When you decide to register a domain name for the first time, where should you go? You need a domain registrar and choosing one can be difficult because there are thousands to choose from and the pricing can be very confusing.
The biggest in the world is GoDaddy, who hold an impressive 77 million domain names! The next biggest after that is Namecheap, with 17 million. Other big providers that hold millions of domains include Squarespace, Hover, Network Solutions and IONOS.
Check the renewal costs
When looking at the prices of domain registration, it’s important to check how much the registrar is going to charge you for renewals. Many registrars have loss making offers for registrations because they plan to make big bucks out of future renewals.
Although you can usually register domains for longer, most domain registrations are for one year, which means a year later, you’ll need to renew the domain.
Let’s take IONOS as an example.
We can immediately see from their homepage that it’s just a dollar to register a .com domain for a year. That’s a great price! Let’s search for a domain to see if it’s available.
I’ve done a search for mygreatcheapdomain.com.
Great news, it’s available and it’s only $1. BUT, have you noticed the price they have crossed out? $17! That means in a year, I’m probably going to have to pay $17 for the renewal. It could even be more since some registrars can have different pricing for renewals to registrations, and it’s often not clear. You might not even find renewal prices available anywhere on the site.
Terms and conditions apply!
You also have to be careful what other terms and restrictions might apply. Going back to our IONOS example, did you notice the little information icon? If we mouse over that, here’s what it shows
So this reveals the $1 is only for your first domain. If your domain has a common misspelling that you also want to register, or if you think you’ll have another domain for another purpose you want to register later, the $1 offer will no longer apply.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve used IONOS as a case study, but that’s not to pick on them. The way most registrars price their domain registration is similarly opaque. The point is that you need to shop around and be careful not just of the up front costs, but what will you pay down the line.