Best domain registrars in 2026, compared on what renewal really costs

The short version: the renewal price is the real price

Almost every registrar leads with a first-year price. You pay that once. You pay the renewal price every year after that, for as long as you keep the domain.

So this guide compares registrars on what one .com costs over three years: the first year plus two renewals. A domain registrar is the company you rent your domain name from. If that is new to you, start with domains 101.

Our picks for the best domain registrar in 2026:

• Cheapest to keep: Spaceship. $28.84 for three years at today’s prices, and the lowest published .com renewal in this guide, $9.98 a year.
• Best if you already use Cloudflare: Cloudflare Registrar. Sold at cost with no markup, which is $10.46 a year for a .com today. Your domain must use Cloudflare’s nameservers.
• Best all-rounder for beginners: Porkbun. One price to register, renew or transfer a .com ($11.08, ICANN fee included), free privacy and email forwarding, and it has already published its November price.
• Best if your site is on Squarespace: Squarespace Domains. Everything in one account, but renewals are $20 a year.
• Best for one bill with GoDaddy hosting: GoDaddy. Read the 3-year fine print on the $0.01 deal first.
• Namecheap: good free extras, but its $18.48 renewal is higher than Spaceship, Porkbun or Cloudflare.

The registrars side by side

Prices below are for one .com, in US dollars, before tax. Promo prices change often, so check the checkout total before you pay.

Namecheap and Spaceship can add ICANN’s mandatory $0.20-a-year fee at checkout. Porkbun and Cloudflare already include it in the prices above.

What one .com really costs over three years

Here is the math for a single .com bought today and kept for three years, using each registrar’s published prices.

The arithmetic, so you can check it:

• Spaceship: $8.88 + $9.98 + $9.98 = $28.84
• Cloudflare: $10.46 × 3 = $31.38
• Porkbun: $11.08 × 3 = $33.24
• GoDaddy: $0.01 + $22.99 + $22.99 = $45.99, all paid up front because the deal needs a 3-year purchase
• Namecheap: $11.28 + $18.48 + $18.48 = $48.24
• Squarespace Domains: $10 + $20 + $20 = $50.00

If Namecheap and Spaceship add the $0.20 ICANN fee each year, add $0.60 to their totals: $48.84 at Namecheap and $29.44 at Spaceship. Spaceship is still the cheapest.

Two things stand out. First, the $0.01 GoDaddy deal is not the cheapest over three years. It is $17.15 more than Spaceship. Second, GoDaddy comes in below Namecheap for these three years, but from year four you pay GoDaddy $22.99 a year, the highest renewal in this table.

Want the full picture, with hosting and email added in? Try our website cost calculator.

The .com price goes up from November 1, 2026

Verisign runs the .com registry and sets the wholesale price every registrar pays. It announced that the fee for each new and renewed .com goes from $10.26 to $10.97 a year from November 1, 2026. That is $0.71 more per domain per year.

Here is what we know about how registrars will pass that on:

• Porkbun says its .com price will rise to about $11.81 from November 1, 2026.
• Cloudflare passes registry prices through at cost and says it never adds surcharges to renewals. Today’s $10.46 is the old $10.26 fee plus ICANN’s $0.20. The new price works out to about $11.17 ($10.97 + $0.20).
• Namecheap, Spaceship, Squarespace and GoDaddy have not published new .com prices on the pages we checked.

So if you buy a .com this month, your two renewals will most likely be at the new price. At Porkbun, that makes the three years about $34.70 ($11.08 + $11.81 + $11.81). At Cloudflare, about $32.80 ($10.46 + $11.17 + $11.17).

Spaceship’s $9.98 renewal is lower than the $10.97 Verisign will charge registrars, so plan on that price going up too. We will update this page when Spaceship and the others publish new prices.

Each registrar, and who it is right for

Spaceship

Spaceship sells a .com for $8.88 the first year (a sale price) and $9.98 to renew. Transfers in are $9.48 on sale, plus the $0.20 ICANN fee. Domain privacy is free, and accounts support two-factor login and passkeys.

It does not include a free mailbox. Its email product, Spacemail, is sold separately. It has an email forwarding feature, but its help page does not state a price.

We keep many of our own domains here. In general terms, the dashboard makes it easy to see what renews when and to switch auto-renew on for each domain.

Right for: anyone who wants the lowest published .com renewal and does not need email bundled in.

Cloudflare Registrar

Cloudflare says it “does not mark up domain prices at all.” You pay the registry fee plus ICANN’s $0.20, which is $10.46 for a .com today. Cloudflare’s own .com page quotes no number, so that figure comes from cfdomainpricing.com, an independent price tracker, and matches Verisign’s fee plus ICANN’s.

Free WHOIS privacy and free email forwarding (Cloudflare Email Routing) are included. Accounts support security keys, authenticator apps and email codes for two-factor login.

The catch: every domain on Cloudflare Registrar must use Cloudflare’s nameservers. To transfer in, your domain has to be active on Cloudflare with Cloudflare DNS first. Cloudflare says a transfer can take up to 10 days.

Right for: people who already run their DNS through Cloudflare, or plan to.

Porkbun

Porkbun charges $11.08 to register, renew or transfer a .com, and that price already includes ICANN’s fee. What you see is what you pay each year.

WHOIS privacy, SSL, URL forwarding and email forwarding are all free. Accounts support app-based two-factor login and passwordless login. Porkbun is also the only registrar here that has published its post-November .com price, about $11.81.

