Domain Registrar Prices in September 2026: .com Renewals, Country Domains, Hidden Fees, and ALIAS DNS

Price check: September 30, 2026 · Currency: US dollars unless stated · Comparison: one-year, standard, non-premium domains

Short answer: In this ten-provider sample, Spaceship has the lowest listed .com renewal at $10.18 per year including its $0.20 ICANN fee. Cloudflare is about $10.46 at cost, but domains registered there must use Cloudflare nameservers. Porkbun lists .com at $11.08 for registration and renewal. These are dated price snapshots; check the registrar's checkout page before buying.

This guide compares renewal prices first because the first-year promotion is only one part of the cost of owning a domain. It also covers country-code domains for English-speaking markets, expiry and privacy costs, and whether the registrar's DNS service can point an apex domain to a hostname with an ALIAS-style record.

Quick rankings

Lowest listed .com renewal prices

The following ranking uses the provider's displayed annual renewal price on September 30, 2026. Spaceship's total includes its separately displayed ICANN fee. The other quotes are the published standard renewal amounts; checkout tax, currency conversion, premium names, and optional products can change the total.

Spaceship — $10.18/year ($9.98 renewal + $0.20 ICANN fee).
Cloudflare Registrar — about $10.46/year at cost at the then-current .com registry and ICANN fees; the price changes when those upstream fees change.
Dynadot — $10.88/year on its .com price page.
Porkbun — $11.08/year at its listed everyday price.
NameSilo — $17.29/year at its standard price.
Namecheap — $18.48/year at the listed renewal price.
Hover — $18.99/year.
IONOS — $20/year regular renewal.
Squarespace Domains — $20/year for a standard .com renewal.
GoDaddy — $22.99/year at the standard retail renewal rate. GoDaddy's lower API rates are separate developer pricing, not the price on its normal retail checkout.

These are listed renewal prices, not an endorsement ranking. Cloudflare is cheapest only if its DNS requirement suits your setup. Before choosing on price alone, compare the DNS service, privacy for the TLD you want, and the cost to restore an expired domain.

Best .com price by buying situation

Lowest listed renewal in this sample: Spaceship at $10.18/year including ICANN.
At-cost registration and renewal: Cloudflare Registrar, currently about $10.46/year, with mandatory Cloudflare authoritative DNS.
Simple same-price registration and renewal: Porkbun lists $11.08/year for both.
Lowest visible first-year offer: IONOS shows a $1 welcome offer on its price table; its regular renewal is $20/year. Offer eligibility and term conditions apply.
Promotional pricing to treat cautiously: Namecheap advertises a $6.79 first-year .com offer for eligible new customers, while its listed renewal is $18.48/year.

.com price comparison for 10 providers

Provider	Listed .com renewal	First-year price or note	Renewal and cost details
Spaceship	$10.18	$8.88 + $0.20 ICANN fee	The page itemizes the ICANN fee separately.
Cloudflare Registrar	About $10.46	About $10.46 at cost	No markup; requires Cloudflare nameservers. The registry fee is scheduled to rise on November 1, 2026.
Dynadot	$10.88	$10.88	Its page lists the same price for registration, renewal, and transfer. Check the checkout total for the specific TLD.
Porkbun	$11.08	$11.08	The page calls this its everyday low price; privacy, DNS, and forwarding features are included for supported TLDs.
NameSilo	$17.29	$17.29 standard price	Bulk discount programs can change the price for qualifying accounts.
Namecheap	$18.48	$6.79 eligible first-year offer	Compare the promotional price with the renewal line before checkout. Some transactions show an ICANN fee separately.
Hover	$18.99	$18.99	The public price table lists registration, renewal, and transfer separately; free WHOIS privacy is available on supported TLDs.
IONOS	$20.00	$1 welcome offer shown	The same table shows a $90 restore fee and says the ICANN fee is included.
Squarespace Domains	$20.00	Standard price	Squarespace says displayed domain checkout pricing includes taxes and fees; website-plan promotions can have separate terms.
GoDaddy	$22.99 retail	GoDaddy's developer API lists $10.49 registration and $14.99 auto-renewal	API-only price tiers are not the ordinary retail price. Confirm the exact renewal in the domain cart.

