by Cloudflare, Inc.Domain registrars
At-cost domain registration: a .com is $10.46 to register and to renew, with free WHOIS redaction, DNS, DNSSEC and email routing, on Cloudflare nameservers.
A .com at the registry’s own price, $10.46 a year for registration and renewal alike, with DNS, DNSSEC and email routing included.
Cloudflare charges what the registry and ICANN charge it, so the first-year price is also the renewal price and there is no promotion to expire. The domain comes with Cloudflare DNS, one-click DNSSEC, WHOIS redaction, Email Routing and redirects at no charge, on any plan including Free. It suits teams that already run DNS on Cloudflare, or want to, and would rather not manage a separate registrar account.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Domain registrars: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Cloudflare Registrar | Porkbun | Namecheap | Squarespace Domains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceA .com at the registry’s own price, $10.46 a year for registration and renewal alike, with DNS, DNSSEC and email routing included. | Worth the priceAn all-in $11.08 .com that costs the same to register, renew or transfer, with privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and forwarding included. | Worth the priceA low first-year .com with free privacy, DNS, DNSSEC and email and URL forwarding, and the freedom to point it at any nameservers. | Easy to adoptA domain with privacy, DNSSEC, email aliases and forwarding switched on, managed in a simple dashboard, with no website plan required. |
| Overall score | 8.6Best | 8.5 | 7.6 | 6.8 |
| Free option | Paid only | Paid only | Paid only | Paid only |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $10.46/yr | $11.08/yr | $18.48/yr | $20/yr |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per domain per year, at cost | Per domain per year, all fees included | Per domain per year | Per domain per year |
| .com year 1 / renewal | $10.46 / $10.46 | $11.08 / $11.08 (about $11.81 announced from Nov 1, 2026) | $11.28 (sale, list $14.98) / $18.48, each plus $0.20 ICANN fee | $10 (first-year discount) / $20 |
| 3-year .com cost (scenario) | $31.38, computed | $33.24, computed at the prices listed on Oct 16 | $48.84, computed | $50, computed |
| .io and .ai | .io $32 year 1, renews $50; .ai $80/yr, 2-year minimum | .io $28.12 year 1, renews $51.80; .ai $82.70/yr, 2-year minimum | .io $34.98 year 1, renews $75.98; .ai $89.98/yr, 2-year minimum, renews $114.98 | .io $60 year 1 (list $70); .ai $85, 2-year minimum |
| ICANN fee | Passed through at cost, not itemised | Included in the shown price | $0.20 a year, added in the cart | Not mentioned; home page says fees are included |
| Restore (redemption) fee | Varies by TLD; amount not stated | $200 plus the renewal (price page) | $88.48 for .com including the renewal | $45 for .com |
| Grace period after expiry | 40 days for most TLDs (FAQ) | Ends day 35–45 at the normal price; auction possible from about day 26 | About 30 days at the normal renewal price | 30 days (Squarespace Domains LLC); 40 days for Tucows domains |
| Refund window (new registration) | None; registrations and renewals are final | 96 hours with a 5% fee (help center); cart and agreement say no refunds | 5 days, at Namecheap’s discretion | 5 days for gTLDs; none for .io |
| Nameservers | Cloudflare nameservers only | Porkbun DNS (on Cloudflare) or any external nameservers | Namecheap BasicDNS or any external nameservers | Squarespace DNS or 2–13 custom nameservers |
| Email forwarding | Free Email Routing, 200 rules | Free, 20 per domain, no catch-all | Free, up to 100 forwards, catch-all | Free, up to 100 aliases, catch-all |
| Domain/DNS API | Registrar API (beta) and DNS API; no spend condition | Free; purchases use prepaid credit by default | Yes, after 20 domains, a $50 balance or $50 spent; IP allowlist | Reseller API only, for approved resellers |
| 2FA | Security keys (WebAuthn), authenticator app, email | Security keys and passkeys (WebAuthn), authenticator app, email | Security keys and passkeys (FIDO/WebAuthn), authenticator app | Passkeys and hardware keys, authenticator app, SMS in five countries |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Company SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022; Registrar not named in the SOC 2 service list | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Registry lock | Enterprise only, through sales | Not stated | Domain Vault for .com and some TLDs; price not stated | Not stated |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Cloudflare Registrar has the lowest 3-year .com cost here and the same price every year, with the essentials included. The trade-offs are Cloudflare nameservers only, no refunds and no published restore fee. | From its public pages, Porkbun pairs an all-in .com price that does not rise at renewal with free essentials and a capable API. The restore fee is $200, and its refund pages disagree. | From its public pages, Namecheap includes everything most owners need and keeps the cart clean, with a published restore price. Renewals cost more than the first year, the ICANN fee is added on top, and its pages disagree on the new-customer code and on renewal refunds. | From its public pages, Squarespace Domains is the most hands-off option here, with protections on by default and a $45 restore fee. A .com renews at $20 after a $10 first year, and bulk tools, DNS export and a customer API are not offered. |
Evidence: Cloudflare Registrar: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Porkbun: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Namecheap: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Squarespace Domains: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Review from public pages
Written from Cloudflare Registrar's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Cloudflare's domains page, the public domain search (prices in USD), the Registrar docs and FAQ, the Domain Registration Agreement (effective Aug 20, 2026), the docs on WHOIS redaction, DNSSEC, Email Routing, redirects, 2FA, member roles, DNS import and export and transferring out, the Registrar API guide and reference, and the trust hub on Oct 16, 2026. We did not create an account or buy a domain; checkout runs inside the dashboard, so the cart was not visible to us.
