How much does a .com domain cost per year?

It is the registry wholesale price plus a small ICANN fee, and each registrar adds its own margin. Retail prices therefore vary, and the first-year price is often lower than the renewal.

Why did my domain renewal get more expensive?

First-year prices are often promotional, and renewal returns to the registrar's list price. The registry can also raise its wholesale price: the .com contract allows Verisign periodic increases, and registrars tend to pass them on.

Are domains billed monthly?

No. Domains are billed per term, usually yearly, and you choose how many years to pay for. If you do not renew by the expiry date, the name can become available to someone else.

Can I get a domain for free?

Some platforms give free subdomains, but your own domain always has a registration cost. What varies is who charges it and how much.

How much does a domain name cost?

Domain pricing looks simple until the first renewal. You pay little in year one, forget about it, and twelve months later the charge is much higher. Knowing where the price comes from helps you avoid that surprise and pick a registrar.

Registry and registrar prices change, so this guide shows what the price is made of and where to check it. Confirm the amount at checkout. For the difference between a domain and hosting, see domain vs hosting.

How much does a .com domain cost?#

A .com has no single price. It is made of three parts:

Part	Who gets it	Note
Registry wholesale price	Verisign	Set by the registry contract, with periodic increases
Per-domain fee	ICANN	Small, charged yearly
Margin	Registrar	Set freely, varies a lot

The registry price plus the ICANN fee make up the wholesale cost, the floor of the final price. Some registrars, such as Cloudflare, say they sell at cost with no markup, while others build their margin into the price.

Verisign's registry agreements with ICANN let it raise the wholesale price periodically, within a cap per increase, for both .com and .net, and it uses that room from time to time. For the current wholesale price, check Verisign's latest announcement or ask your registrar.

In practice, each increase usually adds less than a dollar a year to the wholesale cost, before the registrar's margin. That is small for one domain but adds up across dozens.

How much does a .br domain cost?#

At Registro.br, which runs the Brazilian .br, registration has a fixed yearly price, the same for .com.br, .net.br and most categories, published on its official page, and you can pay for up to 10 years at once. A few categories have their own pricing rules (the official page lists the exceptions), so check yours.

You can also register a .br through an intermediary registrar. Its price is set freely, can be above or below Registro.br's price, and often bundles extras such as a DNS panel or email.

What makes renewal more expensive?#

Four things explain most expensive renewals.

First-year promotions. Some registrars sell year one below list price and charge the full amount at renewal. The renewal price is often in small print.
Registry increases. When Verisign raises the wholesale price, registrars tend to pass it on.
Premium names. Some domains have a renewal price different from the extension's standard. Check before buying.
Add-ons in the cart. Privacy protection, email and certificates sold as extras can double the bill. Compare before accepting. A TLS certificate, for example, can also be issued at no cost, as covered in how much an SSL certificate costs.

How do you calculate the real 5-year cost?#

Always compare the total for the period, not the first-year price. Here is an example with made-up numbers, just to show the math:

text

Registrar A: year 1 = 10, renewal = 80
  5-year total = 10 + 4 x 80 = 330

Registrar B: 60 every year
  5-year total = 5 x 60 = 300

A looks cheaper on the storefront and costs more in the end. For a .com.br, the benchmark is Registro.br: 5 times its yearly price, with no first-year promotion and no renewal jump.

If you know you will keep the name, paying several years at once makes it harder to forget the renewal.

What other costs come with a domain?#

DNS. Almost every registrar includes DNS. An external DNS provider is optional.
Transfers. Moving to another registrar usually requires renewing the domain for one more year, charged at transfer time.
Redemption after expiry. An expired domain enters a grace period, and recovering it afterward can carry an extra fee, when it is possible at all.
Hosting. A domain alone publishes nothing. You still need a server for the site or API, and a record pointing to it.
Professional email. Optional and billed separately, usually per mailbox.

How do you avoid losing a domain to a missed renewal?#

Turn on auto-renew and keep the card and the owner's email up to date. Expiry notices come from the registrar, which ICANN describes as the entity that offers registration to the public. An expired domain takes the site offline even if the server is fine.

How to do this on Square Cloud#

Square Cloud does not sell domain names or keep their DNS records. You register the name with the registrar you prefer, and it stays in your name, so every registration and renewal cost described above sits with that registrar.

What the platform does is connect your domain to your application. Custom domains are available from the Standard plan (from R$44.99 per month); Hobby does not include them. In the dashboard you add the domain and see the DNS records to create at your registrar, with real-time validation status. TLS is automatic, and domains with accents (Punycode) are supported.

While you decide where to register, every web application gets a *.squareweb.app subdomain with HTTPS on all plans, so you can publish and test before you own a domain. See the details in domains on Square Cloud.