Research / Domain prices
The second-year price: a small-business domain renewal snapshot
Four public-price observations in USD. Customer-specific tax and currency charges are not included.
A domain’s first-year price is only part of the decision. We recorded public registration and renewal prices for four combinations of registrar and extension, then calculated a three-year scenario: register for one year and renew twice at today’s rates.
In this small sample, Namecheap’s .com registration plus the stated ICANN fee is US$11.48; the equivalent annual renewal is US$18.68. That is a 62.72% increase between the two displayed price categories. Porkbun lists US$11.08 for both registration and renewal of a standard .com. These are current offers, not evidence that a provider changed a customer’s agreed price. Sources: Namecheap .com, Porkbun pricing.
Scroll the table sideways to compare all five columns.
| Registrar and extension / first-year offer | First year, including stated ICANN fee | One annual renewal, same fee basis | Three-year scenario | Renewal above first year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porkbun .com | US$11.08 | US$11.08 | US$33.24 | 0.00% |
| Porkbun .net | US$12.52 | US$12.52 | US$37.56 | 0.00% |
| Namecheap .com — promotional | US$11.48 | US$18.68 | US$48.84 | 62.72% |
| Namecheap .net — promotional | US$12.68 | US$18.78 | US$50.24 | 48.11% |
Sources: Porkbun’s price table, Namecheap .com, Namecheap .net, Namecheap’s ICANN fee. All four rows are USD. These are not Australian checkout totals: customer-specific taxes and currency/payment charges were not measured.
The sample also shows why the renewal rate deserves its own column. Namecheap’s .net first-year listed price is slightly below Porkbun’s before Namecheap’s separate fee is added. After adding that fee, the first-year amounts are US$12.68 and US$12.52. The modeled three-year amounts are US$50.24 and US$37.56. This comparison covers price alone; it does not establish which service is best for a particular business.
For an Australian example, VentraIP’s .com.au page displays a 9.95 first-year offer and a 22.95 annual renewal, with the discount limited to new standard registrations. The ratio is a 130.65% increase. We have kept this example out of the USD table because the retrieved page did not establish currency and GST treatment explicitly enough for a normalised checkout comparison. A .com.au and a .com are also different products; this is an illustration of renewal structure, not an interchangeable-product ranking.
How we calculated it
We used publicly displayed one-year registration rates, including Namecheap’s promotional first-year .com and .net rates. The source pages label these as sales of 25% and 17%, respectively; no coupon code was used. We excluded transfer offers, premium domains and hosting bundles. The measured increase therefore compares the displayed first-year offer with the displayed renewal rate, and is not a historical price-rise claim. For Namecheap, we added its stated US$0.20 ICANN fee to each registration or renewal year for .com and .net. Porkbun says its table already includes ICANN and other fees, so we added none. Namecheap states that it charges in USD.
Three-year scenario = first-year amount + 2 × annual renewal amount. Renewal increase = (renewal − first year) ÷ first year × 100. Calculations use integer cents; percentages are rounded to two decimals. The companion downloadable dataset contains the observations and assumptions so the arithmetic can be reproduced.
What this does and does not tell us
This is a convenience sample of two registrars and two extensions, observed once. It is not a survey of the market or a claim to have found the cheapest domain. We made no purchase and did not test support, reliability, transfer friction or service quality. No domain availability or eligibility check was performed. Promotions and future renewal rates can change. Paying for three years upfront may produce a different price from registering once and renewing twice; the table models the latter only.
Veloċi sells website-related services, so the publisher has a commercial interest in this topic. Its own prices, supplier costs and margins are excluded. This is our calculation from public facts, not exclusive underlying data. Comparable renewal guides already exist; novelty and citation uptake are not established. It supports a practical habit: record the renewal amount and the services included before choosing a registrar.
For an Australian buying decision, confirm the final amount in your billing currency, GST treatment, eligibility and renewal terms at checkout. The published snapshot should be refreshed immediately before publication and clearly dated afterwards. It should not be used as a current quotation after its observation date without rechecking the sources.