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Registrar Honesty Scorecard·Checked October 2026

Domain registrar comparison, scored on honesty.

We scored the biggest domain registrars on the things that actually cost you money: renewal traps, markup over the $10.46 wholesale price, redemption fees, refund windows and checkout dark patterns. No sponsored placements — the scoring formula is published in full below.

See the scoresCompare TLD prices
The Scorecard

Flat pricing wins. Traps don't.

All prices are for a .com domain. The 5-year total is the first year at the register price shown, plus four renewals — the number a registrar hopes you never add up.

Dynadot
Honest pricing
100/100
Register
$10.88
Renewal
$10.88
5-yr total
$54.40
Privacy
Free
Redemption fee
—
Refund window
—

Flat — the renewal is the same price

Isolated service glitches in reviews — failed registrations refunded as account credit

Porkbun
Honest pricing
100/100
Register
$11.08
Renewal
$11.08
5-yr total
$55.40
Privacy
Free
Redemption fee
—
Refund window
—

Flat — and the cost breakdown is published ($10.26 + $0.20 + $0.64 fees)

No phone support, and a smaller TLD catalogue than the big registrars

Cloudflare
Honest pricing
95/100
Register
$10.46
Renewal
$10.46
5-yr total
$52.30
Privacy
Free
Redemption fee
—
Refund window
—

At cost — 0% markup over wholesale

Domains must use Cloudflare nameservers — there is no custom-nameserver option

Squarespace
Watch the renewal
78/100
Register
$12.00
Renewal
$20.00
5-yr total
$92.00
Privacy
—
Redemption fee
—
Refund window
—

The price Google Domains customers were migrated in at Renewal is 1.67× the first year.

Google Domains customers were inherited at $12/yr — renewals then moved to $20

Namecheap
Watch the renewal
73/100
Register
$6.79
Renewal
$18.48
5-yr total
$80.71
Privacy
Free
Redemption fee
—
Refund window
—

New-customer promo — the standard first year is $11.28 Renewal is 1.64× the first year.

Renewal jumps to 1.6× the standard first-year price

GoDaddy
Renewal-trap territory
35/100
Register
$4.99
Renewal
$22.99
5-yr total
$96.95
Privacy
—
Redemption fee
$80.00
Refund window
7 days

Promo pricing — a $0.01 teaser exists, but it requires a 3-year purchase (~$46 real minimum) Renewal is 4.61× the first year.

Renewal is 120% over the wholesale cost — the classic renewal trap

A “—” means we could not verify the figure from a published source in October 2026 — unverified criteria deduct no points. See exactly why each registrar got its score.

Receipts

Why each registrar got its score

Every point deducted, itemised. If a registrar fixes a policy, its score improves at the next check — the formula doesn't hold grudges.

No deductions — flat pricing, no documented traps. Otherwise praised: no-upsell checkout and strong bulk tools

Sources: Pricing: Etemora .com renewal report and Dynadot's pricing page, October 2026.

No deductions — flat pricing, no documented traps. Publishes its full cost breakdown — a rarity in this industry

Sources: Pricing and cost breakdown: Porkbun's published pricing, October 2026.

  • −5Structural lock-in: domains registered here must use Cloudflare nameservers

Sources: Pricing: Etemora .com renewal report and Cloudflare's pricing page, October 2026.

  • −12Renewal trap: the renewal is 1.67× the standard first-year price
  • −10Renewal priced 91% above the $10.46 wholesale cost

Sources: Pricing: Google Domains → Squarespace migration reporting and Squarespace's pricing page, October 2026.

  • −12Renewal trap: the renewal is 1.64× the standard first-year price
  • −10Renewal priced 77% above the $10.46 wholesale cost
  • −5Documented upsell complaints — the dashboard increasingly works as a marketing funnel

Sources: Pricing: Etemora .com renewal report and Namecheap's pricing page, October 2026. Custody incidents: first-hand reports, 2026.

  • −20Renewal trap: the renewal is 4.61× the standard first-year price
  • −15Renewal priced 120% above the $10.46 wholesale cost
  • −10Redemption fee of $80 to restore a lapsed domain
  • −10Refund window of just 7 days
  • −10Documented upsell and bundling complaints — add-ons bundled into carts without clear consent

Sources: Pricing: Etemora .com renewal report, October 2026. Redemption fee: GoDaddy's own expired-domain explainer. Refund window: GoDaddy policy change, February 2025.

