How Much Does a Domain Name Cost? Real Yearly Price Breakdown

How much does a domain name cost per year?

No single price exists, because a different registry runs each extension (TLD) and sets its own wholesale fee. For a given extension you can work out the floor, which is the registry fee plus ICANN's fee. Everything above that is the registrar's margin and any extras.

For .com, the world's largest extension, the numbers are public:

Cost layer	Who sets it	.com figure	Source, as of October 2026
Registry wholesale fee	Verisign (the .com registry)	$10.26/year, rising to $10.97/year on 1 Nov 2026	Verisign Q1 2026 results
Registrar transaction fee to ICANN	ICANN	$0.20 per year registered, renewed or transferred	ICANN registrar fees FY26
Registrar margin, support, add-ons	Your registrar	Varies	The registrar's own price list

From 1 November 2026, a registrar pays at least $11.17 ($10.97 plus $0.20) for each year of a .com before support, payment processing or profit. If you see a .com advertised for less than that, the registrar is subsidising a promotional price, and the renewal will cost more.

To check what a domain costs at WaseerHost today, see live domain prices.

What drives the price of a domain name?

1. The registry's wholesale fee

The registry runs the database for an extension and charges every accredited registrar the same wholesale price. For gTLDs under ICANN's base registry agreement, the registry must give registrars at least 30 days' notice before it raises the price of new registrations and at least 180 days' notice before it raises renewal prices (ICANN base registry agreement, section 2.10).

.com has its own agreement with a hard cap. The .com registry agreement lets Verisign raise the maximum price by up to 7% a year, but only in the final four years of each six-year period that started on 26 October 2018. Verisign used that room in its April 2026 announcement. The move from $10.26 to $10.97 is a 7% rise.

2. ICANN's fees

Per-domain fees pay for part of ICANN's budget. Two apply to a typical gTLD:

• At the registrar level, ICANN charges $0.20 for each annual increment of an add, renewal or transfer, effective 1 July 2025. ICANN's FY27 budget (May 2026) keeps it at $0.20, subject to registrar approval.
• At the registry level, the .com agreement has Verisign pay ICANN $0.25 per transaction-year out of its own fee. You don't see this one as a separate line.

Some registrars list the $0.20 as an "ICANN fee" at checkout, and others fold it into the headline price. You pay it in both cases.

3. The registrar's margin and bundle

Registrars add their own margin to cover support, DNS hosting, the control panel and payment processing. Prices differ most between companies at this layer, and first-year discounts come from here too.

4. Premium domain names

Registries often tag short, dictionary-word or keyword names as premium and charge a higher fee for them. For your budget, the renewal is what counts. Under the base registry agreement, renewal prices must be uniform across all names in the TLD unless the registrant agreed to higher renewal pricing at the time of registration, after clear and conspicuous disclosure (section 2.10(c)). So a premium name can renew at a premium price every year. Read the renewal line before you click buy.

Names you buy on the aftermarket, from another owner instead of the registry, work differently. You pay the seller's asking price once, then the normal renewal fee for that TLD, unless the registry also lists the name as premium.

5. Country-code domains (ccTLDs)

Extensions such as .uk, .de or .ca are country-code TLDs. ICANN notes that "because ccTLDs are managed locally, the rules and policies for registering domain names vary across ccTLDs" (ICANN glossary). Some require you to live or do business in the country, some set their own transfer and renewal rules, and the local registry sets their prices outside ICANN's gTLD contracts. Check the registry's rules before you build a brand on one.

6. Add-ons

The domain itself is one line on the bill. Common extras are:

• Privacy. Since ICANN's Registration Data Policy took effect on 21 August 2025, registrars must redact personal data such as the registrant's name and street address from public lookups where applicable law requires it. Not every country's law requires it, so depending on where you live a privacy service can still be worth having. A WHOIS lookup shows what is public for any name.
• Email. A domain doesn't include mailboxes. Business email is a separate service.
• Hosting. A domain points visitors to a website, and the website itself needs hosting.

First-year price vs renewal price

Renewals catch more buyers out than anything else. Registrars often discount the first year to win your business, then bill the second year at their normal renewal rate.

ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy requires registrars to make their renewal fees, post-expiration renewal fees and redemption fees "reasonably available", including clearly on their website. You can always find the renewal price before you buy, so look for it.

To compare offers, add up the two-year total, which is the first-year price plus one renewal. If you plan to keep the name for years, the renewal price is the number that counts.

How to avoid renewal surprises

1. Check the renewal price at checkout. Look past the first-year price, and note any premium flag.
2. Turn on auto-renew. Keep a valid payment card on file.
3. Keep your account email current. Registrars must send at least two reminders before expiry, about one month and about one week ahead, plus one more within five days after expiry (ERRP). Those reminders only help if they reach you.
4. Consider a multi-year term. Registries must let registrars offer registrations and renewals of one to ten years. When a gTLD registry announces a renewal increase, registrars can still renew at the current price for up to ten years before it takes effect (base registry agreement, section 2.10(b)). The .com agreement has a similar rule, with six months' notice of any increase and terms of up to ten years fixed at the price in effect when the registry accepts the order. Your registrar's own pricing decides whether you get that benefit, so ask before 1 November 2026 if you hold .com names.
5. Know the late fees. After expiry, a domain stops resolving for at least the final eight days it is renewable. Once a registrar deletes it, gTLD registries (other than sponsored ones) offer a 30-day Redemption Grace Period in which the registrar can restore it, usually for an extra fee (ERRP).

Transfer-lock basics and the 60-day rules

Moving a domain to a cheaper registrar is a valid way to cut renewal costs, but the ICANN Transfer Policy sets some timing rules for gTLDs:

• After registration, a registrar may deny a transfer requested "within 60 days of the creation date".
• After a transfer, a registrar may deny another transfer within 60 days after the domain was last transferred.
• After a change of registrant, the registrar must apply a 60-day transfer lock, although it may let you opt out before you make the change.
• When you ask for the AuthInfo code, your current registrar must give it to you (and remove the transfer lock) within five calendar days.

The $0.20 ICANN fee applies to transfers too, and Verisign charges its .com fee on each transfer between registrars. The GNSO finished a review of the Transfer Policy in 2025, so these rules may change. As of October 2026 the published policy still uses the 60-day periods. ccTLDs set their own transfer rules.

Domain cost checklist

Question	Why it matters
What is the renewal price?	It is what you pay every year after the first
Is the name marked premium?	Premium names can renew at a higher rate
Is the ICANN fee shown separately?	Avoids a surprise at checkout
Is privacy included, and do you need it?	Depends on your country and the TLD
Any local-presence rules (ccTLDs)?	You may not be eligible to register
When does the registry change prices?	Lock in a longer term before an increase

When you are ready, search for your domain and see live prices, or run a WHOIS lookup to check who holds a name you want.