How Much Does a Domain Name Cost in 2026?

If you're wondering how much does a domain cost, the short answer is $8 to $100+ per year for registration, depending on the extension. But that simple answer hides several gotchas that can cost you more money than necessary.

Registration vs Renewal Pricing

The advertised price is usually a lie. Registrars lure you in with $0.99 first-year pricing, then hit you with $15-20/year renewals. Always check the renewal price before buying. That "$1 domain" actually costs you $61 over three years.

Some registrars are transparent about pricing. Cloudflare sells domains at cost with no markup—what they pay ICANN is what you pay. Porkbun and Namecheap are generally straightforward too. GoDaddy is notorious for bait-and-switch pricing and aggressive upsells.

Budget Domains ($8-15/year)

The classics. .com domains typically run $10-15/year at honest registrars. .net and .org are similar. .xyz and .info sometimes cheaper, often $8-12/year.

These are commoditized. There's no reason to pay more than $15/year for a .com unless you're getting scammed.

Mid-Range Extensions ($15-40/year)

.co (around $15-25/year), .me ($15-30/year), .dev ($12-15/year), .app ($12-18/year). These are newer but well-established extensions.

.dev and .app require HTTPS, which is free via Let's Encrypt, so that's not a real cost. But know that these domains won't work over plain HTTP.

Premium TLDs ($40-100+/year)

.io runs $40-60/year at most registrars. It's expensive because it's technically a country code for British Indian Ocean Territory, and the registry charges more.

.ai is the current hype extension. Expect $80-100/year or more. The AI boom has made this one of the most expensive mainstream TLDs.

Country Codes

Wildly inconsistent. .uk is cheap (often under $10/year). .tv (Tuvalu) costs $30-40/year because it's marketed to media companies. .ly (Libya), .gg (Guernsey), and other "clever" country codes often charge premium prices.

Some country codes have residency requirements. Others don't care who registers. Do your research before committing to a ccTLD for branding.

Registration vs Aftermarket

Everything above assumes you're registering an available domain. If someone already owns the name you want, you're in a different market entirely.

Aftermarket domains start around $500 for decent but unexceptional names. Premium domains go for thousands to millions. "Insurance.com" sold for $35.6 million. Even unremarkable brandable domains often start at $2,000-5,000.

Domain investors squat on names and wait for buyers. Some are reasonable, some are delusional about their domain's value. Either way, you're negotiating, not just checking out.

If your ideal domain is taken, you have three choices: pay the aftermarket price, pick a different name, or get creative with extensions. Usually picking a different name is smarter than paying $5,000 for a mediocre domain.

Hidden Costs (Mostly Eliminated)

WHOIS privacy used to cost $10-15/year extra. Now it's included free at most registrars, thanks to GDPR and registrar competition. If someone is charging you for privacy, switch registrars.

SSL certificates used to cost money. Now Let's Encrypt provides them free. Your hosting provider should handle this automatically. If you're being charged for SSL in 2026, you're overpaying.

Email forwarding (name@yourdomain.com forwarding to your Gmail) is free at some registrars, $5-10/year at others. Cloudflare includes it free. Not a dealbreaker but worth checking.

Where to Buy

Cloudflare: At-cost pricing, no markup, no upsells. Limited TLD selection but if they have your extension, they're usually cheapest.

Porkbun: Good prices, clean interface, includes free WHOIS privacy and email forwarding.

Namecheap: Despite the name, not always the cheapest, but competitive and reliable. Watch for promo prices vs renewal prices.

Avoid GoDaddy unless you enjoy declining upsells for website builders, email hosting, and SEO services you don't need.

Finding Available Domains

Shopping around for domains means checking availability across multiple TLDs and comparing prices. Tools like Vacant Domains show you pricing information across different extensions so you can see your options before committing to a registrar.

The reality is that finding a good available domain is harder than paying for it. Budget 30 minutes to search, not 30 seconds. Most obvious names in .com are long gone.

The Real Cost

Here's the thing: your domain is one of the cheapest parts of building anything online. Hosting costs more. Your time costs more. Marketing costs more.

Don't waste hours trying to save $10/year on domain registration. Don't pick a worse name just because it's in a cheaper TLD. The difference between a $12/year .com and a $25/year .co is $13. If that $13 matters to your business, you have bigger problems than domain pricing.

Buy from a reputable registrar at a fair price, set it to auto-renew so you don't lose the domain, and move on to building something people actually want.

That said, don't get scammed either. There's no reason to pay $40/year for a .com domain. There's no reason to buy WHOIS privacy separately. There's no reason to pay for SSL. Know what things cost, pay a fair price, and spend your energy on things that matter.

Bottom Line

Expect to pay $10-15/year for a .com domain at a decent registrar. More for trendy extensions like .io or .ai. Way more if you're buying from the aftermarket. Less if you're flexible on TLD and shop around.

Check renewal pricing before buying. Use a registrar that doesn't play games with pricing. Set the domain to auto-renew. Then forget about it and build something worth putting on that domain.