Hostinger sells you a .com for $2.49. A year later the renewal invoice says $19.99 — nearly double the $10.44 wholesale cost every registrar pays for a .com, and about $9–$10 more per year than the flat-price registrars charge for the identical product. A domain is a domain: it resolves the same everywhere. So the only real question at Hostinger renewal time is where the name should live. This guide makes that decision properly — the renewal price in full, transfer vs renew side by side, and exact steps for whichever you choose.
The renewal price, next to the alternatives
| Registrar | .com renewal / yr | vs Hostinger |
|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | $19.99 | — |
| Spaceship | $10.18 total* | Save $9.81/yr |
| Cloudflare | $10.44 | Save $9.55/yr |
| Porkbun | $11.08 | Save $8.91/yr |
*Spaceship total = $9.98 list + $0.20 ICANN fee at checkout. Prices checked 24 October 2026 — see how we check prices. A transfer costs one year at the new registrar’s price and that year is added to your expiry; you never lose prepaid time.
Renew or transfer? The honest decision
Transfer out if you plan to keep the domain for another year or more, expiry is at least two weeks away, and the domain is not inside the 60-day lock that follows registration or a previous transfer. That covers most people, most of the time: the saving repeats every single year, and your website stays exactly where it is — after the move you simply confirm your DNS records still point at your hosting.
Renew in place if expiry is less than about 14 days away (a transfer takes 5–7 days — never race an expiry), if the domain is locked for 60 days, or if you are letting the name lapse within a few months anyway. Renewing once at $19.99 to buy yourself a calm month is a fine move; renewing for five straight years out of habit is not.
How to renew at Hostinger (if you stay)
- Log in to hPanel → Domains and open the domain: the renewal price and expiry date are shown per domain — check each one, because bundled “free” domains from hosting plans renew at the same $19.99 rate.
- Decide the term deliberately: multi-year renewal at Hostinger locks a high price rather than a low one, so renew year by year while you prepare a transfer.
- Turn auto-renew off for any domain you no longer use, so it lapses instead of billing you.
How to transfer a domain out of Hostinger
- In hPanel, open the domain and unlock it (disable the transfer lock).
- Request the authorisation / EPP code — Hostinger shows it in the domain’s transfer section.
- At the new registrar (Cloudflare, Porkbun or Spaceship), start the transfer, paste the code and pay the one-year fee.
- Approve the confirmation email and wait 5–7 days; your site and email keep working throughout.
- Afterwards, confirm the expiry date advanced by a year and your DNS records are intact, then set calendar reminders 30, 7 and 1 day before the next renewal.
Who Hostinger domains are — and are not — for
Best for: the free first year bundled with a hosting plan you actually want, and a single domain you will move within the year — take the free year, set a reminder, transfer before renewal.
Not for: keeping domains long-term, or holding several names. At $19.99 a renewal you are paying a hosting company a registrar’s markup for a product that costs $10.44 wholesale — our full reasoning is in the Hostinger renewal prices guide.
The bottom line
Judge Hostinger’s hosting and Hostinger’s domains as two separate products. The hosting may well earn its place (our beginner hosting review covers it honestly); the domain almost never does at renewal time. Compare your own names in the registrar table and run the exact saving in the calculator.