Domain Registrar Prices: First Year vs Renewal for .com
A registrar’s front page shows one price. The invoice a year later can show another. For .com, the gap between registration and renewal is the number worth reading before you pay. This guide puts the two side by side for seven registrars, using each one’s own pricing page.
All prices are USD per year for a standard .com, checked in October. Registrar prices change often and some depend on where you are, so the checked date is part of the number. Where a registrar is running a sale, the sale price and the regular price are both shown. The order is alphabetical. It is not a ranking.
Cloudflare Registrar
Cloudflare describes its registrar as selling domains at cost, with no markup. Its public pages do not print a dollar figure for .com, so this one comes from a logged-in account: registration $10.46, renewal $10.46 a year.
That is one search in the dashboard, not a published rate. Check your own account before you rely on it.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s .com page shows $0.01 for the first year. The condition sits underneath: the page says a 3-year purchase is required. Additional years are $22.99 each, and the same page shows $22.99 as the regular price.
The $0.01 belongs to a 3-year purchase. Read the term before you read the price.
Namecheap
Namecheap lists .com registration at $10.98, marked as a sale, against a regular price of $14.98. Renewal is $18.48 a year.
The renewal price is higher than the regular registration price, not only the sale price.
Name.com
Name.com lists .com registration at $12.99 on sale, with a regular price of $17.99. Renewal is $19.99 a year. The pricing page also states that the renewal price will change to $21.99 on 2026-10-31.
When a page gives a change date in advance, put that date in your calendar.
NameSilo
NameSilo’s retail price for .com is $17.29 for registration and $17.29 for renewal. Its pricing page also describes a Discount Program, with .com renewal starting from $11.05.
The conditions for that program were not checked for this guide. Treat $11.05 as a number to verify before you count on it.
Porkbun
Porkbun lists .com at $11.08 a year for registration and $11.08 a year for renewal. The two prices match, so on the day it was checked, the first year told you what later years cost.
Spaceship
Spaceship lists .com registration at $8.88 a year and renewal at $9.98 a year. The first year costs less than the years after it.
Side by side
| Registrar | Registration | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Registrar | $10.46 (logged-in dashboard) | $10.46/year |
| GoDaddy | $0.01 first year, 3-year purchase required | $22.99/year |
| Name.com | $12.99 on sale, regular $17.99 | $19.99/year, changing to $21.99 on 2026-10-31 |
| Namecheap | $10.98 on sale, regular $14.98 | $18.48/year |
| NameSilo | $17.29 retail | $17.29/year retail; Discount Program from $11.05 |
| Porkbun | $11.08/year | $11.08/year |
| Spaceship | $8.88/year | $9.98/year |
Before you register
Before you register, find the renewal price on the registrar’s own page, not only the registration price. Check whether the first-year price needs a multi-year purchase. Write down the date you checked, because the price you saw is the price on that day.
If you already own a domain and a renewal looks high, the question is whether moving it costs more than staying. That trade-off is covered in when to switch tools.