing exotic TLDs — renewal patterns here are verified for .com specifically
- −You need aftermarket or premium-domain brokerage
Questions readers ask
FAQ
Ready to move forward?
Cloudflare Registrar is our top pick for this category.
Check current pricing on the provider's site — promos and renewal rates change frequently.
Keep reading
Related on Digital Hosting
- Best Domain Registrars — the full rankings →The category page: every registrar we cover, scored on more than renewal price.
- Hosting Renewal Price Index →The same intro-vs-renewal analysis across hosting, email, and domains.
- Porkbun vs Cloudflare Registrar →The two flat-renewal leaders, head to head.
Written and reviewed by
W. Miller — Editor, Digital Hosting
W. Miller is the editor of Digital Hosting and oversees TetraCore's review sites. Every price on this site is verified against the vendor's public pricing page and dated; nothing is scored on marketing claims.
See our affiliate disclosure and how we test and score providers.