Domain registrars compared on WHOIS privacy, DNS freedom, transfer-out policy, whether you can reach a human in the UK, and the price you actually pay: the renewal, not the first-year promo.
The registrar we trust every client domain to: free WHOIS privacy for life, free DNS with DNSSEC, an API and the renewal price shown openly next to the sale price.
.com renewal / yr: £13.66.com first year: £8.12Renewal premium: 68%
The honest-pricing benchmark: one .com price to register, renew and transfer alike, with privacy, DNS and SSL free, but US-hours support and dollar billing.
.com renewal / yr: $11.08.com first year: $11.08Renewal premium: 0%
The cheapest .com you can buy, at registry cost with no markup, as long as your domain lives on Cloudflare's nameservers for as long as it is registered there.
.com renewal / yr: $10.46.com first year: $10.46Renewal premium: 0%
Tucows' retail registrar: flat, honest pricing and free WHOIS privacy at a premium price, with no API and a Trustpilot profile the company does not answer.
.com renewal / yr: $18.99.com first year: $18.99Renewal premium: 0%
The French registrar of the 2000s is now the most expensive .com renewal in this comparison, though still a strong engineering product with a full API and free DNS.
.com renewal / yr: £31.98.com first year: £9Renewal premium: 255%
Where ten million Google Domains customers were sent in 2023 and 2024: free privacy and DNSSEC, but a renewal price hidden until checkout and no API.
.com renewal / yr: £16.com first year: £8Renewal premium: 100%
The UK household name is GoDaddy's UK brand on GoDaddy's platform: a 1p .com that needs a three-year purchase and renews high, with UK office-hours phone support.
.com renewal / yr: £18.99.com first year: £7.99Renewal premium: 138%
Europe's biggest host-registrar runs the pound-then-fifteen playbook, has withdrawn WHOIS privacy on every TLD and wraps domains in 12-month contracts.
.com renewal / yr: £15.com first year: £1Renewal premium: 1,400%
The world's largest registrar, with a real API, an MCP server and a 24/7 UK phone line, set against an upsell culture and a 2025 FTC order over security failures.
.com renewal / yr: £18.99.com first year: £12.66Renewal premium: 50%
IONOS with a Gloucester accent: a £1 .com that renews at sixteen times the price, paid privacy, pre-ticked add-ons and 12-month rolling contracts.
.com renewal / yr: £16.92.com first year: £1Renewal premium: 1,592%