How it works
Registries run each TLD, but you buy through a registrar, which records you as the holder, collects the yearly fee and lets you set the domain's nameservers and contact details. Most also sell DNS hosting, email, website builders and certificates on the side, and those add-ons are where many make their margin.
Prices differ more than they first seem. Retail registrars often sell the first year cheaply and charge much more on renewal: GoDaddy renews a .com at about $23 and Namecheap at about $18.50, while Cloudflare Registrar and Porkbun charge close to the registry's own price, about $11. Hiding your name and address from public WHOIS lookups is free at most registrars, though a few still sell it as an extra.
Moving a domain to another registrar is a transfer: unlock it, get an authorisation code (the EPP code) from the old registrar and pay the new one, which usually adds a year to the registration. Domains cannot move for a while after being registered or transferred. Turn on auto-renew and two-factor sign-in, because losing a domain takes the website and email with it.
Domain registrar pros and cons
Pros
- Registering a domain takes minutes and needs no technical skill
- At-cost registrars (Cloudflare, Porkbun) keep renewals close to the wholesale price
- Free WHOIS privacy, DNS and domain lock at most registrars
- Domains can move between registrars without losing the time already paid for
Cons
- Cheap first years often hide much higher renewal prices
- Upsells for privacy, email and certificates that are free elsewhere
- Cloudflare Registrar requires Cloudflare's own DNS and does not sell every TLD
When to use Domain registrar
Pick it when
- Launching any website, app or email address on your own name
- Moving domains to one registrar with fair, predictable renewals
Skip it when
- A free subdomain from your host, such as a vercel.app address, is enough for a test
Domain registrar pricing
Paid
Cloudflare charges the registry's price with no markup, about $11 a year for a .com. Namecheap renews a .com at about $18.50 and GoDaddy at about $23. A .in costs about ₹800.
Domain registrar pricing page (opens in a new tab)Approximate, checked September 2026.What the other tools cost
Related terms
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Names and addresses