Update — November 1, 2026: The Verisign wholesale rise is now in effect — $10.26 → $10.97 per .com per year. Renewals reaching the registry from today are billed at the new price; years bought before today stay at the old price. The rest of this guide still applies: registrar markups vary far more than 71 cents, the ten-year renewal cap still holds, and the next dated rise is .net on March 1, 2027.
Your .com domain is about to cost more, and the increase is already scheduled. On November 1, 2026, the .com domain price rise November 2026 takes effect: Verisign, which runs the .com registry, raises the wholesale fee every registrar pays from $10.26 to $10.97 per domain per year. Most registrars will pass that 71-cent rise on to you. This guide explains what it costs you, how renewing before November 1 can lock in today’s price for up to ten years, and when switching registrars saves more than renewing early.
Table of Contents
.com domain price rise November 2026: What changes on November 1, 2026
Verisign operates the .com registry. Registrars — the companies you buy a domain from, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, or Porkbun — do not own .com. They pay Verisign a wholesale fee for every .com year they sell or renew, then set their own retail price on top. On November 1, 2026, that wholesale fee rises from $10.26 to $10.97, a 7% increase, according to Verisign’s announcement reported with its April 23, 2026 results. Verisign gave registrars the six months’ notice its contract with ICANN requires.
The increase applies to new registrations, renewals, and inbound transfers (a transfer adds a year, so it is billed like a renewal). ICANN’s $0.20 per domain per year does not change, so the cost floor moves from $10.46 to $11.17. That floor is what your registrar pays, not what you pay — your retail price depends on its markup.
This is the first increase since September 2024, and it may not be the last. Under the registry agreement, Verisign may raise the price by up to 7% in each of the last four years of every six-year cycle, so further rises are permitted through about 2030. If it took every increase at the maximum, wholesale would reach about $13.44 a year by the end of the decade. Only the November 2026 increase has been announced.
What the rise costs you depends on your registrar
The wholesale rise is 71 cents. Your bill’s rise depends on how much markup your registrar adds, and that markup varies far more than 71 cents. A research-based comparison by Etemora, reading listed .com renewal prices from each registrar’s own pricing page between September 26 and October 4, 2026, found:
| Registrar | Listed .com renewal per year | Above the $10.46 cost floor |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | $10.46 | $0.00 (at cost) |
| Dynadot | $10.88 | $0.42 |
| Porkbun | $11.08 | $0.62 |
| Namecheap | $18.48 | $8.02 |
| GoDaddy | $22.99 | $12.53 |
Namecheap and GoDaddy state the $0.20 ICANN fee may be added at checkout, so their real renewal can be $0.20 higher; Porkbun states fees are included. Cloudflare requires its nameservers. These are research readings of public pricing pages, not purchases we made — check the “renews at” line in your own cart.
Over ten years at today’s prices, one .com costs $104.60 at Cloudflare and $206.92 at GoDaddy in Etemora’s comparison — roughly a $100 difference per domain for the same name. The domain itself is identical whichever registrar you use. What you pay for above the floor is the registrar’s platform, support, and extras such as free WHOIS privacy.
The first-year price is the worst number to compare. IONOS charges $1 first, then $20 a year; GoDaddy’s $0.01 first year needs a three-year purchase, then renews at $22.99. For a domain you plan to keep, the renewal price is the price you will actually pay.
How renewing early locks today’s price
Here is the part most coverage skips: renewing before November 1 does not just save you 71 cents once. The registry agreement requires Verisign to keep offering registrations and renewals for periods of up to ten years at the price in effect when the offer is accepted. Renew for five years on October 30 and all five years are billed at today’s wholesale price. None of them gets re-priced later.
What counts is the moment the renewal reaches the registry. A renewal you pay for on October 31 is fine. A domain that auto-renews on November 3 costs the new price, even if it has been on auto-renew for years. If your domain auto-renews in the first days of November, check the date and renew manually before November 1 if you want today’s price.
There is a cap: a .com cannot be registered more than ten years into the future, not ten extra years on top of what you already have. A domain expiring in March 2027 can add up to nine years; one already paid to 2036 cannot add any. Adding more than the cap is rejected, not trimmed.