Why .com renewals may change soon

Verisign announced that its annual wholesale .com fee will increase from $10.26 to $10.97 on November 1, 2026. That is the fee charged to registrars, not a guaranteed retail price. At-cost registrars will reflect upstream fee changes; other registrars choose their own retail price and may change it on a different schedule. Verisign's announcement confirms the effective date and amounts.

Country-code domains: examples for English-speaking markets

Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) can signal a local market, but they have their own eligibility rules and privacy practices. These are sample annual renewal quotes in USD from the providers' public price lists checked on September 30, 2026. The .ie example is in EUR.

Country / domain	Lowest listed example in this sample	Other listed examples	Important eligibility detail
United Kingdom — `.co.uk`	Spaceship $5.42	Porkbun $5.66; Namecheap $9.98; Hover $10.99	Nominet says intended use is advisory; confirm the registrar's current terms.
Canada — `.ca`	Porkbun $9.18	Spaceship $9.32; Namecheap $14.98; Hover $16.99	CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements limit who can register `.ca`; registrant information may be validated.
Australia — `.com.au`	Porkbun $13.70 standard; its page also showed a $7.89 renewal promotion	GoDaddy API $14.99; Namecheap $20.98	A qualifying Australian commercial connection is required under auDA's rules.
New Zealand — `.co.nz`	Porkbun $14.99	—	InternetNZ's domain rules do not require the registrant to have a local physical presence.
United States — `.us`	Spaceship $6.48	Porkbun $7.00; Namecheap $10.98; GoDaddy API $19.99	`.us` has Nexus eligibility rules and does not support ordinary privacy/proxy registration.
Ireland — `.ie`	HostCloud €24.95	One local-provider example, not a like-for-like global-provider ranking	Registrants must show a connection to Ireland under IEDR's requirements.

Read a ccTLD quote as a starting point, not a final checkout total. Registry rules can require local eligibility documents, a matching business name, or a registrant contact that cannot be hidden behind standard WHOIS privacy. Some registrars apply a separate renewal or trade fee to restricted domains.

Hidden costs that change the total

A first-year offer can mask a higher renewal. Compare at least the first and second year. For example, IONOS's $1 welcome offer renews at $20/year; Namecheap's listed $6.79 promotion renews at $18.48.
ICANN fees may be separate. Spaceship itemizes $0.20 for .com, so its $9.98 renewal becomes $10.18. Other registrars may include required fees in the displayed amount. Read the cart line items.
Tax and foreign-exchange costs depend on checkout location and payment method. A USD list price is not necessarily the amount charged to a non-US card.
Premium or aftermarket names are priced differently. A domain can be marked premium by the registry or sold by its current owner. Its renewal can remain much higher than the standard-TLD price even after the first year.
Restoring an expired domain is not an ordinary renewal. IONOS lists a $90 restore fee. Dynadot's .com page lists a restore price around $100.92. A registrar may also require the renewal fee in addition to the restore charge.
Privacy is TLD-specific. Free WHOIS privacy on .com does not imply privacy is available for .us, .com.au, or every .ca registration. Check the registry rules and registrar policy for the exact extension.
Registrar and DNS lock-in can have an operational cost. Cloudflare Registrar requires Cloudflare authoritative nameservers. That is convenient if you want Cloudflare DNS, but a constraint if a host or organization requires a different DNS operator.
Auto-renew and multi-year terms affect the amount charged now. Check whether the quoted price is per year, whether several years are selected in the cart, and whether auto-renew is on.

ALIAS, ANAME, and apex CNAME support

An ALIAS-style record lets an apex such as example.com point to a hostname when the host asks for a CNAME-like target. DNS products use different names and implementations: ALIAS, ANAME, and CNAME flattening are similar approaches, not interchangeable settings in every control panel. The provider listed here is the DNS host; the registrar and authoritative DNS host can be different companies.