The price model is the simplest in this category: a .com is $10.46 to register and $10.46 to renew, and Cloudflare says it passes registry and ICANN charges through with no markup. .io shows $32 for the first year with $50 struck through, and .ai is $80 a year with the registry's 2-year minimum.
A few things are not on the public pages. The transfer-in price is not shown, only that a transfer is charged as one year at cost and adds a year. The restore fee for an expired domain "varies depending on the TLD" with no figure. The FAQ describes a 40-day grace period while the renewal page says expiry leads to a 30-day redemption period, and the API guide and API reference differ on which TLDs and transfers the API supports.
Registration and renewal are the same at-cost price, $10.46 for a .com, so the second-year bill matches the first.
vs Namecheap: Namecheap renews a .com at $18.48 after an $11.28 first year; Squarespace at $20 after $10.
DNS, one-click DNSSEC, WHOIS redaction, Email Routing with catch-all, redirects and the transfer lock come with every domain at no charge.
The auth code is shown in the dashboard after unlocking, the 60-day lock after a registrant change can be declined, and DNS records export as a zone file.
Compared: Squarespace Domains describes no DNS export and suggests a screenshot of your records before a transfer.
Two-factor authentication supports security keys and built-in authenticators as well as authenticator apps; dashboard SSO is available on all plans, and the audit log keeps 18 months.
The FAQ and the registration agreement say domains registered here must use Cloudflare nameservers; to change nameservers you transfer the domain to another registrar.
Workaround: Records can still point anywhere, and subdomains can be delegated to other nameservers.
The FAQ and the agreement say registration, renewal and restore fees are non-refundable; a domain deleted within 5 days is released without a refund.
Workaround: Auto-renew can be turned off per domain before the charge, which is made about 30 days before expiry.
The restore fee for an expired domain varies by TLD with no figure, and the transfer-in price is not shown on a public page.
Custom Domain Protection (registry lock) is offered through the Enterprise account team, and the agreement allows a much higher price if the Enterprise agreement ends.
Cloudflare bills each domain per year at the registry and ICANN price. For our scenario, one .com for 3 years costs 3 × $10.46 = $31.38 (computed), with no ICANN fee on top and nothing extra for privacy, DNS or DNSSEC. .io is $32 for the first year and $50 after; .ai is $80 a year, paid 2 years at a time. Prices follow the registry, so they move when the registry changes its price. Custom-branded nameservers need the Business plan ($200 a month billed annually), and registry lock is sold through Enterprise. Tax may be added by billing address.
Unlock the domain in the dashboard and copy the auth code; a pending transfer is approved automatically on day 5 if you do nothing. Transfers out are blocked for 60 days after registration or a transfer in. DNS records export from the dashboard or the API as a zone file. The pages do not say what happens to the DNS zone, redirects or Email Routing after the domain leaves, so recreate them at the new provider first.
From its public pages, Cloudflare Registrar has the lowest 3-year .com cost here and the same price every year, with the essentials included. The trade-offs are Cloudflare nameservers only, no refunds and no published restore fee.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per domain per year, at cost |
| .com year 1 / renewal | $10.46 / $10.46 |
| 3-year .com cost (scenario) | $31.38, computed |
| .io and .ai | .io $32 year 1, renews $50; .ai $80/yr, 2-year minimum |
| ICANN fee | Passed through at cost, not itemised |
| Restore (redemption) fee | Varies by TLD; amount not stated |
| Grace period after expiry | 40 days for most TLDs (FAQ) |
| Refund window (new registration) | None; registrations and renewals are final |
| Nameservers | Cloudflare nameservers only |
| Email forwarding | Free Email Routing, 200 rules |
| Domain/DNS API | Registrar API (beta) and DNS API; no spend condition |
| 2FA | Security keys (WebAuthn), authenticator app, email |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Company SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022; Registrar not named in the SOC 2 service list |
| Registry lock | Enterprise only, through sales |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Cloudflare Registrar yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Cloudflare Registrar yet.
Cloudflare Registrar lists 3 plans. The cheapest paid plan, .com renewal (yearly list price), costs $10.46/yr.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: cloudflare.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the price tables, carts, agreements, help centers and developer pages of three domain registrars on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What a .com costs over 3 years, how renewals compare with the first year, what is included, and who should pick which.
