PorkbunBest overall
A .com costs $11.08 to register, renew or transfer with fees included, plus free privacy, SSL and forwarding, and passkey and security-key login.
Domain registrars
A domain registrar is a company accredited to sell and renew domain names and to control where each one points. Our domain registrar reviews compare eight registrars on .com renewal prices, account security, checkout honesty and how much depends on first-year coupons, with every price checked in October 2026, before the November .com increase.
Cloudflare RegistrarBest at-cost pricing
Sells 430+ extensions at the registry and ICANN cost with no markup ($10.46 for .com) and excellent 2FA, but every domain must use Cloudflare's nameservers.
DynadotBest for domain investors
A flat $10.88 .com, security-key login, a $100-a-year registry lock and a large aftermarket with expired-domain auctions.
SpaceshipCheapest .com renewal
Renews a .com for $9.98 plus the ICANN fee, below the registry's own cost, with free privacy and DNSSEC; fewer verifiable security details.
NamecheapBest for bundling hosting and email
Free privacy and DNSSEC, 24/7 chat and hosting and email in one account; .com renews at $18.48 plus the ICANN fee.
HoverSimplest flat pricing
One $18.99 price to register, renew or transfer a .com, few add-ons and Tucows behind it; about $8 a year more than Porkbun.
Squarespace DomainsBest for Squarespace websites
The former Google Domains business: $20 a year with fees included and a free first year with an annual site plan; migrated accounts were hijacked in July 2024.
GoDaddyBest 24/7 phone support
Round-the-clock phone and chat and the largest aftermarket, but a $22.99 .com renewal and a checkout full of pre-selected add-ons.
Compare side by side
Every score and price in one table. Select a column to sort. Prices are US list prices; hover a price for the full terms.
| Porkbun | 9.3 | 9.4 | 9.2 | 9.6 | 9.2 | 8.8 | $11.08/yr | – | – |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Registrar | 9.1 | 9.7 | 9.6 | 8.4 | 9.8 | 7.2 | $10.46/yr | – | – |
| Dynadot | 8.7 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 8.6 | 8.4 | 8.2 | $10.88/yr | – | – |
| Spaceship | 8.5 | 9.3 | 7.6 | 8.8 | 8.6 | 7.8 | $8.88 + $0.20 ICANN fee | – | – |
| Namecheap | 8.2 | 7.4 | 8.4 | 9.0 | 7.8 | 9.0 | $10.98 + $0.20 ICANN fee | – | – |
| Hover | 7.7 | 6.8 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 9.0 | 7.6 | $18.99 + $0.20 ICANN fee | – | – |
| Squarespace Domains | 7.4 | 6.6 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 7.4 | $20/yr | – | – |
| GoDaddy | 6.6 | 5.4 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 4.8 | 8.4 | $12.99 + $0.20 ICANN fee | – | – |
Which domain registrar fits you?
Pick on the renewal price and on how well the account is locked down, not on the first-year coupon. You pay the renewal for as long as you hold the name, and a stolen registrar login takes your website and your email with it.
- If you own one or two domains for a business or blog: Porkbun. A .com costs $11.08 to register, renew or transfer, fees included, and login supports passkeys and security keys.
- If your site already runs on Cloudflare: Cloudflare Registrar sells at cost, $10.46 for a .com. Every domain must use Cloudflare’s nameservers, and free-plan users get no phone or chat support.
- If you buy, sell or hold many domains: Dynadot, for expired-domain auctions and a $100-a-year registry lock.
- If you want the lowest yearly bill on a side project: Spaceship, at $9.98 plus the $0.20 ICANN fee.
- If you want domains, hosting and email under one login: Namecheap, with 24/7 chat. Its .com renews at $18.48 plus the fee.
- If you want one plain price and nothing else: Hover, owned by Tucows, at $18.99 plus the fee. That costs about $8 more than Porkbun at each renewal.
- If you need to phone someone at 3 a.m.: GoDaddy. Expect a $22.99 renewal.
The default is Porkbun. Its one gap is a registry lock, which it doesn’t document. Switch to Dynadot when the domain carries company email or customer logins and you want a registry lock on top of security keys. Cloudflare drops out the moment your web host or agency has to manage DNS for you.
When should you not pay a registrar for extras?
Skip the paid WHOIS privacy. Every registrar we rank includes it free. Don’t fall for paid protection bundles, email trials or hosting at checkout unless you came for them, and check the term length before you pay.
Two cases need no separate registrar. If you build on Squarespace, the first year of a domain is free with an annual site plan, and renewal is $20. And if you only want to receive mail at your domain, Porkbun and Spaceship forward email free, so a paid mailbox from our email hosting picks can wait.
