The short answer: .com renewal ranges from $10.18 to $22.99 a year
Domain renewal prices are one of the most confusing parts of owning a website. The registrar that sold you a domain for $0.99 or $4.99 in year one can bill you $20 or more every year after that — and most owners never check the renewal price until the invoice arrives.
This guide shows what domain renewal actually costs in 2026 for a standard .com, why prices differ so much between registrars, and how to make sure you never overpay. All prices below are the central RenewPings list, last checked 24 October 2026 and re-confirmed against independent sources on 30 October 2026.
2026 .com renewal price list (8 registrars)
Standard, non-premium .com, one year, in US dollars:
- Spaceship: $10.18 total ($9.98 + $0.20 ICANN fee) — the lowest verified renewal
- Cloudflare Registrar: $10.44 (at-cost, no registrar markup)
- Dynadot: $10.88
- Porkbun: $11.08 (privacy, SSL, forwarding included)
- Namecheap: $18.48
- Hostinger: $19.99
- IONOS: $20.00 (after a $1 first year)
- GoDaddy: $22.99
The spread between the cheapest and dearest renewal is over $12 a year — per domain, per year. Own five domains and you pay $60+ extra every year without getting anything extra in return.
Why renewal prices differ: the wholesale floor
Every registrar buys .com names from the same registry, Verisign, at the same wholesale rate. Until 1 November 2026 that wholesale rate is $10.26 plus a fixed $0.18 ICANN fee ($10.44 total). On 1 November 2026 the Verisign fee rises 7% to $10.97, which takes the wholesale floor to $11.17 — and every registrar's pricing will eventually reflect it.
What you pay above that floor is the registrar's markup. Cloudflare passes the wholesale cost straight through; budget registrars like Spaceship, Dynadot and Porkbun add a small margin; big-brand registrars add $8–12 of margin per year. Nothing about the domain itself changes — a .com is a .com everywhere. You are paying for the brand, the checkout upsells, and the support desk.
The registration-vs-renewal trap
This is where nearly everyone loses money. A $1.99 first-year promo that renews at $21.99 is a $20 markup you pay every year you own the domain. The rule is simple:
- Always check the renewal price before you register. It is printed on the registrar's pricing page; promotions hide it at checkout.
- Flat-priced registrars (Spaceship, Cloudflare, Dynadot, Porkbun) charge roughly the same in year one and year five — no surprise jump.
- A domain that renews for more than double its first-year price is almost always a bad long-term home. You can transfer it away; see our transfer vs renew guide.
What 5 years of renewals actually cost (examples)
Renewal price is an annual bill. Here is what five years of .com renewals cost at a few of these rates:
- Spaceship ($10.18/yr): $50.90 over 5 years
- Porkbun ($11.08/yr): $55.40 over 5 years
- Dynadot ($10.88/yr): $54.40 over 5 years
- Namecheap ($18.48/yr): $92.40 over 5 years
- GoDaddy ($22.99/yr): $114.95 over 5 years
The same domain can cost $50 or $115 over five years depending on where it lives. This is why comparing renewal prices matters more than comparing promo prices. Try the maths for your own domains on our renewal calculator or compare all eight registrars on the comparison page.
Renewal checklist: never overpay again
- Find your real renewal price. Log in to your registrar and check the renewal quote for each domain — do not trust the promo banner.
- Check auto-renew. Leave it ON for domains you want to keep (losing a domain to expiry is far more expensive — see what happens when a domain expires), but know which card is charged and when.
- Compare before you renew. If your registrar charges $19.99+ a year and you are outside any grace period, a transfer to a $10–11 registrar saves money from year one. Our step-by-step transfer guide walks through the process.
- Consider multi-year renewals. Renewing for 2–5 years at today's rate locks out the November wholesale rise and future price changes.
- Watch the ICANN fee line. A legitimate $0.18–$0.20 ICANN charge on a .com is normal. Anything labelled "service fee" or "processing fee" on top of the renewal price is registrar markup in disguise.
- Run a yearly audit. Once a year, list every domain, its registrar and its renewal price. Our renewal audit checklist gives you the full routine.
Other TLDs cost more than .com — roughly
This guide covers .com because it is the benchmark. Other extensions follow the same logic — wholesale floor plus registrar markup — but the numbers shift: .org, .net and .co renew in the $12–$20 range at most registrars, while premium new extensions (.io, .ai, .app) renew at $30–$90+ a year. The same checklist applies: check the renewal price, not just the registration price, before you commit.
Bottom line
A .com renewal costs between $10.18 and $22.99 a year in 2026 depending on your registrar. The domain is identical everywhere — only the bill changes. Spend five minutes checking your renewal price against the table above; if you are paying more than $12 a year without a good reason, a transfer to a flat-priced registrar is the cheapest move you can make.
Prices: RenewPings central price list, last checked 24 October 2026, re-confirmed 30 October 2026 against independent published sources. Renewal prices change; confirm the current figure in your registrar's panel before you renew or transfer.