Provider DNS	Apex hostname support found in its public documentation	What to know
Cloudflare DNS	Yes — CNAME flattening	Cloudflare Registrar domains must remain on Cloudflare nameservers.
Porkbun DNS	Yes — ALIAS	Its help article explains using ALIAS for a root domain.
Spaceship DNS	Yes — ALIAS in its DNS tooling	Confirm that the specific record type is available in the DNS manager you use.
Dynadot DNS	Yes — ANAME	Dynadot documents ANAME as its root-domain option.
Namecheap BasicDNS	Yes — ALIAS	Namecheap's help page describes an ALIAS record.
GoDaddy DNS	No apex CNAME documented	Its ordinary DNS record documentation does not list an ALIAS/ANAME record; use supported A/AAAA records or another DNS host.
Hover DNS	No apex CNAME documented	Hover says a CNAME cannot be created at the root; use A/AAAA records or external DNS.
IONOS DNS	No apex alias documented	Its CNAME guidance is for subdomains; use supported A/AAAA records at the root.
Squarespace DNS	Yes — ALIAS	Squarespace's web-hosting setup requires DNSSEC to be off for its ALIAS setup.
NameSilo DNS	No ALIAS/ANAME found in its public guidance	A root CNAME is unavailable; use A/AAAA records or another DNS host.

If the host supplies stable IPv4/IPv6 addresses, ordinary A/AAAA records may be all you need. If it only supplies a hostname, check apex support before selecting the DNS host. You can usually keep a domain registered with one provider and delegate DNS to another by changing its nameservers.

Pricing-page screenshots

These are snapshots of the public pricing interfaces captured on September 30, 2026. They are illustrations of the provider pages, not checkout receipts; use the linked pricing page for the current amount. Some provider sites challenged automated screenshot capture, so their source links are included in the comparison tables instead.

Cloudflare Registrar

Cloudflare Registrar interface showing its at-cost pricing message

Source: Cloudflare Registrar. Its exact fee depends on the registry and ICANN charges at the time of registration or renewal.

Dynadot

Dynadot .com pricing page showing registration, renewal, and transfer prices

Source: Dynadot .com prices.

Hover

Hover domain pricing table showing registration, renewal, and transfer prices

Source: Hover domain pricing.

IONOS

IONOS domain price table showing the .com renewal and restore fee columns

Source: IONOS domain prices.

Squarespace Domains

Squarespace Domains search interface

Source: Squarespace Domains.

Method and limits

Prices are public USD list prices checked on September 30, 2026, for a normal, non-premium, one-year registration or renewal. The .ie example is in EUR.
The renewal ranking uses the displayed annual renewal price, adds a separately listed mandatory .com ICANN fee where the source itemizes it, and excludes tax, optional products, premium names, and aftermarket purchases.
GoDaddy's developer API price schedule is called out separately; it is not used as a substitute for GoDaddy's standard retail renewal price.
CC-TLD prices are selected examples rather than a complete census of every provider or every English-speaking country. Eligibility and registry policies can change.
Screenshots and prices are snapshots. Providers can update offers without notice. Re-check the source page and cart before purchase.

Frequently asked questions

Which registrar has the cheapest .com renewal in this comparison?

Spaceship has the lowest listed renewal in this sample at $10.18 per year including its $0.20 ICANN fee, checked September 30, 2026. Cloudflare is about $10.46 at cost and requires Cloudflare nameservers.

Is the cheapest first-year offer the cheapest registrar long term?

Not necessarily. IONOS showed a $1 welcome offer but lists a $20 regular renewal. Compare the price for the next renewal year, not only the registration promotion.

Which sampled provider has the lowest .ca renewal?

Porkbun lists .ca at $9.18 per year in this price sample; Spaceship lists $9.32. A registrant still has to satisfy CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements.

Do I need a local business to register a country-code domain?

It depends on the country extension. For example, .ca has Canadian Presence Requirements and .com.au requires an eligible Australian commercial connection. Check the registry policy before paying for a multi-year term.

Can a root domain use a CNAME?

The DNS root generally cannot use an ordinary CNAME alongside the other records required there. Some DNS providers offer an apex-compatible option such as ALIAS, ANAME, or CNAME flattening. Check the DNS host's own documentation for the exact feature name and behavior.