A .com domain costs somewhere between $0.01 and about $12 for the first year on the registrar pages I checked, and then $19.98 to $23.99 a year to keep it. As of November 2026, that renewal number is the one that matters, because it is what you pay every year you run the store. This guide from Ecommerce Paradise breaks down registration, renewal and transfer prices, what other extensions cost, and the extras (privacy, ICANN fees, premium names) that change the total.
Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. GoDaddy and Cloudflare links are plain links to their own pages so you can check the numbers yourself.
Every price here comes from each company’s official pages that I loaded in November 2026, shown in US dollars. When a page did not show a figure, I write “not shown” instead of guessing. Promo prices change constantly and some registrar pages disagree with themselves, so treat every number as a snapshot and confirm it in your cart before you pay.
If you have not picked what you are selling yet, start with my guide to what high-ticket dropshipping is, because the domain should follow the business and not the other way around.
.com Domain Cost at a Glance
This table shows the .com price on each registrar’s own pages. “First year” is the promotional price, “renewal” is what the next years cost, and “not shown” means the pages I loaded did not list it.
| Registrar | .com first year | .com renewal | .com transfer | WHOIS privacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Namecheap | $12.08 (25% off $15.98); a banner offers new customers $6.48 with a promo code | $19.98 a year | $12.28 (sale price) | Free for life on eligible extensions |
| GoDaddy | $4.99 with code GDWELCOME (1 year, new customers), or $0.01 with a 3-year purchase | $22.99 a year | $0.01 first year with a required 3-year purchase | Listed as free with registration |
| Bluehost | $11.19 | $23.99 | Not shown on the domains page | $15.00 (period not stated) |
| SiteGround | $11.99 (sale) | $22.99 (regular price) | Not shown | 12 months free, price after not shown |
| Cloudflare Registrar | At cost, no dollar figure shown | At the registry’s list price, no figure shown | Not shown | WHOIS redaction included |
| Shopify Domains | “Typically start at $9” a year; exact price shown in your admin | Not shown, and the page warns it can change | Supported; price not shown | Included on most eligible extensions |
The Three Prices Behind Every Domain: Registration, Renewal and Transfer
When people ask how much a domain name costs, they usually mean the number on the search results page. That is only one of three prices, and it is rarely the one that costs you the most over time.
Registration (the first term)
Registration is what you pay to claim a name for the first time. Most registrars sell it in one-year terms and let you stack up to several years at once. This is also the price registrars discount the hardest, because a cheap first year gets you through the checkout.
Renewal (every term after that)
Renewal is the price to keep the name after the first term ends. Shopify’s domains page says renewal pricing may differ from the initial purchase and can change over time, and it turns on auto-renew by default. GoDaddy’s transfer page says a domain renews annually at the then-current retail price after the initial term. In plain terms, the renewal price is not locked in when you buy.
Transfer (moving a name you already own)
A transfer moves a domain from one registrar to another. Namecheap’s transfer page lists .com at $12.28 as a sale price, and GoDaddy advertises $0.01 for the first year if you take a 3-year term. Shopify’s page says a successful transfer typically adds one year to the registration, and GoDaddy’s says each transfer includes a free additional year.
Two rules apply almost everywhere. ICANN’s transfer policy lets a registrar deny a transfer within 60 days of a new registration or an earlier transfer, and Namecheap’s transfer page lists that 60-day wait as a requirement. You also need the authorization (EPP) code from your current registrar, and the domain must be unlocked first.
.com Pricing by Registrar
I am not repeating a head-to-head here. If you are stuck between those two specifically, my Namecheap vs GoDaddy comparison goes line by line. This section is the price list.
Namecheap
Namecheap’s .com page shows $12.08 for the first year, marked as 25% off a $15.98 price, and a banner offering new customers $6.48 with a promo code (the code itself was not in the page text). Longer terms are listed at $26.46 for 2 years, $40.84 for 3, $55.23 for 4 and $69.61 for 5, each labeled an extra 10% off for 2 to 5 years. Renewal is listed at $19.98 a year.
The transfer page shows a .com transfer at $12.28 on sale and the same $19.98 renewal. One caution: Namecheap fills in its prices with script, and a plain-text copy of the same pages showed different figures, including a $10.48 transfer and a $15.88 renewal. I used the browser view, which is what you see on screen. You can see how the buying process works in my Namecheap review. To see the live price, open Namecheap’s site and search your name.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy shows two deals for .com. Its domains page advertises $4.99 for a 1-year term with code GDWELCOME, for new customers and one domain. Its .com page shows $0.01 for the first year if you buy 3 years, with additional years at $22.99 each. The pages I loaded did not say which promo applies to which cart, so check the total at checkout.
