阿里云
腾讯云
华为云
仙宫云 
OneThingAI 
优刻得9.9元/7天A .top domain costs $1.63 in year one. Three years later you have paid $10.89. A .tech costs $6.99 in year one and $50.98 every year after that — $108.95 by year three. Both are advertised as “cheap domains” on the same registrar page.
We pulled prices for 73 TLDs from Porkbun and Dynadot on 2026-11-03 and ranked every extension by what it actually costs to hold for three years: registration plus two renewals. Full tables live on our domain price comparison; this page is the version you can read in five minutes. Registry-side price changes (like .com’s 2026-11-01 wholesale increase) are logged on the price change page.
Year one means nothing
Registrars compete on the first invoice. The registry’s wholesale price, which every registrar pays, is what decides your renewal — and that number is set by the registry operator, not the registrar.
Three-year cost is the only honest metric. Take the two extensions most people searching for a “cheap domain” end up with:
- .xyz — $2.04 first year, $14.21 renewal. Three years: $30.46, or 15× the sticker price.
- .online — $1.96 first year, $28.84 renewal. Three years: $59.64, roughly 30× the sticker price.
Meanwhile .com sits at $11.62 registration and $11.62 renewal: $34.86 for three years, no cliff. That is why a boring extension keeps winning — and note that the $11.62 figure already reflects the 2026-11-01 wholesale increase, up from $10.88 a month earlier.
The genuinely cheap ones
Ranked by three-year total cost, lowest first. All prices in USD, collected 2026-10-23:
| TLD | Year 1 | Renewal | 3-year total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .top | 1.63 | 4.63 | 10.89 | Cheapest overall; spam reputation is a real problem |
| .de | 2.90 | 4.07 | 11.04 | Germany ccTLD; DENIC requires an admin contact in Germany |
| .vip | 4.12 | 5.15 | 14.42 | Flat pricing, no renewal cliff |
| .wang | 4.12 | 6.05 | 16.22 | Chinese-market oriented |
| .eu | 5.88 | 5.88 | 17.64 | EU residency required |
| .us | 4.43 | 7.00 | 18.43 | US nexus requirement |
| .cc | 3.40 | 8.55 | 20.50 | Channel Islands ccTLD, used as generic |
| .ca | 8.82 | 9.18 | 27.18 | Canadian presence required by CIRA |
| .xin | 2.37 | 13.05 | 28.47 | Alibaba-affiliated registry, Chinese-market focus |
| .xyz | 2.04 | 14.21 | 30.46 | 7× renewal jump |
| .org | 7.99 | 11.64 | 31.27 | Nonprofit classic, stable pricing |
| .dev | 8.75 | 12.87 | 34.49 | Google-run, HSTS-preloaded |
| .com | 11.62 | 11.62 | 34.86 | Flat, highest recognition |
Above .com you start paying for meaning rather than scarcity: .app at $38.61, .me at $43.86, .tw at $47.87, .tech at $108.95, .sh at $124.50, .io at $131.72, .gg at $155.40, .ai at $248.10.
The extensions people actually search for
“Cheap” and “popular” are different questions, and the long-tail searches we see are mostly people checking a specific extension before they buy.
.sh — Saint Helena’s ccTLD, and the most expensive extension on this list after .ai ($31.20 first year, $46.65 renewal, $124.50 over three years). People want it for domain hacks (ba.sh, co.sh); registry pricing makes that an expensive pun. See .sh price detail.
.xin — $2.37 first year, $13.05 renewal, $28.47 over three years. A gTLD operated by an Alibaba-affiliated registry and marketed to Chinese businesses (“xin” = trust). Cheap to try, standard renewal behavior. .xin price detail.
.ca — $8.82 first year, $9.18 renewal. Nearly flat, which is rare. The catch is not price: CIRA requires a Canadian presence (citizen, resident, registered entity, or trademark). If you do not qualify, the domain cannot be registered in your name. .ca price detail.
.gg — $51.80 for registration, renewal, and transfer alike. Guernsey’s ccTLD, adopted by gaming and esports (“good game”). No renewal cliff, just a high flat price. .gg price detail.
.dev and .app — $8.75 first year each, $12.87 and $14.93 to renew. Both are Google-run and HSTS-preloaded, meaning plain HTTP is refused by browsers. Good for docs sites and demo environments, awkward if any part of your stack still needs HTTP. .dev is one of the few extensions cheaper than .com over three years.
.tech — the clearest renewal trap in the data: $6.99 first year, $50.98 renewal, $108.95 over three years. A 7.3× jump, higher in absolute terms than .io’s renewal. .tech price detail.
.org — $7.99 first year, $11.64 renewal, $31.27 over three years. PIR has kept wholesale pricing stable; renewals run about 1.5× the first year, no surprises.
.io — $28.12 first year, $51.80 renewal, $131.72 over three years. Identity Digital runs the registry on behalf of the British Indian Ocean Territory, and wholesale pricing rises from $50 to $56 on 2027-01-19 (+12%) — Domain Name Wire reported the increase. Registry-level changes are tracked on our wholesale price change log.
.tw — $11.89 first year, $17.99 renewal, $47.87 over three years. Taiwan’s ccTLD, open registration with no local presence requirement, sensible pricing for an Asia-facing site. .tw price detail.
What this means before you buy
- Compare three-year totals, not first-year banners. A $2 domain with a $29 renewal is a $60 commitment.
- Check registry restrictions before you fall in love with a name: .ca needs Canadian presence, .eu needs EU residence, .us needs a US nexus, .de needs a German admin contact.
- Flat-priced extensions (.com, .net, .us-priced .ca, .gg, .vip) are the ones you can hold without thinking about it.
- If a TLD is a country code, its pricing and its politics both belong to that country. .io is the current example: Chagos sovereignty moved to Mauritius in 2025, and ICANN has been explicit that removal of a ccTLD is a multi-year process, not an automatic consequence.
Which extension are you actually deciding between? If it is one of the expensive ccTLDs (.sh, .gg, .io, .ai), the honest question is whether the name is worth 4–8× a .com — and that depends on whether anyone other than you will ever see the URL.