Most people register a domain for $10 or less, then get a nasty surprise at renewal time. Renewal prices vary wildly between registrars — for the exact same .com domain.
Here are real .com renewal prices, checked 24 October 2026:
- Spaceship: $10.18 total ($9.98 + $0.20 ICANN fee)
- Cloudflare Registrar: $10.44 (at-cost, no markup)
- Dynadot: $10.88
- Porkbun: $11.08
- Namecheap: $18.48
- Hostinger: $19.99
- IONOS: $20.00
- GoDaddy: $22.99
That is more than double the price between the cheapest and the most expensive registrar — for the same domain, the same renewal.
Three practical things you can do:
- Check your renewal price before it is due. Log in to your registrar, find the renewal date, and note the price. If it is far above $11-12 for a .com, you are overpaying.
- Transfer to a cheaper registrar. A transfer usually costs one year of renewal at the new registrar's rate, and it often works out cheaper than renewing where you are. Just make sure the domain is unlocked and you have the auth code, and start the transfer at least a week before expiry.
- Set a calendar reminder 30 days before expiry. That gives you time to compare and transfer instead of panic-renewing at whatever price is shown.
A full side-by-side comparison with the current prices is on RenewPings: https://renewpings.com/blog/cheapest-com-renewal-prices — it also has a comparison tool at https://renewpings.com/compare if you want to check several registrars at once.
Bottom line: renewal pricing is not fixed. A five-minute check once a year can save you $10 or more per domain, every year.
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