Bluehost
Bluehost’s domain page shows .com at $11.19 for registration and $23.99 for renewal. That is the highest renewal of the registrars I checked. The page does not state the term length behind those prices, and it adds that VAT or GST is applied at checkout where relevant.
Bluehost also says it offers a free first-year domain with its web hosting and WordPress hosting plans. After the first year, that domain renews at the standard rate. For a Shopify store you do not need that bundle, so I would only use it if you also want separate hosting.
SiteGround
SiteGround’s domain page shows a .com at $11.99 for the first year with $22.99 struck through as the regular price. The page says discounted prices apply to the first invoice and that renewals are at regular prices, so $22.99 is the implied renewal. It also mentions a free domain for one year when you add hosting, with .com, .org or .net as choices.
Cloudflare Registrar
Cloudflare’s Registrar page says it does not mark up domain prices at all, and that you only pay the price charged by registries and ICANN. It also promises no surprise fees, unnecessary add-ons or inflated renewal costs. It lists no dollar figure for .com or any other extension on the pages I loaded, so I cannot tell you the exact number. Its documentation adds that domains auto-renew by default at the registry’s list price, and that redacted WHOIS is provided by default.
At-cost pricing sounds like the cheapest option on paper, but I would check the live price for your exact name before you decide. I could not confirm a transfer fee or a TLD price list from the pages available to me.
Shopify Domains
If your store runs on Shopify, you can buy a domain inside Shopify. The page says domains typically start at $9 USD a year, billed annually, and that the exact price for your name appears in the admin before you buy. It does not list .com, .net, .store, .shop or .co prices, and it gives no renewal figures. The upside is convenience: you manage the domain from the same Shopify admin as your store.
What Other Domain Extensions Cost: .net, .store, .shop and .co
The extension at the end of your name changes the price a lot. Here is what each registrar’s pages showed for the four extensions store owners ask me about most. Prices are per year unless I say otherwise, and “not shown” means the page I loaded did not list it.
| Extension | Namecheap | GoDaddy | Bluehost | SiteGround |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .net | $12.48 first year (regular $14.98), renewal $18.58 | $0.01 first year with a 3-year purchase, then $24.99 | $11.89 first year, $19.99 renewal | $12.99 first year, $24.99 regular |
| .store | $0.98 first year (limit 1 per household; regular $2.88), renewal $44.48 on sale, $66.98 regular | $0.99 first year (“starting at”), renewal not shown | $2.29 first year, $79.99 renewal | Not shown on the list I loaded |
| .shop | $0.98 first year (regular $38.98), renewal $48.98 | $0.99 first year with $59.99 struck through, renewal not shown | $29.99 first year, $47.99 renewal | $0.99 first year, $34.99 regular |
| .co | $19.98 first year (regular $38.48), renewal $45.48 | $0.01 first year with a 3-year purchase, then $59.99 | $26.09 first year, $37.99 renewal | Not shown on the list I loaded |
.net
A .net is priced close to a .com. First-year prices run $0.40 to $1.00 above the .com at Namecheap, Bluehost and SiteGround, but renewals split. Namecheap ($18.58) and Bluehost ($19.99) renew a .net below their .com renewals, while GoDaddy and SiteGround ($24.99) renew it above. That is a good example of why I tell people to compare the renewal line and not the promo.
.store and .shop
These two are where the first-year trap is widest. Bluehost shows .store at $2.29 to register and $79.99 to renew. Namecheap shows .store renewing at $44.48 on a sale label and $66.98 at the regular price, and .shop renewing at $48.98. A $0.98 first year looks great until year two arrives.
.co
The .co extension is priced like a premium extension on every page that lists it, from $37.99 at Bluehost and $45.48 at Namecheap to $59.99 at GoDaddy after the promo. Google’s documentation on multi-regional sites lists .co among the country-code extensions it treats as generic, and it notes the list may change. That means you are not forced into country targeting with .co, but I would still ask whether the extra yearly cost buys you anything over a clean .com.
My view, as opinion: for a store that sells to US customers, the .com is still the safest default. Customers type it automatically, and it avoids the “does this store really exist” doubt that unusual extensions can create. Use .store or .shop only when the .com is taken and the alternative name is strong.
WHOIS Privacy: Free, Included or $15 a Year
Registering a domain means giving a registrar your contact details. WHOIS privacy hides your personal address, phone and email from public lookups so you do not get spam and so strangers cannot find your home address. For a store owner working from home, I treat it as mandatory.
Here is how the registrars I checked handle it. Namecheap says personal WHOIS data is kept safe with free-for-life domain privacy, though its pages note privacy is unavailable for a handful of TLDs. GoDaddy’s domains page lists privacy as free with registration. Cloudflare provides redacted WHOIS by default. Shopify says privacy is included at no extra cost on most eligible extensions, but some registries do not allow it.