Methodology

How the scoring works

Every .com costs the registrar $10.46 a year before margin — Verisign $10.26 + ICANN $0.20. When a renewal is $22.99, the extra $12.53 is not cost; it is a charge for inertia, collected from owners who renew on autopilot instead of moving. The wholesale price rises by about $0.71 on 1 November 2026 — expect most renewal prices above to drift up with it.

Every registrar starts at 100. Points come off only for the published criteria below: a renewal priced far above the first year, a renewal priced far above the $10.46 wholesale cost, a redemption fee of $50 or more, a refund window under 14 days, documented upsell or bundling complaints, and structural lock-in. A criterion we could not verify is shown as “—” and deducts nothing.

CriterionDeductions
Renewal trap — renewal vs standard first-year priceRenewal ≥ 2× the first year: −20 · 1.5–1.99×: −12 · 1.1–1.49×: −5 · ≤ 1.1×: 0
Renewal markup over the $10.46 wholesale cost> 100% over: −15 · 50–100% over: −10 · 10–50% over: −5 · ≤ 10% over: 0
Redemption fee (restoring a lapsed domain)$50 or more: −10 · Not published / unverified: shown as —, no deduction
Refund windowUnder 14 days: −10 · Not published / unverified: shown as —, no deduction
Documented upsell / bundling complaintsAggressive, repeated pattern (bundled add-ons, consent complaints): −10 · Moderate, documented pattern: −5
Structural lock-inA platform restriction that limits how the domain can be used: −5
Our conflict of interest, stated plainly

Nomlen earns a commission if you register through some links on this site (including Dynadot). Scores come only from the published criteria — Dynadot earns its score on flat pricing, and Porkbun ties it.

Sources

  • Etemora — .com renewal price report and wholesale analysis (October 2026)
  • Registrar pricing pages — Cloudflare, Dynadot, Porkbun, Namecheap, Squarespace (October 2026)
  • GoDaddy — expired-domain explainer (redemption fee and timeline, from the registrar itself)
  • Trustpilot and G2 review patterns — upsells, support access and the 2026 custody incidents

Prices checked October 2026. Registrar pricing changes often — for live numbers across 1,100+ extensions, see the TLD price comparison.

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Now compare the real prices

Registration, renewal and transfer prices for 1,100+ extensions, side by side — so the registrar you pick is the one whose renewal you can live with.

Full TLD price comparison
FAQ

Registrar questions, answered straight

On the criteria that cost you money — renewal pricing, hidden fees and checkout behaviour — Dynadot and Porkbun tie at 100 out of 100: the renewal is the same price as the first year, WHOIS privacy is free, and neither has documented upsell traps. Cloudflare scores 95 and is the cheapest of all over five years ($52.30 for a .com), but domains registered there must use Cloudflare nameservers.
Because the first year is advertising. A .com costs every registrar $10.46 a year in wholesale and ICANN fees, yet first years are routinely sold for $5 or less — sometimes $0.01. The loss is recovered at renewal, when most owners renew on autopilot rather than move. Registrars with flat pricing (Dynadot, Porkbun, Cloudflare) simply charge a small, steady margin instead.
When a domain expires and its grace period runs out, it enters a redemption period during which it can still be restored — for a fee the registrar sets. GoDaddy charges $80, on top of the renewal itself. The way to never pay it: turn on auto-renew, keep a valid payment method on file, and renew early for any domain that matters.
Transfer the domain to a flat-price registrar before it renews. Unlock the domain at your current registrar, get the authorisation (EPP) code, and start the transfer at the new registrar — a transfer usually includes a one-year extension at the new registrar’s renewal price, so you rarely lose time you have already paid for. Start at least a couple of weeks before expiry, and compare transfer prices first. Our renewal-trap guide walks through the whole escape step by step.
Only if you will genuinely move the domain before the first renewal — and most people don't. A $4.99 promo first year looks unbeatable until you add four renewals at $22.99: $96.95 over five years, against $54.40 at Dynadot where the price never changes. Set a reminder and transfer in month eleven and a teaser price can win. If there is any chance you will forget, flat pricing wins by default.
Registrars that price at or near the wholesale registry cost renew common extensions for the least; heavy first-year discounters usually make it back with the most expensive renewals. The scores above rank registrars on exactly this gap.
No. Some include privacy protection free on eligible domains, while others charge a yearly fee per domain, which quietly raises the real cost of a portfolio.
The first-year price is a customer-acquisition discount. The registrar earns its margin on renewals, add-ons and fees in later years, which is why the renewal price matters more than the introductory one.
Once a year, before your renewals come due, is enough for most owners. Prices and fee policies change, and a short comparison can reveal a cheaper home for the same domains.