Should you renew for ten years?
For most small businesses, renew your core domain for several years, but do not pre-pay a decade for every name you own. Ask three questions.
First, is this the domain your website and email run on? If losing it would break your business, it is a core domain: renew it for three to five years before November 1. For one domain, the November rise alone saves little — roughly the price of a sandwich over four years, as Maxinames puts it — but avoiding a high-markup renewal every year saves much more.
Second, will you still want this name in five years? If it is a campaign domain, a product you may drop, or a name you registered on a hunch, one or two years is enough. Pre-paying ten years for a name you might drop is not saving money; it is spending it early.
Third, how many domains do you hold? A freelancer holding 15 client domains at $24 a year instead of $12 a year is overpaying $180 a year; an agency holding 120 is overpaying $1,440 a year at that gap. If you hold many domains, consolidating them at a low-markup registrar is worth an afternoon of work.
One warning: do not let a multi-year renewal hide a bad registrar. Locking ten years at $22.99 a year saves the 71-cent rise but keeps a $12.53 markup every year. Check the renewal price first, then decide how many years to buy.
The second saving lever: switch registrars before you renew
If your registrar’s renewal price is far above $11 to $12 for a .com, switching may save more than renewing early. A transfer usually costs one year at the new registrar’s rate and adds a year to your term — you are not paying twice. Unlock the domain, get the authorization code, start the transfer, and approve the confirmation email, at least a week before expiry.
Before you move, check three things: is WHOIS privacy included or billed separately (it should be free in 2026); does the new registrar require anything you do not want, such as using its nameservers, as Cloudflare does; and what are the auto-renew and grace-period rules? Redemption fees to recover an expired domain routinely run $80 to $200. Leave automatic renewal on so a missed payment cannot lose you the domain, and still review the charge yourself every year.
If your registrar’s service is good and its renewal price is close to cost, stay and renew early. Otherwise, move — the site and email keep working through a transfer.
The 5-step checklist before October 31
- List every .com you own, with expiry date and registrar, including client domains you manage.
- For each, find the real renewal price on its billing page — read the “renews at” line, not the homepage or first-year offer.
- Mark each domain core or marginal. Core domains get three to five years before November 1; marginal domains get one year and a review date.
- For any domain renewing above about $12 a year, compare a transfer, then start it at least a week before expiry.
- Set two reminders: October 30, to confirm every early renewal reached the registry, and a month before each future renewal, to re-check the price.
The common mistake is renewing first and comparing later, locking in the expensive registrar for another year.
What comes after November 1
Verisign has also announced a .net increase from $10.91 to $12.00 effective March 1, 2027. The same logic applies: renew .net domains before March 1, 2027 if you want today’s .net price, subject to the same ten-year cap. Up to three more .com increases are permitted through about 2030, but none has been announced. The cheapest habit is annual: check the renewal price, compare it once a year, and renew early when a dated increase is announced.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I renew my .com on October 31, do I really avoid the November 1 price rise?
Yes, for every year in that renewal. The registry charges the price in effect when the renewal reaches it, so years bought before November 1 stay at today’s wholesale price. A renewal reaching the registry on or after November 1 is billed at the new price.
How many years can I renew a .com for at once?
Up to ten years into the future in total, not ten extra years. A domain expiring in March 2027 can add up to nine years; one already paid to 2036 cannot add any. Adding more than the cap is rejected, not trimmed.
Is switching registrars risky for my website or email?
No, if you do it before expiry and keep your DNS settings intact. A transfer changes only the billing company and adds a year to the term. Start at least a week before expiry, unlock the domain, and use the authorization code from your current registrar.
My registrar charges $22.99 a year. Should I renew for ten years before November 1?
Probably not at that price — you would lock in the markup, not just today’s wholesale price. At near cost, ten years is about $104.60 versus about $229.90 at $22.99 a year. Move first, then renew for several years at the lower price.
Conclusion
The November 1 rise itself is small — 71 cents at wholesale. The expensive part is a renewal price you never checked and a markup you pay every year. Before October 31, list your domains, read the “renews at” price for each, renew core domains for several years, and move any domain renewing far above cost.
Was this article helpful?