The outliers are Bluehost, which lists Domain Privacy + Protection at $15.00 without saying whether that is annual or one-time, and SiteGround, which gives 12 months free and does not list the price after that. If you hold a name for five years, a $15 yearly add-on is $75, which can cost more than the domain itself.
The ICANN Fee
ICANN charges a small mandatory fee on each domain registration, renewal or transfer. Namecheap’s pages put it at $0.20 per domain and say it is added to the listed price for some domains at purchase. GoDaddy’s transfer page mentions ICANN registration fees “where appropriate” without a number, and Cloudflare says you pay what the registry and ICANN charge.
At $0.20, this is not a number that should change your choice of registrar. I mention it because it explains why a cart total can be a few cents higher than the advertised price, and why a “$0.01” promo can still show a slightly higher total at checkout.
The First-Year Promo vs Renewal Trap
Registrars make their money on renewals, and that shapes how they advertise. A first year at $0.01, $0.98 or $4.99 is bait for a cart. The renewal price on the same page can be many times higher, and it is not guaranteed to stay where it is.
Look at the gaps on the pages above. GoDaddy’s .co goes from $0.01 to $59.99 after the 3-year term. Bluehost’s .store goes from $2.29 to $79.99. Namecheap’s .shop goes from $0.98 to a $48.98 renewal. Even the .com gap is real: Bluehost shows $11.19 in year one and $23.99 afterward.
Here is how I protect myself. I write down the renewal price before I buy, not the promo. I check whether the promo needs a multi-year term, as GoDaddy’s $0.01 deals do. I turn on auto-renew, because losing a domain with live ad traffic is a much bigger problem than a $20 charge. And I calendar a yearly check on the price, since registrars can raise renewals.
Premium and Aftermarket Domains
Everything above is for a name nobody has registered yet. If the exact name you want is taken, you are in the aftermarket, and prices there are set by the seller, not by a registrar price list. That is why I only quote the one range a marketplace publishes itself.
Here is what the official pages showed. GoDaddy’s domains page mentions GoDaddy Auctions, a Domain Broker Service and Ultra-Premium Domains, but lists no prices for any of them. The Afternic homepage says listing is free to join, and shows no commission percentage, fee amount or price range on the page I loaded. Sedo’s homepage says domain prices start at USD 20 with no upper limit and that many domains sell for less than USD 2,500, but it shows no commission or fee figure.
My practical advice, as opinion: set a ceiling before you start looking. Compare the asking price with the cost of a slightly different name, because a good alternative at $12 a year usually beats a $2,000 name when the store has no revenue yet. If you do buy on the aftermarket, use the marketplace’s own checkout and transfer process and not a direct payment to a stranger.
Worked Example: What One Store Domain Costs Over 5 and 10 Years
This is a hypothetical example to show how the numbers stack up, not a quote. I assume one brand .com held for five or ten years, no premium price, no price increases, and I use only the figures from the pages above. Real carts will differ by cents because of ICANN fees and taxes.
| Scenario (hypothetical) | How I calculated it | 5-year total | 10-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Namecheap, sale first year then renewals | $12.08 + 4 x $19.98 | $92.00 | $191.90 |
| GoDaddy, 3-year $0.01 deal then renewals | $0.01 + 4 x $22.99 | $91.97 | $206.92 |
| SiteGround, sale then regular | $11.99 + 4 x $22.99 | $103.95 | $218.90 |
| Bluehost, without paid privacy | $11.19 + 4 x $23.99 | $107.15 | $227.10 |
| Bluehost, with $15 privacy every year | $107.15 + 5 x $15.00 (assumes the $15 is annual) | $182.15 | Not calculated |
The gap between the cheapest and priciest base .com price in that table is $15.18 over five years (Bluehost at $107.15 against GoDaddy at $91.97), and $35.20 over ten (Bluehost at $227.10 against Namecheap at $191.90). For one domain, that is small. For a store owner with a main domain, a defensive .net and a .store, it adds up.
Now the extension trap. Using the same method, a Bluehost .store comes to $2.29 + 4 x $79.99 = $322.25 over five years, against $107.15 for a Bluehost .com. A Namecheap .store at its $44.48 sale renewal comes to $0.98 + 4 x $44.48 = $178.90, and at the $66.98 regular price it is $268.90. Those are not hidden fees. They are the renewal prices on the registrar’s own page.
If you also buy a business email address on that domain, a hosting plan or an SSL certificate, those are separate bills. This is why I keep the domain budget small and put the real money into things that bring revenue. My first-year startup budget for high-ticket dropshipping shows where a domain fits in the bigger picture.
How to Choose a Domain for an Ecommerce Store
Price matters, but the name matters more. A domain you have to change in year two costs you far more than $10 in lost links, ad history and customer trust.
Match the name to the brand, not just the product
For a high-ticket store, I like a name that can grow with the catalog. A name tied to one product type (say, “cheap-treadmills-direct”) boxes you in the day you add a second category. Pick the niche first using my high-ticket niches list, then choose a brand name that fits the whole niche and not one SKU.
Keep it short, speakable and easy to type
Say the name out loud. If you have to spell it on the phone, it is too clever. Avoid hyphens and numbers, because customers will type the wrong version. Check that the name is not too close to an existing brand, and read my guide to trademarking a business name or logo before you invest in branding.
Check it against your business name and suppliers
Your domain, store name and legal entity should line up. Set up the entity properly using my guide to business formation for high-ticket dropshipping. Also remember that suppliers look at your store when they approve a new account, which is one reason a clean, professional domain helps in my supplier-finding process.
Decide where to buy it
Buying the domain at the same company that hosts your store is the fastest setup. Buying it at an independent registrar gives you more control if you ever move platforms. I prefer holding the domain separately, because if the store platform changes or shuts down, the name stays mine. If you want to see other options, my post on Namecheap alternatives is a good next read. My roundup of the best domain registrar options goes deeper on features.
For a side-by-side checklist across more registrars, I also keep a domain registrar comparison. Use those posts to decide, and use this page to sanity-check the price.
Which Registrar I Would Pick for Which Store Owner
This is my opinion based on the prices above, not a ranking for everyone.
If you want the lowest .com renewal I could confirm, Namecheap’s $19.98 was the lowest figure on the pages I loaded, and free privacy is part of it. Namecheap is where I would start for a standalone domain.
If you are launching a store on Shopify and want the simplest setup, Shopify Domains keeps everything in one dashboard, though it does not show renewal prices on the page I loaded. If you want transparency about wholesale cost, Cloudflare’s at-cost model is worth checking, as long as you are comfortable with its dashboard.
If you need hosting too, SiteGround is one option. Bluehost is another, and both bundle a free first-year domain with hosting plans. That is useful if you are building a WordPress content site, such as the blog that supports your store, but check the renewal price before you rely on the freebie. GoDaddy is the one to watch for very low multi-year promos, and its .com page is the place to read the fine print.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a domain name cost per year?
For a .com on the registrar pages I checked, the first year ranged from a $0.01 promo to $12.08, and renewals ranged from $19.98 at Namecheap to $23.99 at Bluehost. Other extensions cost more: .co renewals were $37.99 to $59.99 and .store renewals reached $79.99. Always plan around the renewal price.
Why is my domain renewal higher than what I paid?
Because the first-year price is a promotion. Shopify’s page says renewal pricing may differ from the initial purchase and can change, and GoDaddy’s says domains renew at the then-current retail price. Check the renewal figure before you buy and turn on auto-renew so you do not lose the name.
Is WHOIS privacy worth paying for?
Yes, because it keeps your home address, phone and email out of public lookups. You often do not have to pay: Namecheap lists it as free for life on eligible extensions, GoDaddy lists it as free, and Cloudflare redacts by default. Bluehost listed it at $15.00, so compare that add-on before you buy.
Can I buy a domain that is already taken?
Sometimes. The owner sets the price, and the official pages I checked gave no firm range: Afternic listed none and Sedo’s homepage only said prices start at USD 20 and many sell for under USD 2,500. Set a ceiling first, and compare the asking price against a clean alternative name at a normal registration price.
Do I need to buy a domain if I use Shopify?
Every Shopify store starts with a myshopify.com address, but a custom domain looks more trustworthy and you can use it for email and ads. You can buy one inside Shopify, where the page says domains typically start at $9 a year, or at an independent registrar and connect it. If you want hands-on help with launch decisions like this one, that is what my coaching program is for.
Final Thoughts
A domain is the cheapest part of a store and one of the few you cannot easily swap later. Budget for the renewal price, not the promo. Add privacy only if it is not already free, skip premium names until the store earns revenue, and keep the name tied to the brand.
Prices, promos and terms change often, so confirm every figure in the registrar’s cart before you buy.
Related Articles
These posts cover the next steps after you pick a domain.
- High-Ticket Dropshipping Startup Costs: First-Year Budget
- How to Choose a Business Name for Your LLC
- Web Hosting vs Domain Name: What Each One Does
- Shopify Pricing 2026
- How to Start an Online Store in 2026: Complete Beginner Guide
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
