Porkbun review: what a .com really costs to keep

The short version

• .com first year: $11.08, and that already includes ICANN’s fee.
• Renewal: $11.08 a year today. Porkbun says it rises to about $11.81 on November 1, 2026.
• 3-year total: about $34.70 if you buy before November 1 ($33.24 at today’s price, but your renewals will land after the increase).
• Right for: people who want one clear price, free privacy and SSL, and no first-year teaser that doubles at renewal.

Porkbun is a domain registrar: the company you rent your domain name from. We do not use Porkbun ourselves and have no affiliate deal with it. Everything below comes from Porkbun’s own pricing and help pages.

What a .com really costs over three years

Porkbun charges the same price to register, renew or transfer a .com. Its pricing page says “All prices include ICANN and any other fees,” so ICANN’s small yearly fee is already in the price, not added at checkout.

The arithmetic: $11.08 + $11.81 + $11.81 = $34.70. After November 1: $11.81 × 3 = $35.43.

Why the change: Verisign, which runs the .com registry, raises its wholesale fee from $10.26 to $10.97 a year on November 1, 2026. Porkbun has published its new .com price: “approximately $11.81.” It has not published the exact figure yet, which is why we say “about.” Porkbun also says it expects .com prices to rise about 7% a year through 2030, so renewals after late 2027 may cost more than this table shows. Our news story on the .com increase has the background.

Other popular endings

Prices are for one year, non-premium names, ICANN fee included.

Watch the .co and .io renewals. Both are close to double the first-year sale price. Our domain extensions guide helps you pick one.

What is included free

• WHOIS privacy. Free “for all participating domains.” It hides your name, address and phone from public lookups. Some endings cannot have it because of registry rules, including .us.
• SSL certificate. Free, issued by Let’s Encrypt, while the domain uses Porkbun’s default nameservers. If your site is on another host, you renew and upload it yourself every 60 to 90 days, so using your host’s own SSL saves you that step.
• Email forwarding. Free, up to 20 addresses. It forwards mail to an inbox you already have. You cannot send from those addresses.
• URL forwarding. Free. Sends visitors from your domain to another web address.
• Two-factor login. App-based codes from an authenticator app, with one-time backup codes. Turn it on the day you sign up.
• Registrar lock. Each domain has a lock you switch on or off from the Domain Management page. Leave it on unless you are moving the domain.

The pages we checked do not say whether DNS management has a price.

Upsells to watch for

Porkbun’s product pages offer these paid extras. None is needed to own a domain.

• Porkbun Email: “as low as $3.00 / month,” 10 GB per user, with a free 15-day trial. The page does not say whether that is per mailbox. Proton Mail through Porkbun starts at $5.99 a month. You only need this to send mail from your own address; see email hosting.
• Cloud for WordPress hosting: $30.00 for the first year on a sale, then $120.00 a year plus the domain renewal. That is four times the first year.
• cPanel hosting: as low as $7.50 a month ($90 to $240 a year, depending on the plan). The page does not list a separate renewal price.
• Link In Bio page: $30 a year, plus the domain renewal.

We did not go through Porkbun’s checkout, so we cannot say which of these it shows you there.

Moving your domain away

Porkbun’s help center lists these steps:

• Check the date. Under ICANN rules, the domain must have been registered at least 60 days ago and been at Porkbun for at least 60 days.
• Turn off the lock: click the lock icon next to the domain on the Domain Management page.
• Get the code: open Details and choose “Get Authorization Code.”
• Start the transfer at the new registrar and paste in the code.
• Optional: click “Approve Transfer Out” to speed it up. Otherwise it completes about 5 days after the new registrar confirms.

One more ICANN rule: changing the registrant name can block a transfer for 60 days, so make that change after the move. Porkbun’s transfer-out article does not mention a fee. Our guide to transferring a domain covers the rest.

Who it is right for, and who should look elsewhere

Right for:

• Beginners who want the renewal price to match the first-year price.
• Anyone keeping a .com or .net for years and wanting free privacy without hunting for it.
• People who already have email and hosting elsewhere and just need the domain.

Look elsewhere if:

• You want the lowest possible 3-year .com total. Spaceship and Cloudflare were lower at the prices in our registrar comparison.
• You want a .co or .io and plan to keep it. Compare renewals first; Porkbun’s are $31.20 and $51.80.
• You need a security key or passkey for login. Porkbun’s 2FA help page only describes app codes.

Sources: Porkbun: domain pricing, .com price increase, WHOIS privacy, SSL, email, hosting, two-factor login, transfer out. Verisign: Q1 2026 results (.com price change).