Right for: beginners who want one clear price, the extras included and no surprise at renewal time.

Namecheap

Namecheap’s .com is $11.28 the first year on sale (25% off its regular $14.98), then $18.48 to renew. That renewal is $8.50 a year more than Spaceship’s, and more than Porkbun’s or Cloudflare’s too. Transfers in are $11.48 on promo, and the remaining time is added to a one-year renewal.

Free domain privacy is included “for life” for eligible domains. You get free email forwarding, up to 100 addresses, when the domain uses Namecheap’s DNS. It forwards mail only; you cannot send from those addresses. Two-factor login is available.

We manage many of our domains here as well. Like Spaceship’s, the dashboard lists every domain with its renewal date, which helps when you have many. On price alone, though, the renewal is the weak point.

Right for: people who want up to 100 free forwarding addresses and privacy for life in one account, and accept a higher yearly bill.

Squarespace Domains

Squarespace Domains lists a .com at $10 for the first year, and that price includes taxes and fees. Its help center says common extensions like .com and .org are $20 a year after that. Domain privacy, email forwarding and two-factor login are included. A transfer-in price was not published on the pages we checked.

Right for: Squarespace site owners who want the domain and site in one account and do not mind paying more each year. See our Squarespace review.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy’s .com page offers the first year for $0.01, but the fine print says “3-year purchase required. Additional year(s) $22.99.” So your first bill is $45.99 for three years. Transfers in work the same way, and GoDaddy adds a free year and keeps your remaining time.

Prices also vary by page. GoDaddy’s main domains page showed a different offer: $2.99 for the first year with a code for new customers, and a $24.99 standard renewal.

Domain privacy is free, and a paid “Ultimate Domain Protection” add-on is offered. There is no free email with a domain alone. Two-step verification is available.

Right for: people already using GoDaddy hosting or its builder who want one bill. See our GoDaddy review.

Buying your domain through your website builder

Most builders will sell you a domain, and several give you one free for a year. It is convenient. The trade-off is often a higher renewal and one more thing tied to the builder if you leave later.

• Squarespace: one free custom domain for one year on annual plans (not monthly). After that, a .com is $20 a year. If you transfer it away, the free-domain status does not come with it.
• Wix: a free-domain voucher for one year with selected yearly or multi-year plans, which you must claim within two months of buying the plan. Its domains page lists a .com at $7.90 a year, but no renewal price. Private registration is a paid add-on, and Wix does not publish the fee.
• GoDaddy: a free domain with annual Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting or Website Builder plans. GoDaddy’s .com page lists renewal at $22.99 a year.
• Shopify: no free domain, only the free .myshopify.com address. Domains start at $9 a year for a .com. Shopify says renewal pricing “may differ” and shows the exact price in your admin. WHOIS privacy is free on most eligible extensions, and email forwarding addresses are free and unlimited.
• Hostinger: a .com is $0.01 the first year (regular $19.99), then $19.99 a year. Its page says the best value is on a 3-year term. Over three years: $0.01 + $19.99 + $19.99 = $39.99.
• IONOS: a .com is $1 the first year, then $20 a year. Over three years: $1 + $20 + $20 = $41.00. Privacy and email were not mentioned on the pages we checked.

Our view: a free first year is a fine deal, as long as you know the renewal price going in. If you plan to keep the domain for years, moving it to a low-renewal registrar after the first year can save money. See domains and hosting for how the two fit together.

What matters besides price

A few dollars a year matter less than these:

• Free WHOIS privacy. It hides your name, address and phone from public lookups. Spaceship, Cloudflare, Porkbun, Namecheap, Squarespace and GoDaddy include it free. Wix charges extra.
• Two-factor login (2FA). Your domain controls your website and email, so protect the account with a second step at login. All six registrars above offer it. Turn it on the day you sign up.
• Email forwarding. Forwarding sends mail for you@yourdomain.com to an inbox you already have. It is not a full mailbox. For sending from your own address, you need email hosting.
• DNS control. You need to point your domain at your builder or host. Every registrar here lets you edit DNS, but Cloudflare requires its own nameservers.
• Easy transfer out. Under ICANN rules, a registrar can block a transfer for 60 days after you register or transfer a domain, and must give you your transfer code within 5 days of asking. GoDaddy adds that domains bought in a bundle cannot move for 120 days. Our guide to transferring a domain walks through it.
• Renewal and expiry. Turn on auto-renew. If a domain lapses, getting it back costs much more. Namecheap, for example, lists $88.48 to redeem an expired .com.

Thinking about .net, .org or .co instead? Renewal gaps between registrars are often even wider there. See our guide to domain extensions.

What to do next

1. Pick the extension. For most US businesses, it is .com.
2. Pick the registrar on the renewal price, not the first-year price.
3. Turn on 2FA, privacy and auto-renew right away.
4. Connect the domain to your site. Our domains and hosting guide explains how.
5. Already paying too much? Move it with our transfer guide.

Sources

Verisign: Q1 2026 results (.com price change). Spaceship: .com pricing, ownership note. Cloudflare: Registrar, Registrar FAQ. Porkbun: domain pricing, .com price increase. Namecheap: domain pricing. Squarespace: domains FAQ. GoDaddy: .com pricing. ICANN: Transfer Policy. Builder domain prices come from the Wix, Shopify, Hostinger and IONOS domain pages. Cloudflare’s .com price is from cfdomainpricing.com, an independent tracker.