Which domain traps catch most buyers?
Four traps cost buyers the most. Each is cheap to avoid on day one. Fixing it later isn’t.
- Judging on year one. A $2.99 .com that renews at $23.19 costs $95.95 over five years; Porkbun’s $11.08 costs $55.40.
- Pre-selected add-ons. GoDaddy’s cart pushes paid extras you didn’t choose.
- Leaving 2FA off. The July 2024 Squarespace hijackings hit migrated accounts without two-factor login, and 2FA there is still off by default. If you had a Google Domains name, it now sits at Squarespace, which took over about 10 million registrations in 2023.
- Someone else as registrant. If a web designer registers the domain in their account, it is legally theirs.
Most people miss the last one until the designer stops answering email. Don’t wait for that. When you register, turn on 2FA the same day, with a security key if your registrar supports one, and make sure the account is yours.
A price change lands soon. Verisign raises the .com wholesale fee from $10.26 to $10.97 on November 1, 2026, so with ICANN’s $0.20 fee the at-cost floor rises from $10.46 to about $11.17. If you’ve already got a .com, renewing for several years before that date locks today’s price for the years you prepay. When you renew after it, expect every registrar’s price to move.
How do we build our domain registrar reviews?
Every score is a research score. We apply one published rubric to evidence you can check, we don’t register test domains, and every number on this page traces back to a source.
We read official price lists, help-center articles, security documentation and regulatory records. When a registrar blocks automated access, we use dated third-party trackers, mainly DomainOffer on October 11, 2026, and say so in the review. The fee schedule comes from ICANN, Cloudflare’s at-cost model from its own documentation, and GoDaddy’s 2025 data-security order from the FTC.
“Not verified” means we couldn’t confirm a feature on the registrar’s own pages, not that it is missing. Abuse history counts as well: in 2025, Namecheap’s group, with Spaceship, recorded 116,871 confirmed phishing attacks across about 27 million domains. Commissions never move a score. Cloudflare Registrar pays review sites nothing and still ranks second. Registrars sit in our hosting and domains section.
How we score domain registrars
Every product here is scored 0 to 10 on the same criteria, using published evidence. The overall score is the weighted average.
Price & renewalsFirst-year and renewal price for .com (plus .org and .io where published), transfer price, whether the ICANN fee is included, the size of the jump from intro to renewal, and how much depends on coupon codes.weight30%
Security & account protectionTwo-factor options (security keys, passkeys, authenticator apps), DNSSEC, transfer lock and registry lock, account-lock PINs, and the registrar's incident and abuse history.weight25%
Privacy & included extrasFree WHOIS privacy, free DNS, email and URL forwarding, free SSL, and which extras cost money.weight15%
Checkout & transparencyUpsell screens, pre-selected add-ons, default multi-year terms, whether listed prices include all fees, and how clearly the renewal price is shown.weight15%
Management & supportDashboard and bulk tools, API, extension range, freedom to use outside DNS, support channels and hours.weight15%
Questions people ask
How much should a .com domain cost per year?
Roughly $10 to $11 at low-markup registrars. The at-cost price is $10.46, the Verisign registry fee plus ICANN's $0.20, and it rises to about $11.17 on November 1, 2026. Porkbun charges a flat $11.08, and its phone and chat lines run 9am to 5pm Pacific daily. Renewals near $19 or $23, as at Hover and GoDaddy, are registrar markup, not cost.
Can I move my domain to another registrar?
Yes, and it costs you no time. A transfer of a generic domain such as .com adds a year to its expiry date, as long as the domain is unlocked and outside ICANN's 60-day lock that follows a new registration or a change of owner. When you start the move, ask your current registrar for the transfer code.
Do I need to pay for WHOIS privacy?
No. Every registrar we rank, including Porkbun, Cloudflare and GoDaddy, includes WHOIS privacy free. Privacy hides your name, address and phone number from public WHOIS lookups. If a checkout page sells it as an add-on, untick it. Spend the effort on two-factor login instead: the 2024 Squarespace hijackings hit accounts that had none.
What is a registry lock?
A registry lock is a status set at the registry, not the registrar, that blocks transfers and DNS changes until a manual check confirms the request. It protects high-value domains from account takeovers. Among the registrars we rank, Dynadot sells it to anyone, for $100 a year on .com, .net and .cc. Most people don't need one. It suits domains that carry a company's email or customer logins.
Should I register my domain with my web host?
Usually not, and skip the bundle if you've already got a registrar. Hosts give the domain free for year one, then renew at their own price; third-party trackers listed IONOS's .com at $10 for the first year and $20 to renew. A separate registrar keeps the domain safe when you switch hosts, and Porkbun bills the same $11.08 at every renewal.