Top domain registrars compared

About Top domain registrars compared

Domain registrars look interchangeable until the renewal notice arrives. This ranking sets out 452 brands and reads the same details for each: what a .com costs to register, what it costs to renew, what a transfer costs, how large the extension catalogue is, and how you reach a person when a name is locked or a renewal fails. The category median for .com registration is €11.56, while renewals sit higher at €14.99, and across collected data introductory prices run €0 to €39.46 against renewals of €6.95 to €39.46. That gap is the trade-off the ranking is built around: a brand can look cheap on the day of purchase and expensive afterwards. Support routes, catalogue breadth and free WHOIS privacy settle the remaining places, and members quoting a renewal close to their entry figure rise as a result.

How we picked

The score is fixed before any copy is written. Cost carries 40%, the offer carries 40% and trust carries 20%, so what a domain costs and what comes with the plan account for most of the ranking, with the remainder going to the standing of the company behind it. Each figure is taken from the brand's own material: registration, renewal and transfer prices from its domain pages, audience, base and support routes from its about, contact and support pages, the legal entity from its terms, and catalogue counts from its extension listings. Medians and ranges come from collected site data rather than from review sites or comparison blogs. Nothing is scored on reputation alone, and close calls are settled on support reach, then on catalogue breadth. Partners are placed ahead of scored entries in any group, and where a group holds none the order follows the weights and the published prices.

What to look for

Introductory price

The sticker price on the day of purchase says little on its own. The typical .com entry in this category is €11.56, and collected data puts the whole spread at €0 to €39.46. Read it as an opening offer rather than a running cost.

Renewal price

This is the figure that decides most placements. A typical .com renewal here is €14.99, with collected renewals running €6.95 to €39.46. Set the renewal against the introductory price on the same brand before committing to it.

Transfer cost

Moving a name you already own is priced apart from registration. The typical transfer in this category is €12.12, and collected transfers run €0 to €32. Brands that charge for transfers are pricing you to stay put.

Support routes

Registration problems surface at renewal time, so contact routes matter. In this category 83.5% of the brands take calls and 87.3% run a help centre, while email reaches 87.8%. Live chat sits lower at 66.4%.

WHOIS privacy

Registrant contact details sit in the public record unless privacy is included. Here 67.5% of the brands in this category include it, against 32.5% that do not. Check whether it is bundled or charged as a separate line.

Trial and refund terms

A trial gives a buyer room to test a wider range before the renewal clock starts. The typical free trial here runs 14, and the typical money-back window is 30. With a single-product purchase like a domain, treat both as comfort factors.

Frequently asked questions

Top domain registrars compared by country

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV